Before I get anywhere red and silver, I want to take a look at what the context of the broad, imaginative genre of sci fi is generally recognised as today through the eyes of modern pop culture. You may think of it as a campy bundle of weird spaceships, alien lasers, and quirky space travel. Others may recognise it for its intriguing big-thinking of relating to the present with a fantastical, yet somewhat unnerving future, using the surreal elements to hyperbolically portray the present days issues and potentials while serving up originality with sharp, quirky designs and characters.
Take successful examples like Star Trek and Doctor Who, for example. These pop culture phenomena took the elements for success by delicately sewing their recognisable traits (their aliens, gadgets, ships etc) into their storylines as a chassis to make the deeper storylines and intense, surreal elements more enjoyable, digestible and, dare I say, impactful. When you reflect on these creations, your mind automatically flicks onto the gimmicky elements (like the sonic screwdrivers or the Starship Enterprise) and when you revisit them, you see all these hugely creative things in their full glory, without realising they’re there to grab your attention to the illusive, deceptive depths of writing, suspense and dramatic design underneath. This is what separates a clever, inventive series from a bargain bin camp-fest that throws all these sci fi gizmos in your face and never expands upon them, ending up as a shadow of it’s true potential.
But unless you thought Doctor Who or Star Trek had a handsome red robotic-esque guy called ‘ultraseven’ in them or someone who looks really hard at a pair of weird alien glasses, you probably thought I was going to be talking about a different classic production. And I might be but allow me to first add a little more background because I sure as hell love laying things out in red carpet!
Let’s move on to one particular man with a pair of serious black shades who would go on to create of the most influential science-fictional shows of all time. His name is Eiji Tsuburaya and was known as the grandfather of Japanese practical effects. While that might not sound like an achievement that would stand the test of time too well, you need only to look at one or two of his creations to see that he had some of the most daring creativity in the entertainment industry, mostly involving stuntmen in rubber monster suits trashing hugely-detailed miniature sets combined with intriguing uses of old computer effects to provide hugely surreal, almost alien-feeling films compared to today’s overabundance of cgi.
His most popular creation is Ultraman: a science fictional show centring around a giant hero fighting monsters and an earth defence team that’d investigate and fight off similar threats alongside him. While this marvellously inventive show signified a huge milestone in the entertainment industry and inspired a tonne of imagination and inventiveness with it’s unique, fresh ideas of sci-fi and original ways of tackling practical effects, I do admit a lot of it consisted of throwing gimmicks and campy action around with hardly anything with the tension, suspense or writing as a whole being developed alongside, so we rarely got anything out of the characters or dramatic design. I’m won’t lie, the practical elements with monsters, miniatures and effects (not to mention the hugely entertaining and amusing fights Ultraman would have with his opponents) were original and daring enough to hold up the show as a whole but without Tsuburaya’s ingenuity it probably would’ve ended up as another sloppy camp-fest, with exceptions to a few episodes that actually had good substantial depth to the writing and impacts on characters.
It was Tsuburaya’s second and final entrée in the Ultraman franchise, however, that not only captured and improved upon what Ultraman did right and discarded everything that’d hold it down, but added enough flavour and variety to the art of suspense, visual emotion and even cinematic surrealism to not only capture the hearts of Japan, but hold up after more than 50 years as one of the best-looking, inspiring and captivating shows of all time and send the bar for science fiction rocketing. So what is it exactly that makes Ultraseven such a science-fictional phenomenon as compared to other, more well-known franchises?
Well, what made Ultraman’s main focus was arguably the thing that held it down: monsters. No matter what bizarre designs and intriguing powers you give them, there’s not much you can do with a single dumb brute other than have it going violent in a city and having the defence force trying to stop a very basic problem which, unsurprisingly, led to a lot of filler. Not much opportunity for character development or suspense there. Ultraseven’s main focus, however, is extra-terrestrials. While that may seem like a pretty basic change, you start to notice the show’s fresh focus allowing a shower of newfound potential to happen due to how complex you can make these beings, whether on themselves, how they came to be or what effect they have on the humans. Monsters aren’t really responsible for their actions. Aliens, on the other hand, are a mixed bag. A deliciously complex mixed bag.
The variety of identity we see with these beings, be it their imaginative designs and powers, attitudes and philosophies towards humans, methods they use to achieve their goals or suspenseful ways they’re presented and revealed are spectacularly inventive and the cleverly-used effects and cinematography used to wrap it up makes it all the more clean-edged.
While we saw all of Ultraman through the eyes of our main human characters, who didn’t have much variety, here we get a lot of front-seat views of the vast, twisted intellects of minds beyond the milky way, and the way the universe is presented as a harsh, untrustworthy place (while also having spots of comfort) through these beings is intriguing to say the least. I know I’m one to say ‘variety’ a lot, but I cannot talk enough about how articulately unique each and every one of seven’s aliens are compared to the bare-boned cardboard cut-out supervillains that plague most science fiction. The majority are typical masterminds with their envious eyes aimed at earth, but the creativity we get with their tactics of invasion, such as filling cigarettes with seeds that induce violent behaviour, sinking apartment buildings underground to make launching pads, or giving guns to children that mind-control them and force them to shoot down innocents, combined with their distinct mannerisms and powers make quite the package. Of course, we get other sorts of mars bars to the picnic, such as a mentally-ill member of a disciplined race that goes around killing people, which makes for an eerie slasher, and a mind-controlling parasite that uses hosts as puppets to get other blood sources, putting the budget into a really detailed, almost grotesque finale where seven confronts it in the host’s nasal cavity, and so forth.
But the most impactful meaning behind these aliens is how they open your eyes to humanities imperfection, such as in episode 25 where a horrifically deformed alien comes to wreak havoc on earth to avenge his home-world being destroyed by careless, arrogant weapons testing, or in episode 41 where the Ultra Garrison wipe out an intelligent race that was only trying to reclaim their rightful land, or in episode 6 where the Ultra Garrison had to eradicate the most scientifically-advanced space city in the galaxy and everyone in it due to having insufficient technology to prevent its collision with earth. It shows that even after learning so much and having vast knowledge of technology and communication, humans are still humans and sometimes they’re simply uncapable with ethical or hostile problems, resulting in dire sacrifices, making these main characters so much more attachable.
The human defence force of the show (The Ultra Garrison) certainly don’t disappoint, with each character having very likable, unique personalities that conjoin with the others to form a solid team that’s a lot more humanly credible than the campier, more comedic SSSP of Ultraman. But the main reason you get so attached to these characters is via the main hero, Dan Moroboshi. Unlike in the Ultraman, where the alien hero fused with the protagonist, whom he accidently killed, so Hayata was merely his plainish boy scout self until he unleashed his other half to battle the threats, here, we have the actual alien front-and-centre after disguising himself as a human and joining the Ultra Garrison to serve the planet he loves so. What makes this such a brilliant choice in writing is that we get to see how the brilliant, ethical mind of a heroic alien thinks and acts to various situations with threats, such as when he negotiates with Alien Metron and Pegassa. The way he secretly gets attached to his comrades is jarred up hugely up until the climax, where everything comes fizzing out in a hugely impactful way.
The depths of the characters’ mistakes are also carved out when comparing the wholly-justifiable, ethical mind of Moroboshi to the straight-forward, vulnerable minds of the Ultra Garrison and seeing his frustrations when his comrades delude themselves or put ego over the ethical choice is pretty hard to watch as the show goes to serving up human nature’s vulnerabilities to your face, making the moments of rejoice and success when they make the right decisions and come together all the more impactful as a bittersweet ride, unlike in Ultraman where the goal was always simple and there was hardly any sacrifices made to form some sort of development.
With alien situations coming and going each episode, a variety of tensioned or loosened situations undergo, where you see the true depths of each character, whether it be Dan having a laugh with a fellow friendly alien or Soga breaking down after Dan was presumably abducted and killed, the clever ways the show brings out the best or worst in each character with its science-fictional methods are truly great.
The show’s budget is also cleverly poured into the defining gimmicks, such as the vast array of fighter jets and weaponry of the Ultra Garrison or the immaculately detailed, miscellaneous miniature sets for the suitmation battles of the red giant that solidifies the identity of each episode more, such as the Kobe pier set with full attention to detail with the harbours, Kobe Tower and ships being captured immaculately for seven’s infamous duel with the robotic King Joe. But the most obvious traits of the show, aliens aside, is in seven himself with his diverse selection of powers he uses to confront different enemies in various scenarios, not to mention his 3 tamed monster companions he deploys when unable to transform which adds some more flavour to the show. The clever thing is that the show adds some fun gimmicky elements in for the sake of some identity while mixing them into the grounded elements to add some lively sixties fun to the otherwise suspenseful package, such as some extra monsters, weapons, flashy powers of seven and experimental effects so you can look back on the show with genuine enjoyment to boost the sci-fi heavy elements and rock-solid pacing. It’s almost impossible for this show to run out of ideas with the streams of limitless potential in various ways to which it mostly achieves.
Ultraseven remains a masterpiece of experimental science fiction with its daring choices in writing, pacing and metaphors as well as Tsuburaya’s huge experiences with Ultraman resulting in some exceptional choices in practical and computer-generated effects, not to mention the cinematography and music adding huge layers of mood and emotion to the scenario. This show is one of the gold-standards for science fiction, even with the likes of Star Wars and Doctor Who, this show captures the artistic, surreal feel a true sci fi should have in its own unique way while having greatly grounded characters and wonderful messages about humanity and perceptions. But in order to truly dig into Ultraseven’s quality, I’d have to dissect it episode by episode and uncover all the layers to its creativity…..which is exactly what I’m going to do! Yes, for real, I will be analysing and reviewing each and every one of the 49 episodes of Japanese phenomena Ultraseven is, starting with the first, The Invisible Challenger. Stay tuned for more red and silver goodness!