After hibernating for a good share of the post holiday season I found myself struggling to pinpoint just the right topic to usher in 2021. It doesn’t help that my theory of time states that the vibe of a year doesn’t usually take hold until somewhere around March, and recent events have shown 2020 to still be alive and well. I’ve already spent some time working on a general change of year wrap up but, quite frankly, it stinks. Then I remembered the great thing about January, total freedom. I can post whatever I want without feeling like I’m wasting those precious Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas spots. In the spirit of doing whatever we want I’ll tell you a wee bit about recent weeks and then move on to a good old Ultra series review. Sound good? Well too bad, this is my page.
Christmas was about as good as one could hope for given the state of things. Whether it was a celebration of my wrapping up college or just an urge to send out the year in style I ended up with a solid offering of gifts comprising of nearly all my hobbies. If I wanna listen to records, color, watch horror flicks or Ultraman, or just waste time with online shopping I’m covered. Plus between gifts and a crafty order of used items I have enough video games to likely last till late summer.
One odd challenge for the season was the apparent visitation of an electrical gremlin. From the first unpacking of totes to the current takedown roughly 8 or 9 strands of lights have gone belly up. And that’s saying nothing of the death of the inflatable Thanksgiving turkey or those plastic shaped light displays for windows. I dunno if it’s Mitch Pileggi, Jeff Fahey, or the evil electricity from that damn Joey Lawrance movie but something is out to fry our decorations. The lackluster condition of nearby stores only provided the opportunity to replace these loses with a strand of bubble lights, which I quickly made a stand for using wrapping paper tubes and cardboard. It’s just what ya do for the enjoyment of Christmas chemistry. For the first time ever in this household there’s a list of supplies for next holiday season and the likelihood of a change jar to make it all happen. Consider that the yearly festive mystery, which is as good a segway as any to move onto another Ultra series.
By and large my experience with the Ultra franchise lies with the early series from the 60s-70s. Until recently the only bit of Ultra entertainment created this century that I’d seen were a few scant episodes of Ultraseven X. While looking for a shorter show that could be finished by years end attention turned to Neo Ultra Q, a fairly recent series and start-point for the current era of the franchise. Much like the original Q this one is more Twilight Zone than Godzilla only the weirdness factor has been cranked up even further. How does it fare against other pieces of the franchise? Now that’s a tricky one to answer.
While not exactly a sequel to the original series, Neo Ultra Q is slavishly devoted to it. From musical cues and an almost black & white filming style right down to the general makeup of core threesome of characters this show really tried to live up to the name. It’s even based in a world where aliens, ogres, robots, and cruel scientific experiments are all common occurrences. Unfortunately this setting comes with a price as it can be difficult to gauge how this world views some of these events. One experiment for example would be completely illegal in our world but seems to run smoothly within the shows framework. That sort of thing makes morality tales a little challenging.
Let’s talk about the primary characters, a threesome of two men and one woman like the original. They’re actually different characters yet they still serve the same general role. Emiko for example, played by the lovely Rin Takanashi of Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, is a spunky reporter. Instead of pairing up with two pilots her friends are a counselor and philosophical type named Jin and a young bartender named Shohei. Sometimes they are the main focus of the storytelling as they attempt to live and work in a very strange world while on other occasions they merely cameo in an otherwise standalone tale. Naturally this isn’t the most thoroughly developed cast of characters, a fact that is further compounded by the series only being twelve episodes long. That being the case all three are still likable and relatable enough to help keep viewers engaged.
When it comes to the story things get a bit muddled. First off there’s hardly anything to keep these twelve episodes strong together as anything cohesive. Themes and tone are all over the place and most installments end on an ambiguous note. In classic J-horror fashion it can actually be pretty tough to pinpoint the exact goal of each story. Overall themes are obvious but many of them take far left turns only to end abruptly. For anyone who digs esoteric cinema consider this a major plus. For those who pick up Ultra shows for wacky monster fights this is a far cry from what you’re looking for.
On one end I’d like to wholeheartedly endorse Neo Ultra Q as it is such a boldly odd and sometimes cynical piece of television. At the same time I know a good deal of people aren’t in the market for head-scratchingly vague mystery tales. It’s a bit of an enigma since many of its strengths and weaknesses come from being so unlike the rest of the franchise around it. Consider this something of a buyer-beware scenario. Seeing as this is such a small show let’s only highlight three episodes of note.
EP 4: Pandora’s Cave
Possibly the most outright horror-driven installment of the series focuses on a man who falls into a hole and is confronted by an evil being who wishes to be unleashed upon the world. It feels a bit like a stage show with just two characters debating morality and the nature of evil. It still throws a lot at the viewer and doesn’t make it’s point totally clear but I found it really engaging and grim.
EP 9: The Tokyo Protocol
If there’s any one story I’ve seen from the Ultra franchise that feels like 2020 it’s this one. The idea is that an anti-pollution protocol has been put in place that shuts down the power grid every time a certain amount of emissions is reached. This effects business and personal lives across the board. Then some weird alien balls show up and start devouring pollutants which allows for an economic boom that makes the 1980s seem reserved. The issue that permeates the episode is that no one cares what the creatures want so long as everyone can live as loudly as they please.
EP 2: Laundry Day
Probably the most well-known installment of the show concerns a monster who runs an outstanding laundry service. Actually his foamy vomit can clean anything. His life and relationships to others is played out as a sort of slice-of-life dramedy with one hell of a punchline for the ending.
With that a new year is officially launched here at CosmicSparky. Since I’m finally getting adjusted to being free from school and have a load of backlogged topics (I never finished the damn Amityville series, did I?) the goal is to get back to the good old pace of at least four posts a month. Got some ideas for new features and outings once I’m in line for the vaccine. For now let’s have as much fun as we can riding out the last lingering threads of the terrible preceding year and maybe we’ll be able to make something worthwhile outta the new one.
No comments:
Post a Comment