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 23d episode was 26.9% 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!
**** Skipped adding in any from the past two shows as for episode 21 it was just a huge Manta Ray like creature and in the 22nd show it was a man who grew to be a giant.
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....
Fury of the South Sea
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.
There aren't many but a few videos of this show on YT, mostly short scenes. Did add in a new video in the last post though it sadly doesn't show any scenes as ones I did find in that vein you couldn't embed. But the below video is still worth playing as it's the opening theme music for each episode which I thought was very good and it does have a creepy vibe....
The bottom screenshot above is from this episode and she's the main female guest star. Noriko Takahashi is her name and in exactly a month will be hitting the age of 78, she was just nineteen when this show aired. Up until 1970 Noriko was a very busy actress, back then actors appeared in so many more things and she was in three Godzilla movies. However she retired in 1970 to get married and never did any acting after that, as you can see above she was yet another attractive guest star. But there was also a noted male guest star in this episode and I recognized him within one second! He's in the top screenshot below, his name is Akira Kubo who at the time was 29 in age and is still alive with his age now being 87. To me his most known role was in the must see 1963 sci-fi/horror movie "Matango" and that is required viewing! Kubo was also in three Godzilla flicks plus in too many other movies to list but for the most part seemed to retire 25 years ago.
As usual you viewers have learned more trivial facts but don't think I will quiz you at the end. The two guest stars did play an important role in this episode and we're getting close to the end as there's only five more shows to go. Once again no 'original monster' or one from outer space but it was still a decent creature as it was a very large Octopus though with no special powers. Am running out of things to say as there's been so many recent recaps so let's get to what took place and most of the action took part in the South Seas. Oooops, almost forgot to bring up the name of Kenji Sahara who has the lead role in this drama playing Jun. He was also in "Matango" and his role was a very large one though he wasn't easy to recognize, I need to review some of his movies as no actor appeared in more popular sci-fi films than Kenji did, even as recently as a 2004 Godzilla flick!
That's the guest star Akira Kubo in the top screenshot at the ship's wheel, his character's name was Yuzo. Off to his side was Yuzo's father Wasawa who was the captain of the ship named Daigo Taiheimaru and it's currently in the South Seas, think somewhat near the Micronesia Islands which is east of the Philippines and SE of Japan. The boat was a fishing one and the crew were looking for new areas to fish though without any success yet. Least the waters were calm said Yuzo but he did speak too soon for as you can see in the second screenshot day turned into night at the snap of a finger. That screenshot doesn't show it but the one after does and what made the ocean so out of control was a huge sea monster, it's tentacles were so long and strong. It easily killed that sailor and while we didn't see the creature do the deed soon after the Daigo Taiheimaru ship sank. All onboard were killed save for one, that was Yuzo who washed up on the shore of the very small Compass Island. There's a screenshot of the island above, the one after shows Yuzo on the beach and he was being attended to by an island woman though Yuzo was so hurt he slept for seemingly days after being brought back to a hut.
The hut was the woman's and when Yuzo finally arose he named her Anita, she spoke such an odd language and Yuzo really had no way to communicate with her. Plus the male islanders didn't seem to take kindly to Yuzo staying in Anita's hut and was in two scraps, though weak he did come out on top both times. Back in Tokyo the editor of Mainichi Shimbun Seki has ordered his youngest and also best reporter Yuriko to cover the story of the sinking ship but for some odd reason Yuriko refused her editor Seki at first. However she eventually relented, naturally she'll be taking this trip via helicopter with her best mates Jun and Ippei. But there will be a fourth person whose name is Minami, you'll see this man who wore glasses in a few of the screenshots. Minami is an excellent interpreter and can speak the unnamed Compass Island language and think some others in the Micronesia Islands. You can see the quartet above and Minami is not someone you would want backing you in a fight or with you on a safari but his language skills did come in useful. When the group arrived on Compass Island there was no one around as Jun was musing above, he should have remained quiet for soon they were surrounded by the natives who all had very sharp spears!!!!
That Octopus was an enigma, the island cutie Anita told the visitors the creature's name was Sudar. It's an enigma for it's both a God and Enemy of the islanders, an Enemy for it almost killed that little boy. But also a God for it's protected Compass Island from outsiders so the Octopus is a mixed blessing. A person who hasn't been mentioned for a while is Yuzo who had recovered and wanted revenge against this Sudar monster ! Of course Yuzo did for it killed his father, all of the ship's crew and the ship itself. She was very reluctant but Anita did tell Yuzo, via the interpreter Minami, where the Octopus hides when not on a rampage and of course it's in the ocean but not far from the island's main bay. With that location Yuzo headed off but what could he do against such a large creature, to make sure he came back alive silently on his tail were Jun and Ippei. However the three main men leaving left Yuriko and Minami by themselves and the islanders once again weren't happy that they had so many visitors.... plus were quite furious at Anita for revealing the location of their God Sudar. However Yuzo did backtrack and ended up returning to Anita well before Jun and Ippei realized what Yuzo had done, that action almost doomed him.
Arriving to save the day were Jun and Ippei, they freed the four being held captive by the islanders and they weren't too far away from being burnt to a crisp! Yuzo was the most angry at the Octopus for killing his father and shipmates, he began to hurl spears at the creature along with Jun, Ippei and the chief Zillah. Anita even had a gun which she fired but that didn't seem to have much affect but a spear Yuzo threw into the monster's eye was the start of its demise. You can see the action above and it was an exciting final two minutes, once everyone saw some substance ooze out of the creature's eyes that became the main target. Enough spears plus some gunfire kept hitting those eyes and before long Sudar tumbled over to his death, the killing wasn't too original but it was an exciting climax. The islanders finally looked upon their visitors with respect after saving their lives but it was time for Jun, Ippei and the interpreter Minami to head home, Yuriko too and what a scoop she had! But not leaving Compass Island was Yuzo and had a feeling that would be the case, he had fallen head over heels in love with Anita and there was no way he would leave. Of course communicating would be a problem though Minami did write up a cheat sheet for Yuzo and this episode was a slight comeback after two so-so shows, the next post has the recap for episode 24 which I haven't viewed yet.
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