Ultraman Episode #32: Endless Counterattack....
Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 11:45 pmThe Basics: A monster, driven out of seclusion by man, stirkes back with it's heat producing powers...
The Plot: The episode tries to make some kind of moral point here...basically that the expansion of civilization into nature may provoke some kind of revenge. Okay..fair enough, but the episode really just skims the surface of this theme. The monster basically just appears...and is dispatched just like any other kaiju. Only a couple lines of dialogue in the entire episode even bother to bring up the "message".
The Kaiju: Zambora isn't the best looking kaiju. The costume is loose and doesn't look nearly as good as some of the other monsters on the show. This one kind of just looks thrown together...though I do like the heated row of spines. And the tail doesn't look quite right for some reason. The monster's powers aren't clearly defined. It emits great heat clearly, but when it uses it on Pati and Hiyata, they appear to be blinded...or perhaps they just poorly conveyed the effect of massive dehydration. Not sure....but give the other effects the monster produces...a focused wave of heat from Zambora probably should incinerate a normal human..or at least give them third degree burns.
The Acting: Nothing of note. Hayata goes on a date..and is sneaky enough to arrange it so that he's a shoe in. One of the few episodes to portray him as anything less than a Clark Kent/Superman analogue.
The SPFX: Not much going on really. The monster's heat wave powers are shown just as a flash but it's reasonably effective visually....as are the pyrotechnics, but the monster is mostly confined to the countryside.
The Other Stuff: As an Indian, Pati is probably a Hindu, but she's shown praying at a Buddhist statue...in Japan...where most of the populace is of the Shinto religion. Not entirely unplausible to be sure...just thought it was interesting.
The Plot: The episode tries to make some kind of moral point here...basically that the expansion of civilization into nature may provoke some kind of revenge. Okay..fair enough, but the episode really just skims the surface of this theme. The monster basically just appears...and is dispatched just like any other kaiju. Only a couple lines of dialogue in the entire episode even bother to bring up the "message".
The Kaiju: Zambora isn't the best looking kaiju. The costume is loose and doesn't look nearly as good as some of the other monsters on the show. This one kind of just looks thrown together...though I do like the heated row of spines. And the tail doesn't look quite right for some reason. The monster's powers aren't clearly defined. It emits great heat clearly, but when it uses it on Pati and Hiyata, they appear to be blinded...or perhaps they just poorly conveyed the effect of massive dehydration. Not sure....but give the other effects the monster produces...a focused wave of heat from Zambora probably should incinerate a normal human..or at least give them third degree burns.
The Acting: Nothing of note. Hayata goes on a date..and is sneaky enough to arrange it so that he's a shoe in. One of the few episodes to portray him as anything less than a Clark Kent/Superman analogue.
The SPFX: Not much going on really. The monster's heat wave powers are shown just as a flash but it's reasonably effective visually....as are the pyrotechnics, but the monster is mostly confined to the countryside.
The Other Stuff: As an Indian, Pati is probably a Hindu, but she's shown praying at a Buddhist statue...in Japan...where most of the populace is of the Shinto religion. Not entirely unplausible to be sure...just thought it was interesting.