Review of The War in Space (1977) by Simon L — 05 Feb 2009

Everything you need to know about The War In Space can be summed up by a screenshot (which I sadly can't reproduce here) of heroine Yuko Asano wearing a wildly impractical leather swimsuit while being held captive by - and I'm not making this up - CHEWBACCA WITH HORNS AND A GIANT AXE.

If that sounds utterly ridiculous to you... well, you're absolutely right. Turn away now. If you think that sounds completely AWESOME, you're right about that to, so jump right on it! War in Space was both Toho's attempt to cash in on Star Wars and a loving tribute to the kinds of big, silly special effect fests they cranked out back in the '60s.

This film is far bigger and (in it's own way) far sillier than anything that decade had to offer, though, and anyone who love those films will love this one even more. I can't in good conscience call War in Space "good" since the plot and acting are both lacking any sense of reality and too many of the production designs are obviously borrowed from other sources (supposedly, the warship Gohten is actually the same prop originally used for Atragon).

Still, they more than qualify for "so bad it's good" status, and the numerous wiz-bang explosions are awesome by anybody's standards. Well, anybody who loves life, that is.