Review: Ultraman Episode 2 - Shoot the Invaders!

 

Ultraman Episode #2

Shoot the Invaders!

Original Air Date: July 24th, 1966

Directed by: Toshihiro Iijima

Screenplay by: Kitao Senzoku

Review by: Toku Tom Fool

We start this episode with a breaking of the fourth wall as one of our SSSP members, Mitsuhiro Ide (Masanari Nihei), explains how he got a black eye. I"m curious if this show will end up breaking the fourth wall a lot.

Ide takes us back 38 hours ago when he was trying to sleep. Unfortunately, Ide shares a bunk bed with SSSP member Daisuke Arashi (Sandayu Dokumamushi). Arashi is loudly snoring which means Ide can't sleep no matter how many sheep he counts which was over 12,000 by the time the emergency alarm went off. My favorite part of this scene is that they sleep in their creamsicle uniforms. I guess you need to do that when you are always on duty. 


 

Arashi is sent by Captain Muramatsu to investigate the science center in Gotenyama because they have lost signal there. When Arashi arrives, he finds that the people there have been turned green leaving them frozen in place. Before he can do anything, Arashi also gets turned green for his trouble. This is when we first see the alien monster that is doing this and he's a giant insectoid monster that looks pretty neat. Hayata shows up and tries to take on the monster but he learns it can make decoys of itself making it hard to kill. Maybe he should have turned into Ultraman right there. Maybe he'll get around to it later.

There's a meeting where Captain Muramatsu discusses what to do about the alien with the Defense Council. Muramatsu wants to peacefully communicate with our insectoid monster while almost everyone else is against him but he gets his way because he rocks the creamsicle uniform. Ide and Hayata are sent back to the science center to try and communicate with the alien. There are some humorous exchanges here with Ide and Hayata because he's afraid of doing anything with this alien but Hayata tells him it will be okay as he leaves him alone. I really enjoy Nihei as Ide because he's really good at mugging for the camera. The scenery chewing here is top notch and he really amps it up when the monster appears. I should point out that this episode has some really good special effects. The scene where we see multiple versions of the alien walking is pretty impressive for 1966.

The alien takes Ide with him so they can talk but the alien doesn't understand Japanese too well so he gets Arashi's body to communicate for him. Maybe their alien bodies just can't speak the words for Japanese. Hayata is able to meet up with them and this is when the alien explains that he is from the Planet Baltan. The Baltans can no longer live on their planet due to nuclear tests by scientists. I'm guessing their lobster hands accidentally hit the wrong button. So the Baltans want to live on Earth now which Hayata seems to be okay with until the Baltans mention that their are 2.3 billion of them on their tiny little ship. The Baltans have the ability to shrink down to bacteria size and also giant size as we see later. Hayata suggests they live on Mars but the Baltan says they can't live there because of something they hate. The alien's voice cuts off when explaining why they can't live on Mars. I'm hoping that's some foreshadowing for the future. 

 The Baltan alien decides they are going to have to take Earth by force so this is when he grows giant. Hayata tries to transform into Ultraman but his changing tube gets knocked off the side of the roof they were speaking on. He needs one of those wrist morphers that Sentai and Power Rangers teams have. Hayata actually jumps off the side of the building to grab the transforming tube and luckily he grabs it or else he would have died gruesomely. Hayata becomes Ultraman and we get our big fight of the episode. It's not as much of a brawl as the first episode. Instead, we get a lot of flying around which isn't too exciting. Ultraman uses his hand laser and destroys the alien. Ultraman isn't stopping there though. He uses his laser eyes to find the Baltan ship and he commits genocide. All 2.3 billion Baltans on the ship dead at the hands of Ultraman. Our hero! I mean I don't think he had any other choice but I found it hilarious he killed all these tiny aliens in their ship.

 


The episode concludes with the story about how Ide got his black eye. It turns out it didn't happen from the actual mission. In a reverse from the beginning of the episode, Ide was snoring loudly while Arashi was the one counting sheep. Ide was sleeping so well that he fell off the top bunk and busted his eye but he still had time to mug for the camera to end the episode.


I didn't expect so much comedy from the second episode of Ultraman, but I was all for it. I would even say that I enjoyed this episode more than the first one. Mitsuhiro Ide is such a funny character and I hope he can keep it up. The Ultraman fight was a little lame but the Baltan genocide made up for it. That Mars foreshadowing has me intrigued for future episodes.

 I'll be back to review the third episode of Ultraman titled "Science Patrol, Move Out" next time. 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @TokuTomFoolery where I live tweet the episodes.


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