A sudden cold wave hits the TDF's Far East Base, completely paralyzing its systems. Meanwhile, Dan Moroboshi's alien body struggles against the blizzard as he trudges towards HQ. He loses his Ultra Eye in the snow, making an already perilous situation worse when a giant monster makes an appearance and tests the resolve of both Ultraseven and the Ultra Guard.
Plot[]
Dark clouds blanket the skies around the TDF's Far East Base, blanketing the region in a powerful and unnatural blizzard. Dan Moroboshi is caught outside the base, trapping him in the Pointer as snow rapidly builds up. He is ordered to return to base on foot, which he struggles with due to his upbringing in the naturally snow-less Nebula M78.
Meanwhile, the reactor providing heat to the base suddenly shuts down, prompting Soga and Amagi to investigate. They encounter the large monster responsible for damaging the reactor but retreat from its freezing breath. Unable to use their vehicles or super weapons due to the system shutdown, the base's resident doctor, Dr. Araki, begs Minister Yamaoka to order an evacuation before any lives are lost from the cold but is denied.
Dan trudges through the snow and briefly falls unconscious. Alien Poll appear to him during a hallucination, claiming to be responsible for all the Earth's ice ages. They taunt Dan over his weakness to cold before vanishing, and he realizes he lost his Ultra Eye in the snow. When the giant monster Gandar appears, he summons Miclas to fight it off and buy him time.
At HQ, TDF engineers attempt to fix the reactor but begin to lose people to hypothermia. Dr. Araki once again pleads to Yamaoka to order an evacuation, and he finally relents. Dan eventually finds his Ultra Eye but must use his remaining strength as Ultraseven to fly towards the sun to recharge. Yamaoka collapses from the cold, forcing Kiriyama to give the evacuation order, but the remaining engineer resolves to fix the reactor alone and brings it back online.
With heat and power restored, the Ultra Guard launch in the Hawk-1 and Hawk-3 to fight Gandar. They split the Hawk-1 into its three component units, and the combined might of all four ships causes the giant monster to retreat. Ultraseven returns and swiftly disposes of Gandar using his Eye Slugger, putting an end to the blizzard. The Alien Poll retreat, satisfied that it was humanity that ultimately defeated them and that Ultraseven can be weakened. Dan recalls Miclas and walks towards base, his determination to defend the Earth as strong as ever.
This episode's script portrays Ultraseven's struggle in an intensely cold battle, highlighting that even the strongest heroes have weaknesses. It also reflects humanity's resilient spirit and unity in the face of adversity. Additionally, according to Alien Poll's dialogue:
This episode contains the first reference to Ultraseven being from Nebula M78 (the Land of Light).
This episode introduces a "weakness" for Ultraseven that functions in a similar fashion to Ultraman's Color Timer, where Ultraseven is given a time limit to his transformation, with his forehead light blinking when the time limit is nearly at its end.
The episode features a fierce showdown between Miclas and Gandar. Gandar uses a freezing beam to attack Miclas, causing its entire body to turn white, seemingly freezing it. However, in draft script, Miclas was described as a "robot monster," and the freezing beam was ineffective against it. Miclas's head emitted a glowing light, and it retaliated with a ray. In the final version and official sources, Miclas is not identified as a robot.
According to an interview with producer Ken Kumagai by Yoichi Iwasa:[2]
While Ultraseven generally avoids overemphasizing "Japanese-style" elements and does not focus heavily on the seasons, the snow setting in this episode is an exception. The team chose to make two episodes centered on snow due to its rarity and novelty in countries without snowfall, catering to the overseas market's demand. The winter of early 1968 saw unusually heavy snow, which later posed challenges.
For the outdoor filming, although the location was not significantly impacted, a scene in which Dan gets lost in a snowy field could not be shot outdoors. As a result, this segment was filmed entirely on set. To create the snow, the production team used large amounts of "Shikkaroll" (talc powder), foam polystyrene, salt, and a mixture of sugar and wheat flour. Kumagai recalls that when they ordered these materials, suppliers were surprised and asked, "So much—how will you use it?" Despite the time-consuming process and the difficulty of cleaning up afterward, Kumagai noted that the team overcame the challenges, with everyone covered in "snow" as they continued to work.
In this episode, during the scene with the Alien Poll and orange flames, the song "Voice of the Sun" was used. According to Toru Fuyuki, "This track was specifically inserted during the recording for another program." Editor Tsu Aoyama speculates that Fuyuki may have intended to use this piece to enhance the atmosphere of the scene.[5][6]
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