Challenge from the Year 2020

Challenge from the Year 2020
Ultra Q, episode 19
Information
Airdate	May 8, 1966
Directed by	Toshihiro Iijima
Written by	Tetsuo Kinjo Kitao Senzoku
Special Effects Directed by	Sadamasa Arikawa
Continuity
Previous	The Rainbow's Egg
Next	The Undersea Humanoid Ragon

Challenge from the Year 2020 is the nineteenth episode of Ultra Q.

Plot

Following the sighting of a UFO and the destruction of two J.S.D.F jets sent to investigate, a series of strange disappearances plagues Tokyo. When Yuriko witnesses a woman vanish before her eyes, she begins her own investigation. As Jun and Major Amano scout the area where the planes were shot down, Jun suddenly vanishes from the cockpit of his own Cessna. A strange, jelly-like substance that appears before each disappearance attacks Yuriko in a phone booth, but she escapes with the help of an eccentric investigator named Udagawa. Udagawa tells her that he has been tracking the alien, Kemur, who has been abducting humans in order to disguise its true form. Ippei notes that Udagawa's story is so closely related to the science fiction novel "Challenge of the Year 2020" as to be unbelievable. After kidnapping Yuriko, Kemur appears and escapes from Udagawa and the police. Ippei and Major Amano observe that in the novel, the alien is defeated by the X-channel light ray invented by Dr. Kanda. Upon searching the deserted residence of the real Dr. Kanda, they discover a K-miniode fuse, which they implement atop Tokyo Tower. Yuriko awakens at an amusement park and is confronted by Jun, which turns out to be Kemur in disguise. When Udagawa and the police arrive, they shoot the extra-terrestrial and it grows to gigantic proportions. Kemur proceeds to destroy the park, until it is struck down by the concentrated beam of the X-channel ray fired from Tokyo Tower. The alien's body vanishes and the people that were abducted re-emerge into their own dimension. All seems well until a curious Udagawa spies a puddle of liquid and steps into it.

Cast

• Jun Manjome : Kenji Sahara
• Yuriko Edogawa : Hiroko Sakurai
• Ippei Togawa : Yasuhiko Saijo
• Deskworker Seki : Yoshibumi Tajima
• Narrator : Koji Ishizaka

Guest Actors

• Amano Lieutenant Colonel : Akiji Kobayashi
• Udagawa detective : Kan Yanagiya
• Air Self-Defense Force’s Staff : Ryuzo Takamine
• Tomota reporter : Yasuo Tsuchiya （credited as 靖男）
• Man at the edge of the pool : Takeshi Ishima
• Lady : Keiko Nakata
• Watanabe cameraman : Osamu Kurebayashi
• Go-kart's model : Misa Maki
• Man disappearing in the pool : Kazuo Narita
• Man in a mountain lodge : Hideki Furukawa
• Woman in a mountain lodge : Soya Kondo
• Woman who decorated the cover : Wakako Tanabe

Suit Actors

• Kemur : Bin Furuya

Appearances

Kaiju

• Kemur

Home Media

• Ultra Q Volume 5 features episodes 17-20, while the Total Natural Color DVD Volume 6 features episodes 18-21.

2001 release

2009 release

Total Natural Color Blu-ray

Trivia

• In what's called The Second Cool, Phantom Monster Showdown, a Kemur was meant to return to fight Pagos and Garamon in a fight labeled Tokyo Tsunami.
• Ultraman Z episode 18 "Rechallenge from the Year 2020" is a tribute to this episode, even featuring the physical novel authored by Professor Kanda mentioned in this episode.