Ultra Q

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I was a big fan of Ultraman when I was a kid. In the early ‘90s I discovered there was a new “Ultraman” show, but unfortunately I was more interested in acquiring episodes of the old show on VHS than I was episodes of the new one. Somewhat later I discovered that there have been many, many “Ultraman” series over the years, rivaling Doctor Who in its longevity. A brief search of the internet yields the following results (but I’ve probably missed a few).

Ultra Q  
Ultraman 1966-67
UltraSeven 1967-68 
Return of…(Jack) 1971-72 
Ultraman Ace 1972-73 
Ultraman Taro 1973-74 
Ultraman Leo 1974-75 
Ultraman 80 1980-81 
Ultraman USA (The Adventure Begins) 1987
Ultraman Great (Towards the Future) 1990-91 
Ultraman Powered (The Ultimate Hero) 1993 
Ultraman Hero 1995
Ultraman Zearth (parody) 1996-97 
Ultraman Tiga 1996-97 
Ultraman Dyna 1997-98 
Ultraman Gaia 1998-99 
Ultraman Nice 1999-00
Ultraman Neos 2000-2001
Ultraman Cosmos 2001-02 
Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy 2004 
Ultraman: Next 2004 - p.82
Ultraman Nexus 2004-05 - p.82
Ultraman Max 2005-06 - p.86
Ultraman Mebius 2006-07 - p.91
Ultraman UltraSeven X 2007 - p.99
UltraGalaxy: Mega Monster Battle 2007-2009 - p.100
Ultraman Retsuden 2011-13
Neo Ultra Q 2013
Ultraman Ginga 2013 
Ultraman Ginga S 2014 
Ultraman X 2015-16 
Ultraman Orb 2016 
Ultraman Geed 2017 
Ultraman R/B 2018
Ultraman Taiga 2019
Ultraman Z 2020
Ultraman Trigger 2021
Ultraman Decker 2022
Ultraman Blazar 2023
Ultraman Arc 2024
Ultraman Omega 2025
Ultraman Theo 2026

We’ve been discussing other tokusatsu series in this forum lately, and because those series were produced later than Ultraman, I expected them to be technically better, but I ended up being somewhat disappointed in Super Robot Red Baron and Iron King. I enjoyed them, but I didn’t like them as much as I hoped to. Now I’ve started watching Ultraseven, and it’s everything I hoped it would be.

As the liner noteson the DVD set point out, “the difference in the overall quality in production between Ultraman and Ultraseven was marked, and made the show memorable 45 years later. According to Wikipedia, “Such is his popularity that Ultra Seven (or simply 'Seven') has appeared or at least made cameos in nearly every Ultra Series following his own and has had far more exposure than even the original Ultraman (though the original Ultraman is without a doubt the face of the Ultras).”

My wife and I disagree about the relative merits of Ultraseven in comparison to SRRB/IK. I would like to start the discussion with a look at the opening title sequence and music, then open the floor for rebutal.

The title sequence of Ultraman, as you will recall, looks as if it had been spelled out in a can of paint, slowly stirred, then run backwards. Ultraseven looks more like it had been spelled out in brightly colored confetti, placed atop one of those old electric football games, shaken apart, then run backwards. Whereas the soundtrack of Ultraman is jazzy, that of Ultraseven shows more of a classical influence.

Here is the English translation of the lyrics…

Seven… Seven… Seven… Seven…

Seven! Seven! Seven!
Seven! Seven! Seven!

A distant star was once his home
Ultra Seven! Fighter Seven!
Ultra Seven! Seven! Seven!

Onward to the edge of the galaxy
Use your Ultra-Eye and… STRIKE!
Seven! Seven! Seven!
Seven! Seven! Seven!

Dan Moroboshi is his borrowed name
Ultra Seven! Hero Seven!
Ultra Seven! Seven! Seven!

Defeat the great fire-breathing monster
Use yout Ultra-Beam and STRIKE!

[The Baron]

Episode 5: "Monstrous Meltdown"

1. A truck driver (played by Bill Mumy) reports a breakdown with a broken radiator hose.  Keynes, a nucler power plant boss, arrives with a spare part. However, the ground opens up and swalllows the driver, and a monster emerges. While it is not named in the episode, this monster is Gabora (or "Powered Gabora"), another revamped Ultraman critter. (I guess the critters in this series are called "Powered (Name)" in the Japanese version of this series.)
2. WINR investigates, but a pigheaded miner insists on blasting to find a moving uranium mine.This guy seems oddly unsurprised by the thought of a moving uranium mine and oddly dismissive of  the existence of a monster, considering the number of public monster attacks that there have been. Gabora appears again and steps on a toy car and the miner.  It eats uranium and is highly radioactive. Kai tries to distract Gabora, but is injured.
3. Cap grounds the injured Kai back at HQ when the team goes out after Gabora, which, if you think about  it, would make it easier for him to become Ultraman surreptitiously.
4. Gabora attacks a nuclear plant. WINR attacks to little effect. The plant is damaged and begins to overheat.
5. Kai transforms to Ultraman and battles Gabora, defeating it with assistance from WINR.

Overall: Another OK episode.I sure hope that the WINR team got examined for radiation exposure, considering the amount time that they spent wandering around outside near a highly radioactive monster. The model work on this series continues to be really bad. You would expect better from a company with the Tsuburaya name on it.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

A truck driver (played by Bill Mumy)...

The hilight of the episode.

The model work on this series continues to be really bad.

Agreed.

[The Baron]

I meant to mention that the nuclear plant seems to have been repaired by some guy wrapping duct tape around a hose. I get the impression that the writer didn't  know how nuclear plants - or radiation, for that matter - work.

[The Baron]

Episode 6: "A Father's Love"

1. Karen Miller, the teenage daughter of Young's older sister Patty, believes that her father, Jamra, who was an astronaut who disappeared on a Jupiter mission, has returned and wants her to follow him. She sees a monster walking through her neighborhood. Jamra (a.k.a. Powered Jamila) is another revamped Ultraman monster. Jamra is named after Djamila Bouhired, an Algerian independence activist who was tortured by the French.
2. Young and Patty commisserate over ice cream.
3. WINR investigates, but info on the Jupiter mission is classified. Young hears that Karen never showed up at school, so  she lies her way into having Kai go with her to investigate. They find Karen at a  local overlook, but two feds are there to kidnap her. Jamra monsterizes, but the feds escape with Karen.
4. Back at WINR HQ, Young speculates that Ultraman has a human identity.  The feds order Cap to back off.  Cap suspends Kai, Young and Beck and tells them that what they do on thier own time is their business (ewink, wink).
5. The suspendees trsck down Jamra, but behaves like he is possessed. The feds show up with Karen in tow. They want to study Jamra in hopes of creating an army like him. They try to tranquilize him, but he laughs this off and monsterizes.  Karen escapes from the feds, after which Jamra steps on them.
6. Kai transforms into Ultraman and fights Jamra, who proceeds to kick his arse. Karen appeals to hia human side, causing him to pause long enough to allow Ultraman to reluctantly zap him. Karen vows to become an astronaut like her father.  Be funny if there was a sequel ten years later where she becomes a space monster, too.

Overall: Another OK episode. Jamila is both creepy and goofy.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"My Home is Earth," the episode of the original series which introduced Jamila, is one of the most memorable to me. Everything I know today of empathy and compassion I trace directly back to this episode. I just rewatched it to refresh it in my mind. I see now that it's not just the story, but also the melancholy soundtrack and the creature's pitiful wail, especially as Ultraman tortures it to death as it writhes in the mud, which makes it such a poweful episode. 

OTOH, when Jamra met its fate I had no emotional attachment to it whatsoever. 

[The Baron]

Episode 7: "Fires Below", a.k.a. "The Fires Beneath"

1. Loggers encounter a forest fire that seems to spring from the very ground itself. A monster's cry is heard. Although it is not named in the episode, it is Zumbolar, or "Powered Zumbolar", another re-used Ultraman monster. WINR investigates the fires. An injured man says that the fires are alive.
2. On a side note, the characters in Powered are nolt as well-developed as the ones in Great, and those guys weren't all that deep themselves. Sanders' entire character is "Be as much of a jerk as possible".
3. WINR attacks, but their weapons have no effect because of the heat somehow. They try using an experimental space laser, but this doesn't work, either.
4. WINR tries to triangulate for a new attack, but Kai is trapped on the ground, and changes to Ultraman.
5. Ultraman confronts Zumbolar and appears to pray the fires out. Zumbolar is like, "Yeah, OK", and wanders off. Holy May-Ree, Mother of Rao, what the Hell kind of ending was that? I went so far as to dig out my DVD of the original Japanese episode and re-watched the final fight scene.Iin  that one, Ultraman beats the crap out of the critter and then exterminates it.

Overall: Kind of an underwhelming episode. Nice monster design, though.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

...it is Zumbolar... another re-used Ultraman monster.

Is it? I didn't recognize it. I was going to comment that I like the design of this monster. It's "scales" are evokative of flames or burning embers.

Ultraman confronts Zumbolar and appears to pray the fires out.

Will the fires out, I'd say. I was "multi-tasking" last night when I watched this episode, looked up at this point and thought, "Huh? Oh, well... if I missed something I'll let Bob explain it to me." So that did come pretty much out of left field.

Holy May-Ree, Mother of Rao, what the Hell kind of ending was that?

I took it that Zumbolar was some sort of "Earth kaiju" which made its point, then moved on.

[The Baron]

It was in Episode 32 "The Endless Counterattack".

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Ah, yes. "Powered Zumbolar" represents a somewhat extensive redesign.

[The Baron]

Episode 8: "The Dada Effect"

1. A guy named Mark Mitchell gets up and turns on his computer - which looks prehistoric - and then gets in the shower whi.e we see a virus called "DaDa" infecting his machine. He comes out of the shower humming the theme song and then sits at the computer which zaps him. DaDa (a.k.a. Powered Dada) is loosely based on the critter from Ultraman Episode 28 "Human Specimens 5 & 6".
2. The cops interview Mitchell's neighbor, who is played by - Holy sh*t, it's Rose Marie! Awesome.
3. There is nothing left of Mitchell except a pile of sand, which turns out to contain synthetic DNA mixed with Mitchell's DNA. WINR is called in and they investigate Mitchell's employer, NeuralNet. Another employee is killed, and more silicon is found. EWINR urges the company to shut their network down, but the company wants to tery and capture DaDa.
4. WINR decides to investigate a disgruntled ex-employee named Richard Merlin. Elsewhere, another employee is electronically sucked into an ATM.
5. Kai and Sanders arrive at Merlin's home just in time to see Merlin being sucked into his computer, after which a critter - easily the goofiest looking one yet - manifests and fights our heroes before issuing vague threats and disappearing. Kai and Sanders access Merlin's computer and learn that DaDa comes from some alternate computer dimension.
6. Elsewhere, DaDa escapes NeuralNet's attempts to capture it. WINR enters the company's HQ wearing special insulated suits. Cap says "reverse the polarities", but does not mention the neutron flow. DaDa manifests and WINR fights it unsuccessfully. Kai transforms into Ultraman while he's inside the building.  Not sure why thiis doesn't wreck the building. Perhaps the Beta Capsule has safety features that prevent that.
7. DaDa manifests outside at monster size. It throws toy cars at Ultraman who blasts its power source and then blasts the critter itself. NeuralNet agrees to dismantle its mainframe. However, in an ending worthy of an Elm Street movie, DaDa is shown to survive in a lone mainframe.

Overall: Another OK episode, let down a bit by the goofiness of its monster.