Monster of the Day #1156

By now the show was really going in a lot of direction, so this is in fact the only giant monster we’ll see this week. He’s OK, but nothing cool as say the Slug monster or boulder monster from earlier in the run. I mean, he’s fine, but sort of generic, more like the sort of creature I associate with your typical Ultra Man episode.

  • Flangepart

    “Hey, did someone call me generic? Why I oughtta…”

  • The Rev.

    Hey, stop me if you’ve heard this one: A giant monster with an oral energy ray attacks Japan in search of nuclear material to feed on until super-sciene stops its rampage.
    That may be why it’s never returned for an encore…
    Anyway, this is Pagos, from episode 18. As you can probably tell if you look at his back (and can see more clearly in full-body stills), this is an Ultra-monster based off the Baragon suit. First one, in fact. I’ve read that Gomess was intended to return for this episode, but Toho had taken the Godzilla suit back. I’ve also read this monster was to return later in the series, but those plans never came to fruition. It’s too bad, because I like Pagos’ design better than the other Baragon-based monsters that followed, with Magular is a close second.

  • Gamera977

    Well, he may be kinda bland but he’s still pretty darn cool.

  • bgbear_rnh

    “you oughtta what?”

  • Flangepart

    “I oughtta…call Angilas and have him give Ken such a pinch!

  • Rock Baker

    It’s a tribute to the construction of the Baragon suit that it was able to be re-purposed so much, particularly with so much alteration. In this first instance, though, it was mostly a matter of replacing the head, if I remember correctly.

  • The Rev.

    The images I found of Pagos bear that out. They miiiiiiiight have slightly redone his front feet, but other than that I can’t pick out any changes.

  • Rock Baker

    I recall one version of the suit adding some extra fin to the back, but I couldn’t say if it was this early in the game or not.

  • The Rev.

    It wasn’t this one; although a couple of shots I’ve seen look like it could have a fin, I think it’s just the angle and how lumpy and ridged the back is, as most of them clearly show no fin on the back. If there was one with a fin, I’m not sure which one that was. The other Ultra-monsters that I know used the Baragon suit are Gabora, Neronga, and Magular. Magular was probably the heaviest conversion, since they added a lot of lumps and spikes to it; the other two were pretty much head swaps.

  • Eric Hinkle

    I read the description and while I remember the giant slug, what boulder monster is Mister Begg talking about?

  • The Rev.

    MotD # 869. Its name was Gorgos.

    Along with Namegon, the Martian slug monster, there’s a later snail monster that I imagine Ken’ll get to someday. I’m a little surprised he hasn’t used the giant octopus yet, ’cause we know he loves the cephalopods.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Thanks, I’ll have to look for that one.