Ultra Q

In order to start a multi-million(billion?) dollar franchise like Ultraman, the original work needs to set some pretty high standards, and Ultra Q checks all the marks.

It sets up the kind of world you're about to be immersed in while not throwing to much at you, it gives you some great writing and special effects without making their crowning achievements too early, and introduces some lovable characters to boot.

And it's filled with great masterpieces like "Peguila appeares", "Kanegon's cocoon", "the Baron of Spiders", and "The underground Super-express goes west" and many more!

Though it's not as good as Return Of Ultraman or Ultraseven, and many shows since have surpassed to standards that Ultra Q set, not to mentions it's a very inaccurate portrayal of the intellectual property, i still cannot recommend it enough.

7/10.

With the sobering intro/outro narration of The Twilight Zone, the normal-day-turned-Lovecraftian-horror of The X-Files, and a practical effects team that dared greatly and generally succeeded, this ought to be better known.

The monster-of-the-week format and 30-minute episodes don't give much time for character development, of course. The likeable cast include a hard-charging lady reporter, a wise old scientist with government connections, and a pair of pilots-for-hire who transport them to the scene of the trouble and provide the muscle as needed.

The real stars, of course, are the monsters--a giant slug that shoots rays from its eyestalks, a creepy tentacled balloon monster that fills the skies over Tokyo, a prehistoric beast that is reawakened when a tunneling project disturbs its eggs (yes that was a Kolchak plot too!). They give you the monsters in all their rubbery glory, better in my opinion than Doctor Who or The Outer Limits. Only wish there were more episodes, but it must have been really expensive.

A decent Japanese take on Twilight Zone/Outer Limits. Mostly a kaiju of the week show, and entertaining most of the time, there were a few episodes that I didn't like, but that's a matter of taste. There are 3 main characters, the handsome and sometimes brave pilot, his semi-goofy assistant and the plucky female reporter. Also a professor who appears frequently. The stories are usually about a kaiju, but there are a few about thoughtful subjects that are more like episodes of the aforementioned American series. I think the episodes are too short and could have been about 15 minutes longer. The acting is fine. I was impressed by the miniature sets and most of the SFX, which were pretty good for the time. One thing I am unsure about is that the episodes were not shown in the order they were filmed in, as the female character had different length hair in different episodes, it was a bit confusing but the episodes were self contained and there was only one episode that was a 'return of'. It was an enjoyable show and I am sad that there were only 28 episodes.

Strange things are happening in and around Japan that heroic pilot Jun Manjome (Kenji Sahara), sidekick Ippei Togawa (Yasuhiko Saijo), cute news-photographer Yuriko Edogawa (Hiroko Sakurai), and clever scientist Dr. Ichinotani (Ureo Egawa) are frequently called on to investigate. The 28-episode series was produced by Tsuburaya Productions, the company founded by Eiji Tsuburaya, the special effects pioneer who created the original 'Godzilla' for Toho Studios as well as many of the iconic daikaiju that followed in the King of the Monsters' footsteps (as well as numerous smaller monsters, aliens, spacecraft, miniature cities (standing and flattened) etc.). Similar to the popular American anthology series 'The Twilight Zone' (1959), each episode opens with an ominous prologue and closes with a wrap-up epilogue (usually cautionary) delivered by a voiceover (there is no host). Ultra Q is also similar to the contemporaneous American program 'The Outer Limits' (1963), in that both shows were pushed to include a 'monster' in every episode (in the Japanese show, this was primarily to appeal to youngsters who were captivated by the current child-friendly crop of 'Godzilla' and 'Gamera' films). Episodes varied from reasonably 'adult' science fiction (such as 'Balloonga', ep. 11) to juvenile fantasy ('A Boy and His Turtle', ep. 6) with the occasional 'horror story' (e.g. 'Baron Spider' ep.9) thrown in. The kaiju episodes are similar to the light-weight late Showa-era Godzilla films, and as Tsuburaya was well connected with Toho Studios, some of the similarities were due to him borrowing props and monster suit-mation costumes (often modified by adding new heads, extra frills, horns, tusks, etc). I just finished the series in order on TUBI, and having watched with the aid of not particularly sophisticated English subtitles, I can't really comment on the acting but it appears to be on par with the that of human characters in kaiju movies from the same era (although Hiroko Sakurai's projection of 'grief' or 'fear' was a bit risible at times). All in all, a fun throwback for people (like me) who are fans of all things daikaiju and tokusatsu but probably best known as the precursor to the incredibly popular and long-lived 'Ultraman' franchise.

Watch Ultra Q. For the entertainment value. For the gorgeous sixties aesthetic. For the fun. For the monsters. For the historic value. Just watch it.

It's not much like the rest of the ultraman series. More like an action oriented x files for kids.

Watch the sequels ultra q: dark fantasy and neo ultra q for more ultraman free trippy glory.