Spacium is a substance present in the Ultraman Series. It is found in abundance on the planet Mars and may be naturally generated by Ultras in the Land of Light, including other Ultras of different origin.
Popularly, the substance is used for the application of Spacium Beam demonstrated by Ultraman and Ultraman Jack.
Conception
The term Spacium and the Spacium Beam can be credited to Toshihiro Iijima during his preparation for episode 2, Shoot the Invader, while Tetsuo Kinjo was busy writing for the first episode, Ultra Operation No.1. Iijima also helped directing the 16th episode Science Patrol Into Space, where he was the one coming up with the Spellgen Reflector, a device used by Alien Baltan II to repel Spacium Beam and Mars 133 that Ide uses in the series.[1]
Spacium as a mineral wouldn't be depicted in physical media until years later in ULTRAMAN manga by Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi, portrayed in crystallized form (as seen on the infobox of the page).
Etymology
Spacium as a terminology comes from the English word "space" and "-ium" suffix for minerals, hence the original Ultraman is "a hero who fights using an extraterrestrial mineral".[2] It's for this reason that according to Tsuburaya Productions's 50th anniversary trivia list, Spacium's name "has the same origin as calcium".[3]
History
Ultraman
"It's Spacium."
"Spacium?"
"That's the substance on Mars."
"There's none on Earth?"
*Nods* "But maybe he does."
"He? Who are you referring to?"
Spacium first appeared when Ultraman performed the finishing move against Bemular. Ultra Operation No.1 When the Alien Baltans appearred and tried to take the planet Earth as their own, Muramatsu speculated that the reason Baltan avoided Mars as an alternative home world was due to the existence of Spacium, as it would bring harm to them. He also correctly deduced that Ultraman had Spacium in his own body and his firing of such gets Fuji's attention, who proceeded to name the attack the Spacium Beam.[4] Shoot the Invader
While Spacium would appear in its beam form throughout the series, it took central focus during the emergence of Alien Baltan II. As the Baltans had developed the Spellgen Reflector, Mitsuhiro Ide on the other hand developed the Mars 133 rifle that shot Spacium as ammunition and was said to be as strong as Ultraman's Spacium Beam.[5] As Ide continued to snipe the Baltans with his new weapon aboard the Jet VTOL, Ultraman on the other hand found a workaround against Spellgen. As Baltan II flew forward, Ultraman unleashed the Ultra Slash, a buzzsaw disc formed from Spacium energy to bisect the alien in half before he fired Spacium on both halves.[6] He did this on Planet R and on Earth after teleporting there. Science Patrol Into Space
In battle against Zetton, Ultraman's forms of Spacium attacks didn't just fail to land a hit, but also backfired as the Spacium Beam was redirected as the Zetton Final Beam into his Color Timer. Farewell, Ultraman
Ultraman Ace
While crucified by Yapool on Planet Golgotha, the Ultra Brothers had their energy stolen by Ace Killer to empower itself. Ultraman's Spacium energy was drained for his Spacium Beam to be utilized by the mechanical warrior in against Ace Robot and Ultraman Ace himself.[7] 5 Stars Scattered in the Galaxy
Ultraman Dyna
Super GUTS members Shin Asuka and Mai Midorikawa were assigned to retrieve the Spacium Cannon assembled on Mars in light of Alien Reguran's invasion to destroy it. Because of its massive size, it had to be wielded by Mountain Gulliver 5 as Mai piloted it. The weapon was used to destroy Reguran's forces and the smaller meteorites, but its testing stage meant that it could only fire up to three shots. Unfortunately, the whole sequence turned out to be Asuka's own dream, with the Spacium Cannon's existence remaining unknown. Ephemeral Dream
Despite the entire sequence being Asuka's dream, Ultraman Zero in episode 20 of Ultraman Retsuden would rate the Spacium Cannon's firepower to be as strong as Original Ultraman's Spacium Beam.
Ultraman Mebius
Flash forward from Ultraman to the present day, Earth had since continued to adapt and expand upon Ide's use of Spacium as ammunition, leading to Crew GUYS actively using them as Spacium Warheads .[8] Spacium mining on Mars was originally conducted by a crew of astronauts, namely Tetsuro Ban and his son Hiroto to name a few. Because of their extraterrestrial origin, the Spacium Warheads were listed as METEOR equipment and had to be granted permission for every usage.
The Spacium Redoublizer in use
In the final confrontation against Alien Empera, Shingo Sakomizu unveiled the Spacium Redoublizer , a giant device which amplified Spacium fired from Ultra Beams.[9] Ultraman Mebius in Phoenix Brave (having fused with Hikari and Crew GUYS) fired the Mebium Knight Shoot alongside Zoffy's M87 Beam into the device, causing the amplified effects to overwhelm Empera until Mebius unleashed the Mebium Phoenix as his finishing move, destroying the Spacium Redoublizer in the process.
Despite its alternate universe setting, Ultraman Mebius: Anderes Horizont would have Crew GUYS debating Mars 133 as retroactively the first METEOR equipment due to Ide building it based on Ultraman's Spacium Beam and the application of Spacium (an extraterrestrial element) as ammunition.
Shin Ultraman
After framing Ultraman and fooling the government of Japan to go along with his plans to destroy the giant, Zarab revealed that the red and silver giant's entire being consisted of Spacium and proposed countermeasures to neutralize him. This plan however failed to get through once his deception was exposed. The human characters would go on to call it Spacium 133, after Zarab revealed its name and atomic number.Shin Ultraman
Nature
Spacium is a mineral found exclusively on Mars, with the atomic number 133.[10][11] Given its highly radioactive nature, it's implied that this hazardous substance is why the Alien Baltan race actively avoid it and would rather invade Earth and challenge its natives even if it means for survival.
In Ultraman, Muramatsu was the first to invoke the name and knows of its existence right away once the Baltans proclaim their aversion to Mars. At some point, the surviving Baltans would regroup and develop flip-open reflectors known as Spellgen Reflector, designed to repel Spacium-based ammunitions back to Ultraman.
Spacium as part of Ultraman's anatomy
Whereas Spacium is naturally an element and mineral, the Ultra Warriors (at the very least applicable to the Residents of the Land of Light) also have their own deposits, in the form of energy matter known as Spacium Energy .
The Kaiju Anatomy Encyclopedia by Shoji Otomo in 1967, with the featured article for Ultraman.[12]
According to Shoji Otomo's Kaiju Anatomy Encyclopedia, published in 1967, Ultraman's forearms have each their Spacium-producing organs of their respective polarities.
The right arm contains the Spacium Minus Energy Organ , while the left arm contains the Spacium Plus Energy Organ . It was here when both arms cross, it creates the necessary spark to unleash the Spacium Beam against the enemy.
In a skeletal overlay of the original Ultraman provided by the Ultraman Dissection Manual Turhel Ultria, Spacium is regulated through his body after being processed by absorbing light energy, which converts into both Spacium and Magnerium. The metallic skin forming around Ultraman's head is called the high density super hardened Spacium Skin .
As to how the process of Spacium energy goes as follows.
- The white/silver-colored portion of the Ultra Armor, known as Electro Spacium Generator , absorbs light and converts them into Electro Spacium Energy .
- Some of the Electro Spacium Energy would be absorbed by the Magnerium Reactor at his neck (exactly at the spine) to be converted into Magnerium.
- Finally, the Energy Circuit System , an organ that resembles human heart, helps regulate both Electro Spacium and Magnerium across his body.
In the case of Ultraseven, instead of a white Ultra Armor, his Protector has square pores that are known as Hyper Electro Spacium Generator , which are also present on his head. They are said to be high-density and high-performance version of normal Electro Spacium Generator. The kidney-like organs next to ribcages are a pair of Electro Spacium Translators , which transform the Electro Spacium Energies to be distributed across parts of Seven's own being.
In New Century Ultraman Legend, all the Ultra Warriors from Ultraman to Cosmos (save Zoffy, Father of Ultra, Mother of Ultra and Ultraman King) all perform Spacium Beams in unison against the Sky Demon. It is further elaborated in extracanonical sources that the Spacium Beam is the most basic of all Ultra Beams, therefore an Ultra first performs them before developing their own techniques. It also explains why Seven in the aforementioned special video also performed Spacium Beam despite his past appearances lack one.[13][14]
As seen in Ultraman Mebius, the titular Ultra in Phoenix Brave and Zoffy fired their respective beams into the Spacium Redoublizer, which magnified their Ultra Beams, concluding that their attacks contain Spaciums (and presumably, making them variants of Spacium Beam). Also a notable point is that Ultraman Orb Emerium Slugger's most powerful beam is called the Emerium Slugger Spacium, despite his Fusion Up components Seven and Zero neither have beam techniques directly named Spacium in it.
In Shin Ultraman, Spacium is instead known as Spacium 133 per Zarab's explanation.[15] As the extraterrestrial explained, it is not just the source of the Spacium Beam, but also what provided Ultraman/Lipiah with the ability to perform anti-gravity flight, growth to gigantic proportions (through powering his Beta System), and energy beam projections. It is also likely responsible for Lipiah's extreme durability, even when borrowing the form of Shinji Kaminaga.
Other Media
ULTRAMAN (manga and anime)
Spacium is used to empower Ultraman Suit, as well as materials for solid weapons such as the Spacium Sword used by Dan Moroboshi. Given the Ultraman Suit's ability to fire Spacium Beam and other energy projections, it's implied that they also studied Ultraman's attack patterns to achieve this result. Spacium is also found in the bodies of bearers of the Ultraman Factor, such that overuse of their suits' Spacium Beam, can cause them to collapse from exhaustion. Later instances heavily imply that Spacium is the core of their abilities.
Gallery
This may not be the article you are looking for. For images of Spacium Beam, see Spacium Beam/Gallery.
Trivia
- As Spacium is an element, its real life counterpart (based on the atomic number 133) had yet to exist, but was given the placeholder name Untritrium (shortened as Utt) in the extended periodic table, based on IUPAC nomenclature.[16]
- In reality, atomic number is 133 would make it a super-heavy and therefore unstable element and most likely radioactive. The real world substance with that atomic number is a certain isotope (and the only stable one) of caesium, caesium-133.
- In Return of Ultraman, Alien Nackle studied the Spacium Beam fired by Ultraman Jack and determined the attack to contain 3000 aluminum atoms and and 100 chromium atoms. Ultraman Dies at Sunset However as Spacium is an element and not a compound, then it is likely that these elements were exclusive to Jack's own firing rather than the description of raw Spacium energy.
References
- ↑ https://news.mynavi.jp/article/20211019-2163786/
- ↑ https://cocreco.kodansha.co.jp/telemaga/news/YPqVc?page=1
- ↑ File:Tsuburaya 50th anniversary Trivia 33rd.png
- ↑ Weekly Ultraman Official Data File #9 pg 4
- ↑ ウルトラマン大辞典 page 311 ISBN 978-4806115564
- ↑ Weekly Ultraman Official Data File #111 pg 28
- ↑ Weekly Ultraman Official Data File #6 pg 14
- ↑ https://hicbc.com/tv/mebius/webmebinavi/002.php
- ↑ https://hicbc.com/tv/mebius/webmebinavi/050.php
- ↑ ウルトラマン大辞典 page 184 ISBN 978-4806115564
- ↑ https://x.com/heros_ultraman/status/1251309443104387075
- ↑ https://www.otakumerica.com/product/kaiju-cutaway-anatomy-art-print-ultraman-11-x-17in/163
- ↑ https://x.com/AlienMetron_Cap/status/1019433184646184968?s=20&t=SOVQoyLGeNQia2aOgza2mA
- ↑ File:Spacium Beam as basic attack.png
- ↑ https://www.nikkei-science.com/202210_084.html
- ↑ https://periodictable.chemicalaid.com/element.php/Utt?lang=en
