Ultraman Episode #4: Five Seconds Before The Big Explosion

[heroforhirerob]

The Basics: The Science Patrol are searching for a missing bomb. They find it...attached to a monster.

The story: Pretty much what I explained above. No real twists to it beyond the fact that the monster is mutated version of Ragon from Ultra Q. In fact, the show makes much more sense if you've seen the Ultra Q episode.

The Kaiju: Ragon is not the best kaiju. It's not that he's particularly bad, but he suffers in comparison to his obvious inspiration, The Creature From The Black Lagoon. As the Universal design is iconic, Ragon looks worse in comparison. Ragon also lacks much in the way of personality. The show states he's around 30 meters tall, but he appears to be only slightly shorter than Ultraman himself(which would make Ragon taller than listed). And boy...does Godzilla's ray get around or what...as Ragon also sports a breath weapon(as did Bemular).

The Acting: Fairly typical. I did like the sequence where Fuji reluctantly agrees to watch the obnoxious Michiko. The look on her face is priceless(and I think we can all relate to the situation). Followed up by the "what were you thinking?" kick to Fuji's leg by Hoshino.

The SPFX: Kinda mixed here. The opening shot of the ship right before Ragon's attack is pretty weak, but when Ragon actually sinks it, it looks alright. Otherwise, not much in the way of FX shots in this one to be honest. Reasonably good shot of Ragon's hand coming through the window to get at Michiko.

The Other Stuff: Despite the title, the bomb actually has a 20 second timer. The photography makes it appear that Ultraman was at ground zero when the bomb exploded, which is highly unlikely(given the types of things that CAN hurt him over the course of the series). More likely, once in space, he let the bomb go to explode harmlessly while he got to a reasonably safe distance. Boy, Ide is sure worked up when he finds out Fuji has a date, isn't he? Hmmmm...

[Shonokin]

[MekaGojira3k]

[mbozzo]

Episode 4 is the last episode that was on my Ultraman video tape. The monster didn't mean to be a threat, but the bomb on it body make it a danger to the human race. Ultraman has to remove both the kaiju and the bomb to save his friends. I wish that there is a DVD collection of the original Ultraman series.

[Baltan II]

[MekaGojira3k]