Review: Ultraman Episode 10 - The Mysterious Dinosaur Base

 

Ultraman Episode #10

The Mysterious Dinosaur Base

Original Air Date: September 18th, 1966

Directed by: Kazuho Mitsuta

Screenplay by: Tetsuo Kinjo

Review by: Toku Tom Fool

Our episode begins with a mad scientist character feeding some animals at his "Mysterious Dinosaur Base" and then he goes out to the lake to feed an even bigger monster he calls Jirahs. I like the look of the mad scientist. This show doesn't have a "Big Bad" character but this guy would have been a good one. 

The SSSP is called in to investigate why fish have been so easy to catch in Kitayama Lake. The reason is because our crazed scientist has been feeding fish to Jirahs but the SSSP doesn't have the information we do. Captain Muramatsu sends Hayata, Ide, and Arashi on the mission as he and Fuji stays behind at HQ. The trio sends a submarine into the lake to look for any anomalies but don't seem to find any in their search. Muramatsu is satisfied by this search so he gives the three men a vacation near the lake which pleases them. 

We're introduced to two new characters: Kubo and Hayashi. Kubo is a reporter and Hayashi is her cameraman. They are going to interview Professor Nakamura also referred to as "Monster Professor" who is the man we saw at the beginning of the episode. Monster Professor is funny to me since Professor Monster was the villain of Japanese Spider-Man. These two drive a car that resembles a Bowser car which would be twenty years early so it must be something else. Not sure why they even have a cool car as it isn't really noticed by any other character. 

Professor Nakamura allows them to interview him. He tells them all about dinosaurs and then Kubo asks him about the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland. She wants to know if he knew a Professor Nikaido who went missing fifteen years ago in Loch Ness. Nakamura says he did know Nikaido and that he went missing when he kept searching Loch Ness after his expedition team was discontinued. Nakamura then asks to use Hayashi's lighter which he attempts to steal and then he breaks it because Nakamura is a bit of a jerk. 

Now we go back to the hotel where I feel like a scene was deleted. Hayashi asks Hayata where Kubo went and Hayata tells him that she went night fishing with Ide. I've never seen these characters interact but they're already hanging out. That hotel they are staying at looks pretty cool with all the games they have. I would stay in it. 

Ide and Kubo spot a someone rowing in the lake so they decide to follow him. Ide wisely realizes the danger in this so he puts a SSSP logo on a tree for someone to find. They keep following and they end up in "The Mysterious Dinosaur Base" and Nakamura is not pleased. He pulls a gun on them and says he can't allow them to escape. He breaks Ide's communicator and then he doesn't shoot them for some reason. This is also when we get our first look at Jirahs. 

Hayata and Arashi try to communicate with Ide when they notice he has been gone too long. Fearing the worst, they call Captain Muramatsu and Fuji to the lake. A couple fisherman are poisoning fish in the lake and this causes Jirahs to come out of the lake. The Jirahs suit is made up of recycled Godzilla suits with some yellow paint and a neck frill. 

Nakamura is going crazy seeing his Jirahs out in the open. Arashi starts shooting at Jirahs with his Spider Shot gun but Nakamura stops him. Nakamura explains how he helped create Jirahs and make him what he is today. Muramatsu asks why Nakamura couldn't study dinosaurs scientifically like Professor Nikaido but we get the twist that Nakamura is Nikaido. I love that he removes a mask to reveal himself. 

Nikaido yells for Jirahs to start rampaging and Jirahs steps on him. He got what he deserved but what he always wanted. Ide fixes his communicator so everyone goes to look for him and Kubo except Arashi who stays to shoot at Jirahs some more. Arashi's shooting has no effect like usual which Hayata realizes so he sneaks off and turns into Ultraman. Now Ultraman vs. Jirahs, who looks like Godzilla, is a battle I'm dying to watch. It has a chance to be the best battle yet of the first ten episodes. 

It's not. I was hoping for this big epic battle but instead it's a comedy squash match. The battle seems promising at first. Jirahs shows off his power by destroying a rock with his Godzilla Atomic Breath move. Ultraman does the same using his Spacium Ray on a rock. Then the two start to brawl and Ultraman kicks his butt. After Ultraman lost in episode 7, he's been on a roll of completely decimating his opponents. He hasn't even had that weakness of running out of power since that episode. 

Here's how bad the battle goes for Jirahs. Ultraman taunts Jirahs and Jirahs runs at him and Ultraman pushes him to the ground like he's Hulk Hogan. Ultraman even laughs at this. Jirahs tries his atomic breath but Ultraman dodges him. Then Ultraman rips the neck frill off of Jirahs and taunts him with it like he's a bullfigher. Ultraman follows that by throwing Jirahs on the ground and jumping on him which is one of Ultraman's favorite moves. Jirahs gets up but Ultraman runs at him and does some sort of special move that causes Jirahs to bleed from his mouth and die. Ultraman then throws the frills back on the head of Jirahs to end the fight.

The episode ends with the team discussing how crazy it was for Nikaido to raise a dinosaur. We then see Nikaido crawling and yelling for Jirahs as he dies just like his monster. We never see Hayata again in the episode. Ultraman flew off when his timer started glowing. The timer has still been there but it hasn't had any impact on the fights. 

Overall, I liked that episode. This show had lacked a good non monster villain in the first ten episodes so it was good to get one. He had a pretty good story too as a guy that loved dinosaurs so much that he wanted to raise one as his own. I love that they incorporated the story of the Loch Ness Monster into the episode with Nikaido even getting Jirahs from Loch Ness. The only thing that really disappointed me in the episode was the Ultraman fight. I'd say the only reason I was disappointed was that I knew it was a Godzilla costume so I was expecting an epic fight. Instead it was a comedy match which I did find funny. If I hadn't known it was a Godzilla suit, I probably would have enjoyed the fight more. Regardless, I still think it's a pretty good episode. 

The title of this episode was pretty accurate as there was a dinosaur base so I'm hoping episode 11 is just as accurate. The title for episode 11 of Ultraman is "The Rascal from Outer Space" so someone from outer space better be showing up or I will complain on this blog. But until then, you can follow me on Twitter @TokuTomFoolery where I live tweet the episodes and still can't figure out how to make Twitter threads work right.