Alternate Titles: Great Planet War: The War In Space
Year: 1977
Director: Jun Fukuda
Special Effects Director: Teruyoshi Nakano
In The Suit: Mammoth Suzuki

For the purposes of this project, we're interested in War In Space because it features a sort-of appearance of the Gotengo/Atragon ship that also appeared in Atragon and will appear again in Final Wars. The movie actually has an unusual pedigree. It was originally intended as a sequel to Battle In Outer Space, itself a sort-of sequel to The Mysterians. It's also related to Atragon, and merges the flying submarine from that movie with the spaceship in the anime series Space Battleship Yamato. And the movie was inspired by the release and success of Star Wars, and in fact we'll see a lot of similarities with that movie, some real and some imagined. This is the last movie of the Showa era even tangentially related to the larger Tohoverse, and so it's the last Showa movie featured in our project. It does not feature Godzilla or any other Daikaiju.

The movie starts with a soundtrack of very upbeat classical music that may have been inspired by John Williams' Star Wars soundtrack, although if so it overshoots and is waaay too happy. Then the music evolves into a disco track. Wait, are we watching Toho scifi or an exploitation film? It's truly amazing disco music. Totally groovy.

The movie takes place in the distant year of 1988. Here's our cast.

Among the cast members above, we have a love triangle between Koji Miyoshi (played by Kensaku Morita), Jun Takigawa (played by Yuko Asano) and Reisuke Muroi (played by Masaya Oki). Jun was in love with Koji, but Koji knew that Reisuke loved her, so he went to America, and now Jun and Reisuke are engaged.

The only way that makes sense is if Koji didn't love Jun so he needed to run away so she'd leave him alone. Otherwise, if he supposedly loved Jun, too, it's a pretty dick move to leave the friggin country just because your friend loves her, too.

We're at the Japanese Branch of the UN Space Federation, and they are having trouble contacting the UN space station.

Koji has just returned from the United States, where they are having similar problems, including electrical interference and an unexplained rash of comet landings.

Here's our first, surely unintentional, Star Wars similarity. Someone's got a bad feeling about this.

Koji has actually been sent by the UN to appeal to Jun's father, Professor Takigawa (who played Katsumiya in Battle in Outer Space). This is sort of a mild retelling of Atragon, with Prof. Takigawa at first refusing to restart the Gohten project, although we're not given a satisfying explanation of why not until the end of the movie.

But Koji says UFOs have been spotted and the electronic interference is really transmissions back and forth from Venus. The space station is also reported to be destroyed by why is said to be a "Roman ship".

While Koji is visiting Prof. Takigawa, they get a call, saying that another professor, a Professor Schmidt, is dead. But when Koji and his friends leave, they pass someone that looks like Schmidt. Schmidt goes to Takigawa and tries to convince him to turn over the information on the Gohten to him. He claims he faked his death because aliens are after him.

But Takigawa quickly figures out that Schmidt really is an alien. Koji and his friends return to fight the alien off, and he eventually self-destructs on the lawn (similar to the Battle In Outer Space aliens), and leaves behind a mask.

His face looks exactly the same. It's just green.

With the alien menace revealed, Takigawa agrees to reactivate the Gohten-Go, and we know we're getting serious because we get Toho regular Akihiko Hirata as Commander Oishi.

The aliens begin a massive bombing campaign with their little spherical UFOs while all of the Gohten forces are transferred to a special island by submarine. Many Earth landmarks are bombed; i think this was the Arc de Triomphe getting bombed, for example.

The bombing scenes are superimposed over the submarine transports...

...so i can't say for sure that the submarines themselves are actually getting bombed, but this is a Toho movie and i defy you to prove me wrong that at least some of the submarines weren't destroyed during their transport missions.

But i do have to admit that at least some of the crew makes it to the island.

Now, one guy that we keep hearing about it "Jimmy at NASA". Everyone else is from the UN, but Jimmy is at NASA. And they're constantly talking about Jimmy. Don't forget Jimmy at NASA. I want Jimmy at NASA on the team. Jimmy might not make it. We got a telegram here for Jimmy.

And i have to admit that Jimmy is pretty awesome. He finally shows up in a jet plane, pursued by UFOs, and then ejects out of the plane, runs across the island one step ahead of alien fire, and then dives in the ocean presumably to swim to the undersea entrance of the Gohten base.

Who are you kidding? Those aliens' aim was terrible.

Anyway, here's Jimmy!

The aliens continue to bomb the island.

Are you sure that's not Monster Island? Couldn't we maybe just have one monster?

The good guys are now ready to launch the Gohten. No endless tank filling scene this time; they just burst out of the island.

And fly right into the sky, piloted by Professor Takigawa and all of the characters we've seen so far.

And... just float there as UFOs pound away at them.

Seriously, guys. Shoot back or something.

Uh, does someone want to do something? Say something? Why are you just sitting there?!

Finally, they start attacking back. With what look like depth charges. But it does the job, blasting every UFO in sight. In fact it's said that UFOs from all over the world give up their bombing campaign to attack the Gohten and die from the depth charges.

This is all done to the tune of some really cheesy parade music.

And with the immediate threat to Earth addressed, we're off to Venus.

Everybody straps in and the Gohten fires on all engines, moving forward with great speed. And then, once they are out of Earth's atmosphere... they cut the ion rockets. "We'll fly the rest of the way on inertia." Really? I... guess we're not in a hurry.

*shakes head*

Now remember that telegram for Jimmy that i mentioned earlier? Since we're not doing anything but floating listlessly in fucking space right now, we might as well give it to him. Sadly, it says that his family was killed when New York was bombed by the UFOs.

So we focus on Jimmy as he sheds a tear and we go into a montage flashback of his family. Then we go all around the ship as each member reacts to Jimmy reacting to the news.

Min: GET ON WITH IT!
Fnord: But it's Jimmy!

Then we get to the love triangle. Koji and Reisuke get together and start hashing it out. Reisuke starts saying things like, "I know you only left for America because you knew that I loved Jun too. Well if I die I want you to take care of her." He really hammers that point home.

Min: Does anyone want to consider that maybe she doesn't want him anymore because he left?
Fnord: Quiet. These men are having a conversation. They'll decide what's best for Jun.

Finally they make it to the remains of the UN space station. Which i assume orbits the Earth, so they clearly haven't made it very far yet. Like, they're probably not even past the moon yet.

Fnord: This movie is nothing like Star Wars.
Min: It's in space, isn't it?
Fnord: ...
Min: Can you imagine the Millennium Falcon floating on inertia? Sure, i'll get you to Alderaan. Eventually.

They inspect the space station and bring back a corpse that they find there.

A lot of broad similarities between this movie and Battle in Outer Space.

But this time the corpse wakes up. He's really an alien.

And he kidnaps Jun and flees the ship. And then the Gohten is contacted by the alien leader.

Min: Oh, see now it's Star Wars.
Fnord: What the hell?
Min: Hahahahaha. I can't watch. Did they watch Star Wars without translations so this is just their impression of it? Can we get sickles for our Wookies?
Fnord: What about the outfit they put her in?
Min: I'm disappointed because it's a Japanese movie. They've got better outfits on street corner shops in Japan. ...and that's her dad. That's her dad and he has to see this.

The whole time, we've been hearing an alien talking to the Gohten crew, and we thought it was the Wookie guy. We thought he was the leader. But then the camera pans over to this guy, who is actually the leader, the awesomely named Commander Hell. He's the (self-proclaimed?) Emperor of the Galaxy.

He says that we call his planet Meshie 13. "The third planet in the Yomi system, that is our mother planet. We, the Imperial Planet of the Galaxy have already obtained the power to fly freely through the galaxy." But his planet has grown too old, so they want our planet, having temporarily settled on Venus as a forward base.

With that, we mercifully make it across space to Venus.

Now, you'd think if you had this awesome spaceship with a drill in the front that the aliens were trying to prevent you from using, you'd, i don't know, use it. But instead they pick an away team to go rescue Jun. I mean, shouldn't we all go? This isn't going to be a stealth mission, mind you. I could see that. But that's not the case. So they're risking Jun's life no matter what.

Anway, off goes the away team in their little shuttle.

Min: What do you think? Do you think Jimmy dies?
Fnord: No way!

Which, um, has an R2 unit sticking out of the roof.

Oh, and if you've seen Battle in Outer Space this may sound familiar. After driving around on the ground for a while...

...they're like fuck it and reveal that they can actually fly.

They fly through a long cavern and we get a first person point of view perspective, like a virtual roller coaster, which i eventually realized is the equivalent of flying through the Death Star trench.

And now we go back from Star Wars to Battle In Outer Space. At the end of the tunnel is the enemy base, protected by a forcefield dome.

It is a cool set.

The shuttle crew is reminded that their mission is pure investigation. I don't understand what this mission is at all. As they're fired upon by the enemy Roman Ship (which shoots lasers from its oars!), they tell Jimmy to take pictures. Actually, Jimmy is bossed around a lot during the shuttle mission. LAY OFF JIMMY, YOU GUYS!

Fnord: I bet there's an exhaust port somewhere that they can drop a torpedo into.
Movie: That big mouth appears to be something. I think it's probably a sort of air duct.

The plan is actually to enter the ship, not drop a torpedo into it, but they do intend to destroy the central power source.

Ok, we have an attack plan, so now we can use the Gohten Go, right? No. Now it's time to use the jet fighters. Which they launch out of the Gohten like bullets from a barrel of a gun.

Which... ok, that's pretty awesome.

But why didn't they use their bullet-proof, super-submarine spaceship?

For some reason they have to fly through that tunnel again. Stay on target... Almost... there.

The plan (which i'll note again is clearly not a stealth mission), is for Jimmy to shoot down an overcrop of rocks, which i guess they think will temporarily disable the forcefield and allow some people to jump into the mouth of the dragon. Jimmy must shoot at that rock a hundred times.

Meanwhile, there's a lot of dogfighting between the jets and the UFOs.

But then: Jimmy! Shot down! Nooooooooooo! At least he goes down crashing into that rock he was working on so diligently, and it finally crumbles.

Min: Ok, but there were two planes there. Only Jimmy got shot. Why did they BOTH crash?
Fnord: Jimmy did say "Follow me".
Min: What is this, Abe's Oddysee?

I'm still not sure i really understand the plan. If the forcefield is insignificant enough that some rocks falling on it can take it down, why do we need all these shenanigans? Just fly in here with your giant drill ship and drill that sucker. Again, if the answer is that they're worried about Jun, i mean, the aliens were holding her hostage so that you wouldn't attack them. But you are attacking them. So if they were going to kill her, they probably would have already. I guess i don't get their "We'll only kill you if you use the Gohten" any more than i get the good guys' plan.

Anyway, the infiltration team in their little spacesuits makes the 30 story jump into the mouth of the dragon on the Roman ship. The mouth is actually where their UFOs come from, but luckily none are launched while the good guys are going through it. And the good guys don't come out in a docking bay or anything; they're just in a random hallway.

They come to a point where they have to cut through a grating to continue, and, well, there's your lightsaber.

Also wanted to note that the bad guys have curly elf shoes, like the aliens in Monster Zero. Same aliens, or is that style more prevalent in the rest of the galaxy than it is on Earth?

The good guys also have to pass through a chamber that is kind of mean. It shows a red light when it's safe to run through it, but when the light is green it will disintegrate you. Even ignoring the question of why the aliens installed that chamber at all, it's seems like a mean trap designed by a mean Dungeon Master just to trick his players. Something straight out of Grimtooth's Traps. You thought green meant go and red meant stop? Ha ha! Tricked you and now you're dead! The good guys figure it out by sacrificing one of their lightsaber knives; they throw it into the chamber while the light is green and see it disintegrate, so they run through when it's red.

And that's not right. They didn't test it when it was red. So how did they know that red wouldn't also disintegrate them?

Speaking of Dungeons & Dragons, the good guys devise a plan identical to what my players always come up with.

He's so right. To be fair, whenever we try to be clever, it just turns into an all out assault anyway, so we all mutually agreed to save time and skip the planning.

They charge in, and are too distracted by the giant gumball machine in the room to notice the weird mask that shoots lasers out of its eyes.

These aliens with their Roman ship and masks and stuff have the same classic/current theme going on as all of the Mu/Seatopia civilizations we've seen in earlier films. Civilizations with advanced technology that run around in togas and such. Actually, i don't know what the grunt aliens are wearing in this movie. Bags on their heads?

At this point we are down to just one surviving good guy (Koji). The Emperor of the Galaxy shoots him with a compressed air gun, knocking him down. And then he and Jun are thrown into a prison.

We still seem to be in a D&D module with tricks and traps that seem more designed to give the players a fun challenge than make any kind of logical sense. Earlier, Jun noticed Commander Hell messing around with a control panel.

And, in prison, she notices the same controls.

So many things to say about that! First of all, why would you put that inside your prison cell? Then there's the fact that she knows the right configuration of buttons to open the cell door; it's not like that's what Commander Hell would have been doing in the other room. And then there's the fact that the buttons she pushes are in no way the same as what Hell did. I guess problems #2 and #3 cancel each other out, but that's a lucky coincidence.

Once out of prison, it is time to fight the Wookie.

SHOOT THE WOOKIE! THE WOOKIE! NOT THE WEAPON!!!

AWWW!!!

Koji's strategy doesn't work (Yeah, no kidding.) and it looks like it's the end. Koji throws his gun at the Wookie. (Right, because throwing your weapon with unlimited lasers is better than shooting the lasers.) That's equally ineffective. (Der!) But then Koji throws his lightsaber knife, killing the Wookie.

Koji then gets Jun into one of his dead companions' space suits (i guess they counted on at least one of them dying), and they make the long jump out of the ship's dragon mouth.

Now, this is it. Jun is out of the Roman ship. There is no reason for the Gohten to hold back anymore. So it's time for it to go into action, right? No. Professor Takigawa just sits there while the one remaining guy in a fighter plane, which happens to be Reisuke, Jun's fiance, takes on the Roman ship. Oh my god. Is he going to die for no reason? Look at his face. He's going to fly his plane into the ship and die so that Koji can be with Jun, isn't he? But he doesn't even deliberately crash his plane into the Roman ship or anything; he just gets shot down. Thanks, Takigawa!

I would be remiss if i didn't again mention the disco soundtrack. I know reading about it is no substitute for actually hearing it, but it's too awesome to not comment on.

Finally, the Gohten Go goes into action.

Well, i mean, at least it flies onto the battle area. It again doesn't actually shoot anything or do anything. Just floats there and takes the hits.

SHOOT BACK!!

Commander Hell seems to be piloting his big ship personally.

Finally, the Gohten does something. Remember that barrel from before that launched out the planes? Now it's shooting lasers.

That's got to be tricky. "Lieutenant, do we have any planes in the barrels right now?" "Uh, i don't think so, sir." "Ok, shoot revolver beams." "Oops. There goes Wataru."

Then they stop again. There's no dialogue. No explanation as to why they can't keep shooting.

Min: SHOOOOOOT. BAAAAAAAACK!
Fnord: Or USE THE DRILL!

Finally, they do use the drill.

Then the Roman ship reveals a secret laser weapon.

It shoots the Gohten down to the ground. And that's it. The bad guys don't follow up with more attacks. So the good guys have a chance to figure out their next move.

Did they call a time out?

Prof. Takigawa has a conversation with his daughter, and then sadly sends her out of the room.

Min: Could he telegraph any more that he's going to sacrifice himself?
Fnord: Clearly he could have because she didn't notice.

Takigawa goes down below deck and enters the Gohten's drill bit itself, and then launches the bit off of the ship.

As he's doing this, Jun finds and plays a recording of a strange Bergman-esque speech from Takigawa to his daughter.

During the creation of Gohten, I successfully invented explosives of frighteningly strong magnitude. If the building block of the universe - ether - is utilized, an explosion larger than can be imagined could occur. The infinite universe has always made my dreams come true. And in return, I destroy the universe to save the Earth? What cruel irony that is.

The drill then makes contact with the Roman ship, tearing through it.

Fnord: Well, that didn't seem that bad.
Min: The damage was just from the drill bit. Then the ship flew into a volcano and exploded.
Fnord: I don't get it. What's the big deal?
Min: Wait, what's happening now?

Min: Did they just blow up Venus?
Fnord: Honestly, dude, the drill bit seemed like it was enough. It was just one ship you were fighting.
Min: ...
Fnord: ...
Min: We agree that this movie was terrible, right? I mean, at least they could have put Godzilla in it.

Godzilla Drinking Game
	A submarine explodes.	We're saying yes, and you can't prove us wrong. You've got to give it to us since it's the only Drinking Game item that would apply to this movie.

Monsters Appearing: