Suburban Senshi Chat #1709 - “Sailor Q's Ultra World: Five Seconds before the Explosion!”
#1709 “Sailor Q's Ultra World: Five Seconds before the Explosion!”

Sailor Q's Ultra World!




Welcome back, wonderful viewers, once more to Sailor Q's Ultra World! Today we will be looking at Episode 4 of the original Ultraman series "Five Seconds before the Explosion" which aired in Japan back on August 7, 1966.

We begin our story with a narrator telling us about a series of six nuclear bombs that got carelessly lost in the ocean on their way to Jupiter to terraform it for colonization. Huh. Didn't know that's what nuclear bombs did. One of them apparently has exploded underwater (very careless of it) while four of them have been recovered. The Science Patrol has thus been tasked with finding the missing one and when I mean tasked, I mean they are suppose to just sit around a think of ways to find it. Come on! They have all the awesome tech. Why don't they just use it to find the thing? Ide's all upset about this but the captain just tells him to shut up and sit down like a good underling. Fuji then shows up, revealing she's going on vacation and guess who's going with her! Why it's Hoshino, our favorite kid in shorts. Why she's taking him with her is anyone's guess at this point. Meanwhile, in someone's bath-tub, a strange wake starts to head towards a ship. As a horrified man watches, the wake parts to reveal...THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON.

He's a mean green dancing gill machine


Nope! This is Ragon, our monster of the week, who proceeds to push down the toy- I mean boat into the water, sinking it. The Science Patrol soon learns of a survivor, the captain sending Hayata to talk to him. After a lengthy driving sequence, Hayata meets with the man who babbles about seeing a white wake of water and a monster with a bomb. Meanwhile at the hotel, Fuji and Hoshino are enjoying a rousing game of badmitton and we meet a charcter possibly more annoying then Hoshino in the form of Michiko, a little girl who latches onto the two like a tick in the north woods. I'll save you the trouble of what happens next and tell you we have a whole bunch of "cute" kid moments with Michiko. Fuji, meanwhile, spots the wake from a window...what a coincidence! We get a comedy moment where Arashi is sent to investigate while Ide is left behind before we return to the hotel for some more cute kid stuff. Back at headquarters, Ide is told to make some coffee. Wow.

Back at the hotel, the wake once more shows up and back to Ide with his coffee which apparently is awful. Hayata, meanwhile, has to take a ferry to get over which somehow passes for drama here. Finally the monster shows up just as Fuji is evacuating the hotel and she realizes she left Michiko in the hotel! Oh no...whatever shall we do...oh no. Oh did I mention Ragon has the missing bomb on him so if it falls off it will go off. Must have forgotten that. Anyway. Ragon's fury almost drops the bomb and the bomb being on there prevents Arashi from firing on it. Ragon doesn't have the same feelings and shoots Arashi down with his radioactive breath (all monsters seem to have radioactive breath, don't they) turning him into a very cheap special effect shot. They figure out that Ragon was mutated by the bomb and decide to combat it...with music.

"The hills are aliiiiiiiive..."


That whole soothing the savage beast thing you know. However, the thing doesn't work cause Ragon has gone all nutzo and stuff from the radiation. Hoshino decides to distract the monster in one of the stupidest moves ever but manages to trip and fall. Ide prays for Ultraman to show up and Hayata finally transforms into Ultraman, fighting with Ragon but UH OH...the bomb fell off.

Ultraman insisted on driving Ragon home that night but he disagreed


They only have 20 seconds before it goes off! Ultraman grabs the bomb and flies into space with it, which blows up. Not sure if that was a smart move but oh well. Back on Earth, everyone assumes that Ultraman is dead but Hayata shows up and tells them that hell no! Ultraman's alive! Which I think we all could have guessed since this was only the fourth episode and all.

Sailor Q's Thoughts


Ah, Episode 4. At its heart it is a very bland, run of the mill episode. However, what is interesting is the fact that the episode is an unofficial sequel to an earlier story in the Ultra Q series. In that episode (Episode 20 of that series) we are introduced to Ragon, sort of a Japanese take on the creature from the black lagoon. While the episode doesn't straight up say it is a sequel, it gives references to the previous story including Ragon's love of music. However, that aside, the episode is a very basic and barebones story from the early run of the series.

What you learn from Ultraman


  • Nuclear Bombs are great for turning Gas planets into Earths and irradiating underwater gill men
  • Hoshino is not the most annoying kid in the world
  • Music sooths the savage beast, unless that beast is a radioactive creature from the black lagoon look-alike


  • Return next week for killer plants, giant carrots and a few guest stars in Ultraman episode 5 "The Secret of Midoganda"! Seeya then!


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