Ultra Q Episode 6 "Grow Up!, Little Turtle" | Godzilla Island Archive

Note: This article was originally published in 2017 on Godzilla Island all views and opinions may have since changed.

This episode follows a boy who has a pet turtle and believes that if it grows to 99 centimeters, it will take him to a Dragon Palace where a princess will make him king. Things start off fairly normal, with the boy getting in trouble for trying to feed his turtle in class. His teacher sends him to the roof to spend the day alone but while up there, he witnesses a bank robbery.

When he runs to the teacher to report it, the teacher yells at him for lying. Meanwhile, the robbers enter the school to hide from the police, and Gameron, the boy’s turtle, bites one of them. The robbers flee in a truck with the turtle still latched on, and the boy, desperate to retrieve Gameron, chases after them and somehow ends up inside the truck with the robbers.

The chase escalates further at a checkpoint when the boy gets to play with a jammed machine gun, which suddenly fires on its own, terrifying the robbers. The pursuit continues through a carnival and eventually ends in the sewers. While hiding there, Gameron mysteriously grows to exactly 99 centimeters. The robbers flee from the giant turtle and are captured by the police.

The story then dives into full-on trippy territory. The boy rides Gameron to the Dragon Palace, where the princess appears playful yet sinister, pranking him and ultimately transforming a rocket into the Kai Dragon. In a shocking turn, the dragon kills Gameron. The boy, surprisingly calm, is handed a mysterious box and is suddenly back at school. Opening the box briefly turns him into an old man before returning him to normal. The episode ends with him bored and turtleless in class, while other students try to make their turtles grow giant.

This was a really strange episode. It starts off somewhat normal, but after the chase in the sewers, things get completely surreal. The sudden growth of Gameron, the dark and twisted Dragon Palace sequence, and the princess’s bizarre behavior all made it feel almost dreamlike. The boy’s lack of emotional reaction to Gameron’s death was especially jarring. Overall, this is definitely my least favorite Ultra Q episode so far interesting, but extremely weird and unsettling.