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!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

We open with a shoeshine boy (who is neither humble nor lovable)

"Bless you, sir."

This show isn't The Twilight Zone, it's The X-Files with Mulder, Scully and Gilligan!

Jimmy Olsen!

Ippei meets up with Yuriko on the train.

Lois Lane (but not the Noel Neill one, the Phyllis Coates one).

...a fish-lipped gorilla that's been in a fire.

Good description.

We end with the engine car shooting off into to space with M1 and Shoeshine Boy on board

This is another episode that ended rather "abruptly" I thought.

This is my least favorite episode so far.

Oh, I don't know. I thought of it more as themn "trying to avoid having every episode follow the same formula."

Maybe comedy just doesn't translate well.

The "one boy on the other boy's shoulders under an overcoat" gag may work in cartoons, but it never translates well into live action... not even when Our gang did it 90 years ago.

[The Baron]

Episode 11: "Balloonga"

1. Something  (hereafter  "Balloonga") attaches itself to a returning Saturn probe and causes it to crash. 
2. Jun and Yuriko fly to investigate, but their plane unexpectedly runs out of fuel. Ippei finds Balloonga in the plane. They drive away with Balloonga, but the car unexpectedly runs out of gas.  Balloonga - which has begun to grow rapidly - wrecks their car, and Ippei is badly hurt saving Yuriko.
3. Jun tells Yuriko about Professor Nagamaru, who encountered something like Balloonga years before. She researches the Professor even as he hears about Balloonga.
4. The air force attacks Balloonga, but it just absorbs the attacks.
5. Jun and Yuriko visit Ippei innnthe hospital. Then they go out and find the Professor even as a typhoon arrives. 
6. Based on the Professor's suggestion, a rocket with an artificial sun is launched out  into space, which lured Balloonga away from the Earth,

Overall: An OK episode with an interesting concept.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

This episode would pair well with the 1956 Academy Award-winning short French film The Red Balloon, which all of us of a certain age saw at least once in elementary school on 16mm.

 

[The Baron]

I've never heard of it. It must not have been  on the curriculum at Saint Anne's.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Really! It's not something I wouild have expected to be "on the curriculum" per se, more like a film the teacher shows when her lesson plans fall a half hour short. I probably saw it at every grade level in elementary school. That's not to disparage it, though. I have it on DVD (along with White Mane, another French short*), and when it came up on TCM a couple of weeks ago I watched it again.

Here's the HD TRAILER (39 seconds, doesn't really do it justice)

And here's the FILM ITSELF.

I've also added a link to the Red Balloon wiki page to the post above (and changed the graphic).

What about PADDLE TO THE SEA (1966)? Surely you were shown that in school, yes?

*Which I found so upsetting I have yet to watch it a second time.

[The Baron]

What about PADDLE TO THE SEA (1966)? Surely you were shown that in school, yes?

No, never heard of that one, either.

[The Baron]

Episode 12: "I Saw a Bird"

1. A zoo has been attacked and a surviving zookeeper says, "I saw a bird."
2. Oh, God, there's gonna be a "Kenny" in this episode, isn't there?"
3. A fishing villlage sees an ancient ship sail into  the bay. The Trio goes to investigate. They find a ship's log and a white bird, which flies away.  The ship melts and sinks.
4. The white bird lands on Kenny's boat and follows him home.  He names it  "Kuro", which is Japanese for  "Black".
5. The Trio visit Professor Mustache, who says that the ship's log is 998 years old, and ends with "I saw a bird".   He identifies the bird as "Larugeus", a supposedly extinct bird.
6. Kenny goes fishing with Kuro, then takes him home. Kuro flies away after Kenny falls asleep. The next day, several chickens have been murdered.
7. Kenny's real anme is "Saburo". Some guys try to drag Saburo away for crimes against Ingsoc or stealing a boat or something. Kuro attacks them, squawking, "Tippi Hedren died for your sins!" (I may have made that last bit up.)
8. The ocean patrol call Professor Mustache for his thoughts on the matter. The Trio race to investigate.
9. The villagers, who  are all comedy buffoos, are terrifiied of Saburo and Kuro, but the military (or the cops, I'm not sure) capture Kuro and lock it up.
10. Kuro turns into a large bird puppet and escapes, going all "Rodan" on the nearby city.
11. We end with the Trio hanging out with Saburo on the beach. Kuro flies over while Saburo begs to be taken with him. Kuro wisely refuses to saddle himself with the little loon and flies out to sea. And that's it. No definitive expklanqtion as to where the ship came from or what Kuro's connection with it was, and no attempt to ascertain that Kuro's not off to attack Funafuti or Quito or Medford, Oregon.

Overall: An OK episode with what felt to me like kind of an anticlimactic ending.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Oh, God, there's gonna be a "Kenny" in this episode, isn't there?

Oh, he's not so bad.

He names it  "Kuro", which is Japanese for  "Black".

As he himself points out, "That's an odd name for a white bird."

He identifies the bird as "Larugeus", a supposedly extinct bird.

Yuriko confirms that it's the same bird she saw on the ship, but Kuro doesn't have bat-wings.

"Tippi Hedren died for your sins!" (I may have made that last bit up.)

You may have made that part up, but Saburo does chase after them shouting, "Banzai!"

...the military (or the cops, I'm not sure) capture Kuro and lock it up.

One of them grabs it out of the sky in flight. Kuro kind of deserved to be caught, I'm thinking.

Kuro wisely refuses to saddle himself with the little loon and flies out to sea.

For a second there, I thought it was going to end like that one episode of Ultraman Great.

And that's it. No definitive explanation...

I'm all right with that. As Jack Kirby once said: "I'm a guy that lives with a lot of questions. If my life were to end tomorrow, my life would be fulfilled in that manner. 'The questions have been great.'"

An OK episode...

I think this is a series that exceeds the sum of its parts (episodes).

 

[The Baron]

For a second there, I thought it was going to end like that one episode of Ultraman Great.

Yeah, really.

[The Baron]

Episode 13: "Garadama"

1. A boy sees an unusually light meteorite fall to earth. He brings it to his teachers, who eventually bring it to the attention of Professor Mustache, who says it is an unearthly alloy. Meanwhile, there is worldwide radio interference.
2. The Professor, Jun and Ippei fly out to the scene where the meteorite landed, which near a lake created by a dam.
3. Two women take a boat ride on the lake, which is over a village that was flooded when the dam was built.. (This reminds me of the Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts, where four towns were flooded when it was made.)
4. A larger meteor lands in the lake, causing a great deal of damage. The boat with the two women in it is stranded on a mountainside.
5. Jun manages to reach Yuriko in Tokyo, and she heads off to Professr Mustache's lab.
6. Jun and Ippei set out to rescue the stranded women.
7. A monster (hereafter "Garamon") hatches from the meteor. If Garamon looks familiar, it's because  the Garamon costume was later re-painted and re-used as  Pigmon in Ultraman. I've no idea whether there's an in-story reason ever given for the resemblance, or even if Ultra Q and Ultraman take place in the same timeline. Jeff knows all of Ultra continuity inside and out, so he'll know.
8. The scientists at the lab are very patronizing to Yuriko even though she figures out that the small meteorite is Garamon's brain, and that they should try shielding it to cut off its signals to Garamon. The Earth would've been doomed if she hadn't been there. Not sure if it was a good idea for the aliens to leave Garamon's brain lying around where some kid could find it.
9. Garamon vaguely menaces the women in his inimitably goofy fashion. He smashes the boat, but the women are saved. It starts spazzing out and then smashes the dam. Once the scientists shield the brain, Garamon falls over dead.

Overall: An interesting episode with some interesting ideas, somewhat undercut by Gara/Pigmon being so tremendously goofy-looking. Apparently, this is the first episode where aliens use a monster to invade Earth.