After the Alien Pedan'sgiant robot retreats, Captain Kiriyama readies the Ultra Guard forces for their next attack. In the meantime, Dr. Tsuchida tries to find a way to defeat the robotic beast, and Secret Service agent Melvin Webb searches for the real Dorothy Anderson. The Ultra Guard strengthen the Defense Center for an impending alien assault.
Meanwhile, Dan Moroboshi meets with the Alien Pedan's spy and brokers a deal to cease hostilities between the two planets, but their suspicious behavior causes the UG to doubt their trustworthiness.
Plot[]
The Alien Pedan's super robot nearly kills Ultraseven, but switches targets at the last second and heads directly for the defense center's main building. Ultraseven seizes the opportunity and knocks down the giant robot, forcing it to disassemble into its component parts and retreat. Captain Kiriyama immediately tasks Dr. Tsuchida with discovering the robot's weakness, while the American intelligence agent, who's name is revealed to be Marvin Webb, is asked to search for the real Dorothy Anderson. The rest of the team stay on the lookout for any signs of invasion.
Meanwhile, Dan Moroboshi tracks down the Alien Pedan spy disguised as Dorothy. Admitting that Earthlings were at fault, he asks that the aliens stand down and leave the planet in exchange for the Earth halting its research into anti-Alien Pedan weaponry. The spy, seemingly trusting Dan's word as a fellow alien, agrees to the terms. As a show of good will, it promises to release the real Dorothy.
Dan returns to the defense center and informs them of the deal. The rest of the team doubt the aliens' trustworthiness, but agree to stop their research once Marvin returns with the real Dorothy. Though Dan is overjoyed, he begins to doubt the aliens when he learns that Dorothy's memories have been completely wiped.
The Alien Pedan send a fleet of their ships to Earth with intent to take it over. The giant robot returns to Kobe's port and begins destroying several ships. It damages a building's elevator systems, trapping people inside. Soga and Furuhashi distract the robot in the Hawk-1 while Amagi repairs the elevator. Dan transforms into Ultraseven and attacks the super robot, but struggles once again due to the robot's impervious outer shell.
Back at the defense center, Dr. Tsuchima works to find a weakness in the robot's armor but can make no progress without Dorothy's expertise. After several treatments, Anne Yuri is able to restore Dorothy back to normal, and she immediately helps with the research. The two scientists formulate a rocket that can penetrate the robot's armor and send it to Kobe.
With only a single shell made, the Ultra Guard must wait patiently for the perfect time to fire the weapon. Ultraseven trades several blows with the giant robot before knocking it down. He holds the robot up, giving the UG the opportunity to land a direct hit. The robot is instantly deactivated, and Ultraseven destroys the Alien Pedan ship that attempts to retreat out of it.
Captain Kiriyama reports the victory to Staff Officer Manabe, who shares that the Alien Pedan have called off their invasion and retreated. Dorothy vows to be more careful when sending observational rockets to distant planets, and Dan rejoins his comrades on the dock.
This was the eighteenth episode produced after filming for the series officially began.
As with the previous episode, this one was also set in the Kansai region at the request of the series' sponsor, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. It was filmed in Kobe.
Scenes depicting Dan's conversation with Dorothy and the Ultra Guard rushing to aid Ultraseven in his battle with King Joe were filmed at the Port of Kobe.[2]
King Joe's design concept involved four separate components labeled "A," "B," "C," and "D" that would cease flying, dock together, and rapidly transform into a giant robot.[3] According to director Kazuho Mitsuta, the transformation sequence was inspired by the idea of "bringing scattered objects together," a concept that developed during a discussion with Tetsuo Kinjo. The team initially considered including more components, but decided against it as it would have made the combination sequence overly complex. They ultimately settled on the final four-part design.[4]
In this episode, Eiichi Kikuchi performed as Ultraseven instead of Koji Uenishi, whose schedule conflicted with the filming dates. Kikuchi was chosen as a last-minute replacement.[4]
The final draft of this episode was originally titled "The U Guard Goes West"(U警備隊西へ, U Keibitai Nishi e), but it was later changed to its current title.[8]
In the draft version, Marvin's plans were clearly defined. He sought revenge against the Alien Pedan by disrupting their meetings and gathering intelligence on their weaknesses. Marvin explained all of this in dialogue. He also defied Kiriyama's order to disarm and secretly continued developing the Ryton R30 (ライトンR30, Raiton R30).
In one scene, Marvin explains his motivations. "I love peace, too, but like a snake, I've learned how to avoid threats." He then hands Kiriyama a bullet—the "Marvin-Tsuchida Bullet" (土田・マービン弾, Tsuchida Mābin Dan), which he and Dr. Tsuchida developed together.
In the draft, "Ryton R30" was the name of a mineral from the planet Pedna in the Alien series. In the final version, however, it became the name of a new weapon developed by Dr. Tsuchida and Dorothy.
The draft also featured a scene in which Ultraseven speaks directly with Kiriyama. After Kiriyama hands him the Ryton R30, Ultraseven replies, "Understood. This is the first time I've faced such a powerful enemy." In this version, Ultraseven inserts the bullet into his Beam Lamp, from which it is fired alongside the Emerium Beam.
This change reflects the original Redman concept, in which Ultraseven could communicate with humans. In the final version, however, he understands the intentions of the Ultra Guard and works with them silently. While the first few episodes featured dialogue, Ultraseven no longer communicates through Dan's voice.
In early drafts, Dorothy was depicted as the Alien Pedan's subordinate who died alongside them in a self-destructive act. However, in the final version, her character was reimagined as both an enemy and a vital ally.
According to an interview with art director Noriyoshi Ikeya by Yoichi Iwasa:[9]
Due to budget limits, Alien Pedan received only a simple suit, likely without a design sketch from Tohl Narita. Since it never fought Ultraseven, the main team handled the design, consulting Narita and Tatsuro Fukada. Later, to add visual impact, the suit was modified with bamboo skewers or wire around the head and rubber balls or candy boxes spray-painted on. Photographers and lighting crews avoided close-ups or strong light. Ikeya later noted he might be misremembering some details, possibly confusing them with Fight! Mighty Jack.
According to Yuriko Hishimi, Anne's wig for this episode was purchased from a wig shop in Shinjuku Mitsukoshi approximately four months after filming began. Her red dress was purchased from a boutique in Seijo Gakuen.[10] After filming the two episodes, Shoji Nakayama took her to Osaka to enjoy local dishes, such as grilled squid, deep-fried skewers, and herring soba.and herring soba.[11]
This episode features two foreign actors appearing in consecutive episodes. According to director Mitsuta, their lines were originally written in Japanese, but the dialogue proved too long for them to memorize. Consequently, their performances were dubbed by Japanese voice actors during post-production. Mitsuta recalled choosing the dub performers based on audition tapes supplied by a voice acting agency but admitted that he was not very attentive during the selection process. The final choices were made based on their previous anime voice work.[4]
The harbor "sunset" scene featuring Dan and Dorothy was actually filmed in the morning.
According to Hishimi, when she informed director Mitsuta of Linda Hardisty's passing, he expressed deep regret, saying, "I broke my promise to Linda. I had promised her that she would be involved in the post-production dubbing."[12]
Terry Farnsworth appeared in these two episodes as Marvin Webb. In an interview with Brett Homenick for Vantage Point Interviews, he reminisced about filming in Kobe and recalled his costar, Linda Hardisty, and the Pointer. He praised the Japanese cast and crew, describing them as cheerful and down-to-earth. This contrasted with the more self-important actors he had encountered in the United States.
Farnsworth also recounted a humorous story about struggling to hail a taxi in Kobe until, frustrated by the unresponsive drivers, one actor began throwing stones at them. Farnsworth laughed, saying that he hadn't thought of that memory in fifty years until the interview.
From left to right: Sandayu Dokumamushi, Pointer driver Mr. Koyama, Linda Hardisty, Koji Moritsugu, Bin Furuya, Yuriko Hishimi, Terry Farnsworth, and Shoji Nakayama. Photo courtesy of Terry Farnsworth.
This episode, along with the previous one, was featured in Ultraman Retsuden episode 56 "Defeat King Joe! Westward, Ultra Guard!!".
This episode was temporarily made available on the official Ultraman YouTube channel two days after Ultraman Z episode 10 "Here Comes the Space Pirate!" aired, due to both featuring King Joe.
A trailer for this episode narrated by Hiroki Touchi was released on October 1, 2022 as part of a series of trailers created to celebrate the 55th anniversary of Ultraseven, that also promoted the episode being made free on TSUBURAYA IMAGINATION for a month.[13][14]
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