"Ultra Q" drama from.... 1966(!), episode one 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 first episode was 32.2% 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 with more trivial tidbits every other episode. Below are the two monsters for episode one, on the top is Gomes(s) who does look similar to Godzilla, 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. Litolaria is the name of the second monster though no destructive one as it saved the day and destroyed Gomes!

 Main Cast: Though this has 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. We didn't meet everyone in the first two episodes so some editing and adding will be done as we go along, the top three are by far the main characters. There will be many monsters in this series, at least 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? 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....

Gomes(s)

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 at guns and how that came to be is a mystery.

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.... Didn't see him in the first two episodes but is supposed to be a key character in the series.

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. Two guest stars in this show did have a lot of screen time, the top is a Mainichi Shimbun reporter named Nitta. The other is a boy around 12-14 in age whose uncle worked at the construction site where all of the action takes place. The boy's name is Jiro who knows all there is know about prehistoric creatures, think this was the boy's only time in an acting role.

 There aren't many but a few videos of this show on YT, mostly short scenes. Here's one that features the creature Lagon who doesn't appear for many more episodes but what's notable about this monster is that he also appeared in an "Ultraman" episode and was much larger. Embedding wasn't allowed so here's the link to it which is three minutes long: Lagon creature video

 Used to dread writing the above up as it does take a lot of time and research. These days it takes even longer as I really have been going all out on those above sections for dramas and films yet even though it's now harder work I seem to be enjoying doing that section more than ever!!!! Not much I can add in right now that isn't written above so will make this intro part a bit brief. This Tokusatsu series lasted for 28 episodes, unsure if all will be recapped but as long as I don't get tired of it would think all the shows will be done. Have viewed the first two shows which were very enjoyable, it's not the essential viewing that the early "Godzilla" movies are but there's zero wrong with that. Being just 25+ minute episodes these recaps should be only three segments and may have to pad them to make the recaps even that long. You can see below where the show will be taking place, a construction site between Osaka and Tokyo for a new train line and 95% of the action did take place there or at a nearby mountain.

 That top screenshot does say Tunnel but there's no way it stretches all the way from Tokyo to Osaka as that would be ~320 miles. But of course the new rail line had to go through some mountains and hence that's why this tunnel and others had to be built. Tokai Expressway is the name of this new train route, this tunnel site is just 43 miles from Mount Konpo which was supposedly not too far from Osaka. Being just 25 minutes in length means there's no time for filler and not too far into this first episode we met this show's creature! He's in the second screenshot and doesn't it look so familiar to Godzilla? Explained why that is in the intro section above, the monster's name is Gomes and near the end there will be a second creature. The construction crew were digging into a mountain and had gone down quite a few feet, that's where Gomes was first noticed and the cave he lived in was so massive how could it have gone undetected for so many thousands of years? Omura was the operator of the digger that first spotted Gomes, he jumped from his machine and tore out of this tunnel/cave.

 But Omura wasn't believed when he told his bosses about this humungous creature, he was known to be an alcoholic and and did he have a few before jumping on his digger? But listening in was a reporter from Mainichi Shimbun named Nitta, he called his editor Seki who soon dispatched the young reporter Yuriko to the scene. That's her in the helicopter above, on the left is the pilot Jun while on the right is his trusty assistant Ippei, this trio are the main 'Heroes' in this drama. Before they arrived at the tunnel location something else was discovered in it and was brought out, Omura is still the only person to have seen Gomes. That new thing is above and it did look to be a meteor at first but that boy above said no it wasn't, listen to him as he's the authority of all things Prehistorical!!!! Jiro was the lad's name and was the nephew of the site's foreman, he did know a lot about prehistoric times and said this object was an egg though at first was unable to determine for what species. However Jiro did deduce it was from the Desmostylus family as he says above, the dinosaurs from the family were known to have come from the nearby Mount Konpo region and it being close should a quick trip be made there?

 So the answer to Jiro's question was yes, the reporter Nitta and Ippei, the assistant to the pilot Jun, will fly there in the helicopter. Ippei doesn't have a regular license yet but felt confident enough to go forty miles. At the bottom of Mount Konpo was a temple and the priest there said he too had heard of these dinosaur legends, he even had an ancient scroll to show the expert(!) Jiro. On the scroll were some drawings, one was of a creature with wings and Jiro said that is what is inside the egg, it's a species named Litolaria, will call it Litra and more on that coming up. While the trio were off on that investigation Jun and Yuriko were doing their own research and the pair entered the tunnel which led to this massive cave. And what an absolute humungous cave this was, it seemed to go on for miles and how could this have never been discovered? All seemed peaceful for the pair though not for too long, as you can see above the duo did finally encounter the fifty foot beast Gomes! This monster had no special powers such as the ability to fly or shoot lasers from his mouth but was so strong and seemed to be extremely agile, he got from one place to another very quickly without being noticed.

 Not being noticed was what was saving Jun and Yuriko, being in an ancient cave meant there were so many rocks and nooks to hide behind. Though not forever, perhaps Gomes had the ability to smell humans as he finally did see the pair and could they dash out of this massive cave in time.... before Gomes caught them or the cave collapsed?! Arriving back at the train construction site were the trio, on that scroll Jiro had seen that Litra had the power to emit a liquid called Citronella Acid, that could subdue Gomes and now you know what had to be done. Which was of hatching the egg, with the help of Ippei Jiro started a bonfire and the heat from that eventually caused the egg to get warm enough to hatch, that's Litra below. It was perfect timing for the hatching as dashing out of the tunnel were Jun and Yuriko, soon coming out would be the massive beast/dinosaur Gomes! That monster is much larger and stronger than Litra but in the end that advantage didn't help Gomes at all.

 A rescue party had entered the cave to find Jun and Yuriko however the pair had escaped before being found. Gomes had seen that group and did give chase to no avail but that minor delay had no impact on what was to happen to Gomes. The egg Litra came from was huge yet as you can see above after it hatched the creature had to be ten times the size of the egg! When Gomes finally made it out of the tunnel Jiro screamed at Litra to destroy the monster though of course how could this prehistoric monster understand Japanese? I'm sure not at all and it was probably instinct which made Litra's mission in life to attack and finish off Gomes! You can see that brief skirmish above, being able to fly gave Litra such an advantage as Gomes was never able to grab or punch this half bird/mammal. Litra was able to come up to Gomes from behind and and with his large beak pecked Gomes eyes a few times. With Gomes writhing in pain Litra shot his Citronella Acid liquid at Gomes, before you knew it this deadly creature had been slain! However that fight seemed to take all of the life out of Litra, soon after defeating Gomes he fell to his death and laid right next to his foe.

 The final screenshot above is how the show ended and think the theme or lessons from these stories are ones we viewers have to decide on. For instance was the reason Gomes resurrected because of Humans(!), if the new railway tunnel hadn't been dug out then the creature would still be in hibernation. That thought is a common thing in older Japanese movies, so often nothing good will happen messing with Mother Nature!!!! May not have seemed it but this was a solid start to this series, I enjoyed this show and also the second episode which is the next post. After writing up so many long recaps this shorter one felt so nice so perhaps I will finish recapping all 28 episodes.