Tag: Great

Ultraman Tiga Ep. 39: Dear Mr. Ultraman

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Kyota Kawasaki. Written by Keiichi Hasegawa. Airdate May 31, 1997.

Another kaiju, Galra, has come to wreck the city. Galra belongs to the same ancient monster group as Golza and Melba, able to tunnel underground and materialize suddenly. It has high resistance to damage, making it a tough opponent for GUTS and Ultraman Tiga to stop.

Galra, however, isn’t the episode’s main adversary. A man who lives in a shabby apartment is the real enemy.

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 37: Flower

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Akio Jissoji. Written by Akio Jissoji, Akio Satsukawa. Airdate May 17, 1997.

Akio Jissoji returns to direct an episode of an Ultra television series for the first time since Ultraseven’s “The Saucers Have Come” — a gap of almost three decades. (He did direct Ultra Q the Movie: Legend of the Stars in 1990.) Have the years mellowed his eccentric visual style and storytelling techniques? Nope! During his break from television, Jissoji has been directing experimental short films, and he’s gotten even weirder. 

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 34: To the Farthest South

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hirochika Muraishi. Written by Chiaki J. Konaka. Airdate April 26, 1997.

The politics and history of the Terran Peace Consortium have materialized in several Ultraman Tiga episodes so far: “The Devil’s Prophecy,” “The Day When the Monster Appeared,” and “The Battle of Zelda Point.” This is the first episode to make TPC politics its centerpiece. It foregrounds two figures who represent the opposing poles of the organization’s purpose: the dovish Commissioner Sawai (Tamio Kawachi) and the hawkish Director Yoshioka (Ken Okabe). 

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 32: The Battle of Zelda Point

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Tsugumi Kitaura. Written by Ai Ota. Airdate April 12, 1997.

Ai Ota’s third script for Ultraman Tiga continues her style of crafting fantasy stories with childlike slants. But these are not necessarily “childish” stories. “The Battle of Zelda Point” is built on a horrible tragedy: the death of a young girl and her father’s belief that he was responsible. The episode has its bleak moments, but it also has a fairy-tale quality and a transcendent conclusion that prevent the heavy subject matter from overpowering the tone. 

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Ultraseven Ep. 38: The Courageous Battle

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Toshihiro Iijima. Written by Mamoru Sasaki. Airdate June 23, 1968.

Ultraseven has the fewest kid-centered episodes of the classic-era Ultra programs. This is one of the exceptions (along with “The Eye That Shines in the Darkness”). Dan promises a boy who’s terrified about his upcoming heart surgery that he’ll be with him at the hospital during the procedure. But wouldn’t you know it: a giant alien robot starts attacking traffic jams to consume cars. That will sure cut into Dan’s free time. Dan has to go hit a home run for the kid or something.

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Ultraseven Ep. 34: The Vanishing City

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hajime Tsuburaya. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate May 26, 1968.

Several Ultraseven episodes have a tricky time balancing the mysterious science-fiction stories of its original premise with the spectacle of kaiju fights and space duels that viewers expect from something titled “Ultra.” Some episodes split the difference and go for mood in the first half, big action in the second. “The Vanishing City” executes one of the better mergers of Ultra Q eerie SF mystery and Ultraman supersized action. The tone of weirdness is consistent, even when the climax is Seven pursuing a roly-poly hedgehog monster through the labyrinthine streets of an empty city stolen by aliens who need real estate.

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Ultraman Ep. 39: Farewell, Ultraman

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hajime Tsuburaya. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate April 9, 1967.

Ultra Q didn’t have a conclusion and wasn’t built to have one. Ultraman, however, was designed from the start to reach a finale. It’s since become a tradition for Ultra shows to have a big close-out episode that ends the saga of the current Ultra warrior’s sojourn on Earth. “Farewell, Ultraman” is not the greatest of these finales, but the creative team gets plenty right with an epic story that gives Ultraman and the Science Special Search Party fitting conclusions. The episode also introduces one of the most spectacular continuing adversaries of the franchise, Space Dinosaur Zetton, which in no way resembles a dinosaur.

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Ultraman Ep. 38: Spaceship Rescue Command

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hajime Tsuburaya. Written by Shozo Uehara. Airdate April 2, 1967.

Here we are, at the penultimate episode of Ultraman, and it’s enlightening to look back at the earliest episodes for comparison. At the start of the show’s run, the network and sponsor were tight with money, which kept the visual effects limited. The Tsuburaya Pro VFX team did fine work with what they had, but early episodes like “Five Seconds Before the Explosion” and “The Secret of the Miroganda” visibly suffer from the budgetary deficiency. 

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Ultraman Ep. 36: Don’t Shoot, Arashi!

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Kazuho Mitsuta. Written by Masahiro Yamada. Airdate March 19, 1967.

Science Patrol Member Daisuke Arashi is one of the character templates of the Ultra Series: the action-oriented, shoot-first defense team member who’s always ready to rumble with the monster of the week, whether it’s a smart move or not. This archetype has shown up many times since. The action-guy In Ultraseven, Furuhashi, is even played by the same actor who plays Arashi, Sandayu Dokumamushi. Defense teams need a person like this to balance the more peaceful and utopian approach the shows often take. There has to be someone around to say, “Let’s just shoot the damn thing!” even if that tactic rarely works. And poor Arashi has so often been wrong about shooting first.

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