[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/first.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[UncleSamWantsYou Cosmos wants YOU]] to save the world!]]

''Ultraman Cosmos: The First Contact'' is a 2001 tokatsu film produced by Tsuburaya, part of the long-running Franchise/UltraSeries. It is the first movie spin-off centered on Series/UltramanCosmos and a direct {{Prequel}} to the series.

Eight years before the series proper, the Ultramen are just a myth and legend. Haruno Musashi, then a sixth-grader who wishes to be an astronaut, inspired by his deceased astronaut biological father, believes he witnessed an Ultraman while camping with some friends one night. Soon enough, he get to encounter said Ultraman, and learn of an imminent alien invasion where a ruined, asteroid-like planet, being dragged around by an alien called Baltan, is en-route to Earth. However, the alien invaders are not what they actually seem...

Ultraman Cosmos would receive two further movies, Film/UltramanCosmos2TheBluePlanet and Film/UltramanCosmosVsUltramanJusticeTheFinalBattle. These films are often referred collectively as the ''Cosmos Trilogy''.

See [[Characters/UltramanCosmos the series' regular character pages]] for tropes related to individual characters.
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!!''Ultraman Cosmos: The First Contact '' provides examples of the following tropes:
* AdultsAreUseless: Averted with Sergeant Haruno (Musashi’s step-father) and the crews of SRC, who contributes greatly with promoting peace between humans, aliens and kaijus alike, but played depressingly straight with Commander Shigemura, a lousy, pathetic {{Manchild}} who tries to solve everything by nuking them and repeatedly interferes with the more competent adult characters.
* AsteroidThicket: The movie opens with Ultraman Cosmos and Alien Baltan Basical pursuing and battling each other across an asteroid field, before taking the fight to above planet Earth.
* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler: Basical Baltan, whose reason for invasion is to seek a home for the children of Planet Baltan. His death is a genuinely sad moment as thousands of Baltanian children gathers around to mourn for him, as Ultraman Cosmos assist to bring the fallen alien back to his PlanetSpaceship home; even the humans who were threatened by his rampage can't help but silently mourn his death as well many tearing up as well]].
* AllMythsAreTrue:
** The Don Dragon is supposed to be a mystical beast that resides in the hills, until its awakening from hibernation. One civilian even said "The Dragon only exists in Legends!"
** The Ultramen themselves. The movie takes place in an alternate universe separate from the [[Series/{{Ultraman}} original series]] or [[Series/UltramanTiga the installment]] [[Series/UltramanDyna revolving around]] [[Series/UltramanGaia Giants of Light]], where the Ultramen are just stories of legends or folklore, so when Musashi gets to see Ultraman Cosmos…
* AttackDrone: The unmanned drones of the Defense Army which is equipped with [[GatlingGood dual machine guns]] and [[MacrossMissileMassacre multiple missiles]] and frequently deployed en-masse to attack kaiju-sized targets. However, they are proven to be the WorfBarrage, getting destroyed very easily by Baltan Basical despite their numbers. (In the next [[Film/UltramanCosmos2TheBluePlanet two]] [[Film/UltramanCosmosVsUltramanJusticeTheFinalBattle movies]] the drones show up again, and are as useless as before despite two decades of technological development in-universe).
* BeamOWar: Ultraman Cosmos and Basical Baltan battles each other like this throughout their first battle, Cosmos with his [[EnergyWeapon Energy Beams]] against Baltan’s [[ShockAndAwe electric bolts]]. One such beam scuffle results in an excessively huge explosion that knocks both Cosmos and Baltan backwards into unconsciousness, where both of them ends up falling from the stratosphere onto Earth.
* BehemothBattle: Twice, both times between Ultraman Cosmos and Basical Baltan. Once in the ActionPrologue, and later in the ending which is the climax of the film.
* BittersweetEnding: Basical is defeated... And commits suicide out of shame of what he became in his anger, leaving the future of the Baltan children uncertain, and while Cosmos succeeded in saving humanity, no one truly celebrates as Basical's death was an avoidable tragedy that no one wanted. And Mushashi and Cosmos have to separate at the end when the latter leaves for space.
* CassandraTruth: Haruno Musashi’s attempts to convince his parents and classmates that he met Ultraman Cosmos is met with ridicule and laughter. It doesn’t help that the mystical blue stone Cosmos had given him after the meeting disappears on its own in crucial times.
* CombiningMecha: The ARC jets can separate itself into three while mid-flight, and re-combine for performing multiple tasks.
* ContinuityNod: As previously established in Series/UltramanTiga, the power of light can restore an Ultraman’s energy, which is demonstrated to be effective once again in this movie.
* CouldHaveBeenMessy: The SRC's response to kaiju attacks is to subdue them using their [[SetSwordsToStun non-lethal weapons]] which only knocks out the monsters they're targeting, for them to put the monsters back to hibernation mode without resorting to violence.
* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Musashi strongly pins for his astronaut father who died while he's a child, believing his biological father is the best. But he eventually warms up to Sergeant Haruno, his stepfather in the end.
* {{Deconstruction}}: Can be seen as one of [[Recap/UltramanEp2ShootTheInvaders Episode 2]] of the [[Series/{{Ultraman}} original series]] portraying the refuge issue of the Baltans in a more gray manner than the original series did for all sides, rather than being portrayed as simple invaders in spite of their sympathetic backstory, the Baltans here are depicted as desperate to find a home and they don't try to conquer Earth as their first resort, rather Basical is the sole adult left and his attempts to conquer Earth are out of a misguided feeling that humans will repeat the mistakes that led to the Baltans destroying their world and therefore wants them out of the way for the Baltan children to live in a peaceful and thriving world, even then it takes getting attacked for him to fully forego peaceful negotiations. His death which leaves the Baltan children without a protector is also treated as an avoidable tragedy rather than a celebratory victory and the surviving refugee Baltans, rather than get blown up like the originals, are allowed to leave Earth in peace. Meanwhile, all humans except for [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Shigemura]] would rather peacefully negotiate with Basical.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Commander Shigemura’s approach to every problem is by launching drones and missiles at them until it goes away. Even after SRC had a clearly better idea, putting Baltan to sleep before thinking of a non-lethal solution to communicate with the alien (in a previous scene, Baltan attacks in self-defense because Commander Shigemura sics his drones at the alien – at this point the military, civilians AND audience knows Baltan is dangerous, but doesn’t have any real destructive tendencies) yet Shigemura thinks the best course of action is to [[TooDumbToLive blast the now-peaceful alien with MORE missiles and risk invoking a violent retaliation]]. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Basical Baltan, whose purpose for invading turns out to be seeking a home for the children of the destroyed Planet Baltan. [[spoiler: Upon his death, Basical Baltan actually cries tears of regret for failing to find a better home for the children of his species]].
* {{Expy}}: Hmm, a ridiculously incompetent character who somehow gets to be in charge of the millitary, gets to make important decisions despite being clearly unfit to do so, firmly insists himself to be correct despite being proven wrong multiple times, a SmugSnake who quickly becomes a DirtyCoward who [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere prefers to flee]] when things go south, a hopelessly useless figure of authority whose bad decisions nearly cause the destruction of an entire city... wait a minute, Commander Shigemura is a live-action [[WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant Kent Mansley]]!
* FirstContact: The movie depicts the first meeting between Haruno Musashi and Ultraman Cosmos, as well as the humans in this universe with extra-terrestrial life. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin It’s right there on the title]]!
* FlechetteStorm: Baltan's shoulder unfolds itself to reveal its spike-covered interior, which can launch waves and waves of spikes upon Cosmos.
* FreeRangeChildren: Haruno Musashi and his friends are allowed to spend a night outside, in the middle of a park, to see an eclipse. All by themselves. And when one of his friends, the tomboyish Mari, decides to pull out, she can simply just ride her bike back through a dark, lonely path through the woods all alone.
* GreenAesop: A reoccurring theme in the Ultraman Cosmos movies, this movie had the Baltanian’s arrival as a warning that if humans fail to value the beauty of the environment and peace on earth, then our planet will become a nuclear-polluted uninhabitable wasteland much like Planet Baltan.
* GoodStepmother: Gender-flipped. Sergeant Haruno is a Good Stepfather and ReasonableAuthorityFigure who loves Musashi as much a biological son. At the end of the movie Musashi learns to accept and embrace his stepfather back.
* GroinAttack: Happens twice to Commander Shigemura’s second-in-command, a GiantMook who’s seen leading his troops. First time by Musashi during the chase scene, and later by Sergeant Haruno in the ending.
* HateSink: Commander Shigemura is a GeneralRipper and ObstructiveBureaucrat who abuses his powers, ordering his drone army to attack the peaceful Don Dragon which isn’t showing any signs of violence, hindering SRC’s efforts to put the monster back into hibernation. He strictly believes there is no way for humans and peaceful kaijus to co-exist, preferring to [[BelievingTheirOwnLies hold his stance on how a violent approach would solve everything]], even though the SRC have proven him wrong more than once. And even after SRC have successfully put Basical Baltan to sleep in a non-lethal manner, and could potentially attempt a peaceful communication with the alien, Commander Shigemura instead interferes at the wrong time by ordering missiles to be fired on the sleeping alien, provoking Basical Baltan into attacking the city, forcing Ultraman Cosmos to finally step in and fight Baltan to the death. But what cements him as the most despicable character is that after Ultraman Cosmos defeats Baltan and saved the city, Shigemura continues insisting “aliens should all be exterminated” and tries to launch a nuclear missile at Ultraman Cosmos InTheBack.
* HenshinHero: Averted actually, Ultraman Cosmos does meet Musashi, but doesn’t bond with him in this installment. Musashi doesn’t become this trope until the [[Series/UltramanCosmos TV series]] itself which is set 8 years later.
* HooksAndCrooks: When Ultraman Cosmos got past his defenses and destroys his default weapon, Baltan shapeshifts again so that both his hands end with deadly-looking hooks that he use to slash at the Ultra.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: For all the Baltanians' worth, despite their intrusion into our planet, in the end of the day the greatest threat to human life is still none other than the utterly irredeemable and useless [[TheMillstone Commander Shigemura]] who instigates the aliens into a violent response and tried to launch a nuke at Ultraman Cosmos who is still in the [[LethallyStupid middle of the heavily populated city]].
* InvadingRefugees: The Baltanians turns out to be entering planet earth because they’re looking for a home, having their own planet destroyed in a nuclear war.
* InvisibleToNormals: It’s implied that Ultraman Cosmos and Musashi, riding in Cosmos’ palm, is invisible to the general populace when the Ultra gives Musashi a ride as token of gratitude over his assistance. The Ultra flew pretty low in between buildings and below a bridge, but despite Musashi yelling at his friends and his stepfather from above, none of them can see him. Although Sergeant Haruno can hear him quite well though.
* {{Kaiju}}: The only kaiju in the movie is Don Dragon, and it’s a NonMaliciousMonster at that.
* LightningLash: Baltan's left hand can summon an electrical whip that can lash out at Ultraman Cosmos or restrain the Ultra.
* MacGuffinMelee: The chase scene between Musashi and his friends and Commander Shigemura’s soldiers over Cosmos’ Mystical Stone. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, one of Musashi’s classmates accidentally sent the stone back into Shigemura’s hands, rendering the chase scene pointless]].
* MirrorsReflectEverything: How Musashi manage to awake Ultraman Cosmos, by using aluminum foil to reflect sunlight and have them concentrated on his telescope, then reflect the light into Cosmos resurrecting the Ultra.
* MusicSoothesTheSavageBeast: What ultimately took Basical Baltan down, is not Commander Shigemura’s drone army, or the Defense Forces’ military, but is instead lullaby-playing loudspeakers installed on two SRC jets, which calms the alien into sleep.
* NonMaliciousMonster: The Don Dragon awakes in the middle of the city, but doesn't go on a rampage and is content with just resting in the middle of an uninhabited mountain range. Doesn't stop Commander Shigemura from launching a missile attack on the monster though.
* OddlySmallOrganization: The SRC ([[FunWithAcronyms Scientific Research Circle]]), whose ranks consist of Musashi’s teacher Watanabe-sensei, Kido (a car designer) and Raiden (a baker). There are three other members when they deploy their jets, but so far that’s al the audience see of their unit.
* OneOfTheBoys: Musashi’s lady friend, Mari, a {{Tomboy}} who hangs out frequently with the boys and isn’t afraid to get rough or dirty. She's even braver than some of the other boys, as shown in a few scenes.
* {{Prequel}}: The movie takes place 8 years before ''Series/UltramanCosmos'', depicting the first meeting between Musashi and Ultraman Cosmos, and also the First Contact of this particular universe with Ultraman, kaiju and aliens.
* RedBoxingGloves: The SRC manage to deploy inflatable boxing gloves from the bottom of their jets, which they use to subdue Don Dragon non-lethally allowing them to put the monster back into hibernation.
* StormOfBlades: Baltan's right hand ends in a blade, which can fire waves and waves of sword projectiles at Ultraman Cosmos.
* {{Telepathy}}: This is how Ultraman Cosmos managed to communicate with Musashi upon waking up, using mindwaves to talk to the boy without uttering a single word.
* ThatsNoMoon: The moon-like asteroid that appears to eclipse the earth’s moon turns out to be the ruins of Planet Baltan and a PlanetSpaceship that houses thousands and thousands of Baltanian children, survivors of the nuclear war that turned Planet Baltan into what it is.
* VaderBreath: Basical Baltan's "roar", which is the very first thing audiences hear right at the start of the movie.
%%* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Basical Baltan, once he sheds his external shell allowing him to unleash his OneWingedAngel Neo Baltan form, with various abilities. Including:
* WeatherManipulation: Basical Baltan have this ability, seeing how the ActionPrologue later develops into a BattleInTheRain between Ultraman Cosmos and Baltan (implied to be started by Baltan's electrical energy blending with rain-clouds above planet Earth)... unintentionally causing a thunderstorm that drenches Musashi and friends while they're on a camping trip.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Young Musashi, independent enough to be on his own and clever enough to think of a way to resurrect a recently-downed Ultraman Cosmos. In the series proper, he eventually gets picked to become Ultraman Cosmos’ human host.

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