Review: Ultraman Episode 14: The Pearl Defense Directive

 

Ultraman Episode #14

The Pearl Defense Directive

Original Air Date: October 16th, 1966

Directed by: Akio Jissoji

Screenplay by: Mamoru Sasaki

Review by: Toku Tom Fool

Our fourteenth episode begins with Fuji and Ide shopping. Holy crap, it's an actual episode for Akiko Fuji! We find out that pearls are Fuji's birthstone and she just got paid so she wants to spend that money. She can't spend the money on pearls though because they have become too expensive. All the good cultured pearls keep going missing so the jewelry shops have to drive up the prices. This angers Fuji and she's going to find out the reason why the pearls are going missing. She assumes it's a monster and the next scene confirms it for us as a giant monster kills two guys in a vehicle and sucks down some pearls. 

The monster is called Gamakujira and the SSSP are tasked with taking it out after the death of the men in the vehicle. They do their usual fly around the monster and try to attack but it doesn't work as their machine gets damaged by the monster. This would be a good time to Hayata to turn into Ultraman but they instead camp overnight. I mean Hayata would have the cover of darkness. He could take Gamakujira out pretty easily. The end of the episode even confirms how easily he can beat this monster. 

While they wait overnight, Gamakujira starts snacking on some pearls. This drives Fuji crazy because she loves pearls way too much. She's shouting at this monster while all the guys just shake their head. I love Muramatsu's reaction the most. He's ready for bed.

The next morning, the SSSP has planes that work again. Ide and Muramatsu are flying in one plane and Hayata is in another. They are worried the monster is going to start snacking on pearls in major cities. This is very similar to the oil monster from the last episode. The SSSP uses their classic balloon technique they used a few episodes ago to keep track of Gamakujira. Plus the balloons are explosive so they are good to shoot. They do shoot at the balloons and it just makes the monster angry. Time for the next plan which is trapping the monster in giant electric net. This again makes Gamakujira angry and he knocks Hayata's plane out of the sky which crashes into a rocky area. Inexplicably, Hayata survives another crash that should be fatal. 

Gamakujira makes it to land where he starts to harass some women for their pearls. This once again angers Fuji. Arashi comes up with the brilliant plan of disguising pearls as bombs because Arashi loves blowing things up. This plan does work as the monster falls for it and the bombs start blowing up in and around Gamakujira. It's not going down without a fight though because it keeps going. Fuji finds Hayata who comes up with the idea of firing a rocket into the backside of Gamakujira to send him up into space. It seems like a silly idea but they do indeed shoot a rocket into the monster's butt. 

This is when Hayata transforms into Ultraman. We get a slightly new look for Ultraman too. The head is looking better and the eyeholes for the suit actor aren't as obvious as they were on the old head. What is Ultraman's great plan this time? He's going to fly right into Gamakujira in the air. Of course! This causes an explosion and Gamakujira is dead. Ultraman is fine. He flies away like nothing happened. He probably could have easily beaten this monster overnight but oh well. Maybe he really needed the monster to eat some pearl bombs. 

The episode ends right where it began. Fuji and Ide are shopping again but this time she can afford the pearls because the price went down. She buys pearl necklaces, earrings, and even a ring. She also has a bunch of wrapped gifts that she makes Ide carry. Why is Ide carrying all this stuff for her? They aren't dating as far as I know. I guess Ide felt bad about making fun of Fuji's love of pearls and she's punishing him by making him carry all these presents. Ide is a better guy than I am and I respect my guy for that.

This episode was so boring. I got excited by the prospect of a Fuji episode and I didn't feel like she came off very well in it. Ide mentioned in the first scene that he didn't think Fuji was the type of woman to get excited about jewelry and I felt the same way. I mean it's okay to like jewelry but she seemed a little too overboard with it. I do like that Ide is a good guy to take anywhere. He works in every environment. 

Muramatsu, Hayata, and Arashi get to do their usual routines. Muramatsu flies a plane and gives orders but I can't forget his great facepalm reaction. Hayata almost dies again but miraculously doesn't before turning into Ultraman and Arashi still enjoys blowing up monsters. Oh, Hoshino missed another episode which is becoming more common than I thought it would. Gamakujira, the pearl eating monster, wasn't that interesting to watch and Ultraman didn't even really fight it which is the second episode in a row we've been robbed of an Ultraman fight. It was just an all around yawner. 

"Terrifying Cosmic Rays" is the title for episode 15 of Ultraman. That's a very blah title if I ever saw one. Those rays better be terrifying or else I'll be very disappointed. You can find out if I get disappointed on Twitter @TokuTomFoolery where I will be live tweeting episode 15 of Ultraman and all other episodes as well. See you there!