Director: Toshihiro Iijima
Year: 1966
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: (Alternate DVD Title: Shoot the Invader/Defeat the Invaders) (侵略者を撃て Shinryakusha o Ute?)
Genre: Tokusatsu TV
Plot:
Investigating a series of strange signals around the city, the Science Patrol finds the cause to be from a race of aliens known as Baltan Seijin who are looking to overtake the Earth and relies on Ultraman to save the day when he finally appears.
Investigating a series of strange signals around the city, the Science Patrol finds the cause to be from a race of aliens known as Baltan Seijin who are looking to overtake the Earth and relies on Ultraman to save the day when he finally appears.
Story:
Overall this has a nice, fun storyline for this type of a show. The simple setup of a strange incident getting the attention of the Science Patrol forcing them to investigate, stumbling upon an alien invasion and when their true intentions are revealed Ultraman is needed to fend off the aliens' impending threat. This is brought along with a fast-moving pace that moves things along as it offers plenty of small beats throughout here that bring up the Baltan's plans, from their initial appearance at the institute and the initial investigations reveal the frozen guards, the takeover of their body and how they finally reveal the true purpose of their visitation to Earth.
Overall this has a nice, fun storyline for this type of a show. The simple setup of a strange incident getting the attention of the Science Patrol forcing them to investigate, stumbling upon an alien invasion and when their true intentions are revealed Ultraman is needed to fend off the aliens' impending threat. This is brought along with a fast-moving pace that moves things along as it offers plenty of small beats throughout here that bring up the Baltan's plans, from their initial appearance at the institute and the initial investigations reveal the frozen guards, the takeover of their body and how they finally reveal the true purpose of their visitation to Earth.
Special Effects:
For the majority of the episode, the only real effects to see here concerns the freezing ray Baltan emits from it's claws as there's not much else to be had with the majority of this taking place among the museum trying to determine what's going on. The Baltan costume is a bit of a mixed bag, being obviously impressive in the upper portion of it's design where the insectoid appearance and rather humanoid stance creates as much of an impression as that iconic bellowing laughter that they emit. However, the bottom part of the costume is absolutely atrocious and really looks as if they either never finished the creature or didn't have time to and just patched a few pieces of fabric together to constitute the legs since they're quite obviously just human legs sticking out of this insect-like creature. It's a distracting feature and doesn't really sell this as being a realistic creature.
What really wins this one over is the rather impressive ending fight between Ultraman and Baltan. The entire concept of the fight, where Baltan flies over the burning city, causing Ultraman to give chase flying after it engaging in a tumbling duel in mid-air over the city at night, is one of the most enjoyable and creative in the franchise even though the overall brevity of it since its a few tumbling maneuvers and Ulltraman then blasts it once he lands on the ground which might not be all that intriguing since we barely get any kind of Ultramanain the episode. Still, Baltan gets a brief rampage as a kaiju-sized being which is responsible for a solid rampage with the creatures' claw missiles exploding into the city creating a few fine explosions. This is a minor letdown from the ingenuity of episode 1 but it works nicely enough here.
What really wins this one over is the rather impressive ending fight between Ultraman and Baltan. The entire concept of the fight, where Baltan flies over the burning city, causing Ultraman to give chase flying after it engaging in a tumbling duel in mid-air over the city at night, is one of the most enjoyable and creative in the franchise even though the overall brevity of it since its a few tumbling maneuvers and Ulltraman then blasts it once he lands on the ground which might not be all that intriguing since we barely get any kind of Ultramanain the episode. Still, Baltan gets a brief rampage as a kaiju-sized being which is responsible for a solid rampage with the creatures' claw missiles exploding into the city creating a few fine explosions. This is a minor letdown from the ingenuity of episode 1 but it works nicely enough here.
Actors:
Frankly, this episode is all about Ito as we get definitive proof that his character's the comic relief of the show. This is his episode and everything that we get out of here is designed to further him being a lovable goofball, from the idea of him looking at the camera delivering a joke right at the audience to the clumsy way he manages to work his weaponry and then finally the running storyline involving him telling the story about his impaired physical condition. Though brief and somewhat of a hit-or-miss involving the character's appeal, the fact that this tie we finally get something about the characters is a nice sign because it's more than what we got before in the pilot. Beyond Ito, we don't get much else here which manages to be a little distressing but rather than merely confirming what we know about Hayata from his determination to stop the Baltan's by taking the suicide dive to grab the Beta Capsule on the ledge below, but this one is all about Ito and his comedy.
Other Factors:
As a whole, the episode offers a lot to like but it suffers from the inability to tell its story coherently leaving this one with some problems in that area as well as being quite unnecessary as everything here is about the genesis of the black-eye which doesn't feature into this one at all. Being a comedy point which doesn't even figure into the main story of the group undergoing the investigation strikes as obvious filler for that point which doesn't even need to be there. With the investigation really going for the Ultra Q style of setup where it's based on the discovery of the being and learning about it to form a plan of action, this is an overall intriguing piece before it goes for the kaiju action in the finale. The fight, with Ultraman and Baltan taking place not only at night but also above the city as a mainly airborne sequence with the dolls fighting and jockeying for position makes for a strong finish and brings it up which really sells this one being so fun and unique in the series.
Overview: ***1/2/5
Basically bringing many fun elements together into a wholly fun and entertaining episode, this second adventure offers a lot to like while even if it does offer a few problematic areas that bring it see down a touch from the stellar pilot.
Comments
Post a Comment