The War in Space (1977)

Earth is attacked by alien spacecraft from Venus. But a Japanese scientist has constructed a space craft, the Gohten, with which he may save humanity.

Directors:

Jun Fukuda, Ishirô Honda (uncredited)

Writers:

Hideichi Nagahara, Ryûzô Nakanishi

Stars:

Kensaku Morita, Yûko Asano, Ryô Ikebe

Cast

Cast overview:
Kensaku Morita	...	Miyoshi
Yûko Asano	...	June Takigawa
Ryô Ikebe	...	Professor Takigawa
Masaya Oki	...	Reisuke Muroi
Hiroshi Miyauchi	...	Morrei
Hideji Ôtaki	...	Dr.Matsuzawa
Katsutoshi Atarashi	...	Tadashi Mikasa
Akihiko Hirata	...	Defense Countermeasure Supreme Commander Oshi
Gorô Mutsumi
Isao Hashimoto
Shôji Nakayama
David Perin	...	Jimmy
William Ross	...	Dr. Schmidt / Helt

Storyline

Earth is attacked by alien spacecraft from Venus. But a Japanese scientist has constructed a space craft, the Gohten, with which he may save humanity.

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Plot Keywords:

star wars imitation | alien | year 1988 | 1980s | near future | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The film takes place in 1988.

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Goofs

The wires (and their connectors) holding up the Gohten are clearly visible when the ship turns to approach the wreckage of the space station.

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Connections

References Atragon (1963)

User Reviews

Toho sci-fi trash.

In 1977, 20th Century Fox gave us Star Wars; Japanese studio Toho, on the other hand, presented The War in Space. Star Wars spawned umpteen sequels, made George Lucas impossibly rich, and became a phenomenon that is as popular today as it was 30 years ago; The War in Space didn't.

But Jun Fukuda's epic sci-fi effort doesn't fail because of its crap effects, awful design and ridiculous plot (these elements actually make the film just about bearable); it fails due to it's dreary beginning, dreadful pacing and complete lack of excitement.

The film starts with an attack on Earth by an alien fleet that has its base on Venus. After several notable landmarks are destroyed (in a scene that reminded me of Independence Day, but made without the benefits of computers and a decent budget), we meet the heroes of the piece: Professor Takigawa (Ryo Ikebe), his babelicious daughter (Yûko Asano), and her two suitors Miyoshi (Kensaku Morita) and Morrei (Hiroshi Miyauchi).

These guys, along with a small, dedicated (and seemingly expendable) crew, head for Venus in their fresh-off-the-forecourt battleship, The Gohten, and proceed to kick extraterrestrial butt.

Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Well, sometimes it is, but.....

...the film takes a long time to get going, with lots of talking where there should've been action (not that the action is much cop: badly choreographed laser shoot-outs and tedious space battles are the order of the day) and a pointless romantic sub-plot also gets in the way of the good stuff.

And by 'the good stuff', I mean the awful spaceships (that resemble galleons and submarines), the poorly conceived aliens (the main baddies have painted green faces and wear particularly daft outfits, whilst a huge hairy wookie-style monster has big yellow horns and brandishes an axe), the inventive weapons (The Gohten is equipped with huge lasers, that look like the bullet chamber from a giant revolver, and a flying drill/über-bomb), and, of course, the great scene in which June is kidnapped, and forced to wear a saucy leather outfit!

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

25 April 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

The War in Space

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company, Toho Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min (English dubbed)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1