Battle in Outer Space

Battle in Outer Space Alternate titles Great Space War (1959) See alternate titles Directed by Ishiro Honda Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka Written by Jojiro Okami Shinichi Sekizawa Music by Akira Ifukube Yosaku Suma Distributor TohoJP Columbia PicturesUS Rating Unrated Box office ¥123,000,000 Running time 90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes) Aspect ratio 2.35:1

“	Is the Earth reduced to space dust? A giant battle develops on the other side of the moon! (地球は宇宙の塵と化すか？月の裏側に展開する一大決戦！)	„
	— Tagline

Battle in Outer Space (宇宙大戦争,   Uchū Daisensō, lit. Great Space War) is 1959 tokusatsu name produced by Toho, and a loose sequel to The Mysterians. It was released to Japanese theaters on December 26, 1959 and to American theaters on July 8, 1960.

Plot

In the year 1965, an unknown force begins lifting objects into the sky, causing accidents. All the survivors of the events suffer from extreme frostbite. At a UN meeting, it is theorized that the attacks are of alien origin, and the frostbite is a result of freezing the objects to reduce their gravitational pull. Meanwhile, a delegate exits the building and into a courtyard, and is abducted by a red light.

The delegate reappears, and attempts to sabotage the heat ray experiment at the meeting. He is caught before he can finish, and takes a hostage. He explains that Earth will become a colony of the planet Natarl, and he attempts to escape. A Natarl saucer soon appears and kills him, the only thing left being a radio transmitter. The transmitter allows the UN to pinpoint the alien's location to the moon.

Two rockets, called SPIPs, take off for the moon. They are attacked by remote controlled meteors, but they escape. A pilot of one of the SPIPs is caught trying to sabotage the ship's engines, but he is stopped. A warning is given to the SPIPs to not land on the moon, but it is ignored. The two ships land and find the Natarl base.

The mind controlled pilot breaks free of his ropes and blows up one of the SPIPs. Meanwhile, the Natarl base is discovered. One of the crew members is captured, but he is later freed. The group begins attacking the base, and blow it up. The mind-controlled pilot is freed, and stays behind on the moon for the others to escape. On Earth, the UN prepares for a final battle. They send up Scout Ships and Atomic Heat Cannons to attack. The Earth forces defend as long as they can, but some meteors break through and hit some cities. The Natarl mothership flies down and destroys Tokyo. The Atomic Heat Cannons manage to destroy it, ending the Natarl invasion.

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

• Directed by   Ishiro Honda
• Written by   Jojiro Okami and Shinichi Sekizawa
• Produced by   Tomoyuki Tanaka
• Music by   Akira Ifukube and Yosaku Suma
• Cinematography by   Hajime Koizumi
• Edited by   Kazuji Taira
• Production Design by   Teruaki Abe
• Assistant Directing by   Koji Kajita
• Special Effects by   Eiji Tsuburaya

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

• Ryo Ikebe   as   Major Chiro Katsumiya
• Kyoko Anzai   as   Etsuko Shiraishi
• Koreya Senda   as   Professor Adachi
• Minoru Takada   as   Commander
• Leonard Stanford   as   Dr. Roger Richardson
• Yoshio Tsuchiya   as   Iwomura
• Harold Conway   as   Dr. Immerman
• Hisaya Ito   as   Kogure
• Fuyuki Murakami   as   Inspector Iriake
• Leonard Walsh   as   Thomas Sheldon
• Nadao Kirino   as   Gravity Man
• Malcolm Pearce   as   Dr. Achmed
• Kozo Nomura   as   Rocket Commander
• Ikio Sawamura   as   Lantern Man
• Tadashi Okabe   as   Reporter
• Yutaka Oka   as   Scientist
• Yasuhisa Tsutsumi   as   Official
• Yukihiko Gondo   as   Official
• Rinsaku Ogata   as   Astronomer
• Shigeo Kato   as   Astronomer
• Koichi Sato   as   Astronomer
• Saburo Kadowaki   as   Astronomer
• Elise Richter   as   Sylvia
• George Whitman   as   Roger
• Roma Carlson   as   Roger's Wife
• Takuzo Kumagai   as   Natarl
• Katsumi Tezuka   as   Natarl
• Mitsuo Tsuda   as   Natarl
• Kisao Hatamochi   as   Natarl
• Yasuo Araki   as   Natarl
• Keisuke Yamada   as   Natarl
• Koji Kamimura   as   Natarl
• Shinjiro Hirota   as   Natarl

Appearances

Weapons, Vehicles, and Races

• Natarl UFO
• Space Station JSS-3
• SPIP
• Moon All Terrain Vehicle
• Natarl Mother Ship
• Natarls
• FFE Space Fighter
• Atomic Heat Cannon

Gallery

Main article: Battle in Outer Space/Gallery.

Soundtrack

Main article: Battle in Outer Space (Soundtrack).

Alternate Titles

• The Great Space War (Literal Japanese Title)
• The Interplanetary Battle (La Bataille Interplanétaire; Belgium)
• Worlds at War (Mundos em Guerra; Brazil)
• Battle in Space (Batalla en el Espacio; Spain)
• Alarm 1965! (Hälytys 1965!; Finland)
• War of Satellites (Guerra de Satélites; Mexico)
• The Beast from Space (Die Bestie aus dem Weltenraum; West Germany)
• Duel in the Galaxy (Duell in der Galaxis; West Germany)
• War in Space (Krieg im Weltenraum; West Germany)

Theatrical Releases

• Japan - December 26, 1959
• United States - July 8, 1960
• West Germany - November 30, 1960
• Finland - December 16, 1960
• Mexico - January 1, 1961

Video Releases

Toho DVD (2004)

• Region: 2
• Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono)

Sony DVD (2009) [Icons of Sci-fi: Toho Collection]

• Region: 1
• Discs: 3
• Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono), English (2.0 Mono)
• Special Features: Audio commentary by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski (Mothra and Battle in Outer Space), trailers
• Note: Packaged with Mothra (1961) and H-Man.

Toho DVD (2014)

• Region: 2
• Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono)

Though Battle in Outer Space is not available on Blu-ray, an HD version can be rented or purchased on the Japanese version of iTunes.

Videos

Trailers

Battle in Outer Space Japanese trailer Battle in Outer Space American trailer Battle in Outer Space American teaser trailer Battle in Outer Space German trailer

Trivia

• The 1977 Toho film, The War in Space was originally to be titled "Battle in Outer Space II" and was going to be a sequel to this film. This idea was scrapped during the film's production.

References

This is a list of references for Battle in Outer Space. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]