"Ultra Q" drama from.... 1966(!), episode eleven of 28 recap

 

 Air Dates: January 2nd until July 3rd, 1966 though episode #28 didn't air until December 14th

Sundays at 7:00 pm on TBS, 28 total episodes that were 25+ minutes in length. Created by Eiji Tsuburaya, directed by his oldest son Hajime.

Subs by Tgwoe, screenshot dimensions 1436 x 1076(4:3). This classic series also has a color version but I prefer older shows/films in Black and White as that seems to give off a more creepy vibe which the subber also thought.

Ratings: **** Didn't find the ratings until the ninth episode but did update the first eight shows. This series had such high ratings but back in 1966 there were only a few regular stations and no cable. This drama ran opposite another sci-fi show called "W3" which was very popular and before this series began had an average rating of 23%. However "Ultra Q" was much more popular and the other show slipped below 10%!!!! The average rating  for these 28 episodes was 32.4%, the rating for this eleventh episode was 36.8% and will update this section for each show. 

 In the middle are the main three characters, who they are will be revealed below. The man on the left end is Eiji Tsuburaya and he is the #1 special effects man/director of all time in Japan. He did all of the special effects for the classic TOHO films such as creating the costumes, sets, etc. and of course most reading this have seen the "Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan" and other movies. This TV series was the first of it's kind in Japan and Tsuburaya had created this series where he didn't want the focus to be on monsters but the story which was the format for the old American series "Outer Limits". But TOHO wanted his unique monsters and there will be a different one in each show, will update this top section now and again with more trivial tidbits. Tsuburaya had access to all of his old costumes so would often mix them up such as the head from a 1965 film, the body from a 1961 movie and so on.

 

**** This is a new feature for episode eleven and will update it every other recap. This mini section will have the monsters/creatures that we have seen to date and you can see more of them as a bit further down are the links to all of the episodes. Will have two screenshots of the creature though not every show had one but the first episode had two. The four pics below are from the first show with the top two of being of a prehistoric monster called Gomes, his only power was being very large and powerful. The two pics below that are also from the first show and Gomes battled another prehistoric monster called Litolaria who could fly and shoot out a ray from it's mouth so it ended up defeating Gomes and saved the world!

In the second show the creature was a monkey who grew to be a hundred times the size of a regular one. That was because of some fictional nuts the monkey ate and in the episode was named Goro who wasn't a violent monster so wasn't killed at the end. Goro is in the top two screenshots, the final monster from episode three has the next two pics and was never named. It looked like some sort of Slug or Praying Mantis that had hatched from some mini golden eggs that had been sent to Earth from Mars! Not enough space to describe these four creatures but hope it interests you enough to check out those recaps.

 Main Cast: Though it appears this had nothing to do with the "Ultraman" franchise in a way it does as this series is considered to be it's forerunner. The first "Ultraman" series began a little bit after this show ended and there's not enough time to talk about that show and it's movies which I do recommend. Hiroko Sakurai who plays the reporter Yuriko in this show is quite known for her "Ultraman" work as she was in the first series plus a few more after that along with being in many of the movies. Will do some editing and adding as we go along though not as much as other dramas, the top three are by far the main characters. There will be many monsters in this series, perhaps one per episode! Won't give any details about them at the top but will talk about them during the recap.

**** Not sure how to explain this and perhaps it doesn't need it. But when the show opens a narrator tells us what we are about to watch will be something extraordinary, is what we view real or just a part of our imagination? A screenshot of that is above and that's how the American series "Outer Limits" also opened and at the end the viewers were asked to think again with about what we viewed, to date this show hasn't done that. Every episode has it's own title, this episode's is.... 

Balloonga

Kenji Sahara as Jun Manjome.... Don't think any actor was in more of the classic TOHO monster films than Sahara was between 1954 to 1975 and also in four "Ultraman" series! Jun is a pilot for Hoshikawa Airlines, he can fly both planes and copters. Though a pilot Jun does dream of becoming a best selling sci-fi writer, he's also adept with guns and how that came to be is a mystery. Plus Jun is a master with cars and could have been a racer, one last thing is that Jun loves science which is how he and his mates are friends with Professor Ichinotani.

Yasuhiko Saijou as Ippei Togawa.... Jun's assistant at Hoshikawa Airlines but Ippei doesn't have any licenses yet but is close to getting one for flying helicopters. Bit of a goofball but seems to be much more intelligent than others think, Jun must see that too as he does trust Ippei fully.

Hiroko Sakurai as Yuriko Edogawa.... On the left below, will have a different pic in the future. 21 year old reporter for the Mainichi Shimbun(daily news) paper. Yuriko is the youngest at the newspaper but her editor Seki believes fully in her and sends Yuriko out on the harder stories such as the mysterious and unexplainable....

Ureo Egawa as Professor Ichinotani.... We finally met this older professor in the third episode. Know very little to date about him such as how did Jun and his mates come to be friends with this man who is ultra intelligent. Though him and the next character Seki are important to the drama each will only be in about half the episodes.

Yoshifumi Tajima as Seki.... Yuriko's editor at Mainichi Shimbun(daily news), older man who acts tough though is a softie and often gives Yuriko the stranger/mysterious cases. Not a huge role but an important one and in the second episode Seki was the Hero!

 There will be many guest characters in this series but may not include any of their names unless that part goes for two episodes or it's someone very famous. 

Previous recaps: There is no ongoing storyline but all of the shows have been entertaining so here are the links to all of the recaps done.

Episode one: Gomes .... Episode two: Goro and Goro .... Episode three: A Gift From Space

Episode four: Massive Flower .... Episode five: Pegulia .... Episode six: Grow Turtle!

Episode seven: SOS Mount Fuji .... Episode eight: Terror of the Sweet Honey

Episode nine: Baron Spider .... Episode ten: The Underground Super Express

 There aren't many but a few videos of this show on YT, mostly short scenes. Added this video in for the eleventh show but it's a clip from episode fourteen which of course hasn't been recapped yet. But any kind of video is hard to find so added it in now so you can see what the show is like to an extent and do highly recommend this drama, especially the Black and White version.

   

 

 Above are two photos of Hiroko Sakurai who played the reporter Yuriko in this series. Will have some regular pics in the future and those above are from the first season of "Ultraman" which began right after this series ended. Will look for any videos of her from that era but they could be so rare, Hiroko is a bit of an Ultraman legend for as mentioned she appeared in that first season plus a few others along with being in seven of the movies!

 This sci-fi drama began on January 2, 1966 so by now the date was March 13th. Much of the drama had been filmed many months prior and one thing I noticed is that the episodes may not have been aired in the order they were filmed. Say that because in the first eight shows Yuriko's hair was short but you could tell it was getting slightly longer. In the previous two shows it had really grown out and did make a comment on how terrific she looked with longer tresses. But you will see in this episode how Yuriko's hair is now the shorter length which was how it was early on in the series and it's really no big deal. PS.... Did read up more on the series and this may have been the first episode filmed, if so why was it held back for ten weeks?

 Whew, did a lot of editing as there was a mini section added in near the top that features creatures from the first three episodes and will update that every other recap. As far as monsters go it's hard to explain the one for this show and could it even be called a monster? It's right above and if you had to be asked what it resembled what would you say or perhaps not say?! To me one thing it does not look like is a balloon yet the title of this episode is Balloonga and does the Ga signify anything? Everyone in this show referred to the above as a balloon, it did float so that's one thing similar trait but that was it. Oh well, guess it doesn't matter as this did turn out to be another fine show and we did see a lot of Yuriko. There was one incident in the very beginning that did confuse me and will begin off with what it was,.... but writing this out helped me perhaps answer my own question. Hmmm, maybe I should have never brought it up but just in case I'm mistaken with my answer did explain the situation....

 What I wasn't sure of was the time of this first scene, in present time which would be 1966 or perhaps fifteen years earlier. But was thinking Japan was still recovering from the war around 1951 plus no nation was advanced enough to send a ship into space so writing this out has made me 99+% certain the spaceship crashed in 1966. 

 The man in the second screenshot is an astronaut named Ren Naramaru, the screenshot above him was the spaceship he was piloting. That last name will be mentioned again and Ren was returning to  Earth after going on a solo trip to Saturn but of course he didn't land there. All was going fine and his commander back at the Japan Space HQ gave Jun the countdown to begin his approach to Earth, five seconds until that would begin. However an unthinkable tragedy struck the spaceship, somehow all of the fuel had disappeared or evaporated, the last thing Ren saw was in the third screenshot and he screamed out 'Balloon' before crashing into a coastal Japanese bay. No one at the space center had a clue on how the fuel could have mysteriously disappeared and there is a good reason for the scientists not solving it as it was something they had never heard of.... yet! A few days later flying over the bay was the pilot Jun who was bringing the Mainichi Shimbun reporter Yuriko to a location for a story. The pair passed over the bay where the Saturn 1 ship had crashed, there was a red balloon near the crash site and was it some sort of memorial? That's what Jun wondered but he soon had something else to worry about which is in the middle screenshot.

 Of all things the fuel gauge in Jun's Cessna was reading empty, how could that have possibly happened and was there a link to the Saturn 1 spaceship? Yes there was and more on that later, somehow Jun was able to land his plane safely but he was furious with his assistant Ippei. With Yuriko he dashed into the terminal and Jun yelled at Ippei.... 'didn't you fill up the plane's gas tank?!'.'Of course I did was Ippei's response and he is a responsible man so Jun believed him, so if Ippei was telling the truth what happened? Ippei inspected the Cessna and found an odd object which is in the sixth and bottom screenshots above, it almost seemed to be alive and was it a new life form? Jun thought that was very possible as perhaps it had come to Earth on the Saturn 1 spaceship and somehow had floated in the air until attaching itself to Jun's plane. This object had been found in one of the engine's radiator's nooks.... from there did it drink the fuel?. So Jun, Ippei and Yuriko rushed to Tokyo with this object, what a scoop it would be for Yuriko if indeed it was from outer space. You'd think the trio would have been going to Professor Ichinotani's lab but his name was never mentioned. It may not have mattered as guess what happened again.... Jun's car ran out of gas!!!! That's the third time it's happened and how can fuel disappear at the snap of a finger? It may have to do with that newish life form and as the bottom screenshot above shows it is alive and began to slither out of it's box.

 Up until this point it was a fine episode but things really picked up after this, not the best show to date but one of the more interesting ones. That life form began to grow so quickly, Jun along with Yuriko and Ippei had to jump out of the car or else they may have been squashed to death! Right after leaping to safety Jun figured out what was taking place, this man is so smart and could have worked for NASA! This mini life form, which was once about four inches long, had grown to two feet and Jun deduced it's growing ability is coming from the energy around it. Meaning this unknown life form could somehow suck down gas and other kinds of fuels in mass quantities plus perhaps regular energy, if so this creature could be unstoppable! This incident had taken place on a busy Tokyo street, with Jun's car not moving it had caused a massive traffic jam and the drivers were so irate! Arriving on the scene were two police officers and by now the life form had grown even larger and was even floating in the air(!), will soon give it a name. That form grew so huge that Jun's car exploded, one huge piece was about to crush Yuriko but Ippei jumped in front of her. Yuriko was saved but badly hurt was Ippei who was rushed to a hospital, his injuries were so severe even after one operation two more would be needed!

 You can see the the massive size this new life form grew to, it had to be at least twenty feet long and was still growing. The police fired their revolvers at it but the bullets just bounced off, what exactly was this unknown new life form which is now being called Balloonga and I'm thinking the Ga has to mean monster though could be mistaken. In the second to last screenshot is a man named Akihiko Naramaru, the last name is familiar as he's the father of the astronaut Ren who died when Saturn 1 crashed upon it's return to Earth. At one time the elder Naramaru was a respected professor but an incident happened many years before, two screenshots above show Jun telling the story to Yuriko. Close to twenty years ago a meteorite had fallen to Earth which professor Naramaru had found. In the meteor he found some odd spores which Naramaru deduced could be a new species of life if cultivated correctly. However his peers at Toa University all dismissed his theories and Naramaru ended up resigning, for a while he worked at the National Science Museum but also left that position and nothing had been heard of Naramaru for over a decade. Supposedly this new life species could also be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands so Jun surmised that Naramaru created a ship and shot this unknown life form back into space. Where it had been stuck in the Earth's orbit all this time but had somehow latched onto the Saturn 1 spaceship and returned to Earth. The question Jun was wondering was if that Naramaru knew this Balloonga would return and if so was it revenge for all those laughing at his theories/? That screenshot above is of Naramaru listening to his son's descent and how he lost his life, how did the elder Naramaru get that tape? That was the longest paragraph to date for any of this drama's recaps but did need to describe this Balloonga creature and that's what Naramaru had named it all those years ago.

 Final segment, what took place in these last scenes are the screenshots right above and the first three below. You can see how large Balloonga has become and absorbing energy is the best term to use describing how it grows. The Air Force tried their luck firing missiles at the floating creature but that was useless as Balloonga seemed to devour them! In the top screenshot above somehow Yuriko had stood next to Naramaru while this had been going on, what are the odds of that in such a large city? Naramaru said firing missiles was such a mistake as it was like feeding this new life form and Yuriko did wonder who is this older man who knows so much about Balloonga? The government had finally figured out absorbing energy is how Balloonga has grown so large but it hasn't been violent and maybe it can't be, absorbing energy is just how it survives. So the government ended up shutting off all the power in Tokyo so the city came to a standstill. One important note brought up was what will happen then to patients in hospitals, will they be left to die? No for most had been transported to other cities but not Jun's assistant and best friend Ippei whose injuries were to severe to move him. So unless Balloonga is defeated quickly Ippei will die, Yuriko was quite shaken and I have wondered does she have a bit of a crush on him? Yuriko recalled that red balloon she had seen with Jun while the pair were flying over a  bay south of Tokyo to cover a story, is that where they may find the once time esteemed professor Naramaru? Yes it was and once again despite so many millions in Tokyo Yuriko, along with Jun, were able to find Naramaru.... just in time for you can see the size Balloonga has grown to!

 Naramaru did tell a bit more about how Balloonga was created and most of what Jun had said earlier was correct. But even Naramaru wasn't quite sure on how to destroy this life form but there could be a savior as approaching Tokyo was a massive Typhoon. It hit Tokyo severely causing much damage, most thought Balloonga would be blown apart but it seemed to be larger than ever! Naramaru finally had an idea which he told the some very esteemed scientists so they could create it. Which was of making an artificial Sun and send it up in space though slowly so Balloonga could follow it. This floating life form lives to absorb energy so it would follow this artificial Sun into space and hopefully perish once it left the Earth's atmosphere. Below is this new Sun and Ballooonga did follow it, that was the last we saw of this life form. Naramaru though said he believed Balloonga would end up absorbing that bogus Sun but wouldn't stop there and travel to eat up our Sun, could that be possible? Naramaru thought so and as the episode ended the narrator asked the viewers to wonder if the Sun we see in the sky is the real one or perhaps how Balloonga looks after devouring it!!!! That wraps up this recap and a lot of things did take place compared to other shows, so much of what happened was to make us viewers think of certain  scenarios such as creating new life forms which was the second time it's happened in this series. The next post has the recap for episode twelve which I haven't viewed yet.