The one that started it all. Ultra Q would become a cultural phenomena in 1960’s Japan and spark one of the largest television franchises ever. Originally being conceived as a Twilight Zone styled show entitled UNBALANCE, it was retooled to feature more giant monsters as opposed to just generally strange stories. So what more appropriate place to begin our journey than at the source of everything Ultra itself?
GOMESS
Starting us off is Gomess, the very first monster in the entire franchise. In the show, Gomess was a prehistoric monster awakened by mankind and went on your usual rampage before battling its ancient arch-rival Litra. Gomess was one of the first Ultra Kaiju I actually became acquainted with as a young Godzilla fan, thanks to various Godzilla fansites pointing out the fact that Gomess was a redressed 1964 Godzilla suit. Despite being just a quick disguise of a different monster, the alterations to the costume make Gomess really feel like a “Cro-Magnon” Godzilla which I find really unique. Interestingly enough though, according to various Japanese sources, Gomess isn’t a reptile, but rather a prehistoric mammal which is quite unique since mammal kaiju are usually few and far between aside from your usual giant apes.
Gomess would return in 2008’s Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle: Never Ending Odyssey (some of these titles can be a mouthful I swear) and has made various sporadic appearances in various Ultraman shows in the 2010’s, having been sized up from his smaller 10 meter height to 40 meters in order to properly fight the various Ultra Heroes. These appearances aren’t of too much note aside from his episode in Ultraman X where the monster is powered up by Dark Thunder Energy to basically become an ersatz Godzilla in terms of abilities.
All in all, Gomess is a great monster to kick off the long, wild and weird menagerie of kaiju that populate the Ultra series. Not bad for a monster made from a kitbashed Godzilla suit.
LITRA
Gomess’ costar in the debut episode of Ultra Q is Litra, an ancient archaeopteryx-esque bird. Said to be able to defend the Earth from Gomess, Litra defeats its rival with its Citronella Acid before perishing itself.
Design wise, I find Litra alright. I sadly don’t find the character as visually interesting as Gomess unfortunately. It sort of feels like there’s this sort of drab quality to the critter. I guess it’s due to the fact that the monster’s execution in the show sort of reminds me of the monster from the 1946 horror film The Flying Serpent.
However, I do feel like there’s a lot of really cool stuff about Litra that makes the character memorable in my eyes. Like Gomess itself, Litra is a modified Rodan prop from Toho’s Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster. Litra is also much smaller in comparison to Gomess which helps highlight the David and Goliath vibe the two have and makes Litra really easy to root for. In addition to the monster’s characterization, there’s some interesting bits and pieces of lore regarding Litra found in the episode. The fact that the information the characters gleam from Litra comes from an ancient scroll as well as the fact that the bird’s Citronella Acid kills it after usage makes the bird almost feel like a creature from mythology rather than an actual life form.
Litra would reappear 42 years later as one of the heroic kaiju from Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle and it’s related material as one of the heroic monsters used by the main protagonist Rei. Here, Litra would be portrayed by CGI and gain a fiery red form called Fire Litra. Since then, the monster has been absent whereas its rival has racked up quite a few roles since then.
GORO
Goro’s story here is a simple one. A regular old monkey turned giant due to a new growth hormone and who gets into trouble. Unlike a lot of similar animals turned giant stories, Goro himself isn’t malicious, but is just mischievous and is actually quite friendly. He even survives his story and is sent to live on an island where other giant monkeys live in peace with the natives, which is like, the opposite of every giant simian story ever.
Much like Gomess and Litra before him (as well as several kaiju afterwards), Goro was yet another altered Toho monster suit, this time being made from their 1962 Kong costume. And honestly? I don’t wanna just rag on a half-century old ape costume, but man, Goro just does not look good. I will say right off of the bat, this isn’t just me saying this since I find the show old or that I find the ’62 Kong suit bad. I actually really like the 1962 Kong suit from King Kong vs. Godzilla and really like that particular iteration of the character. The weird ogreish nature it has really adds to Kong’s personality he has in the film. But here, the altered face sculpt makes this otherwise friendly monkey give off this sort of creepy vibe to him. I think it really boils down to the eyes which look glazed over, making the monkey look more like a raggedy old doll than one that’s friendly and sympathetic.
NAMEGON
Namegon is our first space monster of the franchise. Born from golden eggs taken from the planet Mars by an exploratory rocket, intense heat causes the egg to hatch into Namegon, who proceeds to go on a rampage until it’s stopped by it’s one weakness-saltwater.
For some odd reason, Namegon was one of the few Ultra kaiju I really knew about as a kid. Of all the various Q kaiju covered by fansites back in the day, Namegon somehow got a surprising amount of coverage which led kid-me to believe the slug was one of the star monsters of Ultra Q. This is obviously not the case, but even now whenever the Q monsters come to mind, he’s usually at the forefront with the more iconic ones.
But, I mean, I kinda think Namegon deserves it. While he still falls under the sort of “giant version of a regular animal” category that Ultra Q’s early monsters tended to be, I do think Namegon’s design is a step above most of the lot.
It’s just a few traits that really push him into being memorable like his wart-covered back adds a bit of flair to his design and the tendrils over his mouth combined with the large white, concave eyes transform what would be a more pedestrian design into something truly memorable. His countenance looks simultaneously like he’s ferocious and also revolted by the sort of world he’s ended up in. Not to mention the atmospheric black and white photography helps Namegon come off as really eerie rather than hokey or comedic.
Lastly, I feel the nature of Namegon’s weakness and the musing by Prof. Ichiotani to be quite interesting, as they theorize that Namegon was sent down as a “warning” by the Martian populace, hence the fact that Namegon is weakened by common saltwater and the Professor muses that if more space explorations occur, we might come across one that isn’t so killable. Only in Ultra Q would a giant slug with eye beams be the equivalent of a warning shot.
JURAN
Do I really gotta talk about the big flower? Alright, I’ll talk about the big flower.
Juran itself is…kinda boring. The monster is nothing more than a gigantic flower with bloodsucking roots. It’s a decent concept, but it feels….very plain compared to the monsters that have come before it as well as after it. There’s a reason for this however, as Juran’s episode was the first episode shot for Ultra Q back when it was going to be a show focused on all sorts of strange phenomena and stories. However, the executives demanded more monsters, so the show’s focus shifted from various strange phenomena to predominantly kaiju. I’m sure if the original plan was carried out, the monster would be more interesting…but in a sea of some incredibly bizarre characters, Juran is unfortunately just a big flower at the end of the day.
Juran would only return in Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle as a monster of the week 42 years after it’s debut (man, they had a lot of Q stuff on that show didn’t they?), but the monster’s biggest claim to fame would be being the inspiration of the Legion Flower in Shusuke Kaneko’s Gamera 2: Attack of Legion. I also can’t deny the imagery of a giant flower growing out of a building is incredibly memorable.
All in all, Juran is probably one of my least favorite kaiju from Ultra Q, not by nature of being bad of course, but just by being overshadowed by so many more creatures that capture the imagination comparatively.
PEGUILA
Alright, here we are folks, only a few kaiju in already and we got to one of my favorites, so be aware of some major gushing on my part.
Peguila is like, honestly one of the coolest and most memorable kaiju of the entire franchise in my opinion. Yeah, I’m 100% serious on that part here and there’s just so much about him from his design to his powers to just his production history that makes him a significant kaiju in my book.
Peguila was the first monster to be designed by Tohl Narita, the artist responsible for some of the most iconic Ultraman monsters as well as Ultraman himself. For his first monster, I feel like Peguila is such a stellar and iconic creature to come up with right out the gate for Narita and I think that can be attributed to Narita’s three principles of monster designs.
1. Monsters are not specters with things such as two heads or multiple limbs.
2. Monsters shouldn’t be just regular animals that are huge.
3. No designs that are associated with damaged or exposed body parts.
While Narita would occasionally waver on some of these principles, he mainly stuck by him which is why I feel like his monsters are icons in their own right while many other creatures in similar shows have been forgotten.
Taking a look at Peguila’s design, unlike the preceding kaiju, there is hardly anything on Earth that really fits the monster. I know some materials state Peguila is a mutant penguin or seal, those never just really fit the guy. He is is just a Peguila simple as that. His design also screams “ice monster” while not being too on the nose about it, so it feels perfectly natural that he has an icy breath attack (that also inexplicably has anti-gravity effects too!). The warts on his torso make him look more he’s a real creature than costume. I think what really wins him over for me is his face. The tusks and whiskers on the seal face coupled with those glowing, half-closed eyes make Peguila come off as both comedic and genuinely eerie in the best sort of way. Let’s be honest, if you were out on a cold, winter’s night and you saw those glowing eyes staring down, you’d probably be pretty shaken.
Sadly, despite being such a cool monster, Peguila has had hardly any reappearances. He got himself another episode in the original Ultra Q before his suit was redressed for a kaiju in Ultraman and the monster continued to have nothing more than cameos through the late 2000’s and 2010’s (which is a crime). However, as of late 2019, the YouTube series Ultra Galaxy Fight: New Generation Heroes featured for the first time in 53 years, Peguila back in action battling Ultraman Ribut, one of the more obscure Ultras, in one of the episodes and honestly, I can’t think of a better way to bring back such a great monster and here’s hoping the 2020’s will feature more of this unique beast.
GAMERON and OTOHIME’S DRAGON
Yeah, gonna try to do a two-for one. I feel like depending on some monsters, they might get coverage together if they appear in the same episode and are closely tied.
While Gameron might feel like a knockoff of the more popular, famous and really neat turtle kaiju Gamera, Gameron himself actually draws from a different sort of source material-the famous Japanese folktale, Urashima Taro. The original tale featured a fisherman named Taro rescuing a turtle, and then riding on it’s back to the undersea Dragon Palace where he meets Princess Otohime. With that in mind, Gameron himself isn’t a bad representation of the turtle from folklore, albeit able to fly in the Ultra Q adaptation. The wackiest thing I feel about the turtle is that it comes with a built in speedometer!
The Dragon found in the episode, transformed from a missile by Otohime (it makes about as much sense in context) is another Q kaiju with Toho lineage, being a reuse of the Manda prop from the 1963 Toho scifi epic Atragon. I’ve found the Manda puppet to be a pretty impressive execution of an Eastern Dragon and I feel the same way regarding the Dragon found in Ultra Q
Easter's Kaiju Kompendium 