Attack from Space

This is another movie I wish MST3K had a chance to screen.

This movie is the combination of 2 Japanese movie serials from the Super Giant series of the late 1950s.

When I first saw this movie when I was a child, it scared the hell out of me, as it contains the usual 'violence against children' seen in movies like 'Invasion of the Neptune Men' and to a lesser extent, 'Prince of Space'. Even today, the scene where the Nazi-like soldiers kidnap the children is a little too edgy for anyone under 12 years old.

But the allure of this movie is the innocent and almost naive story line. Even though the movie has many ridiculous ideas, the actors remain deadly serious throughout.

The film opens with a bunch of ridiculous looking aliens with costumes that are right out of a 3rd grade theatre production. The aliens send 'Star Man' to protect the Earth from a invasion from the 'Spherions'.

Star Man is a slightly paunchy, overacting, average-looking, middle aged Japanese man. He flails his arms around, beating up Japanese extras in highly exaggerated and very poorly choreographed fight scenes. The fight scenes alone are worth the price of admission. Many times, actors aren't even close to being hit when they do flips and pretend to be knocked out.

Also, watch for the scene where Star Man disables flying saucers by bending what can only be described as a metal rack from a refrigerator.

As with most early Japanese Sci Flicks, there are numerous technical errors like people being able to breathe and fly through space.

But I recommend this movie to any B Movie fan. It's very campy and the shoddy production values are more than made up for by the movies goofy charm.

One of the reasons the TV show 'Batman' was so successful was because the actors took their roles so seriously. This is also what makes this movie work. All of the actors take their silly roles very seriously, as if they are acting in 'Hamlet. This only makes 'Attack from Space' even more enjoyable.

This film, the third of the anglicised Starman 'franchise', combines episodes 5 and 6 of the Japanese kid's show "Super Giant" into a tale about an attempted Earth takeover by aliens from the Sapphire Galaxy. As in the previous installments, the story opens with the benign beings of the Emerald galaxy, who are once again concerned about the state of the neighbourhood and send Starman to protect Earth against nuclear-armed aggressors. Also as in previous installments, the aliens use mind control to enslave humans, children are held as pawns to ensure cooperation, and Earth's future lies in hands of the intergalactic caped hero. While marginally better than the boring "Atomic Rulers" (the first film in the series), "Attack from Space" lacks the surreal silliness that made the second film ("Invaders from Space") so endearing. Beyond a couple of spaceship shots, some rudimentary scenes of cities being attacked, and possibly the first cinematic use of the term "Deathstar", the film does not have much to offer even the least demanding viewer. Unlike the odd but entertaining 'Salamandermen' in the previous film, the aliens in this opus are just humans in vaguely Nazi uniforms and the climactic battle between the invading horde and Starman is an interminable brawl, full of poorly choreographed 'martial arts' moves and silly 'reverse motion' shots, but with little of the gymnastics that highlighted the fights with the acrobatic 'Salamandermen'. Even by 1950's kid's show standards, the movie makes little sense and veers into complete ludicrousness when Starman rescues one of the hostages by carrying her, sans spacesuit, through space from the satellite to the Earth scientists' rocket ship. Overall, other than a checkmark on budget-tokusatsu (or 'camp') aficionados' life-lists, the film has little to offer.

Hell, there might not be any sinister aliens here, but my god does that end fight pack a literal punch! Lordy! I'm getting ahead of myself here. What this all boils down to is that Starman is up against some Nazi aliens called the Spherions who are out to destroy earth using a space station equipped with the firepower to destroy an entire planet. Sound familiar? Well, that bit about the Death Star won't as I've never heard that phrase used before.

Death Star you say? Well, it ain't a big space station that can destroy planets (although the Nazi aliens have one of them too), but an actual Star that means death for Starman. This film may be lacking in the scary alien department, but in the Starman floating through space department, this one wins.

Also, this film has the best Starman fight ever, as instead of Starman taking on thirty to forty bad guys at a time, this time round he takes on about one hundred guys armed to the teeth, takes their guns from them, and shoots the hell out of everyone while laughing. I put the death toll here in the thousands as this fight scene goes on forever.

Also, the makers of the film must have acquired a dummy that they then dressed in a bad guy costume, because your going to see this dummy about eight or nine times, being pushed off balconies or thrown across a room. Basically, the dummy makes the end fight scene easy.

Starman manages to kill most of the Spherion species in this film as you would expect, but makes you a bit sad at the end by waving goodbye when you know the actual actor that played the Starman died this year.

But for Starman fans I'd watch the film in the following sequence: Evil Brain from Outer Space, Invaders from Space, Attack from Space, and Atomic Rulers of the world.

Yep

"The Earth is threatened by the forces of the evil Spherions (sic), an alien race out to conquer the universe. The Spherions (wouldn't they be Sapphirans?) are aided in their attempt to take over the Earth by some of the world's top scientists. Standing in the way of the alien invaders and their treacherous allies is Starman, mighty interplanetary champion sent to Earth to defend the planet against galactic menaces," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Ken Utsui (as Sûpâ Jaiantsu, or Super Giant) must save Earth and the galaxy from Nazi-saluting aliens from "The Sapphire Galaxy". This compliments the films gemstone theme, as Mr. Utsui is from "The Emerald Planet"; and, the comic book characters slightly resemble DC Comics' "Green Lantern". This is the American (English edited and dubbed) version of the Japanese super-hero's fifth and sixth movies, Jinkô eisei to jinrui no hametsu (1957) and Uchûtei to jinkô eisei gekitotsu (1958). Herein, the series substitutes additional fighting, explosions, stock footage, and other paunchiness, for lost charm and direction.

* Attack from Space (1964) Teruo Ishii ~ Ken Utsui, Utako Mitsuya, Junko Ikeuchi

In ATTACK FROM SPACE, planet Earth is once again in grave peril. The Sepherians are up to their old tricks! With nuclear holocaust imminent, Starman (Ken Utsui) is called upon to save humanity. Much mischief is made by the Sepherians, but Starman doesn't get involved until they start messing with the annoying kids.

Starman doles out a lesson for the alien marauders, using his patented ballet fu to toss them around like lemons in a cement mixer! The seemingly endless final battle is a wonder to behold!

An epic saga of gargantuan proportions, every aspect of this movie is fun! Of course, it helps if you're about 8-10 years old. At certain points, there's a definite, pre-STAR WARS vibe going on. There's even a "Death Star". Hmmm, did a certain, ultra-famous sci-fi director happen to watch this movie as a youngster?...