With breaching, foiling, guns and violence consuming the Ultra Garrison’s focus for the first five episodes, its exciting to see Tsuburaya putting down the dirty-work instruments so soon to orchestrate a more philosophical and humane entrée. But while manipulating the shadows sounds like a concept with enough potential (at least for Tsuburaya) for another simple assault episode, we’re instead given one of the most morale-challenging and wholesomely bittersweet episodes that still holds to this day.
A black shadowy mass slips out from behind Anne’s sofa which, after Dan investigates and sacrifices a newspaper, turns out to be an exhausted and in-pain alien. After concluding that the odd creature is harmless and afraid, the two agree to shelter him and keep his presence unknown from the rest of the Garrison. Meanwhile, an artificial signal is detected at the comms, which remarkably turns out to be from an interstellar space station. Surely it can’t be a coincidence that these two anomalies appeared almost simultaneously? And what’s with this shadowy alien claiming to hail from a metropolis in space?
While that summary may have filled in for a simpler earlier episode, we’ve barely scratched the surface to this hidden (shadowed) gem, so let’s instead focus on what this episode brings to our characters’ perspectives and views of the universe, which it wrenches to a twisted neck as compared to Ultraman’s more innocent good-evil views on the space around us.
A deceiving trick Dark Zone plays is by immediately giving us one of the show’s most seemingly humane scenes where Dan and Anne get to know this shadow person and eagerly hear about his home. But what makes this a great twist is how we’re shown the perspectives of a human and alien (Dan and Anne) whereas it’s shown as two humans, as Anne doesn't know Dan's true identity, so the moments of hesitation and unnerve gradually shown from the all-knowing Dan are brutally felt and bombards you with possibilities (heightened with a particular long-take close-up on his judgemental expression). But as Anne’s welcoming personality sparks connection, he eases and joins a moment of bonding with both a fellow alien and his colleague, being attracted to a potentially risky scenario by the main thing he loves about the earth: human kindness. But that’s not to say the odd Mr Shadow doesn’t provide an interesting discussion: heartily comparing humans’, his race’s and all other beings’ relationship as ‘friendly neighbours in the same universe’, leading to some of the show’s smoother chemistry with such a light topic being discussed between such contrasting people.
We’re even treated to a couple of oddly comedic moments, such as when Mr Shadow talks of his people’s immense reliance on artificial resources and comments humans aren’t that far off when he picks out Anne’s artificial flowers and when he rather embarrassingly asks to drink a bottle of mineral water in private before engulfing the whole thing. But the significance of this scene will later be revealed to be for a much grittier and disturbing point than what it imposes.
On another note, the rest of the squad bumble over a presumed prank-call after receiving a telecom from the presumed leader of this mysterious space station, who orders the the Ultra Garrison to readjust earth’s gravitational orbit to avoid a collision with the mechanically-damaged Pegassa city, which’s power circuits have fried. Dan however, realising the leader's voice is identical to that of his shadowy friend’s, interrogates him, paranoid something's slipped between his fingers, before the alien defensively insists he's not from Pegassa but does know of it. To Dan’s horror, he realises it’d destroy the earth with its materials being 80,000 times denser than the crust. This is when Mr shadow shows his true colours, having a sudden outburst of rage when he hears of the people of earth’s incapability to do something as basic as adjusting their own gravitational orbit, claiming them to be ‘just as primitive as any other backwards space creature’ before going mute.
The obscure Pegassan peoples’ true face is shown when the Ultra Garrison are deployed to evacuate the city before nukes are sent to destroy it to avoid earth’s own destruction, showing the Ultra Garrison to be reasonably ethical like Dan in these cases. One thing I must address is how grand and surreal Pegassa city feels, mixed with the dark lighting to conjure an eerily hollow, almost Atlantis-like feel.The reveal of it as the Garrison crew come into contact is truly awesome, with the clever cinematography making the Ultra Hawk feel like an ant in a field of giants.
It's the first time we feel like the Ultra Garrison have crossed a line into the unknown to which they don't belong,which feels vulnerable, though oddly peaceful: a key sense of adventure you could only find in this series. After Dan heartily addresses the Pegassans on their situation on radio and tells them of the future the could have with remaking their home on earth, a startingly hopeful vibe is given with the possibility of reviving the abandoned concept of peaceful co-operation before Dan gets his answer. Silence. Nothing at all.
The city starts to feel more like a graveyard, as Dan’s increased desperation sinks you into your seat with just what's happening over the obscure silence. The effect of this gradually degrading hope is rather horrifying as the writing itself takes an unseen dive into the unknown as to why such a solid and obvious plan had to fail so unreasonably. And the effect it has on Dan leaves the biggest impact, as may not believe in universal-co-existence but still has faith in those who don’t show hostility, so to see him in his first ever hopeless situation and is-it-worth-it sacrifice for humanity is smashingly impactful and shows his all-ethical character in its full colours with his desperation and devastation when Pegassa is tragically blown apart.
What brings it out more is the obscure reasoning to just why the Pegassans refused to connect. Was it sheer stubbornness from their hypocritical message and refusal to work with lesser lifeforms? Or were they too arrogant to believe any ‘primitive’ weaponry could scratch them?
The resulting aftermath starts when Mr Shadow confesses to Anne to have hailed from Pegassa all along and was sent to destroy the planet should orbit-change have been impossible but lost contact after his injury, straying the episode to a more ‘survival of the fittest’ route as he wanders into the shadowy night to plant a bomb into the earth’s core. I must say his design fits the obscure shadow motive very well, with a grabbing variance of black and white and oddly uniquely designed head and body makes him one of the show’s more memorable adversaries, as well as his orange-glowing ‘heart’ mixing up the colour scheme nicely. His design is also exploited well in several crafty shots during his journey through the city night, such as where he runs towards the camera with only his heart and eyes being luminous but gets the rest of his body repeatedly exposed and cloaked back in shadow as he runs through some street lights, leaving that entrancing almost lonely feeling as he’s oblivious to the fact that he’s stranded on this vast shadowy world. I’m also fond of some particularly resourceful shots of some lit-up multi-coloured fountains which throws in some nicely-mixed colour and style.
But now one of the most inevitably brutal confrontations of the show begins when Dan forces the self-righteous Pegassa to accept his beloved home-world was regretfully destroyed. An interesting very-long-shot is used to look up on the two’s argument from inside the bomb crevice, providing another lonely impression as we’re shown an alien with no home to return to and another alien who can’t abandon a people he’s chosen to protect but starts to doubt if it’s worth it, presenting the two lone-wanderers as surrounded by nothingness.
After Alien Pegassa flees from an injury from Seven’s Eye-Slugger and the red hero dispatching the bomb (with such a short amount of Seven time only making the message of this episode clearer), Dan and Anne share one last melancholic moment reminiscing how he’s ‘returned to the shadows’ with no home to go back to, though in an oddly upbeat way.
Dark Zone is undoubtably one of Ultraseven’s greatest: diving straight into the social and political commentary that’s as relevant now as ever with misunderstanding and stubbornness between nations causing tragic chaos to this day. The twist of Dan allowing an uncountable number of innocents to perish so early in his role brings the weight down on his human-values ruthlessly, carrying a burden as heavily as that of Pegassa when they go their separate ways.
Fantastic and bold cinematography of Pegassa city and the finale aside, there were a few little nifty camera techniques I noticed here and there, such as the several cuts to Dan’s cup of tea during his moments with the Pegassan possibly suggesting his state of mind abruptly shifting, such as when it cuts to Dan sloshing it onto the table when his suspicions spark after Pegassa slips up on an existential remark for humanity to when he snaps and breaks it after hearing the Pegassan city would easily destroy the earth. These odd close-up tweaks are a common little treat in the show which would only increase as the crew improved their skills and learned to refine the perspective on the plots.
But the moment this entrée is renowned for most is the conversation between the two UG members and the shadowy Pegassa for how tonally shifted it is from the previous episodes, where all aliens are treated as hostiles, instead being a warm and curious conversation that sees these two main characters in a new light (mostly Anne as she’s shows her kind soul stretches beyond nurse duties). But when you look back on it, it’s a rather utopian display of hope and trust between strangers that inevitably proves to be superficial and shows the mistrust, stubbornness and misunderstanding that will forever separate humans from the unknown. An impossible dream that’s almost satire in nature by how dream-like it feels with the colourful, cosy nature of Anne’s room.
That aside, what makes this episode work in particular is the complications seen with the Pegassa alien. He creates a big plot obscurer by donning a featureless shadow form throughout the episode’s first two acts to shroud any possibilities in mystery, not only hyping up what he truly looks like but also obscuring his intentions. But his character does shine through enough with his merry talks on all life forms being friendly neighbours and explaining his home in a humorously comparative way to seem a more understanding and neighbourly character. And when he hisses in disgust at earth’s ‘primitive’ technological incapabilities, it shows a lack of understanding is the tragic reason why such co-existence is impossible.
On the other hand, his violent reaction and muted mental breakdown were likely due to his newfound relationship with Anne, who protected him from getting fired upon and swore to protect him, which means she was likely his first ‘friendly neighbour’ and wanted her safe from earth’s destruction, showing they were simply stubborn and delusional, not heartless. The episode twists the childish hopeful view of naturally-achieved alien co-existence (which you’d likely find more in Ultraman) into a survival-of-the-fittest tragedy, with swelling pride intervening and the Pegassans decided to chance the human weaponry not being successful rather than having a life on earth. A harsh lesson for both Dan and Anne, which arguably strengthened their bond as characters.
The slick shadowy style of the finale, rich backstory and grand eye-candy shots of Pegassa that makes you see the stars in a newly tilted manner and morale-challenging ruthlessness makes this harsh bittersweet entrée absolutely unmissable. And as proud and stubborn as Alien Pegassa turns out to be, the points he gave could imply a warning to a very shadowy future indeed for humanity. After all,
‘scientific progress is a double-edged sword.’ and look where that got them.
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