(First Aired: July 17, 1966)
Screenplay by: Shinichi Sekizawa and Tetsuo Kinjo
Directed by: Hajime Tsuburaya
It all begins with a glowing blue orb being pursued by a red orb through space while a small plane flies through the night sky. The narrator identifies the plane and its pilot as being from the Japanese Science Patrol, part of an international organization dedicated to investigating odd occurrences, thwarting alien invasions, and hunting down rampaging monsters. The plane’s pilot is a young man named Shin Hayata, who reports on his plane’s communicator to seeing something odd flying over Lake Ryugamori. On the other side is Science Patrol Headquarters, where a young woman named Akiko Fuji reports this to an older man. The older man is Captain Toshio Muramatsu, who tells Hayata to follow the mystery object and the rest of the team will head to his location soon. Hayata then reports that the object is blue, glows, and moves at Mach 2. It is the strange blue orb, which has now entered Earth’s atmosphere. It crashes into a lake, attracting the attention of some campers, who are unable to photograph it on time, but do see some violent bubbling coming from the lake for a few seconds. Back with Hayata, his plane has lost track of the blue orb, but suddenly sees the red orb hurtling at him! The campers witness the plane and the orb collide, causing the plane to crash and explode. Back at HQ, a burly man of similar age to Hayata picks up the phone. His name is Daisuke Arashi and he is informed by the police about the sightings of the two mysterious orbs, one of which crashed into a plane. Arashi tells Fuji to call Hayata about it, but receive no response. Muramatsu and Mitsuhiro Ide, a tall man of Hayata and Arashi’s age, overhear this. The team begins to fear that Hayata’s plane may have been the vehicle in question, so Muramatsu, Arashi, and Ide head out on their team’s main plane – the Jet V-TOL – to visit Lake Ryugamori and investigate, while Fuji stays behind to manage HQ’s communications bridge.
Back at the wreckage of Hayata’s plane – the Mini V-TOL – the campers and police walk up to the scene. They find Hayata’s body stiff and cold, but surprisingly unharmed. The deceased man is lifted into the air by an unknown force before being engulfed in the mysterious red orb from earlier. The orb floats higher into the sky while the cops and campers watch in awe. Inside the orb, Hayata’s ghost encounters the red orb’s occupant – a towering red-and-silver humanoid with glowing eyes, an odd ridge running from its forehead to its posterior, and a blue crystalline sphere attached to its chest. It is Ultraman. Ultraman explains to Hayata that he is an alien peacekeeper from the Land of Light in Nebula M78 and had come to Earth pursuing the wicked monster Bemular. Ultraman apologizes to Hayata for accidentally killing him in the chase. As atonement, Ultraman gives his own life to Hayata, merging himself with the human. Ultraman hands Hayata a small object he calls the Beta Capsule, explaining that when the need arises, activate it. Outside, the campers and policemen see the red orb explode, indicating that Ultraman and Hayata have finished introductions. Muramatsu, Arashi, and Ide arrive moments later. They find the Mini V-TOL’s wreckage and come to the conclusion that Hayata is dead as his body is not visible. That’s when the campers and police explain what happened to Hayata’s body. Realizing alien activity is involved and Hayata might not really be gone, the team and the witnesses decide to try searching for Hayata.
The next day, the search has proven fruitless. Muramatsu informs Fuji that they intend to return to HQ. Next to Fuji is an 11-year-old boy named Isamu Hoshino, a friend and frequent visitor who dreams of becoming a full-fledged member of the team. He encourages Muramatsu to keep searching, which Muramatsu obliges to. Then the lake begins to rumble and churn violently. Muramatsu realizes something is about to happen and instructs the witnesses to leave for safety. Out of the lake comes a lanky reptile covered in vicious spikes and with disproportionately tiny arms – it is Bemular, the evil beast in the blue orb that Ultraman had been pursuing. Science Patrol pulls out their ray guns and fires upon Bemular. Bemular dives back into the lake after a few precise blasts.
Back at HQ, Fuji and Hoshino receive a surprise call from Hayata! The overjoyed Fuji asks where he had been, but Hayata asks her to put it aside for now. He requests that she bring the Science Patrol submarine S16 to Ryugamori, which she obliges, though Hoshino is asked to stay at HQ. Back at Ryugamori, Muramatsu, Arashi, and Ide await impatiently for Bemular to resurface when a second Jet V-TOL flies in with S16 attached to its underside. Muramatsu turns on his communicator badge to ask about the sub, to which Fuji explains Hayata wanted it. Ide jokes she must have heard a ghost, but Fuji assures it was the living Hayata. She flies the Jet V-TOL just above the lake’s surface and deploys the S16. While Ide complains that Fuji has gone nuts, Arashi spies Hayata on a speedboat moving across the lake to S16’s bobbing location. The shocked Muramatsu begins to ask questions through the communicator, to which Hayata explains “he saved me” and the more important issue at the moment is Bemular. Hayata explains Bemular is the monster and that he will use the S16 to search for and attack the sleeping Bemular, who is exhausted from such a long spaceflight. Hayata then asks Muramatsu to use the V-TOL to attack when Bemular is driven to the surface. Fuji is then asked to land the V-TOL for the team.
Underwater, Hayata searches for Bemular while his teammates wait onboard the Jet V-TOL above the lake. He soon finds Bemular snoozing and rudely awakens the monster with a blast of firepower from the S16. Bemular bursts to the surface before a blast of Jet V-TOL fire sends Bemular underneath the lake again. The process is repeated a bit before Bemular manages to drive the Jet V-TOL away with a beam of blue energy from its mouth. Bemular then turns its attention to the pesky S16, clamping the sub with its teeth like a mad dog. Bemular then surfaces yet again to let Science Patrol react in horror to the sight of the S16 in its jaws. Bemular heads for land, so a retaliation by Science Patrol forces it to drop the S16 into the trees. Bemular then drives drives the Jet V-TOL away with another blue energy beam before setting the vegetation around the sub alight with the same weapon. Fortunately, Hayata is awake and remembers the Beta Capsule. He pulls it out and holds it in the air. He then presses the button on its side and a flash of light engulfs him. In mere seconds, his size increases and his body changes – Hayata has transformed into Ultraman!
Ultraman and Bemular battle each other while Science Patrol watches from a safe distance. Bemular proves to be no match for Ultraman, but suddenly, the blue sphere on Ultraman’s chest begins to flash red. The team watches it in curiosity. Ide notices that Ultraman is beginning to try finish up the fight as the light blinks faster and faster, leading the team to believe it is some sort of energy timer. Indeed, they are correct. Ultraman’s requires solar energy to live, but on Earth, he cannot sustain as much due to his size and Earth’s atmosphere. Thus, his Color Timer begins to flash when low, and if it stops, Ultraman “will never rise again”. Fortunately, Bemular is so badly beaten that the monster turns back into a blue glowing orb and flies away. Ultraman creates a cross-like shape with his arms, releasing a ray of blue energy called the Specium Ray, causing the orb to explode and destroy Bemular! As Science Patrol celebrates, Ultraman takes to the sky and searches for a safe spot to turn back into Hayata.
Hayata soon returns to meet up with his teammates, where he assures them he is fine before asking what happened to Bemular. Muramatsu explains the alien took care of him, to which Hayata acts surprised to learn he had come and left without telling him. Ide then asks Hayata if he knows who the being is, considering that he’s been talking about the alien like he knows him. Hayata says he doesn’t know, but they should call the alien Ultraman. Hayata also assures his team that Ultraman will be staying on Earth to help humans for quite a while since his spaceship got destroyed. With that, Muramatsu comments Hayata’s got the best luck of anyone he’s met, and the team heads home.
