Review: Ultraman Episode 25 - The Mysterious Comet Tsuifon

 

Ultraman Episode 25

The Mysterious Comet Tsuifon

Original Air Date: January 1st, 1967

Directed by: Toshihiro Iijima

Screenplay by: Bunzo Wakatsuki

Review by: Toku Tom Fool

I'm going to come out from the top and say that I love this episode. There's no complex storytelling but instead we get about ten minutes of giant monsters fighting which is all you need sometimes. The plot of the episode begins with a comet called Tsuifon heading to Earth. Professor Iwamoto says it has an 83% chance of hitting the Earth and if it does it will probably wipe everyone out. Well, that is until they recalculate and realize it's going to miss. The technology wasn't as good back then at calculating these comets or asteroids. The comet will fly right by Earth really close so the SSSP has to be on the lookout for anything weird happening. 

It's a nervous situation at the SSSP HQ. It's so bad that Fuji accidentally puts salt in the coffee which leads to humorous reactions of everyone drinking it and giving it back to her. The team then discovers that six hydrogen bombs have rumored to have gone missing and they are afraid the comet's cosmic rays could cause those bombs to go off and destroy the planet. 

Some time later, we cut to people waiting for the comet to flyby. They discuss the bomb rumors and fear for their lives. One question I have is why there are so many people outside at three o'clock in the morning. It looks like they all were working. It's make more sense if they were in pajamas. The comet passes through the sky and nothing happens so the people cheer. There is a matter of finding the six missing hydrogen bombs and the SSSP team finds out that a monster had eaten them. Hayata, Arashi, and Ide then have to go to the Japanese Alps to find the monster.

The team takes in the beauty of the snow but then a giant abominable snowman monster appears. This monster is known as Guigass. The trio gets back in their Jet VTOL to get a better look and to check if Guigass was the monster that ate the bombs. Our guy, Ide, once again invented a great machine that detected radiation because he's the best and Arashi makes fun of his machine the entire time because he's a bit of a jerk. A monster with wings named Dorako flies into the scene and almost takes out the Jet VTOL. Back at HQ, Fuji finds out that this monster came from the comet. 

 

Due to smart thinking from Ide, Guigass and Dorako begin fighting. It's pretty fun. Dorako slashes Guigass and causes some sparks like they are robots. Guigass uses some snow to blind Dorako. The team uses this opportunity to look for the monster that ate the bombs with their radiation device. They don't have to wait long because a monster breaks out of a mountain and it's revealed to be another Red King. We last saw a Red King in episode 8 and this one looks way better. Red King has the bombs stuck in his neck and he decides he wants to join the fight with Guigass and Dorako which could be trouble if the bombs explode. 

Guigass sees Red King and he looks like he's going to poop himself. On the other hand, Red King looks excited for a fight. Red King smacks Guigass to the ground and then he goes after Dorako. After that, Red King turns his attention to Dorako and rips off Dorako's wings so there will be no flying for Dorako anymore. Guigass decides to start beating up Dorako too while Red King cheers on the fighting. It's hilarious. Dorako is killed and then the two remaining monsters run into each other and fall down. Muramatsu calls the trio and tells them they need to get the monsters away from each other or the bombs could explode. 

Hayata decides he needs to run into the battle to distract Red King while he sends the other two to fly in the Jet VTOL to kill Guigass. Hayata does get Red King's attention by climbing a mountain and shooting at him. This just angers Red King and he knocks a Hayata dummy off a mountain which leads to him transforming into Ultraman. Of course Ultraman jumps on the back of Red King to start the fight. It's just what he does. This Red King doesn't throw any rocks which is disappointing. Red King does put Ultraman in a sleeper hold which is fun. 

Meanwhile, Arashi and Ide go after Guigass in the Jet VTOL. They have no trouble with him as they blow him up rather easily. Mainly because Ide invented a new Drying Missile because he's a genius and deserves to be praised. Back at the Ultraman fight, Ultraman has gained the upper hand but he has to find a way to defeat Red King without the bombs killing everyone. He finds just the way. Ultraman uses a new move where he uses energy to lift Red King into the air and then he throws the Ultra Slice at Red King and slices him into three parts! I loudly cheered and applauded when that happened. Ultraman then takes Red King's head and detonates it somewhere in space. 

After the fight, Ide and Arashi spot Hayata running in the snow and they celebrate their victory. Muramatsu congratulates them on the phone. Professor Iwamoto shows Muramatsu a new calculation about the comet Tsuifon and he says it will return and hit Earth on July 2nd, 3026. They hope Earth will have better technology to combat the comet by then. I thought that was a humorous way to end the episode. 

This should have been the Christmas episode! It had snow and a yeti monster! Imagine watching Ultraman on Christmas in 1966 and seeing this episode. You would have been so happy. Instead you got the underwater episode. I mean this is a pretty good January 1st episode. This could arguably be my favorite episode. There's a lot of good contenders like the Baltan episodes. This episode doesn't really advance any characters but it makes up for it with great monster battles and Ide does invent some new stuff. I found out while reading about this episode that this is Hoshino's last episode because of a skiing accident. That's a shame because I was starting to like his character. Final thoughts would be to tell you to go watch this episode because it's awesome.

Interesting, the next episode is "The Monster Highness (Part 1)" and that's the first time we've had two parts in the series. I'm really looking forward to that. I'm hoping this is Ultraman's biggest challenge yet and maybe he will even lose at the end of the first episode. Find out with me on Twitter @TokuTomFoolery where I will be live tweeting the episode. The Toku Tom Fool hopes to see you there.