Review: Ultraman Episode 5 - Secret of the Miloganda

 

Ultraman Episode #5

Secret of the Miloganda

Original Air Date: August 14th, 1966

Directed by Toshihiro Iijima

Screenplay by: Keisuke Fujikawa

Review by: Toku Tom Fool

Our episode begins with a car crash which is always fun in a Toku show. The man in the car survives the crash, but he does not survive being smothered to death by a green plant monster. We then cut to a geologist that also gets killed by the green plant monster. Of course this gets the attention of the SSSP and it is up to them to figure out what is behind these deaths. 


The team splits up to investigate the death sites. Ide and Arashi go to the geologist's house and Hayata and Captain Muramatsu visit the crash site. Both groups discover green slime around the scenes of the crimes. They know it's either a monster or the Kid's Choice Awards happened nearby. Ide and Arashi then visit this really cool domed greenhouse. Ide is fascinated by a giant carrot and I would be too. 

Eventually, Fuji tells them that this plant monster is trying to kill five people and it's killed four so far. We learn of the Miloganda flower while Ide and Arashi are visiting a scientist. Arashi determines that radiation must have made the flower blossom into a monster. He then excitedly hits Ide which provides us with some much needed comedy. I love that Ide wears a wrap around his head to show how hurt he is. They relay the information back at HQ and determine they need to find the last survivor and protect her. Arashi also accidentally hits Ide again which is hilarious.


The SSSP questions the last survivor, Setsuko Hamaguchi, about what happened to her research team that led to them being hunted down and killed by this monster. She explains this with a black and white flashback. The plot of this episode feels very much like an Ultra Q episode and the flashback scene added to that feel. The research team was attacked by the plant monster while looking at Miloganda flowers. I guess Miloganda flowers become the plant monster eventually. 

Knowing Hamaguchi will be attacked soon, the team monitors the outside of her home. Poor Arashi again is the first one to come into contact with the monster. He's almost suffocated to death but the rest of the team is able to save him before he met his demise. Arashi gets some revenge as he blasts the monster with his Supergun, but we find out that just makes the monster grow. 

The now giant monster, known as Greenmons, attacks the city at night. Arashi feels bad about making the monster grow giant so he tries to take the monster on by himself. It doesn't go well. He gets blasted with green mist and that takes him out of action. The rest of the SSSP along with the military try to take on the monster next and that also fails. Hayata gets Arashi's body out of the way and uses this opportunity to transform into Ultraman. He transforms right next to an unconscious Arashi, but you would think that when he grows he would accidentally crush him with his foot. Luckily, that doesn't happen. 

Ultraman ziplines in and knocks Greenmons into a building. There's a great shot of Ultraman and Greenmons surrounding this awesome model building. It's an amazing model and I was a bit sad when I knew Greenmons would destroy it. 

The battle continues with Greenmons spraying his green mist at Ultraman. It proves quite effective as Ultraman begins to weaken. Ultraman's Earth weakness is also hurting him so he has to finish Greenmons as quickly as possible. He shoots his Specium Ray (I had to look up what that was called) at Greenmons and sets him ablaze. It's a pretty good fire and this monster is turned to ash. Everyone celebrates as Ultraman flies off into the darkness. Ide wonders where Hayata went to end the episode since he never shows back up like he has in other episodes. 


I'll admit I had a hard time following what was going on in this episode. It hindered my enjoyment, but I did enjoy some parts of the episode. I really liked the green screen transitions throughout the episode. It gave the episode some added flavor. Ide brought his usual comedic genius to the episode. I'm also enjoying the constant punishment of Arashi. He gets it twice in this episode so that's pretty funny. The rest of the cast wasn't given too many interesting things to do in this episode. Overall, I would say that I did not like this episode but it's not bad. It just wasn't my cup of tea. 

Ultraman coverage continues with Episode 6 titled "The Coast Guard Command" and I have a feeling the SSSP will be on the water for that episode. 

That's all for this review. Follow me on Twitter @TokuTomFoolery where I live tweet each and every episode.



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