Ultra Q

[Benjamin Haines]

The Statue of Goga is awesome! It's a hardboiled caper with action, espionage, a cursed statue and a giant monster. This episode has it all!

The Devil Child is pretty good. The child doesn't really live up to the title until the ending, which is suitably twisted. Blazing Glory is a great episode. Dynamite Joe is a compelling character and Peter is a cool creature.

The Disappearance of Flight 206 guest-stars Hisaya Ito and Hiroshi Koizumi! This episode is great too. I love the premise of airplanes flying through a void into some eerie netherworld where the ground is made of clouds and giant monsters are lurking.

Based on the title, I expected Open Up! to have either some horrific dentistry or a monster with a really big mouth. I like how it went in a different direction, and it guest-stars Hideyo Amamoto! This show waited until the last episode for Yuri and Jun to show some romantic interest in each other.


And just like that, in a span of less than four months, I've finally seen Ultra Q. What a glorious show this is!

[lhb412]

I love the ambiguity at the end of Blazing Glory.

I remember being disappointed in the last batch of episodes when I initially watched the series, probably because of the lack of monster action. With this watch I was able to appreciate a lot of nice, subtle things that happened in those final episodes, like, as you say, the romantic stuff in the finale.

[Rody]

I would have liked a slightly clearer ending to "Blazing Glory"; but "Open Up!" was a terrific episode, and an utterly surreal "ending" for the show. This is the episode that truly feels like it could have come out of The Twilight Zone, and those little plot threads like the chemistry between Yuri and Jun are deviously tantalizing. It's kind of a frustrating episode, but it just works so well, I can't imagine the show ending on a more traditional monster romp now that I've seen it.

[Kailem]

So after finally reading all the way through August Ragone's Eiji Tsubaraya: Master of Monsters book recently - which I've had for years and read bits of but never in its entirety - I've been in a very "Tsubaraya" mood lately. And after doing a bit of research I found out that Mill Creek's Ultra Q and Ultraman Blu-ray sets are actually region free, despite being listed as A! So I went ahead and finally ordered the steel books for Ultra Q and the original Ultraman, which should hopefully be arriving in a couple of weeks!

I'm especially hyped to finally check out Ultra Q after all these years. I'm looking forward to seeing the OG Ultraman as well, but just knowing that Ultra Q is more in the style of "The Twilight Zone only with giant monsters", as well as it being the very first Tsubaraya tokusatsu show that kinda stands on its own just makes me a bit more excited to see it (though I'm still looking forward to seeing where Ultraman all began too!).

I must admit my Ultra series knowledge is pretty limited, as growing up the only one I ever saw was Ultraman: Towards the Future, since I think it's literally the only one that was ever broadcast in the UK. I always meant to import Ultraman: The Next back when it came out on DVD but I just never got round to it, so I might eventually import Mill Creek's Ultraman Nexus set too since it's included on that too (and hey, it's got another Ultraman show on there as a bonus! ).

But for now I'm very much looking forward to checking out Ultra Q, especially after those opening minutes of Shin Ultraman went online a few months back. At the time I just thought it was a cool as hell opening to the movie with a catchy theme song. I didn't realise the whole thing was one big love letter to this show!

[lhb412]

^ All of Mill Creek's Ultra blu-rays are region free. Sadly, their DVDs are not!

I'm a huge fan of the franchise as a whole, but for anybody interested in kaiju or Japanese genre stuff at the very least Ultra Q and Ultraman are essential viewing!

[Kailem]

Luckily my Blu-ray player plays multi-region DVDs just fine (and I bought a multi-region DVD player years ago before Blu-rays became a thing specifically to import Godzilla and Gamera DVDs), but there weren't any multi-region Blu-ray players being sold back when I bought mine. It's possible that now, several years later, they're a lot easier to come by, but given that the Criterion Showa Godzilla set was released over here and I've at least got a lot of other movies on DVD it's not something I've ever really looked into.

And for now at least I don't have to!

[Kailem]

Both sets arrived yesterday and I watched the first three episodes of Ultra Q last night, and I really enjoyed them!

I loved the spooky atmosphere right out of the gate with Defeat Gomess! I've always been a huge fan of the old "miners deep too deep and unearth an ancient buried monster"-type stories, so having the series open with that was great! The Twilight Zone/Out Limits influences are obvious with the voiceover bookends, but it really did feel like a half-hour Toho movie, as it was described a couple of pages back, and that's so freaking awesome. This episode in particular also gave me flashbacks to Doctor Who and the Silurians, one of my favourite classic Who stories, so that was great too, not to mention Rodan with the whole concept of miners disturbing a giant monster. Plus Gomess was a really cool one to open with, and they did a decent job of repurposing the Godzilla suit to make it look like something distinct and new.

Goro and Goro was a fun follow-up, and man, that opening with Goro swinging along the cable car lines was creepy as hell! Gave me flashbacks to Gaira swimming after the sailors in War of the Gargantuas. Plus having just watched King Kong vs Godzilla recently it was cool seeing that suit repurposed as well. And the rampage scene was a lot of fun! Some really nice miniature work there (#GoroDidNothingWrong).

The Gift From Space packed a lot into 25 minutes as well, and was also really cool! I loved the "Mars Monster" design, Megalon roar and all, though I did think the ending was a bit abrupt. I get that they're taking cues from The Twilight Zone and Outer Limits by sometimes having open endings and whatnot, but they left off with all three of their main characters in mortal peril! If anything it just made me want to see a "part 2", but something tells me that's never going to be the case with any episodes of this show.

So yeah I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm loving the creepy atmosphere, cool monsters, varied storylines, awesome theme and the appearance of some Toho regulars in the cast all make me really glad I finally decided to check it out!

[Benjamin Haines]

Ultra Q is fantastic. Comparisons to The Twilight Zone are appropriate but it really is more like a series of mini Showa-era Toho sci-fi/fantasy films.

[Kailem]

Yeah I'm a little over halfway through the second disc now ("I Saw a Bird" was the last episode I watched) and I'm having a blast. As you say, it's like a series of mini Showa Toho movies, and that's awesome. Hell, it's funny sometimes literally spotting stock effects footage in certain places too, like from Rodan in the last episode!

I'm at the point now where they've started to ease up on having giant monsters in every single episode (though saying that the last two still had some variations of them) and mix in some more comedic episodes with the more straight-faced stuff. No doubt they were well aware that even though the big selling point of the show initially was 'bringing the giant monster boom of the cinemas into the home' they had to mix things up a bit or risk the audience getting bored, and that's certainly led to some fun episodes. Grow Up! Little Turtle had some really great camera work going on, especially at the beginning, and was just a total trip. Likewise The Underground Super Express Goes West was just goofy fun, and it also solidified to me that I'm just going to have to get used to saying "OK then!" at some of these endings!

I absolutely loved Baron Spider as well. I'm a sucker for archetypical gothic horror imagery, so an episode that starts off with a lighthouse at night then proceeds to give me giant spiders, swamps and a creepy, cobweb-filled mansion is absolutely my kinda jam.

Peguila was a really cool monster as well, and his episode really showed that Tsubaraya definitely wanted this to be a show with a big sense of scale rather than just having everything take place in some random forest five minutes from the studio or something. It was also really creepy in parts, and Peguila's super cold zero-g breath weapon was pretty unique. Oh yeah, I also really liked Gorgos in SOS Mount Fuji as well. A simple design but well-done (even if his roar was a tad too familiar ).

I've been averaging about two episodes a night so I'll probably watch Garadama and Tokyo Ice Age later, though I might watch more if I end up finishing the Resident Evil 4 remake early. But yeah, either way the show has been great so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else it has in store for me!

[lhb412]

[quote="Kailem"]Peguila was a really cool monster as well, and his episode really showed that Tsubaraya definitely wanted this to be a show with a big sense of scale rather than just having everything take place in some random forest five minutes from the studio or something. [/quote]

My biggest complaint about the modern shows. The Showa Ultra shows are filled with amazing location footage. They're all over Tokyo! Deep in a forest! Tropical beach! Snowy mountains! A bit less in the Heisei era and in the modern days we're stuck in the Tokyo suburbs and forested area presumably near the studio.

I did read that Tsuburaya is renewing their partnership with TBS (the network that Ultra used to air on, from Ultra Q all the way to Cosmos in 2000). I hope a part of that is bigger budgets for their shows!

[Benjamin Haines]

Yeah, "I Saw a Bird" and "Terror of the Sweet Honey" both lean on Rodan for stock footage, just like Monster Zero, which Eiji Tsuburaya was making at the same time as Ultra Q. I guess it made sense in the time before home video to reuse footage from a movie that hadn't played in theaters in nine years.

Another big reason why Ultra Q feels cut from the same cloth as the classic Toho films is all of the familiar faces that turn up in guest roles, and of course it's great to have Kenji Sahara as one of the show's three leads.

You're coming up on some of the show's best episodes soon!

[Kailem]

[quote="lhb412"][quote="Kailem"]Peguila was a really cool monster as well, and his episode really showed that Tsubaraya definitely wanted this to be a show with a big sense of scale rather than just having everything take place in some random forest five minutes from the studio or something. [/quote]

My biggest complaint about the modern shows. The Showa Ultra shows are filled with amazing location footage. They're all over Tokyo! Deep in a forest! Tropical beach! Snowy mountains! A bit less in the Heisei era and in the modern days we're stuck in the Tokyo suburbs and forested area presumably near the studio.[/quote]

I feel like having two of the main characters be pilots also helps with that. It's certainly led to some cool aerial photography (be it real or miniature) that just helps make the show in general feel a bit "bigger" in a way, since it makes it easier to believe that even when they're in another random field or town etc. that it's some place pretty far away from where they were in the last scene or episode.

Plus I'm sure it was important to Tsubaraya that they go "big" with this show to really capture that Godzilla audience who were used to the kind of scope and grandeur that Toho could regularly provide during the golden era, given that this was the first show of its kind. Perhaps that's just something that's been a bit lost over time (as well as budget issues, I'd imagine)?

[quote="Benjamin Haines"]Another big reason why Ultra Q feels cut from the same cloth as the classic Toho films is all of the familiar faces that turn up in guest roles, and of course it's great to have Kenji Sahara as one of the show's three leads.[/quote]

Yeah it's cool seeing recognisable Toho faces pop up in various episodes. Like you say, it really helps make these feel even more like mini Toho movies.

I watched Garadama and Tokyo Ice Age last night, and both of them were awesome! Garadama had such a fun monster, I'd seem a brief clip of it before I started watching the show where it's just sort of patting its hands on the top of the dam that just made it seem so silly in a good way that I was smiling practically all the time it was on screen. Such a fun monster. And there were some great Tsubaraya disaster effects work there too with the "garadama" plunging into the reservoir and the destruction of the dam! That was great stuff.

And then when Tokyo Ice Age started and they showed that familiar black smoke streaking across the sky I was like "oh damn, is Peguila back?!" I honestly wasn't expecting there to be any straight-up sequel episodes in this show, nor did I realise from the title that he might have been returning since we've had "disaster-themed" episodes before like SOS Mount Fuji that weren't connected to anything before, so that was awesome to see him back; and smashing up Tokyo this time, no less!

And once again, in my personal favourite giant monster fashion [quote="lhb412"][quote="Kailem"]Peguila was a really cool monster as well, and his episode really showed that Tsubaraya definitely wanted this to be a show with a big sense of scale rather than just having everything take place in some random forest five minutes from the studio or something. [/quote]

My biggest complaint about the modern shows. The Showa Ultra shows are filled with amazing location footage. They're all over Tokyo! Deep in a forest! Tropical beach! Snowy mountains! A bit less in the Heisei era and in the modern days we're stuck in the Tokyo suburbs and forested area presumably near the studio.

I did read that Tsuburaya is renewing their partnership with TBS (the network that Ultra used to air on, from Ultra Q all the way to Cosmos in 2000). I hope a part of that is bigger budgets for their shows, he was defeated but not killed! Granted having him show up a *third* time might be expecting a bit too much, but I'm just happy he returned at all!

I'm officially at the halfway mark now and I'm enjoying this more and more as it goes on! I'm definitely super hyped to see what the next episodes have in store!

[Kailem]

I debated whether or not to make a new post for this or just edit my last one, but after seeing how long it is already I figured I'd just do the former.
Well after a couple of weeks, and a couple of nights deliberately putting off watching the last few episodes because I didn't want it to end, I've finally watched all of Ultra Q; and it was fantastic!

You weren't kidding Benjamin when you said I was coming up on some of the shows best episodes when I started that third disc! Garamon Strikes Back was easily one of my favourite episodes of the whole show, if only because no sooner had I just been posting about how awesome it was that Peguila had returned in Tokyo Ice Age than what ended up being my favourite monster of the series, Garamon, came back as well! That episode was just fantastic! Getting to see Garamon again was already great, but just like with Peguila having him rampage through Tokyo (in his own goofy way) was awesome. That shot of the two Garamon together was also really well done.

And it had a great alien invasion angle too with an awesome reveal of said alien's true form at the end. Just a damn fun episode all-round. And then the fun goofiness of Kanegon's Cocoon, more awesome giant monster action with The Rainbow's Egg (I see you, repurposed Baragon costume!), the cool quirkiness of The 1/8 Project, more alien - and then [i]giant[/i] alien - craziness in Challenge From the Year 2020, and a Creature From the Black Lagoon-style story with The Primordial Amphibian Ragon! Just so many strong episodes!

Later on I also loved Fury of the South Sea and The Statue of Goga. With the former, I've always felt that any time you open a giant monster-related movie or show with a ship at sea during a stormy night you're in for a good time, and that certainly held true here! It was cool seeing Akira Kubo show up in a major role too. Again, it only underscored just how much this show feels like a collection of mini-Toho movies. Likewise, more giant octopus! You can never go wrong with them.

And The Statue of Goga had so much jam-packed into its 25 minutes it's kinda crazy to think it starts with a simple kidnapping and ends with a giant, laser-shooting, drill-shelled snail monster rampaging through Tokyo!

The last batch of episodes were lighter on the giant monsters than I expected (indeed I feel like the giant walrus in The Disappearance of Flight 206 was probably only added for that very reason), but they were still good. Open Up! was probably the most Twilight Zone of all the episodes of the entire show, but man did it always feel a little overshadowed by just how much of a dick Yuri was to Ippei at the beginning! Poor guy really did just get dunked on constantly. That aside, the episode itself was probably a better one to end on than another giant monster tale (not that I would have been against that of course!), with its tale of wanting to escape to some fantasy land when reality gets you down. I wanted to jump on that train that took me to the place where there were still more episodes of this great show to watch, but alas that journey has finally come to an end.

So yes, overall I really, really liked Ultra Q! I'm super glad I finally had the chance to actually watch it and not just know it only as "the show Tsuburaya made before Ultraman." Just a fun as hell experience with so many wonderful episodes, it was great getting to experience "new" old Toho-style Showa monster content like this! I'll probably take a little break before I move on to Ultraman just to let this sink in a bit, but yeah, what a fantastic show!

[Benjamin Haines]

^ Ultra Q is a series full of surprises. Like you, I hadn't read any spoilers when I first watched the show three years ago so I was also surprised by Peguila and Garamon's return appearances.

My favorite surprise was in The 1/8 Project when Jun and Ippei walked through the miniature city and inadvertently stepped into the role of giant monsters. After Kenji Sahara had been in so many kaiju movies, finally the tables were turned!

I also like how this show actually gave the giant octopus its own name: Sudar!

The repurposed Baragon costume turns up three more times in the original Ultraman series, along with two Godzilla suits combined together and several monster suits from this show. Ultra Q, Ultraman and UltraSeven are like the crescendo of Eiji Tsuburaya's career. He revolutionized Japanese fantasy films and then he did the same with television.

[Kailem]

I was initially confused about how they got in there, given the trouble Yuri got into when she accidentally became part of the project, so I was thinking "how would they even know where to find it, much less be able to get in?". But I just rolled with it, and sure enough you basically get your answer at the end. But yeah, that was a great subversion of the usual giant monster movie imagery and also a good cost-saving measure; giant monsters without needing to create any new suits!

And yeah I loved seeing the giant octopus again, and the fact that they named it. I got major War of the Gargantuas flashbacks during the opening of Fury of the South Sea, I had a huge smile on my face during the opening theme being played over Sudar wrecking that boat until it totally sank. That whole episode was fantastic.

It was fun spotting which monsters were made from repurposed Godzilla costumes, with some being more obvious than others. I thought Gomess was a really good reworking of a suit, whereas Pagos was a bit easier to spot. I remember ages ago seeing clips of Jirahs in Ultraman and seeing that it was basically just "Godzilla with a neck frill", so the much more extensive reworking of Gomess by comparison I thought was really cool.

After hearing that Ultraman re-used some of Ultra Q's monsters I was kinda wondering whether or not they *literally* came back in Ultraman, and it was retroactively established that they're in the same continuity. But yeah it sounds more like they tweak the suits to create new monsters rather than have these ones back again, which is kind of a shame as I'd love to see Garamon especially show up again later on. Still, I'm sure I'll be watching this show again in the future, so I'll be able to get my fix of them again that way!

[lhb412]

You know, because of Ultra Q I realized the Manda puppet from Atragon was much bigger than I thought it was!

1/8th Project is probably my favorite episode for reasons already stated. Thougrougly sardonic tone and commitment to the idea, incredible visuals (the ending, especially), and it's really all about the relationships and personalities of our three leads. It's just perfect. There are so many great ones, though: Mammoth Flower, Year 2020, Kanegon's Coccoon, Garamon Strikes Back...

Kinda wild that the Cicada Man's genderbending human disguise is referenced by the characters. I definetely wasn't expecting the truck driver to sheepishly admit he found him attractive! Wild for the mid-'60s!

You know, I wonder why neither Ultra Q or Ultraseven really clicked for me back when Shout put out their DVDs a decade ago? When I rewatched them when the Blu-rays came out they were a revelation. It wasn't just the improved quality of the presentation. Maybe I was just in a bad mood in my early 20s? I might have been.