It is time for The Ultraman Episode 32: Object “X”!
Across the world, radar systems are down thanks to sunspot activity. The Science Defense Squad is monitoring it but don’t see anything untoward. The captain thinks otherwise, and he is right, for the planet Babilar has sent a doomsday weapon to Earth undetected. However, it broke up on entry so the Babilar soldiers (who are bird people that sort of look like Tomar Re from Green Lantern) sent with it have to track down all the pieces to assemble their weapon, Megasaura. They get all but one, but with the sun rising they must wait until nightfall to find the last piece.
Meanwhile at HQ, everyone is on alert as an old friend is coming to visit–Dr. Nishiki. (Side note: I’m actually impressed they gave a bit of a recap on Nishiki’s appearances so you had some backstory on him, which is unusual for a cartoon.) The team is a little apprehensive since he is a very unique individual and Tobe is afraid the most as the doctor just refers to him as Driver. However, the reunion is delayed when Dr. Nishiki’s ship falls under Babilar attack as it turns out he has the last piece of the weapon!
The team scrambles and arrives just in time to watch the plane go down. But when they find the wreck, the pilots say that the doctor parachuted out. They spread out to look for him and find Dr. Nishiki in a tree, safe and sound but annoyed. The part was damaged in the fall, however, so it stops broadcasting the signal that let the Babilar soldiers to track it, allowing everyone to go back to base unmolested.
There, the doctor is asking about the new captain, to which Captain Gondo feigns ignorance and pretends like he isn’t the captain despite being the fanciest of the lot. Dr. Nishiki thinks the circuit might be a sentiment circuit like Pig (who he keeps calling Hikkaru) has as they repair it. However, when trying to study Pig’s circuit for a weakness, the Babilar soldiers attack and steal the part so they can complete Megasaura. Then they order it to attack!
Springing into action, the team heads out in the Super Maddock to attack the robot, but to no effect! Even the army can’t make a dent in it with their jets. After Hikari is shot down, he transforms into Ultraman but the robot seems like it might be too much even for him. Can Dr. Nishiki find a weakness in the robot that the team can exploit and save the day? Will he remember anyone’s names? Will he realize the captain is in front of him all the time?
You bet they will!
A solid episode. I’m not crazy about Dr. Nishiki but his antics were kept to a relative minimum this time around as he didn’t have much interaction with the squad save for Pig. Seeing the captain having a playful side was nice, though I guess that tracks with his first appearance where he didn’t tell Hikari who he was either. I like it when the team gets to work together on a problem too and the solution isn’t just “Let Ultraman kill it.” I do have some questions about why they have a weak spot on the killer robot but those things happen. At least it wasn’t a big red spot like Zod in Go-Bots where you knew right where to shoot.
Megasaura was a cool looking monster. It figures that a race of bird/bat people would make a robot that looks like a bird. Honestly, it looks a lot like Laserbeak from TF except that the head is a cannon, which is a pretty good replacement for a head if you need one. I thought it might transform into a more humanoid form but it keeps its low profile shape the entire time, though it does have some claws that shoot out on cables, which is handy. Sometimes you just have to go simple on a design and it works.
That’s all for this installment. See you next time for the next installment, Ultra Fans!
