This review is for the Americanized version of this movie. I cannot really evaluate it in its original Japanese form.
This film really surprised me. In the first ten or fifteen minutes, I really thought it was your standard aliens coming to invade the Earth type of movie and it sure looked that way. However, through some creative writing, it turns out that the aliens are coming to help us by warning of impending doom for the planet, as a rogue planet is streaking through the galaxy on a collision course with the Earth.
There are two problems, though, with this plot. First, it was actually done five years before in the great George Pal classic WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE. This Japanese variation in no way improves on the near-perfect original. Second, the aliens look like giant starfish with a single huge eye in the center!! It's obvious that they sewed giant star outfits and had people inside them and it makes for one of the silliest and cheesiest aliens in movie history. Making them nice aliens was good, as you just couldn't feel afraid of walking starfish! Also fortunate was that the aliens were able to copy human form so the people didn't laugh themselves silly when the aliens arrived! Unfortunately, like WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, this movie also proves that basically people are stupid, as the world's governing body "the international congress"(?) refuses to take action to try to destroy the rogue planet AND some criminals kidnap a scientist who is the only person who knows how to create a bomb stronger than an H-bomb!! Will we survive or face total oblivion? Well, if you ignore the silliness of the alien costumes and don't mind that they ripped the story off from WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, then you can find out for yourself!
This film really surprised me. In the first ten or fifteen minutes, I really thought it was your standard aliens coming to invade the Earth type of movie and it sure looked that way. However, through some creative writing, it turns out that the aliens are coming to help us by warning of impending doom for the planet, as a rogue planet is streaking through the galaxy on a collision course with the Earth.
There are two problems, though, with this plot. First, it was actually done five years before in the great George Pal classic WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE. This Japanese variation in no way improves on the near-perfect original. Second, the aliens look like giant starfish with a single huge eye in the center!! It's obvious that they sewed giant star outfits and had people inside them and it makes for one of the silliest and cheesiest aliens in movie history. Making them nice aliens was good, as you just couldn't feel afraid of walking starfish! Also fortunate was that the aliens were able to copy human form so the people didn't laugh themselves silly when the aliens arrived! Unfortunately, like WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, this movie also proves that basically people are stupid, as the world's governing body "the international congress"(?) refuses to take action to try to destroy the rogue planet AND some criminals kidnap a scientist who is the only person who knows how to create a bomb stronger than an H-bomb!! Will we survive or face total oblivion? Well, if you ignore the silliness of the alien costumes and don't mind that they ripped the story off from WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, then you can find out for yourself!