User blog:SolZen321/Tech in the Ultra Series

Yes, it's another Blog where I spend my time talking about the lore and possible physics about a franchise that at this point literally only exists to sell toys (damn Chaiyo...), now that we've established that...let's talk about something about this world....SCIENCE!!!

So has anyone noticed the change in how science is handled in the Ultra Series? Before it was just...'alien tech' and 'aliens = super powers' and such, but now much of the technology demonstrated is more...concise and operating under context we can understand.

Science in the Showa Era
........................................................... HAHAHA

But all jokes aside 'science' was not really a priority of the Showa era. There is an old adage that "Any suffieciently advance science is indistinguishable from magic" but in the Showa Era shows the technology of the aliens may as well be just that. The closest to an explanation implied for these abilities and devices was often just "cause aliens".

Often times nearly every alien can turn into a giant, had super powers and this was something that lasted into the first half of the Heisei era. However with that said, it was with the Heisei era that the shift began were alien technology was being portrayed more concisely

However, while in instances of Heisei Ultraseven, and onward, we began to see instances of more series, and explained instances of advance technology, it was really only now that I've begun to notice it.

Examples of the Change
The biggest and most obvious change...is not every alien can not just turn into a giant. Several times we've seen species that have demonstrated this abilitiy before but never seem able to change their size now in the present. (I know this is just a budget and/or story telling reason but still) We now see aliens using things like sniper rifles, blasters and such. The only time in recent memory I've seen a Nackle Seijin transform into a giant, was in X and they were an illegal weapons dealer. I've long held the theory that the power to turn into a giant, is probably some military weapon used by invaders and thus not a natural ability of most races.

In fact, the only race still consistently protrayed as having near magical abilities and technology is the Ultras.

Why the Change
One must ponder why the writers at Tsuburaya would decide to make this change. As someone who loves writing, I must say....I can understand. This change in how alien technology and abilities are portrayed makes things easier from a writing stand point. It means people don't have to play the idiot-ball to make stories work and frankly, a lot of these aliens are no longer the direct focus of the story, instead being side characters.

There may also be the fact that a certain manga, about a young hero in special armor, is rather popular, and it portrays alien tech in a much more realistic fashion. Even the more fantastical elements are portrayed no differently than the teleporters of Star Trek, yeah it's fantastical to 'us', but it's still 'just' technology.

Also as said before, there seems to be a thing about making Ultras really special, much like in the manga in question.

The Elephant in the Room
Now some of you may also visit Ultra Fan Wiki, and while there you may have read Ultraman Orion. Now we, over there like to joke about the similarities between Orion and many of the newer Ultras like Orb and Geed, particularly plot similarities.

However, yes I have noticed that the portrayel of alien tech seems to mirror the fact that nearly all tech in Orion has a page explaining how it works and such. That said, I highly doubt they got the idea from Orion, put make it short. I highly doubt they need to copy fan work for new stories...but if they did, boy would I be crushed under the weight of my own ego...