Ultraman review: Episode 14 Pearl Oyster Defense Order

Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)

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Ultraman: Episode 14
Pearl Oyster Defense Order


(I’ve never done one of these review things, however with the new Forum I have decided to see if I can do it, feedback would be appreciated)

prologue

Before we go into the episode let’s first talk about the show itself. The show was from the mind of Eiji Tsuburaya best-known for his effects on the Godzilla serious.

https://tokuasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/tsubu-ultraman.jpg

He formed Tsuburaya Productions and started making independent projects. One of those was Ultra Q (Think of it as twilight zone mixed with Godzilla). And the spiritual successor to it was of course Ultraman. The series was unbelievably popular when it was first released with 34% of the entire population of Japan watching it. It became one of the most influential Japanese shows ever and spawned countless spinoffs involving different Ultramen.

Last year after a bunch of legal troubles were resolved (I am not opening that can of worms.) Mill Creek started releasing all the Ultraman series to English-speaking audiences. So far they have released Ultra Q, Ultraman, Ultraseven, Return of Ultraman, and the more recent series too like Ultraman Orb and Ultraman Geed

https://www.kaijubattle.net/uploads...56970353819773-1558313245654122496-n_orig.jpg

So why am I talking about this episode? Is it because it’s an absolute classic? The best representative of the series? No, I’m talking about it specifically is because for my first review I wanted an easy target. I’ll explain as we go.

review proper

The episode starts with Mitsuhiro Ide and Akiko Fuji out shopping, or to be more accurate, Akiko Fuji dragging Mitsuhiro Ide kicking and screaming out shopping. Akiko is interested in buying some pearls but because of a recent shortage, the price has increased. And we are barely a minute in and we come to the main problem with the episode. I have skimmed over the character introductions but the science patrol is really great and likable throughout the series. Some of the best episodes involve giving a spotlight to a specific member.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/ultra/images/b/b0/SSSP.png/revision/latest?cb=20130730005636

This episode is the exception. This is Akiko Fuji only Spotlight episode and instead of giving her some insight into her character or at least a badass moment instead, she’s basically screaming PEARLS! for 25 minutes. I’ve heard some people go far as to say that the episode is even sexist. I would not go that far, however, It’s just a waste of a spotlight episode for a cheap joke.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net...ko_Fuji.png/revision/latest?cb=20140307022120

Anyway, you’re probably wondering why there’s a Pearl shortage, or you guess 2 paragraphs ago considering this is a Kaiju show. We cut to 2 people driving a truck full of pearls and discussing what could have caused it. And speak of the devil and he shall come. The monster responsible apparently has a 100 in stealth because the drivers didn’t notice a giant monster walking towards them.

I just like to take a moment to state the Ultra Series, especially the original Ultraman has fantastic creature designs with many of them becoming as iconic as the hero themselves. The monster in this episode is not one of them.

https://monstersconquertheworld.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/tumblr_ory575qpo91twzku7o1_400.gif?w=584

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net...a_WOWOW.png/revision/latest?cb=20131117055126

This is Gamakujira, probably the most infamous part of this episode. The First thing you probably noticed is that he seems to be a bit derpy and super fat. ( I’ve heard someone describe the suit as two sizes too big for the actor.) some even call it the worst design in the show. Honestly, he may look silly but the design at least pretty memorable, a weird mix between a whale and a frog. Honestly calling him the worst design of the show is probably more of a compliment than an insult to the rest of the show.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net...akujila.JPG/revision/latest?cb=20141208213032

Anyway, he smashes the car and straight-up KILLS THE TWO DRIVERS! This may be a lighthearted episode of a kid show but we’re still going to have a body count. It’s really is amazing how much death there in the first few entries of the Ultra Series.

https://monstersconquertheworld.fil...creen-shot-2017-10-23-at-2-05-33-pm.png?w=584

The science patrol is called in to stop the monster and his weird pearl fetish. There’s a brief scene where they blast the monster from their plane, this only seems to mildly annoy him and he decides to fight back. What is it’s special ability? Blowing water out of its blowhole like a whale. Yes really...the funny thing is it actually works, damaging the plane so much they’re forced to land. The monster may be laughable but he’s one point ahead of the hero so far.

https://monstersconquertheworld.fil...creen-shot-2017-10-23-at-2-17-50-pm.png?w=584

They’re forced to camp out as they wait for rescue as the monster lays on an island in the distance, soaking in his victory. In the middle the night it starts to digest the pearls it ate. Akiko freaks out and demands the monster not to digest the pearl. As we establish that the beginning, Gamakujira isn’t the only one with the pearl fetish.

https://monstersconquertheworld.fil...creen-shot-2017-10-23-at-2-30-22-pm.png?w=584

(Continued on the next post)
 

Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)

Get the point
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The science patrol fears that the monster will go searching for pearls inland. So they have to stop it. What follows is a bunch of ridiculous plans. The first plan is straightforward, try to blow the ever-loving shit out of it. Unfortunately, after a few hits, Gamakujira dives deep beneath the waves.

I want to briefly talk about the miniature effects with the planes. Like most of the show, their age definitely shows but is still decently impressive, the effects on the planes is really good even if you can sometimes see the strings if you really look closely enough. (keep in mind the Blu-rays makes the picture much clearer than they were on the original broadcast on old 60’s Japanese televisions, so it’s forgivable that you can occasionally see the strings.) and the fight scene with the planes is entertaining.

https://monstersconquertheworld.fil...creen-shot-2017-10-23-at-2-44-27-pm.png?w=584

All right back to the episode. They shoot him with special missile balloons before he completely submerges which allows them to track him with the balloons floating to the top. More than 5 years before JAWS would do it too. Now they can continue blowing the shit out of him. After he resurfaces they decide to go for the first batshit plan. They are going to catch him in an electric net. I don’t mean they’re going to drop the net over him, no. They’re going to fly 2 of their planes carrying the net, scoop him from the sea and fly him into the air where they will electrocute him. I can’t even begin to go over how insane this plan is so instead I’ll talk about how it leads to a pretty bad effect where it’s obvious that Gamakujira in the net is just a plastic toy as convincing as the ones you can find at Walmart.

https://monstersconquertheworld.fil...creen-shot-2017-10-23-at-3-32-04-pm.png?w=584

Everything from the insanity of the plan, to strangely bad effects, to the fact it seems to actually be working, makes it quite hilarious. Unfortunately, this would be a really anticlimactic way to end an episode. So Gamakujira hits the plane driven by Hayata (the person who can transform into Ultraman) sending the plane crashing down, freeing Gamakujira. If the Ultra series had any idea what physics was then the episode should be wrapping up now considering it crashed into the ocean from up in the atmosphere but since this is a crazy monster world Gamakujira brushes it off.

Amazingly, despite there being a fiery explosion when his plane crashed Hayata is only mildly injured but out of commission for the moment. In the meantime, Gamakujira has found some pearl and unfortunately, a bunch of women are wearing them on the beach. The science patrol needs to think of a plan quickly to save them. They figure out to disguise a bunch of bombs as pearls and let the monster eat them. While this is a good plan if a bit weird, the fact that they have these pearl looking bombs on hand suggests they either already had these bombs on hand for some reason, or they were able to make them look like pearls extremely quickly. Either way, they dropped the bombs in front of Gamakujira.

https://monstersconquertheworld.fil...0/tumblr_ory575qpo91twzku7o6_r1_400.gif?w=584

But even this is not enough to take the damn thing down. Gamakujira maybe silly looking but it can take a beating. Although as a consolation prize they did manage to piss it the hell off. It starts freaking the fuck out. Luckily Hayata wakes up and is conveniently next to the monster but he’s in no position to fight right now.

The science patrol has one more plan up their sleeve and it is the zaniest plan of them all. They decide to FIRE A ROCKET INTO HIS TAIL AND SEND HIM FLYING INTO THE SKY! AND IT ACTUALLY WORKS! but we have run into another problem, they seem to forget about step 2 before they went to step 3 profit. This doesn’t destroy him although at least gives us a funny bad effect.

https://monstersconquertheworld.fil...creen-shot-2017-10-23-at-4-13-10-pm.png?w=584

Luckily we have Ultraman to finish the job. Unfortunately, this is another big letdown of the episode. The titular Ultraman does not fight the monster, well sort of if you count flying straight at him, kamikaze-style causing the monster to explode on impact as a fight.

https://monstersconquertheworld.fil...creen-shot-2017-10-23-at-4-15-44-pm.png?w=584

https://monstersconquertheworld.fil...creen-shot-2017-10-23-at-4-15-54-pm.png?w=584

The episode ends with Akiko dragging Mitsuhiro around shopping for a bunch of expensive stuff.

So that was episode Pearl Oyster Defense Order, I would describe it as a mess. For a spotlight episode about Akiko, she has very little presents. I barely even mentioned her in this review and all of those mentions involved her crippling addiction to pearls. The monster is incredibly silly and the effects of pretty bad in places. However, I wouldn’t say I didn’t enjoy watching it. Gamakujira is a fun monster despite its goofiness, taking a lot of abuse and just shrugging it off. The plans the science patrol comes up with are insanely goofy and creative. And while some of the effects miss the mark much of the monster stuff and plane combat is still top-notch. The worst thing the episode does is waste the potential for proper spotlight episodes on Akiko but it’s still enjoyable in the right mindset.

So this is my first text review, any criticism will be nice.

Also, many of these pictures I got from the blog monsters conquer the world blog reviewed a bunch of the episodes. If you want a better Ultraman reviewer to check him out.