Some quick thoughts from watching through this Ultraman TV series from 1971.
05. Two Giant Monsters Attack Tokyo
06. Showdown! Monster vs MAT
The Return of Ultraman continues to be a contrast between trying very hard to follow in the footsteps of the original Ultraman series, while simultaneously being very different in important ways. There is a lot of intra-team strife, where there used to be almost none. And these aren’t just flare-ups of anger, but real insults and accusations about teammates’ motivations and honor. The bickering and hostility between characters continues to remind me of Silver Age Marvel Comics.
The friction goes up the chain-of-command as well, with the Monster Attack Team having doubts about the higher-ups in Terrestrial Defense, who, it seems, can order them about and even threaten to disband them at a single officer’s whim. Things have changed from the days of the smoothly operating SSSP, with its convivial international cooperation and coordination with local authorities.
Other small details make the stories stand out: original Ultraman often played up the danger of the Color Timer running out: “Ultraman will never rise again!” Ultraseven had no timer, just a warning light for when his solar power was running out, and even that was rarely mentioned. Now in the first six episodes of Return, Ultraman Jack’s timer has run out twice — with the result only being that he fades away, with Go returning to human form. Not a great situation, but hardly a fatal disaster. Go just needs a day or so to recharge.
I was surprised to hear a couple direct references to WW II bombings, and even images of the destruction of Hiroshima. Those events rarely get invoked in this series — though interesting they were in context of weapons to be used against Japan by itself.
It also seems sometimes that episodes have disconnects between what characters say they are going to do and what actually happens. The MAP’s stated plan at the conclusion of this two-part story is to shoot the two monsters with anesthetizing rounds. What they actually do is shoot out Twintail’s eyes (which are conveniently close to the ground) with bazooka-mounted Jeeps. Thus blinded, it gets killed by the other monster Gudrun, who in turn is blasted by Ultraman. Maybe the anesthesia weakens them..? It never really gets mentioned.
07. Operation Monster Rainbow
08. Monster Time Bomb
As the series gets into its grove, we are seeing episodes that are fundamentally procedural: a monster shows up and we watch MAT investigate, figure out the best way to deal with the problem, and then get the job done (with Ultraman’s help). Questions such as where do these monsters come from, or is it justified that they be summarily exterminated never, so far at least, come close to being brought up. Destroy all monsters in the law of the land. The Monster Attack Team though continues to struggle with issues of trust, competency, and communication. Go, for example, mentions how the monster Ghostron might be reacting primarily to sounds. When asked why he thinks so, Go just says he has a feeling. In fact, he has a list of evidence and logical deductions that support his theory — but he seems too insecure to share it with his teammates, who, it must be said, do have the habit of doubting him.
In Ultraseven, when Dan first shows up, a mysterious figure with no background or explanation about who he is, his great skills convince the others to welcome him into the team. Go, on the other hand, when thrust into MAT, completely disrupts the team dynamic. Despite his being demonstrably good at everything, his presence so far seems to cause more problems that it solves (ignoring the fact that Ultraman has now started showing up to wrap up every mission). It’ll be interesting to see if the show makes an actual character arc out of this, with personal issues being resolved and MAT pulling together into truly acting as a trusting, cooperative team.
Museum of the Slightly Curious 