Tag: Showa

Ultra Q Ep. 3: The Gift From Space

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hajime Tsuburaya. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate Jan. 16, 1966.

We have the Ultra series’ first alien creature, a monster Martian slug, which is also the first fully original kaiju design seen on the show. Resident scientific genius Professor Ichinotani (Ureo Egawa) makes his debut. There’s a freaky theme about humanity intruding where we’re not wanted. And Jun gets into a fistfight with a thief dressed up to audition for a Yakuza gangster flick. Best episode so far!

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Ultraman Ep. 2: Shoot the Invader

~ Ryan Harvey
shoot-the-invader

Written and Directed by Toshihiro Iijima.* Airdate July 24, 1966.

The second Ultraman episode aired, although the first shot, starts with comic character Ide breaking the fourth wall to address the TV audience. He wants to explain how he got his black eye. We flashback to hear the story — which has almost nothing to do with Ide’s black eye and everything to do with the first full alien invasion of the Ultra Series. These invasions would happen with some, uhm, frequency throughout the rest of the franchise. The fourth-wall breaking is not as common, but Ultraman is already training its viewers to expect the unexpected.

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Ultra Q Ep. 2: Goro and Goro

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hajime Tsuburaya. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate Jan. 7, 1966.

If you have Godzilla in disguise in the first episode of your monster TV show, why not have King Kong in disguise in the second? It must have made sense for the Tokyo Broadcasting Service, who picked “Goro and Goro” for Ultra Q’s second aired episode. The monster star, one of the two Goros of the title, is a slightly modified King Kong costume built for the movie King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962). 

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Ultraman Ep. 1: Ultra Operation No. 1

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hajime Tsuburaya. Written by Testuo Kinjo and Shinichi Sekizawa. Airdate July 17, 1966.

Unlike Ultra Q, which has no introductory episode and drops viewers into the middle of its premise, Ultraman begins with an episode that establishes its formula and explains its alien hero, the Science Special Search Party, and their various tools of the trade. It fits this all in the space of a half-hour span while still finding enough time for action and a fight with a big monster. That’s a lot to do, and while “Ultra Operation No. 1” isn’t the strongest episode of the series, it checks off all the boxes it needs to and leaves viewers ready to see more. 

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Ultraman Ep. 0: The Birth of Ultraman

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Akio Jissoji. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate July 10, 1966.

We have to start here — I write with some embarrassment for the poor Tsuburaya Productions team. This “pilot” episode for Ultraman is just a live stage show taped in black-and-white to promote the actual show debuting the next week. “The Birth of Ultraman” exists because Tsuburaya Pro desperately needed more time to finish episodes before the premiere date of Ultraman, and this was the quickest way for the Tokyo Broadcasting System to get something on the air to create a buffer. TBS could have gone ahead and broadcast the last remaining episode of Ultra Q, but because it wasn’t a monster-centered episode, they delayed it for over a year and a half to leap right into … this.

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Ultra Q Ep. 1: Defeat Gomess!

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hajime Tsuburaya. Written by Toshihiro Ijima (writing as Kitao Senzoku). Airdate Jan. 2, 1966.

It’s the first Sunday night of a new year. You switch on the TV at 7 p.m. to the Tokyo Broadcasting System to check out the premiere of a new program from that special effects guy who does those monster flicks. You hear the sounds of eerie groaning and metallic squealing as mysterious swirls coalesce into the title “Ultra Q.” Then comes the deep, Serling-esque voice of Koji Ishizaka…

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Ultra Q: An Introduction

~ Ryan Harvey

My plan for these show introductions is to keep them short(ish). This is one of the exceptions. As the launch site for a mammoth franchise, Ultra Q demands a deeper look into its background and an introduction to several of the key figures in the history of the franchise. And I’m still going to have to skim over a lot. 

My succinct description of Ultra Q for newcomers is “The Twilight Zone meets Godzilla meets The X-Files.” That still isn’t quite right — once you see an episode like “Kanegon’s Cocoon,” the wheels of categorization fly right off — but it positions Ultra Q in a succession of genre archetypes that makes sense.

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