EJ
Hey folks, welcome back to Ultraman Connection’s Watch Club! I’m EJ Couloucoundis, Editor-in-Chief of UltramanConnection.com.
SL
And I’m Sarah Last, staff writer and content creator for Ultraman Connection!
Say, EJ, do you remember the lesson we learned in the last episode of Ultraseven?
EJ
By “lesson,” do you mean “The fastest way to almost conquer the planet is to steal Dan Moroboshi’s glasses”?
SL
Right, that one! It seems word got out to the other aliens in the universe trying to take over the Earth, because things are going to seem remarkably familiar with episode 4 this time, “Max, Respond!”
Wait… “Max?” Do I have the wrong Ultraman series loaded up?
EJ
Haha, not quite Sarah. Though now I wonder if this might have had something to do with… ah, never mind. This time, the Max is a top-of-the-line nuclear vessel owned by the Terrestrial Defense Force, the parent organization of the Ultra Guard—and one of my favorite ship designs in the Ultra Series.
SL
The impressively constructed composite shot showing it off on the water is a memorable sight, but I’m more impressed by the alternate theme for the show that gets introduced here as well. The sort of low-key, jazzy swing feel of the “One, two, three, four — one, two!” is one of the most iconic parts of the show for me! It is — as the kids today might say — a straight banger.
EJ
The kids may say that, but should we? I agree though, it’s a lot of fun to listen to. Of course, we cut after to Dan trying to help a woman whose car has broken down—or so it seems!
SL
Let me guess… alien invader in disguise? Knocks Dan out and immediately runs off with his Ultra Eye?
EJ
We really can’t get bored of this; it’s going to happen a lot this series. Yes, though, the woman knocks him out, and when he wakes up, the Ultra Eye is gone. But that’s not all! At the same time, Amagi and Soga meet with Staff Officer Takenaka Jinguji, a recurring character and their superior, to learn their real mission—that is, to track down the disappearances of two Japanese tankers.
In… another ship. A heavily armed ship, but… C’mon, guys.
SL
A heavily armed ship led by Kenji Sahara, I mean what could possibly go wrong.
I also find it funny immediately after this very serious scene outlining the stakes of this mission and the need for its utmost secrecy, the episode cuts back to Dan and Anne in the infirmary back at base. Anne chides him for getting injured and having no memory of what caused him to black out due to blunt force trauma, assumes that he must’ve knocked himself out, and then gives him a pretty gold locket on a necklace as a “good luck charm”.
Dan, of course, being Dan, ignores all of this and is still brooding over his lost Ultra Eye.
I know that we’ve talked about Dan’s little idiosyncrasies interacting with the rest of the team because of his alien perspective but that’s remarkably dense.
EJ
Honestly, I view moments like this, and the previous “go off on your own” moment from Episode 3, as signs that Dan isn’t fully there with humanity yet. He cares about them, but I still feel like he’s learning to trust them to not make his job harder. Which is funny, because 90% of his problems against threats involve his own choices.
Meanwhile, the boat ride goes about as well as you’d expect.
SL
In fairness to the Ultra Guard, they do recognize that things have gone south pretty much immediately and go out to investigate matters more thoroughly after the ship disappears. Furuhashi is the first one to find the missing vessel — in outer space. I mean, bravo to Captain Kiriyama for even entertaining the possibility that it disappeared because it was flung into low-Earth orbit, but unfortunately for the team, Furuhashi isn’t able to report back once he boards the now-spacefaring ship. Here we get our first look at the mysterious alien threat of the episode, Alien Godola!
EJ
The Godola are interesting to me; I’ve always associated them as a “major” foe of Seven, but they’ve gotten barely any new appearances since this episode.
SL
You’re right, I think the first time they show up with another scheme after this is… Ultraman Geed? It seems odd, considering they have a very cool, unique design, with very metallic-looking silver patterns and big glowing eyes. Their invasion plan definitely seems to be much better thought out than the Alien Pitts’ from the last episode, too!
EJ
Significantly! I think they honestly could have gotten away with it if not for a few lucky breaks by Dan, but even he was nearly killed during the attempt to stop the Godola invasion.
A lot of really dark developments happened in this episode. Shipfuls of crewmen floating in outer space for resisting, Furuhashi’s identity stolen by a Godola who used his face to try and plant bombs in the Ultra Guard HQ… The scale feels really big this episode, as do the stakes.
SL
It all happens very quickly, we start the episode just trying to investigate a mystery about disappearing ships, and then Ultra Guard winds up kicking over a metaphorical hornet nest instead! It seems like the Godola have been planning this invasion for a long time and putting the pieces together without anyone noticing until it’s almost too late to stop it.
Even the Ultra Guard’s fight to break out of the captured ship and relay a warning back to Earth is very tense and dramatic. There are jailbreaks, shoot-outs, and finally after the real Furuhashi almost appears to have died in the struggle to launch an emergency rocket, Amagi is left with the task to beat the clock back to the base.
EJ
Meanwhile, Dan himself is captured by the Godola disguised as Furuhashi, trapped in an unbreakable cage right next to the bomb. Even his one ray of hope in the technician checking the reactor turns out to be all in vain, as said technician is the woman that stole the Ultra Eye in the first place, here to taunt him!
Of course, this is also Dan’s chance to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, as she picks up Dan’s good luck charm from Anne—which he shoots to destroy the cage from the outside, freeing himself and taking back the Ultra Eye from the thief!
SL
That particular Godola says their mission was to die along with Ultraseven when the base explodes, but the other one still posing as Dan Moroboshi doesn’t want to die here, since he immediately nopes out of there once he realizes Dan’s escaped, they’ve figured out the plan, and have disarmed the bombs.
The following “fight” against Seven is also pretty funny for the same reason. The Alien Godola taunts Seven a bit, grows to giant size, then once again immediately tries to flee from the battle when Seven goes right after him! He doesn’t get very far before getting shot out of the sky with another Emerium beam.
EJ
It goes back to the thesis we saw in previous episodes; when Ultraseven comes out, aliens are not long for this world, or any world. With the Godola defeated, Seven can bring the Max back down to Earth.
SL
It is a very nice, heartwarming end to the story, watching everyone holding on for dear life along a wire as Seven pulls them through space like a haphazard string of Christmas lights.
Like the previous episode, “Max, Respond!” is a bombastic spectacle, but unlike the previous episode it doesn’t seem to have been as memorable in terms of its alien invaders. It’s been a while since I’ve seen this particular episode, but on this re-watch I have to agree with you, it’s a shame the Godola haven’t tried their luck in an invasion against the Earth again. They were a pretty fun, visually interesting group of villains for this story!
EJ
It’s one of my favorites for sure. Next week, however, we go from naval thriller to body-snatching horror, in Ultraseven episode 5, “The Vanished Time”! See you then!
