Good morning everyone,
Today’s review is going to examine an episode from the 1960s Japanese TV series “Ultraman.” Of note, this is the second in a series about the Ultra franchise. Click the following link, “Ultra Size Difference in Ultra Q!“, for the first review. The original Ultraman aired from July 1966 until April 1967 for a total of 39 episodes on TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) Television.
Ultra Q was popular right off the bat. Accordingly, the production company Tsuburaya Productions started work on a follow-on series while Ultra Q was still on the air. Moreover, this new show would be in color, not just black and white.
The protagonists in Ultra Q dealt with aliens, strange phenomenon, and various monsters of different shapes and sizes. Although, the human leads were not strictly speaking focused on bizarre events. Researching and stopping supernatural threats was not their job per se. Instead, Ultra Q’s protagonists were two aviators, Ippei Togawa and Jun Manjome, who worked together at Hoshikawa Air Service, and Yuriko Edogawa, a reporter who worked at the Daily News. For the next show the creators wanted a dedicated team to deal with aliens and monsters. Thus, the SSSP (Science Special Search Party) a.k.a. the Science Patrol was born.
The Science Patrol (headquartered in Paris) combat and research aliens and kaiju. The new show focused on a five-member Science Patrol team based in Japan. Those team members, shown in the following picture, were Mitsuhiro Ide (back row on the left) inventor and comic relief character, Daisuke Arashi (back row on the right) sharp shooter and skilled combatant, Toshio Muramatsu (front row on the left) the leader, Akiko Fuji (front row in the middle) the communications officer, and Shin Hayata (front row on the right) deputy leader and main protagonist.
In the first episode of Ultraman one of the team members, Shin Hayata (front right in the above image), was accidentally killed during a mid-air collision with a spacecraft piloted by an Ultra alien, a champion of the Land Of Light, from Nebula M78. (SIDE NOTE: Not to be confused with the Ghost Head Nebula, cosmic prison for my devious alter ego Solomon E!)
Feeling remorse, the Ultra alien bought the slain man back to life and merged with him. (As you do…) From then on whenever Hayata activated his beta capsule he transformed into Ultraman who could fire energy beams from his hands and stood 40 meters tall according to the official web site. Hayata kept this alter-ego a secret from the rest of his team. While powerful Ultraman was also limited and could only maintain his form for three minutes. When that time was nearly exhausted a color timer (or warning light) on his chest flashed to warn him.
Ultra Q walked so Ultraman could run!
It became an important franchise in Japan as noted in this following quote from Mark Schilling in a 2006 Japan Times article celebrating the 40th anniversary:
The “Ultraman” live-action science-fiction series has been a rite of passage for Japanese boys (and a few girls) and their families for four decades now, since the first show was aired in 1966.
Many new movies and series have appeared since that 2006 article. A May 31, 2023 article for nippon.com, read the later English version here, reported that the franchise had created more than 40 related series over the last 60 years.
United Artists Television purchased the rights to the first Ultraman show which was syndicated on America TV, but it did not have significant pop culture impact in America like it did in Japan. Growing up in pre-Internet Alaska I was a huge fan of Godzilla and other giant monsters. So, I would gladly have watched an action-packed monster of the week show. Yet, I was entirely unaware of Ultraman’s existence until adulthood. I never saw United Artists dubbed version.
Despite its lackluster promotion in the U.S., Ultraman still influenced creators across the globe. In a July 2013 Entertainment Weekly article by Carrie Bell, Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (creator of “Pacific Rim“) cited Ultraman as one of his influences. Other artists and authors used Ultraman as inspiration for adult-oriented media ranging from Ultima-Woman in the U.S. to GIGANT manga and Gigantic Heroine HyperMommy movies in Japan.
Initially, the proposal included a benevolent monster called “Bemular” as the main hero. As development progressed, the creators decided they wanted a hero who would not be confused with monsters. They chose the silver humanoid Ultraman as the lead. Bemular became the threat in the first episode instead of Earth’s defender.
In this particular Ultraman episode, number 33 禁じられた言葉 “Forbidden Words,” the alien Mefilas attempted to conquer Earth! Not being a typical alien invader the extraterrestrial considered himself a gentleman and needed an Earthling to say “I will give you the Earth.” Thus, the episode’s title Forbidden Words.
The action began with Fuji and Hayata plus Fuji’s younger brother Satoru watching an air show. Suddenly, a strange disembodied began to speak, presumably telepathically, to Satoru. That was Mefilas and he promised that the boy would soon see something noteworthy. Sure enough a oil tanker (a large ship used to transport petroleum products) flies through the sky! (SIDE NOTE: For those unfamiliar, tankers normally travel through water not air 😉 ) Further demonstrating his power, Mefilas exploded the tanker! Then he lifted the trio’s car up into the air to capture them.
The three other team members flew their Jet VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft to investigate.
They discovered the missing car along with a great deal of debris floating in outer space which had been brought there by some sort of anti-gravity device. However, they were unable to recover their kidnapped companions. Meanwhile, Mefilas became frustrated that Satoru would not give up Earth in exchange for ruling another world.
The remaining Science Patrol members returned to Earth and discovered that their missing communications officer had become a mind-controlled giantess numbly walking through Tokyo.
Cops fired several rounds at Fuji until her team members convinced the police to hold their fire. Fuji then vanished and was replaced by Baltan, a previously vanquished monster from an earlier episode. Zarab and Kemur, from Ultra Q, was also brought back. Apparently, Mefilas not only had the power to make Fuji big, but could also resurrect and control multiple monsters.
Eventually, circumstances led to a fight between Mefilas himself and Ultraman which ended in a draw when Mefilas admitted that he could not convince Satoru to give up Earth.
This was a fun story, but a little odd. Satoru was a good kid who refused to turn over our world. Nonetheless, there was no reason why Satoru should decide humanity’s fate. If Satoru had said the forbidden words was the rest of mankind supposed to accept his decision? Would the United Nations Security Council meekly acquiesce to a promise given by a random adolescent?
This were a few other missed opportunities as well. For instance, there were no growth or shrinking scenes. Fuji simply appeared as a giantess and later reappeared at normal size. She also did not pick up people or interact with them.
There could have been dramatic tension if giantess Fuji had fought Ultraman. After all, she was being controlled and was not responsible for her actions. The Science Patrol already had to stop cops from shooting her. Ultraman would then have to struggle between his desire to halt Fuji’s rampage and his desire not to harm her.
Alas, this dramatic possibility was lost when Fuji simply faded out. The concluding fight scene was only between Ultraman and an enlarged Mefilas. That enabled Ultraman to engage “mano a mano” (and energy beam vs energy beam) with his opponent without fear of injuring a co-worker and friend.
Overall, I cannot recommend this episode to giantess fans. The giantess scene was too brief and inconsequential. The sequence could have been completely removed without changing the final outcome. (SIDE NOTE: Mefilas returned several times in subsequent Ultraman productions. In 2022’s “Shin Ultraman,” seen below, Mefilas enlarged and controlled yet another woman! I will review that movie sometime down the road.)
While giantess fans won’t get much out of it kaiju lovers should definitely watch the original Ultraman. The creature designs by Tohl Narita were quite creative. To give just one example, Pestar was two starfish joined together by the head of a bat!
Hard to find a one-piece with two arm holes, one (or three?) neck holes, and four leg holes.That’s it for today folks. The next review will cover the 2024 American romantic thriller “Love Lies Bleeding.” Until then, keep growing!
This review was written by SolomonG and is protected under Fair Use copyright law.
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There She Grows 