Ultraman Ginga S Episode 14 (Summary)
I started off doing just random points, but somehow this turns out to be more of a summary than a list. Spoilers abound, of course.
Ah good. Excellente (or whatever the name of the blue/purple half-brain, half-octopus guy is) takes control of the UPG base (I think he just wants the Victorium cannon, really).
But before that, Sho goes to berate Hikaru and then goes off to the UPG base to demand that they stop using the Victorium cannon. The commander tells the underlings to drop the guns on Sho. Being a trusting sort of guy, Sho drops the gun he has trained on the commander, who repays the kindness by promptly shooting Sho and rendering him almost unconscious.
Of course, the underlings are tying up Sho to a chair. The commander stares at the Victory gun (or whatever it is called -- I'm no good at names of transformation devices) when one of the underlings hands him the Shepardon doll (so Sho didn't have other spark dolls with him?). So the commander, with a look of glee (since he is recalling how Shepardon (who permitted it) was used to power up a cannon to revive the two Ultramen back in episode 8), put the doll inside some kind of small glass dome/cylinder that sucks power (very much shade of Ultraman Nexus).
But even before Sho and Hikaru meets for the first time in two episodes, the UPG captain (whose name I'm not sure of, but I think it's Jinno) elaborates on what his subordinates suspected from the last episode: that he knows about the Victorium cannon. Then we have Sho butting in and basically expressing disappointment at the UPG people (the ones who are kicked out of their base, that is) and running off to the base.
Somewhere in there, between all these squabbles between allies, the purple octopus is scheming with a different underling (sadly appears to be one-shot, since he is probably not needed anymore now that Octopus finds and is about to revive the previous series' big boss). The underling alien, whose name I never catch and whose face I don't recognize (from Ultra Seven, perhaps? But probably not), goes out to wreck havoc in the form of a dark (well, at least it's not light) spark doll.
Hikaru volunteers to go chasing the monster, and Tomoya, knowing what Hikaru is up to, volunteers to stay behind to keep an eye on things. Satisfied with the arrangement (well, at least the captain seems to be), the captain and Go run off to rescue Sho. (They know of Sho's predicament because Arisa sends Tomoya a video of what happens in the control room.)
Back at the base, now that Shepardon doll is powering up the Victorium cannon even more, the commander orders Arisa to fire on the monster (Zetton, whom I never like, so this is the only time I'll refer to it by name). But unlike the last episode, where she meekly complied (or at least she did it without any real protest), Arisa apparently has grown a backbone between episodes and refuses to fire on the monster. That displeases the commander, and after several attempts to pull his rank, he pulls a gun on her. I should count my lucky star that he's only threatening her and not pushing her nor smacking her or doing any physical violence to her.
At this point, the captain and Go rush into the control room, guns drawn. Using element of surprise, Arisa pushes the commander's gun away and draws her gun on him. She tells Go to untie Sho, who, as soon as he's free, tries to rescue Shepardon. But the power seems to already go haywire, and he's pushed away and hurt in the process. Seeing that they are outnumbered at a severe disadvantage, and that they can do nothing productive by staying there, Arisa grabs Sho and leads him away. The four fugitives then run away from the control room, with Arisa supporting Sho (who grudgingly thanks her, I think), and the rest drawing their guns in protection (again, reminds me much of something similar in Ultraman Nexus).
They run off to where Tomoya is. The UPG people are off to back up Ultraman Ginga, who is losing badly, and, despite looking weak still, Sho is off to transform into Ultraman Victory. I didn't note other underground people's reactions, but Queen Kisara looks on...well...in what could only be called approval. (Irrelevant side note, how are they able to spy on what Sho does? Is there some kind of hidden camera or tracking device on him? Or perhaps their ability to see the events above ground is more along the line of something supernatural? Maybe there is this big eye above in the sky that can see everything a Victorian is doing?)
And wow. Hikaru is so happy that Sho is back to join him in the battle. But Sho is like, business (a.k.a. beat up the bad guy) first, talk later, and Hikaru looks even more happy if that's even possible.
Of course, with two Ultramen, the odds quickly change in their favor. Victory pulls out various spark dolls out of nowhere (I say that because somehow those dolls were not found when those UPG higher-ups searched Sho). Finally, the monster is dispatched with a new (or is it?) combination of power from the six Ultra brothers (Ultraman Taro says something about the power, but until English subs are out, I'm clueless as to what he means).
Hikaru's teammates are happy that the monster is destroyed. Go is about to embrace Arisa, but as usual, she pushes him away and kicks him for good measure.
The monster becomes a harmless spark doll (the one-shot alien is nowhere to be seen). Hikaru picks up the doll and probably is about to give it to Sho when his 'not knowing their timing sucks' teammates arrive to spoil the moment. Either Arisa or Go (or perhaps both) is commenting on an apparent closeness of Hikaru and Sho. Before either one of them could admit or deny that, the ground shakes. Gee, it's kind of obvious that the ground isn't shaking for real, since, for the most part, the characters sway in an unnatural fashion. (Some characters seem more convincing than some others in their swaying, but I didn't exactly pay attention as to which character is more convincing.)
Ultraman Taro recognizes the source of the shaking and tells Hikaru so. Not that it has anything to do with the important matter at hand, but Taro, by freely appearing almost in full view outside of that big wrist brace Hikaru is wearing, sure isn't about to help keep Hikaru's secret. That is, if by some miracle, Arisa and Go still haven't noticed that Hikaru isn't exactly your normal teenager.
Sometime before this but probably after the fugitives escape, the commander, in a fit of pique, is trying to fire on the monster, but, infected with out of control power from the poor Shepardon doll, the cannon refuses to cooperate. In fact, it's so dangerous in the base that someone (not the commander, more is the pity) orders most people there to escape.
And then something attacks the UPG base. I think it's the previous boss, traveling from the moon on the Octopus's order. Octopus himself appears and basically chases away the commander and his right-handed man to some isolated field out of nowhere. They are lucky Octopus is too pre-occupied to do anything more harmful to them.
Anyway, Octopus is happy to combine himself with the base (well, with the Victorium cannon). The result looks like (to my inexperienced eyes) a type of mechanical monster found in Ultraman Tiga (well, this monster also looks rather similar to the previous series' second-final boss, whose name escapes me). The monster (whose name I don't know) is about to go on a rampage, so our fugitives have to do something to stop that. Except Tomoya, Sho, and Hikaru, everyone goes off to fire on the monster.
Tomoya eyes both Ultraman hosts and states bluntly that he doesn't think they can win. (Even with such a downer, I like that, a lot. That's Tomoya's way of saying that he cares for their welfare.) Hikaru, not letting such a dire prediction get him down, admits that might very well be true but of course they have to try. Cue dual transformations (with no extended scenes since they were already shown earlier).
Somewhere in there, the android girl, formerly Octopus's underling, looks on with an expression I'm not sure I can interpret (that's the point, I think. An android is supposed to be unemotional). (She also did that in at least one other episode (might be the previous one), so I wonder at the significance of the gesture. Ultra series is at least good at not planting useless clues.)
Transformed and ready to fight, both Ultramen rush toward the monster. And that is where the episode ends. I'm sure we'll get repeats of most of the last few sentences in the next episode, so I'll stop here.
tl;dr Good conclusion to the UPG storyline. No real surprises, but then I don't expect surprises in an Ultraman Ginga episode.
Ah good. Excellente (or whatever the name of the blue/purple half-brain, half-octopus guy is) takes control of the UPG base (I think he just wants the Victorium cannon, really).
But before that, Sho goes to berate Hikaru and then goes off to the UPG base to demand that they stop using the Victorium cannon. The commander tells the underlings to drop the guns on Sho. Being a trusting sort of guy, Sho drops the gun he has trained on the commander, who repays the kindness by promptly shooting Sho and rendering him almost unconscious.
Of course, the underlings are tying up Sho to a chair. The commander stares at the Victory gun (or whatever it is called -- I'm no good at names of transformation devices) when one of the underlings hands him the Shepardon doll (so Sho didn't have other spark dolls with him?). So the commander, with a look of glee (since he is recalling how Shepardon (who permitted it) was used to power up a cannon to revive the two Ultramen back in episode 8), put the doll inside some kind of small glass dome/cylinder that sucks power (very much shade of Ultraman Nexus).
But even before Sho and Hikaru meets for the first time in two episodes, the UPG captain (whose name I'm not sure of, but I think it's Jinno) elaborates on what his subordinates suspected from the last episode: that he knows about the Victorium cannon. Then we have Sho butting in and basically expressing disappointment at the UPG people (the ones who are kicked out of their base, that is) and running off to the base.
Somewhere in there, between all these squabbles between allies, the purple octopus is scheming with a different underling (sadly appears to be one-shot, since he is probably not needed anymore now that Octopus finds and is about to revive the previous series' big boss). The underling alien, whose name I never catch and whose face I don't recognize (from Ultra Seven, perhaps? But probably not), goes out to wreck havoc in the form of a dark (well, at least it's not light) spark doll.
Hikaru volunteers to go chasing the monster, and Tomoya, knowing what Hikaru is up to, volunteers to stay behind to keep an eye on things. Satisfied with the arrangement (well, at least the captain seems to be), the captain and Go run off to rescue Sho. (They know of Sho's predicament because Arisa sends Tomoya a video of what happens in the control room.)
Back at the base, now that Shepardon doll is powering up the Victorium cannon even more, the commander orders Arisa to fire on the monster (Zetton, whom I never like, so this is the only time I'll refer to it by name). But unlike the last episode, where she meekly complied (or at least she did it without any real protest), Arisa apparently has grown a backbone between episodes and refuses to fire on the monster. That displeases the commander, and after several attempts to pull his rank, he pulls a gun on her. I should count my lucky star that he's only threatening her and not pushing her nor smacking her or doing any physical violence to her.
At this point, the captain and Go rush into the control room, guns drawn. Using element of surprise, Arisa pushes the commander's gun away and draws her gun on him. She tells Go to untie Sho, who, as soon as he's free, tries to rescue Shepardon. But the power seems to already go haywire, and he's pushed away and hurt in the process. Seeing that they are outnumbered at a severe disadvantage, and that they can do nothing productive by staying there, Arisa grabs Sho and leads him away. The four fugitives then run away from the control room, with Arisa supporting Sho (who grudgingly thanks her, I think), and the rest drawing their guns in protection (again, reminds me much of something similar in Ultraman Nexus).
They run off to where Tomoya is. The UPG people are off to back up Ultraman Ginga, who is losing badly, and, despite looking weak still, Sho is off to transform into Ultraman Victory. I didn't note other underground people's reactions, but Queen Kisara looks on...well...in what could only be called approval. (Irrelevant side note, how are they able to spy on what Sho does? Is there some kind of hidden camera or tracking device on him? Or perhaps their ability to see the events above ground is more along the line of something supernatural? Maybe there is this big eye above in the sky that can see everything a Victorian is doing?)
And wow. Hikaru is so happy that Sho is back to join him in the battle. But Sho is like, business (a.k.a. beat up the bad guy) first, talk later, and Hikaru looks even more happy if that's even possible.
Of course, with two Ultramen, the odds quickly change in their favor. Victory pulls out various spark dolls out of nowhere (I say that because somehow those dolls were not found when those UPG higher-ups searched Sho). Finally, the monster is dispatched with a new (or is it?) combination of power from the six Ultra brothers (Ultraman Taro says something about the power, but until English subs are out, I'm clueless as to what he means).
Hikaru's teammates are happy that the monster is destroyed. Go is about to embrace Arisa, but as usual, she pushes him away and kicks him for good measure.
The monster becomes a harmless spark doll (the one-shot alien is nowhere to be seen). Hikaru picks up the doll and probably is about to give it to Sho when his 'not knowing their timing sucks' teammates arrive to spoil the moment. Either Arisa or Go (or perhaps both) is commenting on an apparent closeness of Hikaru and Sho. Before either one of them could admit or deny that, the ground shakes. Gee, it's kind of obvious that the ground isn't shaking for real, since, for the most part, the characters sway in an unnatural fashion. (Some characters seem more convincing than some others in their swaying, but I didn't exactly pay attention as to which character is more convincing.)
Ultraman Taro recognizes the source of the shaking and tells Hikaru so. Not that it has anything to do with the important matter at hand, but Taro, by freely appearing almost in full view outside of that big wrist brace Hikaru is wearing, sure isn't about to help keep Hikaru's secret. That is, if by some miracle, Arisa and Go still haven't noticed that Hikaru isn't exactly your normal teenager.
Sometime before this but probably after the fugitives escape, the commander, in a fit of pique, is trying to fire on the monster, but, infected with out of control power from the poor Shepardon doll, the cannon refuses to cooperate. In fact, it's so dangerous in the base that someone (not the commander, more is the pity) orders most people there to escape.
And then something attacks the UPG base. I think it's the previous boss, traveling from the moon on the Octopus's order. Octopus himself appears and basically chases away the commander and his right-handed man to some isolated field out of nowhere. They are lucky Octopus is too pre-occupied to do anything more harmful to them.
Anyway, Octopus is happy to combine himself with the base (well, with the Victorium cannon). The result looks like (to my inexperienced eyes) a type of mechanical monster found in Ultraman Tiga (well, this monster also looks rather similar to the previous series' second-final boss, whose name escapes me). The monster (whose name I don't know) is about to go on a rampage, so our fugitives have to do something to stop that. Except Tomoya, Sho, and Hikaru, everyone goes off to fire on the monster.
Tomoya eyes both Ultraman hosts and states bluntly that he doesn't think they can win. (Even with such a downer, I like that, a lot. That's Tomoya's way of saying that he cares for their welfare.) Hikaru, not letting such a dire prediction get him down, admits that might very well be true but of course they have to try. Cue dual transformations (with no extended scenes since they were already shown earlier).
Somewhere in there, the android girl, formerly Octopus's underling, looks on with an expression I'm not sure I can interpret (that's the point, I think. An android is supposed to be unemotional). (She also did that in at least one other episode (might be the previous one), so I wonder at the significance of the gesture. Ultra series is at least good at not planting useless clues.)
Transformed and ready to fight, both Ultramen rush toward the monster. And that is where the episode ends. I'm sure we'll get repeats of most of the last few sentences in the next episode, so I'll stop here.
tl;dr Good conclusion to the UPG storyline. No real surprises, but then I don't expect surprises in an Ultraman Ginga episode.