557 – Ultra Q – Terror of the Sweet Honey & Baron Spider

Everyone knows how terrifying honey can be, but who knew a haunted house with giant spiders could be a thing? John and Eugene discuss two more episodes on Ultra Q.  This week it’s Terror of the Sweet Honey & Baron Spider. Terror of the Sweet Honey Synopsis It is a dark and stormy night, when an old man is awakened by the sound of someone breaking into a nearby greenhouse.  He sees a figure in the dark smashing up things. 10 days later, Jun is teaching Ippei how to fly a plane, which I suppose is a good thing since Ippei has been a pilot at Jun’s air service for some time now.  Below them they see a train derailed when it hits a strange pile of dirt on the tracks.  Let’s not make a mountain out of a molehill, just yet, though. Soon, Professor Ikinotani, along with Jun, Yuriko and Ippei are visiting a research facility working on a new super royal jelly called Honey Jellion, which can make things giant.  Head scientist Kimura is worried about the greenhouse break-in.  Something ate the Honey Jellion. Soon a giant mole turns up. Yuriko investigates the greenhouse and discovers it would not be possible for a mole to get in, save for the fact that someone deliberately broke the glass from the inside. Kimura’s research colleague, Itami is outed as the saboteur.  He runs off with plans to destroy the mole by blowing it up in its burrow.  He reveals to Kimura that it was jealousy over Kimura’s  academic success that drove him to it, but it seems there is a bit more. Blowing up the mole, or at least the burrow where it and Itami stands isn’t even enough to kill Itami, who manages to stumble out and reveal it was jealousy of Kimura’s upcoming marriage to Aiko, whom he also loves, that really drove him to the crime.  Then he dies. The mole, also still alive, emerges and the army attack it.  Terrified, it burrows deep underground where, just as Professor Ikinotani planned, it strikes a volcanic layer and dies, bringing forth a new volcano in its wake. Baron Spider Synopsis It is a foggy night, and a report comes to a lighthouse keeper that there is something odd about their light.  He goes to investigate and is attacked by a giant spider. Jun, Ippei, Yuriko and their three friends Hayama, Kyoko and Takehara are returning from a party somewhere along the coast.  They get lost in the dark fog.  While scouting the area, Ippei and Takehara fall into a bottomless swamp.  Unable to swim or reach the ground just inches away from them, the begin to sink to their deaths.  They are rescued by the others in the nick of time, but they are in a bad way on a cold, cold night – especially Takehara. They spot a light and a mansion nearby and go for help.  The mansion is abandoned and overrun with spiderwebs. While they try to help Takehara and Ippei, they investigate the mansion, all the while being watched by giant spiders, unbeknownst to them. Jun tells a ghostly story about the Spider Barron, a crazy man who collected spider from all over the world in his home, including even a venomous Tarantula from Europe.  On her wedding day, his daughter was bitten by the spider and went into a fit, running out and sinking in the bottomless swamp. She returned as a giant spider and she and the spider Barron lived together in the house. “Thanks, Jun,” says everyone, “for the heartwarming and not at all terrify story in this cold, spooky abandoned mansion.  We appreciate your efforts to cheer us up – NOT.” Jun, lying down on a bed upstairs spots the giant sider overhead and runs downstairs in terror. Hayama, downstairs in the wine cellar, does not see the other giant spider watching him.  He finds an Ocarina and pockets it, while taking a bunch of wine for his friends upstairs.  Might as well have a party! He gives the Ocarina to Ippei who starts playing it and he gives the wine to Takehara, who is now feverish, and drops the wine.  He hears Jun’s story and says, “well, if you see a spider, just leave it alone and it will leave you alone.” Hayama returns for more wine.  This time the spider doesn’t leave him alone and attacks. The girls get made at Ippei for playing a creepy tune on the Ocarina, but when he stops at their insistence, the Ocarina continues to play.  The throws it in the fire. They hear Hayama’s screams and all buy Kyoko and Takehara go to help.  Kyoko goes to the kitchens to get water. In the wine cellar, Hayama is, surprisingly, alive, and they get him upstairs.  When they get there, the find a giant spider attacking Takehara.  Jun and Ippei fight it off, with Jun killing it with some fancy knife work. In the kitchens, Kyoko is attacked by a spider.  She gets away, covered in webs and gets upstairs.  Everyone runs out of the house and back to the cars with the spider on their tail. Hayama’s car gets away, but Jun’s, a convertible, won’t start – typical! As the spider crawls on the hood, the car revs to life and Jun’s backs up, throwing off the spider, then runs it over, mortally wounding it. As the spider dies, the mansion catches fires, falls over, and sinks in the swamp.