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(aka "Wakusei daisenso" or "War in Space" or "The War in Space" or "Battle in Outer Space 2" or "Cosmos" or "Great Planet War" or "Planet Wars")

 

Directed by Jun Fukuda, Ishirô Honda (earlier film clips)
Japan 1977

 

Finally and for the first time in fantastic HD! Very well-known Japanese trash pearl with great special effects! By GODZILLA director Jun Fukada and among others with the German dubbing voice of DARTH VADER (Heinz Petruo)!

The Age of Great Space Wars: Mysterious UFOs are sighted all over the world. As a gigantic spaceship approaches the earth, bitter fighting breaks out everywhere and war is raging! The spherical missiles of the alien enemy wreak havoc in the cities. The last hope of mankind is the spaceship "Gothen", which has not yet been completed. Work is feverishly on the completion and finally it is possible to destroy the hostile UFOs on earth. But the danger is not over yet...

***

In Autumn of the year 1988, contact with Space Station Terra is lost while sightings of UFOs are being reported all over America. A follow-up investigation headed by UN scientist Professor Schmidt (William Ross) and his men is started to look into the strange reports. The space station crew manage to report to the Japanese branch of the UN Space Federation that a large “roman galleon” has appeared and all communication with Terra is cut.

UN team member Miyoshi (Kensaku Morita) visits world-renowned Professor Takigawa (Ryō Ikebe) and tells him that the UN is ordering him to complete construction of the space defense unit he created, Gohten, so that they use it to fight back the invaders.

Excerpt from Wikipedia located HERE

***

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.

Posters

Theatrical Release: December 17th, 1977

Reviews                                                                                                       More Reviews                                                                                       DVD Reviews

 

Review: White Pearl Movies - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

Bonus Captures:
Distribution White Pearl Movies - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:27:42.458        
Video

2.47:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 24,396,060,038 bytes

Feature: 22,852,405,248 bytes

Video Bitrate: 27.48 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio

DUBs:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 1598 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1598 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)

DTS-HD Master Audio German 1785 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1785 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)

DTS-HD Master Audio Japanese 1609 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1609 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Subtitles None
Features Release Information:
Studio: White Pearl Movies

 

2.47:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 24,396,060,038 bytes

Feature: 22,852,405,248 bytes

Video Bitrate: 27.48 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• Original Trailer (2:17)
 • Kino-Voschau (1:26)
 • US-Vorpann (2:55)
 • Entfernte Szenen (2:50)
 • Gallery (1:55)


 Blu-ray Release Date: November 8th, 2019
 Standard  Blu-ray Case

Chapters 28

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: White Pearl Movies Blu-ray (August 2021): White Pearl Movies have transferred Jun Fukuda's The War in Space to Blu-ray. It is on a single-layered disc with a decent bitrate. It looks okay, perhaps a shade pale but decent detail and contrast in the super wide 2.47:1 aspect ratio. The 1080P presentation is pretty clean and consistent with occasional depth. The higher resolution identifies some of the meager effects. It's about 4 minutes short of IMDb-stated running time meaning either something as cut (doubtful) or it is in PAL running time? (Volker tells us in email "The BluRay is indeed about 3 minutes too short. This is the version which played in German cinemas in 1978. The missing scene is included as a bonus feature.")

NOTE: We have added 70 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, White Pearl uses a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (16-bit) in the options of an English or German DUB or the original Japanese language. The War in Space has some sci-fi and space-related effects; battles, explosions, a strange Chewbacca-esque alien creature etc. -  that come through with a pinch of depth. There is a score by Toshiaki Tsushima (Big Time Gambling Boss, Street Mobster, The Green Slime, Three Outlaw Samurai, Sword of the Beast, Battles Without Honor and Humanity) that adds some hokey flavor to the film experience. White Pearl Movies offer no subtitles on their Region 'B'-locked Blu-ray.

The White Pearl Movies Blu-ray offers some trailers and a image gallery (and the missing 3 - minutes!)

Jun Fukuda's The War in Space tries to capitalize on Star Wars box-office success, playing a little like Battlestar Galactica but is said to be a redressing of Toho's undersea adventure Atragon (reviewed HERE.) It's not that bad - still very 70's 'feeble' with dated effects and commonplace conventions for its genre. I image there is some nostalgia value here if not aspiring to true 'retro camp'. The concept was ambitious; 'Earth is attacked by alien spacecraft from Venus!' and I got a minor kick out of it. Some may know Jun Fukuda as director of "Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster", that I would recommend ahead of this. The White Pearl Blu-ray is fairly bare-bones but allowed me to see The War in Space in 1080P with an English DUB. Depending on your genre tastes there is some value here.

Gary Tooze

 

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Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

Bonus Captures:
Distribution White Pearl Movies - Region 'B' - Blu-ray


 


 

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