Battle in Outer Space (1959)
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The Great Space War (1959)
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— Japanese tagline |
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SPACE WAGES WAR ON EARTH!
SNEAK ATTACK! Earth Battles Outlaw Planet! SPACE DECLARES WAR ON EARTH! OUTLAW PLANET CAPTURES MOON! |
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— American taglines |
Battle in Outer Space (宇宙大戦争 Uchū Daisensō, lit. "The Great Space War") is a 1959 tokusatsu science fiction film directed by Ishiro Honda and written by Shinichi Sekizawa from a story by Jojiro Okami, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced by Toho, it is a loose sequel to the studio's 1957 film The Mysterians. It stars Ryo Ikebe, Kyoko Anzai, Minoru Takada, Koreya Senda, Len Stanford, Harold Conway, George Whyman, Elise Richter, Hisaya Ito, and Yoshio Tsuchiya. The film was released to Japanese theaters by Toho on December 26, 1959 and to American theaters by Columbia Pictures on June 9, 1960, starting at theaters in Honolulu, Hawaii.
By the year 1965, the nations of the world have come together under the banner of the United Nations to usher in a new age of international cooperation and space exploration. However, a hostile alien race called the Natarls destroys the UN's Space Station JSS-3 and causes disasters all around the globe. Determining that the Natarls are operating from a base on the Moon, the UN sends a crew of scientists and soldiers aboard two advanced rockets called SPIPs to find and disable the invaders' base. What follows is a battle between humanity and the invaders on the moon and in the Earth's atmosphere, pitting the most advanced technology of both civilizations against each other.
Plot
In the year 1965, the Japanese Space Station JSS-3 is attacked and destroyed by a trio of flying saucers. Around the world, an unknown force begins lifting objects into the sky, causing a derailment on a Japanese expressway, the destruction of a freighter in the Panama Canal and a devastating water spout in Venice, Italy. All the survivors of the events suffer from extreme frostbite. At a UN meeting held at the Japan Space Research Center, it is theorized that the attacks are of alien origin, and the frostbite is a result of them freezing the objects to reduce their gravitational pull. Meanwhile, Dr. Ahmed, an Iranian delegate, hypnotically exits the meeting into a courtyard, and is abducted by a red light.
Ahmed reappears, and attempts to sabotage the heat ray experiment at the meeting. He is caught before he can finish, but takes Space Research Center employee Etsuko Shiraishi hostage. He declares that Earth will become a colony of the planet Natarl. Major Katsumiya, Etsuko's lover, frees her, before Ahmed attempts to escape. A Natarl saucer soon appears and disintegrates him, leaving behind a radio transmitter which allows the UN to determine the aliens' location: the Moon. On the eve of Earth's counterattack, Iwamura, friend and coworker of Etsuko and Katsumiya, is abducted and subjugated by the Natarls.
Two rockets, SPIP-1 and SPIP-2, take off for the Moon. En route, they are attacked by remote controlled meteors dubbed Space Torpedoes, but they evade and destroy them. Iwamura is caught trying to sabotage the SPIP-1's heat ray power supply, but he is apprehended in time. A warning is given to the SPIPs to not land on the Moon, but is unheeded by the crews. The two crews land, deploy their Moon All Terrain Vehicles, find the Natarl base, and prepare to attack.
Iwamura breaks free of his ropes, incapacitates his guard and blows up SPIP-1. Meanwhile, Etsuko is captured, but she is soon freed by Katsumiya. The group begins attacking the base, and blow it up. Iwamura is freed from his mind control, and stays behind on the Moon to allow the others to escape, sacrificing himself. On Earth, as public outcry against the invaders mounts, mass production of reconnaissance rockets modified for combat begins, and the UN prepares for a final battle. At Japanese, Texan and Siberian bases, they send up the newly completed FFE Space Fighters to attack and sortie Atomic Heat Cannons to defend. The Earth forces defend as long as they can, but some Space Torpedoes break through and hit their targets in New York and San Francisco, destroying the Statue of Liberty and Golden Gate Bridge. The Natarl mothership enters the atmosphere and decimates much of Tokyo's Ginza ward with its freeze ray. The Atomic Heat Cannons manage to destroy it, ending the Natarl invasion.
Staff
- Main article: Battle in Outer Space/Credits#Japanese.
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Directed by Ishiro Honda
- Written by Shinichi Sekizawa
- Based on a story by Jojiro Okami
- Executive producer Tomoyuki Tanaka
- Music by Akira Ifukube
- Stock music by Yosaku Suma (uncredited)
- Cinematography by Hajime Koizumi
- Edited by Kazuji Taira
- Production design by Teruaki Abe
- First assistant director Koji Kajita
- Director of special effects Eiji Tsuburaya
- First assistant director of special effects Masakatsu Asai (uncredited)
Cast
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Ryo Ikebe as Major Ichiro Katsumiya
- Kyoko Anzai as Etsuko Shiraishi
- Minoru Takada as defense commander
- Koreya Senda as Dr. Adachi
- Len Stanford as Dr. Roger Richardson, U.S. representative
- Harold Conway as Dr. Immelman
- George Whyman as Dr. Ahmed
- Elise Richter as Sylvia
- Hisaya Ito as Kogure, engineer
- Yoshio Tsuchiya as Koichi Iwamura
- Nadao Kirino as Crewman Okada
- Kozo Nomura as rocket captain
- Fuyuki Murakami as Inspector Ariake
- Ikio Sawamura as Tokaido railway track inspector
- Jiro Kumagai, Mitsuo Tsuda as defense officials
- Mitsuo Tsuda as defense official / Natarl
- Katsumi Tezuka as naval officer / Natarl
- Tadashi Okabe as vice officer
- Osman Yusuf, Heinz Bodmer, Koichi Sato, Rinsaku Ogata, Yutaka Oka as SPIP-2 crewmen
- Malcolm Pearce as Lt. Pearce, captain of SPIP-1
- Leonard Walsh as Thomas Sheldon
- Yasuo Araki as SPIP-1 crewman
- Dona Carlson as Mrs. Richardson
- Yasuhisa Tsutsumi, Shigeo Kato as Tokaido train engineers
- Kisao Hatamochi as Space Station JSS-3 radio operator
- Yukihiko Gondo as official
- Saburo Kadowaki as astronomer
- Takuzo Kumagai, Kisao Hatamochi, Yasuo Araki, Keisuke Yamada, Koji Kamimura, Shinjiro Hirota as Natarls
Appearances
Weapons, vehicles, and races
- Natarl UFO
- Space Station JSS-3
- SPIP-1 and -2
- 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)
- War in Space (early English title)
- The Interplanetary Battle (La Bataille Interplanétaire: French Belgium)
- The Battle Between Planets (De Strijd Tussen van Planeten: Dutch Belgium)
- Worlds at War (Mundos em Guerra: Portugal, Brazil)
- Battle in Space (Batalla en el Espacio: Spain; Bataille dans l’espace: France)
- Hell in the Stratosphere (Inferno nella stratosfera: Italy)
- Alarm 1965! (Hälytys 1965!: Finland)
- Invasion from Space (Invasjon fra verdensrommet: Norway)
- Planet Wars (Planeternas krig: Sweden)
- Interplanetary War (Guerra entre Planetas: Mexico)
- War of Satellites (Guerra de Satélites: Mexico)
- War in Outer Space (Krieg im Weltenraum: West Germany)
Theatrical releases
- Japan - December 26, 1959
- United States - June 9, 1960 (Honolulu, HI)
- Canada - July 25, 1960
- West Germany - November 30, 1960
- Finland - December 16, 1960
- Mexico - January 5, 1961
- Italy - January 12, 1961
- Portugal - July 13, 1961[2]
- United Kingdom - April 15, 1962
Foreign releases
U.S. release
Battle in Outer Space was released by Columbia Pictures, dubbed into English by Bellucci Productions, and released in U.S. theaters on June 9, 1960, starting with a run in Honolulu, Hawaii. Akira Ifukube's score was replaced with unidentified library music in several scenes.[3]
Unlike The H-Man and Mothra, the other two Toho titles distributed by Columbia, Battle in Outer Space never received a VHS release in the United States. It was finally released on the three-disc Icons of Sci-fi: Toho Collection DVD set by Sony in 2009, alongside The H-Man and Mothra, with Japanese and English language options.
Video releases
- Region: 2
- Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono, 3.0 Perspecta Stereo, 5.1 Surround)
- Special features: Theatrical trailer, storyboards, pamphlets and concept art, still photos, audio commentary by Koji Kajita
- Notes: Re-released on February 7, 2014, and on July 15, 2015 as part of the Toho DVD Masterpiece Selection.
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
- Notes: Subtitles in the initial pressing of the disc correspond only to the script of the English dub. A later pressing, dated August 20, 2009, includes separate subtitles that correspond to the Japanese dialogue.
- Note: Packaged with Mothra and The H-Man.
Anolis DVD/Blu-ray (2017)[6]
- Region: B
- Discs: 3
- Audio: Japanese, English, German (2.0 Mono)
- Subtitles: German
- Special features: Audio commentary by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski (same as the 2009 Sony DVD, with optional German subtitles), audio commentary by Dr. Rolf Giesen und Jörg M. Jedner, Super-8 cut of the film, West German theatrical trailer, West German advertising materials, American advertising materials, film program, photo gallery.
- Notes: American version on Blu-ray, Japanese and American versions on DVD. Audio commentaries only available on Japanese version.
Sony Blu-ray (2018)
- Region: N/A
- Discs: 1
- Audio: Japanese, English (2.0 Mono)
- Special features: Audio commentary by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski (same as the 2009 Sony DVD)
- Notes: Subtitles correspond to the script of the English dub. Picture uses the American version of the film.
Mill Creek Blu-ray (2020) [Sci-Fi Double Feature][7]
- Region: N/A
- Discs: 2
- Audio: Japanese, English (2.0 Mono)
- Subtitles: English
- Special features: Audio commentary by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski (same as the 2009 Sony DVD)
- Notes: Subtitles correspond to the script of the English dub. Packaged with The H-Man.
Eureka! Blu-ray (2020)[8]
- Region: N/A
- Discs: 2
- Audio: Japanese, English (2.0 Mono)
- Subtitles: English (two sets for each version of the film)
- Special features: Audio commentary by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski (same as 2009 Sony DVD), audio commentary by David Kalat, image gallery, booklet with essays by Christopher Stewardson and Jasper Sharp
- Notes: Packaged with The H-Man. Subtitles correspond to each version of the film; Japanese version uses corrected script.
Videos
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Trivia
- Battle in Outer Space was theatrically released in Japan on a double bill with Sazae-san's Wayward Wife.[9]
- Columbia Pictures packaged Battle in Outer Space together with 12 to the Moon (1960) for their original U.S. theatrical release in 1960.
- The 1977 Toho film The War in Space was planned as a sequel to this film, simply titled Battle in Outer Space 2. This idea was scrapped during production.[10]
- This film's Japanese title was used for a 2005 Japanese flight combat simulator game released in Europe under the English title Space War Attack. Said game was a spin-off of the shooter game The Earth Defense Force, itself using the Japanese title of this film's predecessor, The Mysterians.
- According to the book Tokusatsu DNA (Hard Cover Luxury Edition), the scenes on the lunar surface were shot in the lava fields on Mount Mihara just five to six years after a volcanic eruption.
- An alternate 93-minute version of the movie of unknown provenance began broadcasting on the Nihon Eiga Senmon Channel starting on October 24, 2014, simply designated as the "long version."[11] This version of the film contains many alternate and unfinished composite effects as well as alternate takes. This longer runtime corroborates with the footage count of the film itself as noted in Toho Special Effects Movie Complete Works[12] and on the Japanese Movie Database (JMDb).[13] Notably absent from this version is the Natarls' demolition of the Golden Gate Bridge.
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]
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