My Favorite Ultraman Eps!
My favorite episodes of Tiga were the first ones, where they were making weapons that were powerful enough to fight monsters, while trying to handle things themselves, and finding that they had to defend their giant guardian angel from the military and occasionally, from a misguided populace. Also, the eps where Iruma had stand up against the Killeoid aliens, who were committing terrorist attacks on the population - out of
jealousy toward Tiga.
And then, there was the "Evil Tiga" eps, where Daigo was attacked by a jealous, self-styled rival, who arrogantly thought he could do a better job of protecting Earth.
Didn't work out that way ... BTW, the most tragic part of that story
wasn't where Daigo got beat-up by the bad guy; but where an innocent dog accidentally got morphed into a giant dog - and killed by the bad guy! (Yes, Tiga had a chance to get his own Hanejiro and Tsuburaya dropped the ball ...)
The Dyna eps I liked were the ones where SuperGUTS would try to contain and study the monsters, like "Baon From Afar", or "The 3000 Degree Monster". Especially the latter, when it turned out that humanity was responsible for driving it from its natural enviroment - and that it was in danger of dying from
hypothermia on Earth's surface. Or the episode where Asuka was attacked by a gigantic male gorilla - and was rescued by its
mate.
Other notworthy eps were the ones where Asuka ended up having to protect a misguided teenage coven - who had tried to kill him; or the one where he had to fight the imposter Dyna, and got some spiritual support from a young ...
admirer. Also, when an interstellar super-thief showed up on Earth and started stealing
cities - while sending notice to SuperGUTS. And then, of course, there was the Meiji Triad, who only got stopped because Asuka
listened to the only witness, a young boy.
Needless to say, the best episode was the one where they found Hanejiro. And, the most tragic, were the ones where Hanejiro left Earth (
Why, Tsuburaya?), and the final trilogy, which began with the betrayal and
murder of Asuka by a senior TPC military officer - and ended with his apparent,
final death, and journey to the Light ...
(As an aside, can someone tell me where to access English sub-titled episodes of Retsuden? They've just finished covering Cosmos' final eps, and are getting ready to address Dyna's final eps; and I'd really like to get them, just to see how Tsuburaya handles this.)
Gaia, in some ways, had the most heart-warming eps, showing the closest bonds between Humanity and the Ultras. From Team Seagull's first appearance, where Gaia rescued an out-of-control fighter plane while en route to handle a monster, to the XIG fighter teams saluting the returned Gaia in his new Gaia Supreme form. Not to mention, when Aerial Base was visited by a group of kindergarteners (in little XIG uniforms), who had brought personally-drawn pictures of their hopes for the future. And then, that future
began in the very next episode ...
My absolute favorite Gaia ep is the one where the senior XIG officers found out that Gamu was Gaia - and rallying to support him in his fight to save the reborn Agul from the "Death god". This was
after they'd
lost their main base, and all of their old fighter jets. And, in the Gaia finale, we saw both civilians and military come together to protect the fallen Ultramen, and re-energize them. With a
lot of help from the earthborn monsters. Even had some help from the Great Beyond ...
All in all, I've pretty much enjoyed the various Ultraman series, and am looking forward to enjoying more in the future.