Category: Ultraseven

Ultraseven Ep. 12: From Another Planet With Love

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Akio Jissoji. Written by Mamoru Sasaki. Airdate Dec. 17, 1967.

This is the famous withdrawn Ultraseven episode. You won’t find it on any of the video releases, nor will you see it on the airwaves. It’s sometimes called the “banned” or “censored” episode, but that implies an external agency has kept it from being seen. Tsuburaya Productions itself removed the episode from public availability in the 1970s, and it seems unlikely the situation will change in the near future.

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Ultraseven Ep. 11: Fly to Devil Mountain

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Kazuho Mitsuta. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate Dec. 10, 1967.

Captain Kiriyama sends the Ultra Guard to investigate a series of unexplained deaths, mostly of young vacationers, around Mount Iwami. While Dan and Soga are scouting the area, the alien raygun used on the victims zaps Dan, apparently killing him. We know Dan isn’t really dead — he’s the lead of the show, after all — but this opening immediately moves the episode into new territory. The series protagonist is out of the action, and the Ultra Guard has to figure out what happened without him until the finale, when we know that Dan turns into Ultraseven and squares off against the alien menace.

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Ultraseven Ep. 9: Operation Android Zero

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Kazuho Mitsuta. Written by Shozo Uehara. Airdate Nov. 36, 1967.

A small-scale episode, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t exciting. The devious alien of the week may not have a plan that will conquer the world — although he believes it will — but it’s a vile plan with disturbing relevance to the current day. All the action remains at human size with no giant monsters and no super-sized Ultraseven, but it’s superbly staged, paced, and shot. At times, it feels like a live-action version of a Batman: The Animated Series episode where Batman has to take down a villain who builds children’s toys that are actually lethal devices. 

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Ultraseven Ep. 8: The Marked Town

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Akio Jissoji. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate Nov. 19, 1967.

After seven episodes of sporadic success sifting through the basics, Ultraseven at last comes together in one of the most memorable and imitated half hours in all of tokusatsu. There are episodes ahead I like more, but “The Marked Town” is a landmark and arguably the show’s essential episode. A simple case of “If you see only one Ultraseven episode, make it this one.”

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Ultraseven Ep. 7: Space Prisoner 303

~ Ryan Harvey
Alien Quraso about to kill a gas station attendant in Ultraseven episode "Space Prisoner 303.)

Directed by Toshitsugu Suzuki. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate Nov. 12, 1967.

Another hostile alien has come to Earth. Not to conquer, just to kill. An alien murderer from an otherwise peaceful race has escaped from a prison on its homeworld. Now it’s landed on Earth to guzzle gasoline, strangle a few innocent people, and find another escape route before it’s caught.

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Ultraseven Ep. 6: Dark Zone

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Kazuho Mitsuta. Written by Bunzo Wakatsuki. Airdate Nov. 5, 1967.

For the first time, and certainly not the last, an episode of Ultraseven scrutinizes the ethics of the operations of the Terran Defense Force and the Ultra Guard. The featured alien race, Alien Pegassa, doesn’t want to conquer Earth. They only want survival, but that may require taking drastic steps against Earth. Earth faces a similar choice with Pegassa, creating an unwinnable situation for both sides that has echoes of the Cold War without making explicit reference to it. Neither the Earthings nor Alien Pegassa ultimately show their best sides in this showdown.

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Ultraseven Ep. 5: Vanished Time

~ Ryan Harvey
Alien Vira in Ultraseven episode Vanished Time

Directed by Hajime Tsuburaya. Written by Akihiko Sugano. Airdate Oct. 29, 1967.

In the most adult-oriented and serious episode yet, another alien race plots to infiltrate TDF’s Far East Base in human disguise and blow up something to make way for their invasion. We’ve seen this ploy already in “Secret of the Lake” and “Max, Respond.” But this time the invaders have a more insidious scheme, which is to sow suspicion in the Ultra Guard to trick them into believing Dan is an alien traitor in disguise. That way the real infiltrator can escape suspicion and remove Ultraseven as an obstacle. (All alien races seem to be able to immediately recognize that Dan isn’t an Earthling.) 

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Ultraseven Ep. 3: Secret of the Lake

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate Oct. 15, 1967.

This was the first Ultraseven episode produced, and it’s fascinating to see how much the crew already had a feel for the show’s possibilities and what made it different from Ultraman. It’s a better start than the first two episodes aired: “The Invisible Challenger” put the pieces in place, “The Green Terror” emphasized the serious mood, but “Secret of the Lake” demonstrates what Ultraseven can do when it swings into action with full confidence in its premise.

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