It is time for The Ultraman Episode 48: To the Planet of Ultra – Part 2: Assault on the Titan Base!
When we last left our heroes, they were heading towards Titan in the battleship Ultria, defying the orders of their superiors on the Earth in order to save the world. They arrive at Saturn, the planet of which Titan is a moon, and form a plan. Elec and Loto are going to attack in 20 hours, but there isn’t going to be much to attack if they can’t see past the icy mist that covers Titan, shrouding it from detection.
Hikari and Amia are chosen by Captain Gondo to go down to the surface in the Betamy (though Amia mentions the Badei first) and then send up a signal to show everyone where the base is so it can be attacked. Marume is pissed that he was overlooked but he doesn’t realize what the captain does, which is that Hikari is Ultraman. As the two prep to leave, Marume hides in the Betamy wearing a space suit, stowing away.
The Betamy flies down to the surface and lands undetected. Marume is knocked out in the process and misses Hikari and Amia using Ultra-Change so they can survive the harsh atmosphere. He exits the ship and is promptly discovered by Heller soldiers. They fire at Marume and miss, destroying the ship. Way to go, Marume. He escapes them and finds the entrance that Hikari and Amia used to get in and takes an elevator down not long after they passed through.
In the base, the duo sees the gigantic fleet that has been amassed and know that Earth is doomed if it gets to launch. They also see the great beast, combination monster Umaya. Though it doesn’t look much like a combination of anything, it’s still impressive! As their elevator stops, Hikari and Amia find themselves surrounded by Heller soldiers who were on alert thanks to Marume letting them know Earthlings were on Titan. Fortunately, Marume redeems himself by showing up and shooting the guards, allowing Hikari and Amia to fight back and escape with him.
They run down a corridor and slide under a closing gate, only to see that they have nowhere to go as they are on a ledge overlooking a huge hole that goes down. Amia suggests taking the ladder up but before they can, Roigar deploys Umaya to defend the fleet as it takes off as he figures the Ultria is around and ships on the ground are sitting ducks. The monster rises up through the hole, right past our heroes. Marume freaks out and goes to shoot it but Hikari stops him because he doesn’t want the beast to attack them. The gun goes off, hitting Hikari in the shoulder and he falls down the hole but turns into Ultraman before hitting bottom and flies back up to pursue the monster. He probably should have stopped to save Amia and Marume as they are captured right after and brought to Roigar.
Joneus engages the monster but isn’t faring so well against it. He sends a thought to Hikari to use the specium ray. Hikari says it won’t be effective but the target isn’t the monster, but the sky, to show the Ultria where the base is. He shoots the beam up and it is seen by the crew. Captain Gondo orders the attack even though it is still too early. As they are deploying, Elec and Loto contact them telepathically and tell them to look at the rings of Saturn. Hiding in there is the Ultra fleet from U40! They join up and attack the Titan base.
Elec and Loto transform with other Ultras and fly down to help Joneus, who is then free to head down and save Amia and Marume. He’s a little late as Roigar has already given word for Amia to be taken back to U40 as a captive. Marume fights back and is freed but can’t stop them. He tells Ultraman to head to the basement to try and save her. Roigar is there to taunt him that they will both die on the planet, which is dumb as he is hit by a rock and killed and Ultraman just flies away. The ship carrying Amia goes into hyperspace and escapes.
The Ultria and the Ultra Fleet make short work of the Heller ships and Earth is now free from danger. Elec and Loto ask Captain Gondo to bring the Ultria with them to U40 for the final battle to free the planet and the captain and crew agree with a hearty “Fuck yeah.” Ok, maybe not in those words but you could tell they were jazzed for it. They use the warp drive on the ship and enter hyperspace to go to U40 and save the planet and Amia from Heller for good.
Another banger of an episode. Ships get blown up, monsters get fought, and we find out that the people of U40 and Elec and Loto are ready to roll and kill some Heller soldiers. Which is good as although Amia escaped, we never really heard much about the Ultras and whether they were able to mount any resistance. Judging by the fleet that was assembled, they are doing ok and with the Ultria, they might be able to turn the tide against their evil conqueror.
Getting some monster action was a surprise. Not quite sure what the game plan was when they didn’t have anything big enough to carry it. Neat design, too. Kind of like a big ogre that can breathe fire. I liked it. Plus it wasn’t a pushover and gave Ultraman a run for his money. Always nice when that happens. Too bad it couldn’t stand against the might of Elec and Loto.
That’s all for this time. See you next time for the next installment, Ultra Fans!
