Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Written by Masahiro Yamada and Samaji Nonagase. Airdate Nov. 20, 1966.
I don’t have any deep analysis of this episode. That doesn’t mean it’s bad. Quite the opposite. But what works about it is its spectacular simplicity.
Continue reading “Ultraman Ep. 19: Demons Rise Again”
Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo and Samaji Nonagase. Airdate Nov. 13, 1966.
Ultraman has three classic sentient alien villains. We’ve already met Alien Baltan. Twice. Later we’ll meet Alien Mefilas, maker of dark deals. Today we meet Alien Zarab, who wants humanity to believe he’s their pal, the brother from another mother planet who’s looking out for Earth’s best interests — just like the aliens from the classic Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man.” And look how well that turned out.
Continue reading “Ultraman Ep. 18: Brother From Another Planet”
Directed by Toshihiro Iijima. Written by Keisuke Fujikawa. Airdate Nov. 6, 1966.
The most surreal Ultraman episode yet. That still places it below the strangest episodes of Ultra Q or an average episode of Ultraman Taro. Those shows set a high bar for weirdness, but “Passport to Infinity” makes a game effort at trippy and abstract excitement. Best of all, we get one of the Ultra series’ most memorable kaiju, Fourth Dimensional Monster Bullton, which resembles a heart valve as designed by Joan Miró.
Continue reading “Ultraman Ep. 17: Passport to Infinity”
Directed by Noriaki Yuasa. Written by Niisan Takahashi.
After two bland movies, the Gamera series at last discovers its niche and breaks out the good rubber-suited monster times.
Fans generally consider Gamera vs. Gyaos the best movie of the series. I won’t argue with that. The pacing, the monster battles, the cast, the blend of the human story with the big beastie action … it all comes together for an entertaining monster vs. monster show, and one of the best kaiju films of the Showa Era outside of Toho Studios’ output.
Continue reading “Toku Theater: Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967)”
Directed by Yasushi Okada. Written by Hidenori Miyazawa. Airdate Oct. 19, 1996.
Rena has her first star-turn in a heavy father-daughter drama mixed with an alien invader story. Until now, most of what we’ve seen of Rena has been teases about her possible romance with Daigo. Now Daigo steps into the background — and to an extent, so does Ultraman Tiga — for Rena to work out her family issues parallel to combating a manipulative alien who also has family issues.
Continue reading “Ultraman Tiga Ep. 7: The Man Who Came Down to Earth”
Directed by Akio Jissoji. Written by Mamoru Sasaki. Airdate Oct. 23, 1966.
Akio Jissoji returns with a fantastic episode that goes to a stranger place than his first, “The Pearl Defense Directive.” It’s another humorous outing, with similarities to “The Rascal From Outer Space.” Both feature enigmatic alien forces that cause comical monsters to materialize. But “Two-Dimensional Kaiju Gavadon” is a different type of comedy kaiju than the bratty Gango. Gavadon a lazy monster. Or maybe it’s just too peaceful.
Continue reading “Ultraman Ep. 15: Terrifying Cosmic Rays”
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.
Continue reading “Ultraseven Ep. 11: Fly to Devil Mountain”
Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate April 17, 1966.
At this point in the timeline of the Ultra universe, the people of Tokyo have got to be fairly terrified, right? In the past few months, their city has almost been destroyed by 1) a humongous alien floating blob that nearly drained all of Tokyo’s energy; 2) a giant penguin-walrus thingy that brought along its own Ice Age; and now 3) multiple alien constructs half the size of Tokyo Tower that look like frazzled Pokémon characters with skeletal hands and legs.
Continue reading “Ultra Q Ep. 16: Garamon Strikes Back”
Directed by Kyota Kawasaki. Written by Chiaki J. Konaka. Airdate Oct. 12, 1996.
The first episode centered on Horii, GUTS’s resident scientist and comedy character. Like Ide from Ultraman, Horii is much more than just “the funny guy” in the ensemble. He shines in this episode as he tries to solve a monster problem that he has a deep personal connection to. Add in a cool kaiju, Gazort — one of the most memorable creatures to debut in the show — and you have the best episode of Ultraman Tiga so far.
Continue reading “Ultraman Tiga Ep. 6: Second Contact”
Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Written by Masahiro Yamada. Airdate April 3, 1966.
The most terrifying monster of all has arrived: climate change! Yes, scientists already knew about this encroaching global threat in 1966 and were sounding the alarm bells. They didn’t, however, warn that melting Antarctic ice combined with nuclear power plant accidents would force the deep-freeze monster Peguila north to wreck wintry havoc! Would more people have paid attention if they did? I think so.
Continue reading “Ultra Q Ep. 14: Tokyo Ice Age”
The Ultra Project 