"Ultra Q" drama from.... 1966(!), episode 21 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 21st episode was 30.9% 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 that was added for the eleventh episode 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. Did have just two screenshots of the monsters but now that I'm caught up with them will have four of them for the remaining shows. So the first four below are from episode 19 and the first one isn't of a monster. But of some slime from outer space which did transform into the monster in the next three screenshots. It never had a name but kept growing until his death as fire was it's weakness and it came from the planet Kemur. The second monster is the one I really enjoyed and isn't it so similar to the Creature from the Black Lagoon? It certainly was though this creature was a female who lived in an underseas empire called Ragon and somehow the egg of her baby had floated up to the top of the ocean! 

 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 in it's same time slot 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.... 

Space Directive M774

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. In episode fourteen did learn Hoshikawa Airlines was along the Tama River, that's 15 or so miles west of Tokyo.

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!

 

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

Episode eleven: Balloonga .... Episode twelve: I Saw A Bird

Episode thirteen: Garadama .... Episode fourteen: Tokyo Ice Age

Episode fifteen: Kanegon's Cocoon .... Episode sixteen: Garamon Strikes Back!

Episode seventeen: The 1/8th project .... Episode eighteen: The Rainbow's Egg

Episode 19: Challenge from the year 2020 ... Episode 20: Primordial Amphibian Ragon

 There aren't many but a few videos of this show on YT, mostly short scenes. Added this video in for the 19th episode as it shows some highlights from it and that semi-monster was another creature from outer space. You only hear music in the credits which lasts for forty seconds but it is rather cool and you can hear it in the video.

   

 

 

 Above is this episode's main guest star who played the role of an alien(!) named Zemi. Her real name is Keiko Mizuki who was quite busy from 1961-66 then did zero for the next fifteen years, would presume it was because she got married. But found no info on that and did learn she was also a popular child actress, she was one cutie so it's a shame there aren't all that many photos of her. So much for taking a break from dramas and would like to finish this series up by the end of the month which I don't think will be possible but it shouldn't be much longer after that. I do view more things than you see recaps for but there's just no time to do posts for other shows or movies, try to pick out the best of the lot I'm currently viewing and have lucked out picking the top shows. On occasion do view American dramas though it's extremely rare for me but did just begin one a few days ago, had bought a massive DVD boxset on a whim and lucked out on that also!

 It's a series that aired the same time this one did and sure many have heard of the show which is "The Main From U.N.C.L.E." that ran from 1964 until early 1968. These days I don't splurge too often on DVD's and the price of this box set was $59 but as it turns out is actually quite a bargain. There's 41 discs that have all 105 episodes plus five discs are of special features so glad I treated myself for once, have viewed six a dozen episodes to date and am really enjoying the action. Will get into it more in future posts, this section is often a good place to ramble on about oddball things. Let's get to what took place in this 21st episode and there's only seven more to go. To date every one has been at least a solid view or better but for the third time though an episode could have been a bit better. This show had an interesting story and lately almost every show has dealt with Aliens or ships from outer space which continued with this episode with the Alien being from a fictional planet named Ruperts. That part was fine but we seldom saw the monster from a different planet and even when we did it did not look terrifying!

 The trio of Jun, Ippei and Yuriko have been spending much more time together which is a positive for when they have a lot of screen time the episode is usually better. This show opened with the three on a cruise ship, no idea where they went or if it may have been just a one day voyage. Yuriko got tired of losing at cards so went for a stroll on the ship's deck but Yuriko didn't run into one other passenger though did notice a shooting star in the second screenshot. However we viewers knew it wasn't a star for in the third screenshot the object had plummeted to the bottom of the sea and faintly glowed, more on what it is later. On deck Yuriko found that doll in the fourth screenshot and this was no normal doll as it was from outer space! The doll said it's name was Zemi and had come from the planet of Ruperts which of course was fictional. The doll said it had come to Earth to warn humans of an impending invasion, Yuriko was so frightened of the doll she threw it into the ocean! To me that was a mistake as she should have let Jun and Ippei listen to it and perhaps could figure out if the doll was telling the truth. Back at their cabin Yuriko didn't tell her friends about the doll but did mention that shooting star which may have been a UFO, the pair did have a chuckle at Yuriko's imagination.

 But of course it was no made up story and at the end of the show this Alien was slightly peeved it took humans so long to believe she(Zemi) was really from another planet. In the last show we learned that Ippei had finally got his license to fly a helicopter solo, now he's being trained by the ace Jun to get his small plane license. All was going fine during a lesson but when Ippei tried to land the controls didn't work, Jun couldn't fly the plane either and that blurry screenshot above of Ippei was of him passing out. So didn't Jun and we viewers watched the plane fly itself or actually by someone invisible! After landing the pair arose and wondered where were they, still on Earth? Yes and the close friends entered the only building on the horizon which seemed to be an abandoned bar, after they entered the door slammed shut and the jukebox began to play. But not music as it was the voice of Zemi who once again warned humans that the Earth will soon be invaded by a monster named Bostang and it's already arrived but is still dormant, the shooting star that is at the bottom of the ocean. It was a bit cool seeing an old time jukebox and the records had Zemi's prerecorded voice on them, Jun and Ippei did believe her warning.

 Those 45 rpm records told Jun and Ippei that Zemi is from the planet of Ruperts, the monster named Bostang is from Keel which is another fictional name. The pair don't have much time to prepare as Bostang will soon awaken, their first mission is to get in touch with a woman professor named Kiyomi Ichijo at a library. Kiyomi will actually be Zemi, in the third screenshot above a spaceship dropped her off near a lake and we figured hovered above the Earth waiting for Zemi but it returned to the planet Ruperts. During that time the egg at the bottom of the ocean finally cracked open, what emerged wasn't too clear at first and is in the fourth screenshot. Of course there are more pics of this creature below which to me looked very similar to a Manta Ray though much larger but not as huge as previous creatures. That fifth screenshot shows an ocean liner which was being destroyed by this monster that was named Bostang but I wondered how as the creature didn't appear to have any special powers such as firing lasers from his eyes plus being similar to a Manta Ray meant Bostang had no arms or legs.

 We never saw the Bostang in a fight after that nor destroying anything else. The trio of Jun, Ippei and Yuriko met up with Kiyomi aka Zemi at the library and above you can see the book she had with her.. It showed details of the Bostang monster which came from the plant Keel, perhaps its long tail or wings/flippers is how it sunk that ship? As usual it was up to the three main characters to save Japan and the world, with Zemi in tow they were able to get the Japanese Defense Naval Force to bring them to sea. Jun above as able to convince the captain to hunt down the Bostang monster as it may sink another ship, actually many for Zemi(Kiyomi) had said a few times the mission of Bostang is to destroy the Earth!!!! Somehow Bostang remained off the coast of Japan where it was spotted but then the question became how to eliminate the monster which did seem as though it was in an attack mode. Zemi had a vital piece of info which was that the Bostang hates loud noises such as ships so the first step would be to shut off the ship's motors which could prove to be very dangerous if they were attacked or had to flee.

 Final segment, these shows seem to end quickly but maybe it's how I write these recaps up. What took place is in the above screenshots and first two below. The worst thing that could have happened did as appearing in the area was another ship, this was a cruise boat with 500 passengers and the Bostang set it's eyes on that target! Some of the crew had become a bit incensed with Zemi and how she had taken control of the situation, The second in command Miyamoto above tore into Zemi who in a such a monotone yet angry voice said if Humans had listened to her then the Bostang would have been killed well before this. Yuriko gave a heroic suggestion but one that could prove to be fatal to her ship, why not turn the engines back on and draw Bostang away from the ship with 500 passengers? The captain Matsuda had to agree that was the best and perhaps only option, he ordered the ship to start up again and attack Bostang! However there wasn't much of a final showdown between the ship and monster for arriving in the sky was finally the Japanese Air Force, Bostang would prove no match for them.

 There's a few screenshots of Bostang above and doesn't it appear it has some sort of Smiley Face? You can see how efficient the fighter jets were as they made mincemeat of Bostang, the creature literally was blown out of the water and was destroyed! So it was a happy ending as there were no casualties and to me this final battle was the lamest to date. But there was a minute to go in the show and that proved to be a decent ending. Days later Zemi was talking with Yuriko, when she had been dropped off by the spaceship from her planet of Ruperts she would not be returning even if her mission was successful which it was. Almost forgot to add in her mission number/directive was M774 which was the title of this episode. So Zemi will be living as a Human and with her looks who would ever think she was an Alien(?) but did reveal to Yuriko that there are many more like her from the planet Ruperts living on Earth. For it's been saved numerous times but that's been unknown until now, how to tell if they're an Alien is by the special silver sandals they all wear. After writing half of this up did view episode 22 which is the next post and was like this show where it was very good but not among the best.