Category: Introduction

Ultraman Ginga / Ultraman Ginga S: An Introduction

~ Ryan Harvey

The time has come to look at the Third Era of Ultra. Following Showa and Heisei comes the “New Generation Heroes” era. It’s the epoch we’re currently in* — and it’s a divisive one. After a disruptive shift in the ownership and operation of Tsuburaya Productions, the Ultra Series transformed into something more slick, polished, corporate, risk-averse, and very eager to sell toys. Yet the New Gen shows have garnered many new fans, and they can truly be a good time. Occasionally a great time. 

How do the first shows of the New Generation Heroes era — Ultraman Ginga and its sequel/second season Ultraman Ginga S — fare? 

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Ultraman Tiga: An Introduction

~ Ryan Harvey
Ultraman-Tiga-Title-Card

The Dark Age for Tsuburaya Productions finally ended in 1996. Fifteen years after the last episode of Ultraman 80 aired, Tsuburaya Pro returned to the airwaves with a domestically produced full Ultra program. Despite a rocky development period, Ultraman Tiga gave the series a rebirth for the Heisei era. It has remained one of the most popular Ultra shows and defined the franchise for a new generation. For many people my age and younger, Ultraman Tiga is likely the first Ultraman show they knew. 

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Ultraseven: An Introduction

~ Ryan Harvey

Ultraseven is the last of the “original” Ultra trilogy, following Ultra Q and Ultraman. They were not intended to take place in the same universe, and Eiji Tsuburaya planned for Ultraseven to be the end of this unofficial “Ultra” series so his company could move on to different special effects programs. The trio only became part of the same continuity after Return of Ultraman debuted in 1971.

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Ultraman: An Introduction

~ Ryan Harvey

Ultra Q created the basic style of the Ultra series with its mixture of giant monsters and investigators of the strange and unusual, its medley of different story types that could swing from weird science and espionage to fairy tales and outright comedy. But the Ultra series wouldn’t have marched on as it did if the next show, Ultraman, didn’t add something essential for its future survival: a repeatable and appealing all-ages formula that brought in a central icon — a superhero. 

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Ultra Q: An Introduction

~ Ryan Harvey

My plan for these show introductions is to keep them short(ish). This is one of the exceptions. As the launch site for a mammoth franchise, Ultra Q demands a deeper look into its background and an introduction to several of the key figures in the history of the franchise. And I’m still going to have to skim over a lot. 

My succinct description of Ultra Q for newcomers is “The Twilight Zone meets Godzilla meets The X-Files.” That still isn’t quite right — once you see an episode like “Kanegon’s Cocoon,” the wheels of categorization fly right off — but it positions Ultra Q in a succession of genre archetypes that makes sense.

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Welcome to The Ultra Project

~ Ryan Harvey

Greetings, residents of Earth! My name is Ryan, and if you want to know more about me and my writing, please visit my other site and maybe buy my book while you’re there. If you’re on this site, you’ve found the space where I take a journey through the long-running Ultra Series (a.k.a. the Ultraman series), a Japanese science-fiction and fantasy franchise that started in 1966 and is still zooming along today. 

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