Ultraman Episode #2: Blast the Invaders
Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 11:27 amThe Basics: Aliens land on Earth to repair their spaceship and decide they'd rather stay instead.
The Story: This is an unusual episode....and the first time we see this series is going to be special. The tone is all over the place, which is a bit distracting. At times, it's deadly serious; at others, comedic. They even break the 4th wall in this one by having the characters speak directly to the camera. Kind of hit and miss, but the episode generaly works...and it's more ambitious than the first episode. Props to the show for trying something new.
The Kaiju: The Baltons are the first of Ultraman's many now iconic enemies. A clear improvement from their inspiration on Ultra Q, they have a look of menace and alieness that totally works. I didn't really buy the fact that they were all shrunk...or that a rogue scientist accidently blew up their world(with nukes naturally...even though they seem way more advanced than that). My theory is that these creatures are psionic in nature...and exist as mental energy. This would explain why billions of them can exist on that ship...as they have no physical bodies. When they need a physical form, some of them(how many depends on the size they assume) merge and become tangible. This would also explain most of their powers, which are clearly mental in nature(illusion generation, possession, etc.) Given their form, them having psionic powers also make sense from the standpoint that they probably control their ship telekinetically....as those lobster claws don't seem to be good for manipulation. All in all, a well realized Ultra foe(though I prefer them in episode 16).
The SPFX: Quite good in this one. The Balton's various abilties are handled via decent optical effects and the Balton costume works(though again...better in episode 16).
The Acting: Ide steals the show with his goofiness, but he manages to draw the line between being goofy and over the top. The rest of the cast does their usual fine job, with Captain Mura looking particularly serious during the military briefing. Look for Toho vet Susumu Fujita as the general in the meeting sequence.
The Other Stuff: Forgot to mention this for episode one, but we once again see the warning light worn by the Science Patrol. What these detect is never made clear. I doubt that the JSDF would send in two soldiers alone to check out the building where The Baltons are supposedly hiding(even if the nature of the emergency weren't known). Hayata pretty muchs blows his Secret ID (by jumping off the building in plain view of Ide) and it's only episode 2!!!! First mention of the Specium Beam(hate that name...I prefer Spectrum Ray) A bit less Hoshino this time, but he makes up for it in the next episode. Two parts I did like...Mura basically saying..."Uh...why don't we just see what they want? " and Hayata saying..."sure you can live here...if you obey our laws". Granted...little chance they were going to...but props for diplomacy. The Balton "laugh" has become iconic...though it was originally used in Matango.
The Story: This is an unusual episode....and the first time we see this series is going to be special. The tone is all over the place, which is a bit distracting. At times, it's deadly serious; at others, comedic. They even break the 4th wall in this one by having the characters speak directly to the camera. Kind of hit and miss, but the episode generaly works...and it's more ambitious than the first episode. Props to the show for trying something new.
The Kaiju: The Baltons are the first of Ultraman's many now iconic enemies. A clear improvement from their inspiration on Ultra Q, they have a look of menace and alieness that totally works. I didn't really buy the fact that they were all shrunk...or that a rogue scientist accidently blew up their world(with nukes naturally...even though they seem way more advanced than that). My theory is that these creatures are psionic in nature...and exist as mental energy. This would explain why billions of them can exist on that ship...as they have no physical bodies. When they need a physical form, some of them(how many depends on the size they assume) merge and become tangible. This would also explain most of their powers, which are clearly mental in nature(illusion generation, possession, etc.) Given their form, them having psionic powers also make sense from the standpoint that they probably control their ship telekinetically....as those lobster claws don't seem to be good for manipulation. All in all, a well realized Ultra foe(though I prefer them in episode 16).
The SPFX: Quite good in this one. The Balton's various abilties are handled via decent optical effects and the Balton costume works(though again...better in episode 16).
The Acting: Ide steals the show with his goofiness, but he manages to draw the line between being goofy and over the top. The rest of the cast does their usual fine job, with Captain Mura looking particularly serious during the military briefing. Look for Toho vet Susumu Fujita as the general in the meeting sequence.
The Other Stuff: Forgot to mention this for episode one, but we once again see the warning light worn by the Science Patrol. What these detect is never made clear. I doubt that the JSDF would send in two soldiers alone to check out the building where The Baltons are supposedly hiding(even if the nature of the emergency weren't known). Hayata pretty muchs blows his Secret ID (by jumping off the building in plain view of Ide) and it's only episode 2!!!! First mention of the Specium Beam(hate that name...I prefer Spectrum Ray) A bit less Hoshino this time, but he makes up for it in the next episode. Two parts I did like...Mura basically saying..."Uh...why don't we just see what they want? " and Hayata saying..."sure you can live here...if you obey our laws". Granted...little chance they were going to...but props for diplomacy. The Balton "laugh" has become iconic...though it was originally used in Matango.
