Directed by Toshitsugu Suzuki. Written by Bunzo Wakatsuki. Airdate Dec. 3, 1967.
Young Akira is stuck at home in his bedroom with a broken leg after a car accident. He passes the time by using a pair of binoculars to spy on his next door neighbor. An odd neighbor, who may be up to something sinister…
Continue reading “Ultraseven Ep. 10: The Suspicious Neighbor”
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.
Continue reading “Ultraseven Ep. 9: Operation Android Zero”
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 even 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.”
Continue reading “Ultraseven Ep. 8: The Marked Town”
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.
Continue reading “Ultraseven Ep. 7: Space Prisoner 303”
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.
Continue reading “Ultraseven Ep. 6: Dark Zone”
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.)
Continue reading “Ultraseven Ep. 5: Vanished Time”
Directed by Kazuho Mitsuta. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo and Masahiro Yamada. Airdate Oct. 22, 1967.
For the second episode in a row, Dan loses the Ultra Eye he needs to transform into Ultraseven. To lose one Ultra Eye may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose two looks like carelessness. And it’s going to happen a few more times.
Continue reading “Ultraseven Ep. 4: Max, Respond!”
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.
Continue reading “Ultraseven Ep. 3: Secret of the Lake”
Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate Oct. 8, 1967.
Eiji Tsuburaya must have had a dictum about his shows: within the first batch of episodes, there must be a plant monster. Ultra Q has the giant flower Juran, Ultraman has a green lettuce sack called Greenmons, and now Ultraseven’s second episode brings us Alien Waiell, a walking stack of spiky mixed greens. It doesn’t look great, but it’s better than Greenmons. I’ll say it again: I don’t have much interest in vegetation monsters.
Continue reading “Ultraseven Ep. 2: The Green Terror”
Directed by Hajime Tsuburaya. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate Oct. 1, 1967.
Earth is being targeted. Beings from countless stars floating in space have begun a terrible invasion.
These words from narrator Hikaru Urano, spoken over a night scene of a swarm of car headlights on a freeway, set the tone for Ultraseven. Darker than Ultraman, more epic than Ultra Q.
Continue reading “Ultraseven Ep. 1: The Invisible Challenger”
The Ultra Project 