Guest Blog: Two Unbalanced Tales

“Two Unbalanced Tales”: Two essential episodes of Ultra Q
by Tyler Miller

2020 has been a wild year. It's been the year of COVID and pure madness. But while the world is filled with despair and the dread of the unknown, the arts have been a welcomed escape. One of the brightest lights of hope has been movie communities and the friendships formed from them. When I heard Richard was planning a third Asian horror-themed month, I knew I had to get in on the action. So dear reader, follow me on a journey to an “outside the box” entry in Japanese horror.

 

Released in 1966, Ultra Q was a massive hit for television and its influence is very much a part of J Horror’s history. The series was originally dreamed up (or maybe it was a nightmare) by writer Tetsuo Kinjio, who wanted to show strange tales of the supernatural. The original title was going to be “Unbalanced” to showcase the everyday reality being thrown into a loop. Special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya had just started his own production company, Tsuburaya Productions, and the show was a lovely fit for bringing monsters and sci-fi weirdness to the small screen.

Tsuburaya and his company would bring their iconic special effects to TV, giving viewers something like a mini-Godzilla movie every week. Shot in moody Black and white, Ultra Q has a cinematic look. The camerawork is inventive, the lighting is atmospheric, and many of Toho’s key actors and bit players would have regular roles in the series. The real star of the series would be all the bonkers monster designs. The first episode released, “Defeat Gomess!”, even features a reused and repainted Godzilla suit. The show’s success soon led to a spinoff show called Ultraman and monster history was born.

Some of the series fans would soon start working in the fields of film, television, and anime. The influence on the works of Hideaki Anno, Shusuke Kaneko, and Shinya Tsukamoto is crystal clear. Tsukamoto’s Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) has some shots that would feel right at home within Tsuburaya and crew, especially if they wanted to get more bloodthirsty. Tetsuo even has a chilling opening that feels like one of the pre-credits scenes in “Baron Spider” or "Goro and Goroh”.

The show revolves around the adventures of ace pilot and amateur sci-fi novelist Jun Manjome (Kenji Sahara), his flight partner Ippei (Yasuhiko Saijou), and Daily News reporter Yuriko (Hiroko Sakurai), who discover a strange news story. Some of the episodes would focus on other characters, but the trio would become the key adventurers. The series is now available on a gorgeous Blu-ray boxset from Mill Creek after a decade’s long legal battle with Thai film company Chaiyo Productions and it’s owner Sompote Sands. Now the series can be rediscovered by monster kids and fans of J-horror. So with Halloween around the corner, here are two must-see episodes of this black and white spooky wonder.

“Mammoth Flower” is the fourth episode in the series. It begins with a sidewalk being destroyed by a strange looking weed. The next day Jun and Ippei discover that the printing shop there visiting has been wrecked by a mysterious earthquake. But Ippei questions how the quake would just affect the building and not all of Tokyo itself. The two men bump into Yuriko, who is working on the earthquake story. The three of them soon discover that something odd is also happening at the nearby water side. Once there they discover that the same giant plant is loose in the water, it isn’t long until the plant starts to grown and uproot a nearby building.

  

This episode is a bit of an oddity. It doesn’t feature a humanoid monster, but instead a giant vampire plant. Characters even jokingly call it a plant Dracula. The whole episode is packed with style and haunting images of the giant plant with its tentacle like vines. The imagery is also familiar to Godzilla fans. Godzilla vs Biollante (1989) borrows many ideas and shots from this episode. Biollante’s story came from longtime kaiju fan Shinichiro Kobayashi, who also wrote a treatment for a episode of The Return of Ultraman, and screenwriter/ director Kazuki Ohmori. Both men wanted to make a unique and bizarre Godzilla movie. The borrowing of the off balanced plants in “Mammoth Flower” brought some truly gruesome ideas to Toho’s titan franchise.

 

The ninth episode in the series is one that is sure to please haunted house fans. “Baron Spider” begins with a giant spider attacking workers in a lighthouse. Jun and company are on their way to the scene of the story when they are stopped in the fog. With them is three other people, all of which are poetic and obsessed with the supernatural. Ippei and one of their guests falls into a lake nearby and almost catch their death from the cold. The six make their way to a house near the lighthouse and hope for help. They discover that the house is empty and covered in spiderwebs. It turns out that the house was owned by a crazy baron who was obsessed by spiders. He also lost his wife to the deadly bite from a wild spider. So now the house is cursed and the spider is hungry for blood. 

 

 

"Baron Spider” is a visual tour de force. It’s my favorite episode of this iconic series and one that is sure to please horror fans. Feeling like a sister to Ishiro Honda’s Matango AKA Attack of the Mushroom People (1964), the whole episode is dripping with dread. Every shot is filled with smoke, spiderwebs, or moody shadows. The teleplay mixes elements from killer animal stories and ghost legends. It even turns into a slasher with the character being lost, coming into the mysterious house, drinking, and then being separated. Like Michael Myers in Halloween (1978), or Billy in Black Christmas (1974), The Baron spider creeps around and waits to strike. He is able to teleport and disappear from the scene. The spider’s design is simple but also chilling.

Ultra Q is one of the greatest horror/sci-fi Television series. While Ultraman is better known to Monster Kids, Ultra Q is a special first. Each episode is filled with wonder and life. Thanks to the wonders of DVD and Blu-ray this iconic series is now easier than ever to finally see. So pop some corn, turn off the lights, and let yourself be transported for 30 minutes into the unbalanced realm of dreams that is Ultra Q.

H!TITDS Fundraiser Part 2: The Revenge Of Hosting Fees

Hello again! It's time to beg for money again! Last time I did one of these fundraisers, it was wildly successful. Now it's time to be wildly successful AGAIN! In this Doomed Moviethon Bandcamp exclusive episode, Nafa and I discuss seeing Shin Godzilla. We had a great time and I think it comes across in this recording. The episode is only $1 but if you'd care to give more to support the show, please do, you'd be helping out the show so much.

Click right here to get the party started and/or keep it going.

I made this.

The X from Outer Space

The X from Outer Space
AKA Uchû daikaijû Girara
Directed by Kazui Nihonmatsu
1967
Starring Eiji Okada, Shun'ya Wazaki, Itoko Harada, Peggy Neal, Franz Gruber
89 minutes
Country of origin: Japan

Between the wildly wretched English dubbing in this film and it's kooky theme song, I'm a very happy monster movie fan. Oh there's a ridiculous monster too? Oh shit! So the plot goes like this: six crews of space explorers have traveled to a distant planet and all six have disappeared. Well, it turns out that the old saying, "the seventh time's the charm", is actually true as Captain Sano (played by Shun'ya Wazaki) and the crew of the Aabygamma(?) head out to make history (and hopefully not fucking die like all the rest).

The funniest thing during this journey is that Lisa (played by Peggy Neal of The Terror Beneath the Sea), the only female member of the crew, isn't allowed to touch any of the ship's controls. That's probably the most insanely sexist thing I've ever seen in a film and I have no idea if it is supposed to be intended as a joke or not. You see, Lisa needs all of her free time for a love triangle between herself, Sano, and his girlfriend Michiko (Itoko Harada), who is back at the space station, fuming with jealousy.

While they are out in space, a UFO that looks like a fried egg shows up and jams the crew's radio. Next the ship gets covered in weird glowing meteorites. They bring a sample inside and head back home to Earth. While they are busy celebrating at a very odd party, the meteor hatches like an egg. Then the giant monster known as Guilala comes out of fucking nowhere! What the heck? The editing on this film is wild.

Obviously, the monster -some reviewers call it a giant chicken but I call it "surprise LOL space-bird"- is headed toward Tokyo to do some damage. The goofy and clunky confusion continues as yet another mission to outer space is undertaken by our crew. What are they doing again? How will this last minute mission save the day? Guilala then turns into a ball and flies around, causing even more destruction. Somehow they stop it and- shit, I have no idea what to make of this baffling ending.

You need to see this.

Happy Birthday, Doomed Moviethon!

Doomed Moviethon is now 10 years old. Let's party!

Three new reviews!

House of Voices

Tell Me Something

Rojo Sangre

And one new article!

You Got Rodanned!

Ariel

Ariel
Directed by Junichi Watanabe
1989
50 minutes

Dr. Kishida has developed a mecha named Ariel in order to combat aliens that are determined to take over the Earth. Unfortunately for Kishida, only his granddaughters can pilot Ariel and all three hate him. Well actually only two. Aya is a brainy brat who just wants to finish college. Mia is a willful tomboy that refuses to be a mecha pilot. Kazumi is the youngest and least mature but she at least is willing to do whatever her grandpa asks of her. Hey, you pervert. It's not like that. Trust me, there is nothing like that going on here.

The aliens are lead by Albert Houser, a droopy-eyed sort who is kind of a loser. He has grand scale plans for planet Earth but the accounting department is the biggest threat to a successful invasion. Houser is assisted by Simone, a real wet blanket who is more concerned with the bottom line than conquering the universe. Another alien, a badass named Ragnus takes over the invasion so that some shit will finally happen in this fucking anime. But he has to contend with not only Ariel but also a traitorous alien duder named Saber Starburst (I'm not making that up) who wants to stop his alien brethren for some dang reason.

I picked up Ariel real cheap on VHS and I'm glad it was cheap. Don't get me wrong, this isn't too bad. I dig the action (especially the giant monster designs) and the characters are okay. The score is abysmally generic and lame in a bad way. I love how the threat of an audit from the alien IRS is helping keep Earth safe. So yeah, this is a decent timewaster. I haven't gotten around to Ariel Deluxe yet so I don't know if that is an improvement on not.


With arms wide open!



I could be an uglier designed giant robot but I just don't know how.


Hi, we're monsters. We both think we're wasted here.

Gamera, Super Monster

Gamera, Super Monster
AKA Uchu Kaiju Gamera
Directed by Noriaka Yuasa
1980
92 minutes

This film is about... Oh please don't make me think about it. Shit! Okay, fine. Space alien ladies come to Earth for some reason and a little dumbass kid named Keiichi does some stuff and there's an evil space lady and Gamera battles monsters and Keiichi thinks his pet turtle is Gamera or um- FAAAAART!!!! It really doesn't fucking matter.

My wife (because she's awesome) got me another Shout Factory double DVD set of Elvira's Movie Macabre. This time it was Gamera, Super Monster and They Came from Beyond Space. Until I put the disc in, I thought that I had never seen this Gamera film before. But after only a few minutes, the whole mess came flooding back into my brain. This less-than-half-assed garbage had kept me glued to the couch for 2 hours (with commercials) once upon a time. Before we go any further, I am NOT recommending this. Gamera, Super Monster fuckings sucks. Got it? Good. I had to get that out of the way.

What's really interesting is how much I hate stock footage now, especially when a sequel or a film in a series reuses footage from previous entries. Obviously, flashbacks (within reason) are fine but when old footage is presented as new material I get pretty pissed off. However, I think 80 percent (or more) of this film is footage from other Gamera flicks (six according to IMDB). It's unbearably annoying seeing footage from 60s and 70s films cut into a film from 1980. That being said; how did this affect my enjoyment as a kid in the 80s? Not at all. From the Wiki, I know that this episode of Movie Macabre premiered in 1983 but God only knows when I caught it. Either way, my young mind just enjoyed the monster mayhem (and oh yeah, I had a huge crush on Kilara, one of the trio of super space chicks).

You might be wondering how the hell this film fits into anime month. Well, speaking of stock footage, while crapping around in space, Gamera runs into two anime icons and it really blew my mind. First he runs into Space Cruiser Yamato during Keichii's dream and then later, he flies by Galaxy Express 999. Um, what the fuck? Bonus trivia: This film was so poorly received that it bankrupt the studio that produced it and there wasn't another Gamera movie for 15 years. That's also from Wikipedia. It's my new dictionary.


Yeah, I'm checking my watch too.


I swear I didn't Photoshop this shit. 


I maybe have been 10 years old but Kilara made me a man.


Yeah, I make this face when she changes costume too.

Saturday Night's Double Feature

I think I may have set some kind of precedent last night for totally fucked up double features. First, my wife, our friend Shelly (a frequent moviethon guest), and myself watched Big Man Japan which is easily one of the weirdest films I've ever seen. Part droll documentary, part giant kaiju movie, and completely surreal, Big Man Japan is a tough one to beat in terms of insanity. But then I followed it up with my totally uncut bootleg of Brain Dead (AKA Dead Alive), Peter Jackson's best film. Throw in some cheap but amazing Chinese food from China Star on Fowler Avenue, a lot of Mountain Dew and oh yes, you have a magical night.