Ultra Q

[lhb412]

Shusuke Kaneko's Ultra Q fandom is really evident once you watch the Mammoth Flower episode. Practically everything about the Legion plant in Gamera 2 feels like an extended homage to this episode!

[lhb412]

Just watched the Kanegon episode.

Why are the kids episodes so awesome? I mean, I dig the tone and visual style of Ultra Q so far. I find it very entertaining. Nevertheless, it often feels like a bigger science fiction/kaiju film straining within the confines of limited time and budget of a TV episode. But "Grow Up! Little Turtle," "The Underground Super Express Goes West," and "Kanegon's Cocoon" approach brilliance. Wacky, experimental short-films with bizarre monsters.

[lhb412]

^Since that episode (kinda the halfway point) the series has gotten really, really good. I feel like every Ultra series I've ever seen really hits its stride in the second half. Several earlier episodes felt like they were trying to jam an entire Toho sci-fi flick into 25 minutes and thus ended up a bit awkward. They had to get comfortable with the format.

At the beginning I was enjoying the show but thinking that it certainly wouldn't displace the original Ultraman as my favorite Tokusatsu series. Now? It might just take the top slot.

[ILL GREEN]

Did they ever released Q in color? The set on Amazon is in b/w.

[Shonokin]

Did they ever released Q in color? The set on Amazon is in b/w.

The colorized set is R2 Japanese only. No R1 release for that.

At the beginning I was enjoying the show but thinking that it certainly wouldn't displace the original Ultraman as my favorite Tokusatsu series. Now? It might just take the top slot.

Agreed!

[MekaGojira3k]

Finally watched the first disc. LOVE IT. For years all I had was a bootleg of the first 4 eps in Japanese, so its nice to have this. Grow up! Little turtle is my instant favorite so far, with the Gomess and Namegon episodes coming close behind. Really looking forward to the rest of this as I start up my G-FEST GET HYPE viewings.

[gila-monster]

I finished watching the series a couple weeks ago. My favourite part was the strange atmosphere that was present most of the time, as well as the monsters. My one complaint would be the three main characters being fit into almost every episode. Sometimes it felt oddly coincidental and even a bit off to have a news reporter and two airplane pilots present during all these situations, it would have been cool to have some different characters show up once in a while.

Despite that, definitely an amazing show. I enjoyed it a lot more than the superhero theme of Ultraman and Ultra Seven, with some great atmosphere.

[Psycho Soldier]

I'm officially halfway through the show right now. I'm enjoying it quite a bit. The first two episodes didn't do much for me, but it hit its stride after those, which was a nice surprise. It's hard for me to pick a favourite episode, but I can point to a trifecta: Mammoth Flower, Peguila is Here!, and Grow Up! Little Turtle. I also enjoyed Baron Spider, even though the spider effects are under par. Favourite monster? Garamon has the most personalty, but I actually like Balloonga just because of how weird it is. The little legs on the bottom push it over the edge.

[DannyBeane]

I just finished up Ultraman X and Geed so now I'm going to step back in time and work on watching the series that started it all! I've had the Shout Factory set for over a year now but I've never completed it. It can be hard to grind 30 episodes of any series, but I remember enjoying what I saw. I'm loving the black and white look so far and Gomess is a design I always loved.

[Joseph Goodman]

ULTRA Q gets a 4k remaster, will be broadcast in 4k on NHK's BS4K satellite channel:

https://m-78.jp/news/post-4958/

[Dr Kain]

ULTRA Q gets a 4k remaster, will be broadcast in 4k on NHK's BS4K satellite channel:

https://m-78.jp/news/post-4958/

Cool. No point in buying Shout!'s DVD now. I'll just wait for someone to release the 4K version here.

[klen7]

^ Aren't you the optimist

[mirrorman147]

Started watching this series last night on YT, and all I can say is excellent start so far. I'll concure with other posters in saying the "turtle" episode is a stand out favourite, and so surreal.

In general the style, the B&W presentation and the monster of the week format remind me a lot of the original B&W Outer Lmits.

Even though the episodes are in raw Japanese (no subs) it is simple enough in plot to undertsand what's happening .. or after so many years of watching Japanese anime a litte bit of understanding the lingo has at last seeped into my thick head.

I think Mi-chan from episode 4 became the model by which a lot of later anime females were based on - I mean that hair style is so familiar.

[lhb412]

Huh, I'm really grooving on this series more than when I initially watched it 5 years ago. I recall not being too impressed with the early episodes, but with this new release I've only watched the first disc and I've been loving everything so far.

Go figure.

Maybe it's the superior quality of the presentation?

[kiryugoji04]

Vastly improved subtitles as well.

[lhb412]

^ Shout's subs for the first episode I recall being especially bad.

[Dr Kain]

^ Aren't you the optimist

I never noticed this post before.

[Rody]

I finished the first disc of Mill Creek's set last night (been taking my time with it), and it's a fun show - but I think I had my expectations higher. Storytelling is pretty simplistic in this show, and the "monster-of-the-week" formula is pretty straightforward. I think I was expecting something a lot more surreal and atmospheric ("Grow Up, Little Turtle!" was quite the ride, though).
The production values are quite good, I'll give it that; Peguila is my favorite monster design so far. I was also particularly struck by the foresight in "Mammoth Flower" - I've seen comparisons made to Gamera 2 before, but the early scenes of the roots emerging from the pond and attacking people in the building was strikingly reminiscent of Godzilla vs. Biollante as well. Did BOTH franchises draw from this episode, perhaps?

[lhb412]

^ The Legion plant is certainly an Ultra Q reference. The whole tone of G2 seems to borrow from the series.

[kiryugoji04]

The first four Ultra series have been hugely influential in Japan and Q in particular was groundbreaking, landmark television in its time. I'd say it's absolutely assured that, yes, Biollante also drew inspiration from Q. Well, that and the Return of Ultraman episode written by the same screenwriter that lays out the template for Biollante nearly twenty years prior!

It's kind of hilarious and frustrating how niche the Ultra series is here in the Godzilla-obsessed States. Like, we don't talk about Akio Jissoji NEARLY enough, even though his nine (unbanned) episodes spread out across Man and Seven are some of the most influential works of tokusatsu. Like half of what people hail as Evangelion's unique stylings are just Anno paying tribute to Jissoji.

[Dr Kain]

The first four Ultra series have been hugely influential in Japan and Q in particular was groundbreaking, landmark television in its time. I'd say it's absolutely assured that, yes, Biollante also drew inspiration from Q. Well, that and the Return of Ultraman episode written by the same screenwriter that lays out the template for Biollante nearly twenty years prior!

It's kind of hilarious and frustrating how niche the Ultra series is here in the Godzilla-obsessed States. Like, we don't talk about Akio Jissoji NEARLY enough, even though his nine (unbanned) episodes spread out across Man and Seven are some of the most influential works of tokusatsu. Like half of what people hail as Evangelion's unique stylings are just Anno paying tribute to Jissoji.

That's because American audiences have been conditioned to look down on Toku thanks to old dubs that made a mockey of Japanese programming and of course, Power Rangers. Had US companies taken dubs seriously and stuck to the tone of the original material rather than make lame ass comedy-esque jokes many people would have looked at them differently. Instead, they are looked down upon. Just look at Universal's version of King Kong vs Godzilla. In one scene one dude is talking about the seriousness of Godzilla attacking Japan while in the dub, he's complaining about his corns.

[kiryugoji04]

I wasn't even talking about general audiences, Kain, I was specifically referring to weebs and nerds like us. In the States, you kind of have the two camps of henshin heroes and kaiju (but mostly Godzilla, sometimes Gamera) and Ultraman is allowed to fall by the wayside. I'm thrilled that these new blu rays are finally getting more folks to take the plunge but it also does kind of underscore that reality.

[lhb412]

The first four Ultra series have been hugely influential in Japan and Q in particular was groundbreaking, landmark television in its time.

(So excited for Return of Ultraman - so many iconic monsters and I've never seen it before!)

Anyway, continuing with this series I hadn't previously noticed that the giant mole episode cribs the entire love triangle sacrifice thing from the original Godzilla - and the entire finale is a smorgasbord of Toho stock footage, mostly from Rodan.

[Rody]

It's kind of hilarious and frustrating how niche the Ultra series is here in the Godzilla-obsessed States. Like, we don't talk about Akio Jissoji NEARLY enough, even though his nine (unbanned) episodes spread out across Man and Seven are some of the most influential works of tokusatsu. Like half of what people hail as Evangelion's unique stylings are just Anno paying tribute to Jissoji.
--
In the States, you kind of have the two camps of henshin heroes and kaiju (but mostly Godzilla, sometimes Gamera) and Ultraman is allowed to fall by the wayside. I'm thrilled that these new blu rays are finally getting more folks to take the plunge but it also does kind of underscore that reality.

I can only assume it's the lack of accessibility that's really impacted the franchise's presence in the States. Say what you will about Power Rangers, but that formula seemed to work; and of course Godzilla established himself in pop culture very early on. Were there only the four Ultra series that got dubbed/released here in the past? (Q, Ultraman, Seven, and Tiga, I think) I guess the channels in the industry and fandom just never lined up right for the franchise, the way they did for other Tokusatsu or certain anime genres.

[kiryugoji04]

That explains it to some extent but in the age where every Heisei Kamen Rider ever started getting fansubs, it got more and more conspicuous that most groups and fans didn't care even though they could at that point. That was how I became an Ultra fan - lots of torrents and bootlegs with very little major fansubbing work to help us.