Tag: Ultra Q

Ultra Q Ep. 10: The Underground Super Express Goes West

~ Ryan Harvey
Ultra Q Underground Super Express Goes West Train Arrives

Directed by Toshihiro Iijima. Written by Hiroyasu Yamaura and Toshihiro Iijima. Airdate March 5, 1966.

There’s no “typical” episode of Ultra Q. There are typical episode types, such as the straightforward giant monster stories like “Terror of the Sweet Honey” and “Tokyo Ice Age”; horror episodes like “Devil Child” and “Baron Spider”; the fairy tales of “Grow Up! Little Turtle” and “Kanegon’s Cocoon”; and Twilight Zone and Outer Limits-influenced episodes like “Open Up!” and “The ⅛ Project.” But if I had to pick one episode to represent Ultra Q at its most typically atypical, the episode that manages to pack everything in the writers’ room junk drawer into a half hour, this is it. The last episode produced of the original 28, it reveals the creative team at full power, making one of the crowning achievements of the show.

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Ultra Q Ep. 9: Baron Spider

~ Ryan Harvey
Kenji Sahara Ultra Q Baron Spider

Directed by Hajime Tsuburaya. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate Feb. 27, 1966.

It’s Halloween, Ultra Ghouls! I timed this review for a night in the lonesome October, of my most Ultra Q year.

There’s only a handful of Halloween Ultra episodes. That’s no stunner; the holiday isn’t celebrated in Japan the same way it is in North America. It’s only been in the last 15 years that Halloween has taken off in the country with large-scale parties celebrating the national love of cosplay. “More excuses to cosplay? Great, we’ll take it!” But back in the Showa and Heisei eras, a Halloween Ultra episode wouldn’t have much draw. Ultraman Tiga has a lighthearted seasonal romp, “On the Night of Halloween,” but there’s not much else in the series where you’ll find grinning Jack O’Lanterns, costumed trick-or-treaters, and cackling witches in wide-brimmed hats riding broomsticks.

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Ultra Q Ep. 8: Terror of the Sweet Honey

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Koji Kajita. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate Feb. 20, 1966.

Another forest-and-giant-monster story from writer Tetsuo Kinjo, following “Goro and Goro” and “S.O.S. Mount Fuji.” I’m unsure why TBS decided to air this right after “S.O.S. Mount Fuji,” considering the similarities, but the network likely was only thinking of front-loading Ultra Q with as many giant monster episodes as possible. From a big rock monster in the woods to a big mole monster in the woods, if that’s what draws the viewers… 

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Ultra Q Ep. 7: S.O.S. Mount Fuji

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Toshihiro Iijima. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo and Toshihiro Iijima. Airdate Feb. 13, 1966.

Mount Fuji has not erupted in over 250 years … and that can only mean another major eruption is imminent. But since this is the world of Ultra Q, we won’t witness any normal eruption. Instead, we’re going to see a monster formed from a conglomeration of igneous rocks battle a “Japanese Tarzan.” Why do anything normal when you can make good TV instead?

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Ultra Q Ep. 5: Peguila Is Here!

~ Ryan Harvey
Peguila emerges over a ridge

Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Written by Masahiro Yamada. Airdate Jan. 30, 1966.

Here’s a change of scenery, shifting from urban Tokyo to the desolate wastes of Antarctica. There’s another change, which is that Jun is the only member of the regular or semi-regular cast to appear. Without Yuriko and Ippei around to lighten the mood, this is the first episode to completely bypass humor — appropriate for a bleak, tense story set in one of the most hostile environments on Earth.

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Ultra Q Ep. 4: Mammoth Flower

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Koji Kajita. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate Jan. 23, 1966.

“Mammoth Flower” was the first episode of Ultra Q to go before cameras. Although it wasn’t designed specifically as an introductory episode, it makes an extra effort at world-building. Koji Ishizaka’s narration sounds like the original pitch for the show when it was still known as Unbalance: “Currently, a part of Mother Nature that surrounds us is starting to make a strange move. That’s right, this is a terrifying world where everything is unbalanced.” The exit narration mentions “the Unbalance Zone” with an invitation to viewers to tune in next week.

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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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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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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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