The theme song is perfect 60's cheese, right up there with Speed Racer. The base color backgrounds emphasized by various monster silhouettes look fantastic as well. It's all worth checking out. Really, go do it if you haven't seen it already.
Synopsis
The very first episode of Ultraman opens on two colored orbs in space, one (blue) being pursued by the other (red). We're told next that there exists in this world something known as the "Science Patrol", and that they indeed patrol the whole world (but probably just Japan, right?) on the lookout for scientific anomalies, I guess. Back then they had less radioactive meltdowns to worry about and just spent their time looking for monsters.
Up first from Science Patrol is Hayata. He's out flying around in his jet when he comes across the two flying orbs which have now entered Earth's atmosphere. The blue sphere descends into a lake, making a whole lot of commotion while doing so. This disrupts the ebb and flow of a nearby beach/camping party, who's occupants become transfixed on the events to follow.
The red orb, which apparently got lost in it's pursuit of the blue one arrives a few minutes later... and crashes into Hayata on it's way down from space. The rest of Science Patrol is informed of the dual UFO's appearance, and that one of them collided with their ship. They try to reach Hayata but he's not answering. It's decided that the time for action is now! The rest of group remove their clothes (slacks with leg-side zippers!) to reveal their fancy orange outfits underneath.
While Science Patrol heads to the scene, Hayata's body is enveloped by the red orb. A voice educates an unconscious Hayata and an unwitting audience (me) that he is Ultraman. He says other things, like he heils from Nebula M78 and that he was chasing a monster named Bemular. Whether or not these are true remain to be seen. He states that since he accidentally ran him over and killed him, he's willing to merge life forces and just live inside him. That's a big commitment to bestow upon a man who's knocked out cold. Finally, he gives Hayata something called a beta capsule, and claims that when he uses it he'll become Ultraman.
The red orb, which apparently got lost in it's pursuit of the blue one arrives a few minutes later... and crashes into Hayata on it's way down from space. The rest of Science Patrol is informed of the dual UFO's appearance, and that one of them collided with their ship. They try to reach Hayata but he's not answering. It's decided that the time for action is now! The rest of group remove their clothes (slacks with leg-side zippers!) to reveal their fancy orange outfits underneath.
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| Style Patrol! |
While Science Patrol heads to the scene, Hayata's body is enveloped by the red orb. A voice educates an unconscious Hayata and an unwitting audience (me) that he is Ultraman. He says other things, like he heils from Nebula M78 and that he was chasing a monster named Bemular. Whether or not these are true remain to be seen. He states that since he accidentally ran him over and killed him, he's willing to merge life forces and just live inside him. That's a big commitment to bestow upon a man who's knocked out cold. Finally, he gives Hayata something called a beta capsule, and claims that when he uses it he'll become Ultraman.
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| Use the beta capsule and you'll become Ultram... are you listening? |
Science Patrol ... well, patrols for Hayata among the area of his ship's wreckage. The search goes through the night and into the next day. We meet Fuji, who seems to be Science Patrol's operator. She inquires about Hayata's whereabouts but the Captain says no such luck. Someone enters the room with Fuji and... oh, man. Ah damn. It's a Kenny. For those unawares, Kennies are little boys in Japanese sci-fi media. The main one that comes to mind is the child from the original Gamera film. Kennies are usually seen wearing unnecessarily short shorts. Anyway, Hoshino is the name of this particular little boy and he's worried about Hamata. The Captain reiterates that they're looking for him still, and not to worry.
Back at the lake, a big reason to worry starts bubbling up from underneath the lake. Our first kaiju that - I'm only assuming here - we're going to see Ultraman fight. This must be Bemular. He's a lanky reptilian with short, dangly arms and a knack for sounding a hell of a lot like Godzilla. (turns out it is infact a modified Godzilla roar.) Science Patrol wastes no time in a moment I really like, where they all whip out their guns and start blasting Bemular from the shore of the lake. You never see many people vs. kaiju action - Attack on Titan notwithstanding. To be perfectly fair to Bemular, he didn't really do anything wrong. He surfaced from the lake and Science Patrol just started blasting away, to which he just submerged once again. I guess "benefit of the doubt" isn't under scientific jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, Hayata calls Fuji and lets her know he's alright, and to send the S16 submarine to the lake where the Bemular's hanging out at. She does so, but the rest of Science Patrol doesn't believe that Hayata called her, and even make jokes about her talking to ghosts. So much for believing he's still alive. To make things even better, the guys land on "Even though she's one of us, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact she's a girl and they're very hard to figure out." Right on cue, Hayata shows up in a speeder boat and heads out to the submarine to attack the monster.
The next ten minutes or so are a back and forth between Hayata attacking Bemular in the submarine, to the monster surfacing and attacking the Science Patrol in their jet. Bemular decides enough is enough and drags the submarine out onto the surface, and destroys it with his decidedly Godzillaish beam breath. Hayata, remembers that he has the power to become a superhero, and probably wonders why he didn't use it way earlier. What happens next is essentially a wrestling match between Ultraman and Bemular. Despite being lakeside, they still manage to crush a few cottages amongst their brawl. The monster tries to escape by fleeing the planet in orb form, but Ultraman isn't having any of that and blasts it away with some sort of hand beam.
Hayata reunites with his crew after the threat is thwarted. For some reason, Hayata decides to take a turn for the deceitful and lies about the following things:
So this is our hero for this series, huh? I guess it's better than the tried and true boring boy scout type. I know that secret identities are a trope in these Japanese superhero shows so I can't really complain. Still kind of a dick way to go about it though, Hayata.
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| He's the first kaiju to appear on Ultraman, and he's pleased as punch about it! |
Meanwhile, Hayata calls Fuji and lets her know he's alright, and to send the S16 submarine to the lake where the Bemular's hanging out at. She does so, but the rest of Science Patrol doesn't believe that Hayata called her, and even make jokes about her talking to ghosts. So much for believing he's still alive. To make things even better, the guys land on "Even though she's one of us, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact she's a girl and they're very hard to figure out." Right on cue, Hayata shows up in a speeder boat and heads out to the submarine to attack the monster.
The next ten minutes or so are a back and forth between Hayata attacking Bemular in the submarine, to the monster surfacing and attacking the Science Patrol in their jet. Bemular decides enough is enough and drags the submarine out onto the surface, and destroys it with his decidedly Godzillaish beam breath. Hayata, remembers that he has the power to become a superhero, and probably wonders why he didn't use it way earlier. What happens next is essentially a wrestling match between Ultraman and Bemular. Despite being lakeside, they still manage to crush a few cottages amongst their brawl. The monster tries to escape by fleeing the planet in orb form, but Ultraman isn't having any of that and blasts it away with some sort of hand beam.
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| At this moment, I'm gleefully unaware of what this thing is called. |
Hayata reunites with his crew after the threat is thwarted. For some reason, Hayata decides to take a turn for the deceitful and lies about the following things:
- Not knowing the monster was defeated
- Not explaining to his friends what happened after the crash
- Not telling his friends that he was and is Ultraman
- That Ultraman didn't have a name, and fakes thinking up the name "Ultraman"
So this is our hero for this series, huh? I guess it's better than the tried and true boring boy scout type. I know that secret identities are a trope in these Japanese superhero shows so I can't really complain. Still kind of a dick way to go about it though, Hayata.
Afterword
I have a love for this whole genre, so I have to admit that it was very exciting to see the beginning of such a lush and in depth series. The Science Patrol seems like a good idea for centralized characters, as their occupation will lead to plenty of entertaining stories... at least I hope. I find it interesting that there were a few Godzilla-heavy elements in this pilot episode. Bemular's fire breath looks just about identical to Godzilla's, and his roar is definitely borrowed from Toho, being only slightly altered. Also, an alarm goes off in the control room that sounds very similar to one of the sounds Ghidorah makes. I don't know anything about the television business and lawsuits, but my initial thought is they'd want to stray away from biting off of Toho's creations in their establishing episode.
This Ultraman suit is the roughest I've ever seen it, but that's to be expected in it's debut. I can't wait for the day that it looks nice and sleek and there aren't any slits in his mask for the actor to see out of. That's going to be part of the fun in watching these in order - seeing the suit and special effects get gradually better and better.
Today's monster was Bemular, a somewhat dopey bipedal horny-toad looking fellow. The actor in the suit had his arms down at his sides at all times, as it ruined the desired appearance of the kaiju's little T-rexy arms. This gives off a humorous look as the arms just kind of dangle about - especially when Ultraman tosses him around. He has a nice array of action figures out there, though at this point I'm unsure of how popular any and all Ultra-kaiju are or if he has a special place in history for breaking Ultraman's battle cherry.
That about wraps it up for my first step on this insane, unnecessary journey. Here's to the last time I can ever say "I've only seen one episode of Ultraman."
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