[Salaryman Zero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Okay, let's try and work this out. First of all, in the very first episode of Ultraman, Ultraman introduces himself to Hayata simply as "an alien from the M78 Nebula", and during that entire conversation never gives a name. It's also worth noting his slow, robotic diction, which implies he doesn't normally speak Japanese, and presumably human speech in general. At the end of the episode, when asked what this mysterious red and silver giant's name was, Hayata's immediate response is that he doesn't have one, before coming up with "Ultraman" after the issue is pressed further. The part where this gets tricky is that Hayata and the freshly-named Ultraman are now one in mind and body, so there's the question of who exactly is saying what here.

Now, I've never seen more than that first episode of the original show, so as someone who just watched the whole thing again, I'll leave it up to you to fill in the details on how playing host to an Ultraman worked in that show, because the impression I've gotten has always been that it's slightly unclear. Also, this entire preceding section may or may not be relevant at all depending on whether you want to put stock in the franchise's beginnings as the building blocks for what came after, or ignore it as being the weird, early oddity of a show that couldn't have known how long its legacy would last.

What's obvious in the now is that OG Man was the first guy to hang out on the planet and live among the species that everyone in the Land of Light has since become slightly obsessed with, so it makes sense they'd pay tribute to that. Perhaps "Ultraman" just replaced some existing title for guys in the Space Garrison who go around doing hero stuff. Perhaps it's the greatest coincidence in the history of the universe. Perhaps thinking too hard about the logic of a series about giant spacemen wrestling monsters is a good way to go insane. Who knows?

THE PEOPLE DEMAND ANSWERS TSUPRO.

OK, let's say we assume that the OG Ultraman's name explanation is legit and not a case of Early-Installment Weirdness. So, Hayata essentially christened this alien being as "Ultraman." And then subsequently all the Ultras who visited and defended Earth adopted the "Ultraman" title in honor of Shodai. If memory serves, Zoffy introduces himself as "Space Ranger Zoffy" in the finale, so maybe the Ultras who serve in the Space Garrison are just called "Space Rangers," or Ultra Warriors instead of Ultramen.

BUT THEN WHAT ABOUT ULTRAMAN KING. Or all the times when the shows use the terms Ultra Warrior/Ultraman interchangeably?

Ugh. Ok, here's my headcanon: In Nebula M78, there is the Land of Light populated by a race of beings known as Ultras. They have a peacekeeping force known as the Space Garrison, and Ultras who serve in this force are known as Ultramen/Ultrawomen. And OG Ultraman's full name is Ultraman Shodai, because that's what they call him in Return of Ultraman and that's what MAKES SENSE.

OK and now you've just opened up another can of worms I was thinking about. Do ALL the Ultras in the Land of Light view Earth as this special planet? Granted, all eleven of the Legendary Ultra Brothers have defended that world and there were some noteworthy battles in Ultra history that occurred on that planet (Empera being the big one)...but besides that, is there really anything distinguishing Earth from the thousands of worlds that the Space Garrison presumably defends?

OK. I'll stop now. My head hurts.