Review: Ultraman Episode 15 - Terrifying Cosmic Rays

 

Ultraman Episode #15

Terrifying Cosmic Rays

Original Air Date: October 23rd, 1966

Directed by Akio Jissoji

Screenplay by: Mamoru Sasaki

Review by: Toku Tom Fool

You know this episode and the last episode had the same director as well as screenplay writer. Both episodes aren't very good. Coincidence? I actually think both episodes are directed well so I'm going to blame the screenplay writer or whoever came up with the idea for this episode and the last one.

On with the episode, it begins with children drawing their favorite monsters that Ultraman has battled except for two drawings. One kid drew Beethoven which would have been a better route for this episode to go in and our main kid, Mushiba, drew a crappy looking tadpole monster. No Hoshino in this episode which is strange for an episode with a bunch of kids. Did he get written out? Mushiba names his monster Gavadon and all the other kids make fun of him. 

Mushiba decides to draw Gavadon again but this time on a big old pipe in a construction site. The other kids make fun of Mushiba more and warn him of the guy that owns the site. Then they start helping Mushiba with the drawing. We finally get the SSSP in this episode and they are warned by the Cosmic Ray Research Center that there have been strange fluctuations in cosmic rays hitting the Earth. It all makes sense to me. Then the cosmic rays hit the construction site and the Gavadon drawing comes to life and my brain starts to fail. 

Mushiba and his friends are excited to see Gavadon come to life. The SSSP decides to attack the monster from the air and does hurt it but all the monster wants to do is sleep. Eventually the monster disappears once it gets dark. Paris SSSP sends a message mentioning how the cosmic rays make drawings and I wonder if Jim sent the message. Remember that episode where Ultraman was Noah from Noah's Ark. The SSSP somehow knew Mushiba drew the picture of the monster. How did they get this information?

Knowing Gavadon comes to life, Mushiba and the other children decide to redesign him to make him look cooler. The SSSP sits around talking about how the children are drawing this monster and instead decide to wait for tomorrow when Gavadon shows back up. Muramatsu wants to blow this monster up but Ide mentions that all the monster does is sleep so they shouldn't do anything. Muramatsu calls him an idiot which I think is uncalled for here. Arashi agrees with Ide so Muramatsu decides to go along with their plan of doing nothing. Gavadon returns the next day and it sleeps more. I wanted to sleep during this episode. 

Unfortunately, Gavadon's sleeping causes Japan's economy to crumble so he has to be dealt with or else. Muramatsu decides that tomorrow they will attack Gavadon and just have to accept the casualties. I'm starting to think he's a terrible captain. Ide once again comes up with the brilliant idea of finding the picture and erasing it. This time Arashi calls him an idiot because it's not their job to erase graffiti. This is so stupid. I bet Arashi just wants to blow the monster up with his Spider Shot. Muramatsu decides they are going to do their operation tomorrow. This episode is trash. 

The kids edit Gavadon more for his next day adventure. Gavadon does indeed return the next day and Muramatsu's operation is ready to blow him away. They have tanks and flamethrowers all firing at Gavadon but nothing seems to be working. All Gavadon does is sleep. The children are watching and yelling at the SSSP to stop hurting their monster. Hayata tries to get them out of the way but he falls in a river because we need an excuse for Hayata to transform into Ultraman. 

This Ultraman fight is the best part of the episode. It's also funny because the children are rooting against Ultraman. Ultraman does one of my favorite moves as he grabs Gavadon by the tail and swings him around which I'm always going to cheer. He really goes to town on this monster. Ultraman snaps him over his head and throws him down as the children cry. It's great! Ultraman eventually lifts Gavadon up and flies him into space to end the battle. 

The following night, the children are still upset about Gavadon's defeat to Ultraman. Ultraman then appears in the sky to tell them that he will let them see Gavadon every year in the starry sky. They don't even get to see the real thing. Just some stars. It doesn't seem like a fair trade to me. The kids must feel the same because the next day they are drawing more monsters. Maybe this time Muramatsu will be smart and get rid of their pictures before they come to life. 

New worst episode. Everything about this episode besides the Ultraman fight is just garbage. I get what they were going for with one of those happy kid episodes but this falls completely flat. Plus the episode makes the SSSP look like a bunch on inept morons. Twice Ide comes up with good ideas and twice he is called an idiot. I lost some respect for Muramatsu and Arashi in this episode for those comments. Fuji seemed to get Ide's idea to erase the picture at least so she had a better episode than she did in the last one. Hayata is still a pretty much non-existent character that exists only to turn into Ultraman. Give this guy something to do besides getting hurt! 

Two dud episodes in a row. Hopefully episode 16 of Ultraman titled "Science Patrol Into Space" turns things around. I mean they should be going into space so that hopefully means an Ultraman fight in space or on another planet. Maybe they will follow up on that Mars subplot from episode 2 but I doubt it. We'll get those answers next time as Ultraman coverage continues. Follow me on Twitter @TokuTomFoolery where I live tweet the episodes. There better be an Ultraman space fight is all I'm saying.