Episode 28: THE 700 KILOMETER RUN! (NANAHYAKU KIRO O TSUPPASHIRE!) ***
Directed by Kazuo Mitsuda
"When I was in elementary school, a small firecracker factory in my neighborhood exploded. I saw all the people dead from the accident. It was awful.... their arms and legs were all over the place!"
A highly volatile chemical agent called Spiner is destroyed while being transported by plane to the Terrestrial Defense Force Japan Branch. With various nefarious factions wishing to obtain the formula, Dan hits upon the idea of transporting the serum in the African car rally. Naturally, the forces of evil are onto them and Dan and Amagi run into trouble during their race to deliver the Spiner serum. A mysterious race of aliens who use Earth-like weaponry and appear human try to stop Dan and Amagi. When their initial plan fails, the aliens use their last resort, a reptilian monster merged with hardware, the Dinosaur Tank--an enormous, and bizarre looking monstrosity.
One of the strangest entries of ULTRASEVEN is brought to you by director
Kazuo Mitsuda, helming his 9th of 14 episodes. Up to this point, Mitsuda
has guided some of the best entries such as the frightening episode 9, the King Joe two-parter
(episodes fourteen and fifteen) and the fantastic episode 25. All of these are very different from one another and this installment is unique as well. Mitsuda is easily one of the most interesting directors of these programs and the presentation of the alien threat and the cyborgian monster in this particular installment is radically disparate from the normal Tokusatsu TV shows.
Shozo Uehara's script includes elements of the spy craze that was running high at that time. ULTRASEVEN has previously flirted with spies in the earlier, and aforementioned two-parter of episodes 14 and 15. Tetsuo Kinjo wrote those two, perfectly capturing a James Bond feel, integrating it into the SciFi scenario. Uehara's take on the material is much darker, and not kid-friendly...
The tone is most certainly adult-oriented. If it isn't the alien terrorists blowing people up it's Amagi's fear of explosives over a childhood trauma. Filled with intense scenes and sweaty closeups of faces, Uehara's script is one of the most heavily infused with human drama. Before the monster appears near the end, this installment seldom feels like Science Fiction at all. The spy-thriller aura is enhanced by the Ultra Garrison members all disguising themselves to keep an eye on the transport of the Spiner explosive. At one point Captain Kiroyama is playing a Biwa that isn't an ordinary string instrument--containing a machine gun hidden in the neck! Moreover, the rally car Dan and Amagi are racin' around in has a hidden laser weapon and some retro rockets that allow it to land safely on the ground.
The aliens, while never referred to by name onscreen, are known as Alien Kill. Presumably their world is a bio-mechanical planet, utilizing similar Earth-like weaponry with a slightly different look. They never transform into their true forms (if they have one); looking exactly like humans. The only way to discern them is when they're shot, they evaporate into a flash of light.
The fight at the end is a lengthy one. Seven is about as confused as to how to combat the monster as we are at its curious appearance. Seven debuts the Ultra Shot, putting Dino-Tank out of its misery. The peculiar looking Dinosaur Tank is half monster and half machine. It rides atop a gigantic tank; its body seemingly fused with the machine. Kunio Suzuki is inside the Dino Tank suit.
Another quirky U-7 episode, the reliance on characterization and a Bondian spy atmosphere will possibly irritate some expecting a more traditional piece of Tokusatsu action. Mitsuda is back in the directors chair for the next episode, and it's yet another interesting take on familiar trappings.
MONSTERS: Dino-Tank
WEAPONS: enhanced rally car; machine gun biwa
Episode 27: OPERATION: CYBORG (SAIBOGU SAKUSEN) **1/2
Directed by Toshitsugu Suzuki
A meteor housing a UFO crashes into Asahi swamp. Shortly thereafter, Nogawa, a radio operator for the Ultra Garrison, is taking his fiance, Sanae, home. The UFO emerges and sucks the car inside before descending back below the water. Sanae is later found unconscious but no sign of Nogawa. Dan and Soga, Nogawa's friend, go to the site to take her to hospital. Aboard the UFO, a race of female aliens called Vorgs perform experiments on Nogawa, implanting robotic chips into his brain. They send him back to destroy the Ultra Garrison headquarters by setting a multitude of time bombs. Once their plot is discovered, the Ultra Squad bombards the UFO with heavy artillery. Meanwhile, one of the Vorg aliens attempt to set off the bombs inside the base, but is thwarted by Dan, leading to a fight between Seven and the Vorg.
Keisuke Fujikawa's second of five scripts is a standard alien invasion plot rife with tension and darkly lit corridors but loses its momentum with a lousily realized finale. His previous assignment for episode 16 was even more unremarkable than this one is. Sadly, the show begins on a high note with some nice SPX work from Toru Matoba's team--only to nosedive when the monsters take over at the end. Fujikawa's original script was a bit different; a much darker episode with a different nemesis, Alien Zanba--a creature that would turn up in the animated Ultra show, ULTRAMAN JOE (1979-1980).
Suzuki's direction works wonders at capturing an element of fear and suspense (evident in some of his previous episodes like #22, 'The Human Ranch') but the sections dealing with the monsters is among the most lax of the series; which is surprising considering director Suzuki's approach in the previous episode--one of the best, and most controversial of the series.
A bit part actor before becoming a director, Suzuki debuted in command
behind the camera on the 32nd episode of ULTRAMAN (1966). He directed a
total of 14 episodes; some of which are among the best and the worst in
this series. His last known work was on the television series DINOSAUR
EXPEDITION: TEAM BORN FREE (1976). His birthdate and death remain a
mystery.
Actress and singer Rei Maki (Keiko Miyauchi) plays Nogawa's love interest, Sanae. She appeared in many television programs. In one of her few movie roles she played one of the Kilaaks in DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1968).
Like the Toho favorite, the Vorg are a female race of aliens. As with all other intergalactic invaders, they're the most intelligent beings in the galaxy if only for 25 minutes. There's two of them present on the UFO but we only see one change. When she transforms into her true form the Vorg resemble the undersea gill-men from the 1929 version of THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND.
As for the end battle, it feels rushed and slapped together. There's more of the Vorg running around cackling than actual brawling going on. The fight is poorly shot since the giganticism rarely convinces. Both U-7 and the Vorg appear human-size from one shot to the next; especially when Seven tumbles over a cliff. Normally he towers over such terrain but Toru Matoba's SPX for these shots are ineffective. When Seven disposes of the Vorg, there's not even an optical when he throws his Eye Slugger to decapitate the alien.
Kunio Suzuki, a suit actor inside numerous monsters on U-7, plays the Vorg Alien. He began his career as a bit actor in episode 2 of ULTRAMAN (1966) before stepping into rubber suits starting with episode 19. On U-7 he debuted on episode 3 as the monster Eleking.
Definitely not one of the best episodes. Oddly, it works best when the monsters aren't needed in front of the camera. If I saw this episode as a kid I'd of been very disappointed. ULTRASEVEN was very different from ULTRAMAN. The later series' would transform even more in terms of content, veering away from pure SciFi tales. As for U-7, it would continue to produce adult-styled stories with a dark, more mature edge than its companion series'. The next episode is definitely unique in both story and its monster.
MONSTERS: Alien Vorg
WEAPONS: Ultra Hawk #1
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A highly volatile chemical agent called Spiner is destroyed while being transported by plane to the Terrestrial Defense Force Japan Branch. With various nefarious factions wishing to obtain the formula, Dan hits upon the idea of transporting the serum in the African car rally. Naturally, the forces of evil are onto them and Dan and Amagi run into trouble during their race to deliver the Spiner serum. A mysterious race of aliens who use Earth-like weaponry and appear human try to stop Dan and Amagi. When their initial plan fails, the aliens use their last resort, a reptilian monster merged with hardware, the Dinosaur Tank--an enormous, and bizarre looking monstrosity.
One of the strangest entries of ULTRASEVEN is brought to you by director
Kazuo Mitsuda, helming his 9th of 14 episodes. Up to this point, Mitsuda
has guided some of the best entries such as the frightening episode 9, the King Joe two-parter
(episodes fourteen and fifteen) and the fantastic episode 25. All of these are very different from one another and this installment is unique as well. Mitsuda is easily one of the most interesting directors of these programs and the presentation of the alien threat and the cyborgian monster in this particular installment is radically disparate from the normal Tokusatsu TV shows.
The tone is most certainly adult-oriented. If it isn't the alien terrorists blowing people up it's Amagi's fear of explosives over a childhood trauma. Filled with intense scenes and sweaty closeups of faces, Uehara's script is one of the most heavily infused with human drama. Before the monster appears near the end, this installment seldom feels like Science Fiction at all. The spy-thriller aura is enhanced by the Ultra Garrison members all disguising themselves to keep an eye on the transport of the Spiner explosive. At one point Captain Kiroyama is playing a Biwa that isn't an ordinary string instrument--containing a machine gun hidden in the neck! Moreover, the rally car Dan and Amagi are racin' around in has a hidden laser weapon and some retro rockets that allow it to land safely on the ground.
The aliens, while never referred to by name onscreen, are known as Alien Kill. Presumably their world is a bio-mechanical planet, utilizing similar Earth-like weaponry with a slightly different look. They never transform into their true forms (if they have one); looking exactly like humans. The only way to discern them is when they're shot, they evaporate into a flash of light.
The fight at the end is a lengthy one. Seven is about as confused as to how to combat the monster as we are at its curious appearance. Seven debuts the Ultra Shot, putting Dino-Tank out of its misery. The peculiar looking Dinosaur Tank is half monster and half machine. It rides atop a gigantic tank; its body seemingly fused with the machine. Kunio Suzuki is inside the Dino Tank suit.
