When George Lucas did so well with Star Wars Toho decided to make the sequel to Battle In Space which people in the US saw under the title The War In Space. In Japan it was called Great Planet War: THE WAR IN SPACE - 惑星大戦争 THE WAR IN SPACE - Wakusei Daisensō: Za uō in Supēsu. When the UN space station is destroyed by some aliens the giant space battleship Gohten is finished so they can go fight the green skinned guys from another galaxy who have set up a base on Venus. The ship is a lot like the Atragon with it's pointy rotating nose. The production is fair and the story is typical of the Toho style SF alien invasion. Sadly it's not overly exciting when the Earth people get to fighting the aliens who seem to get the drop on them several times. The aliens even steal Jun, the daughter of the Gohten's Captain, to get the him to surrender by dressing her in a skmpy leather outfit. I love the guy guarding her. Some of the officers attempt a rescue of the 
daughter and they succeed but most of them get slaughtered. The alien ship gets blasted and the Gohten returns to the Earth as Venus explodes. I didn't have a copy so I borrowed Sperhauk's dvd, the same one we watched in 2006, and watched that again. It's looks nice and there's a nice interview with the special effects director who said they started the movie in October 1977 for a December 17 release that same year. The US didn't see the movie until 1979. He also said that the drill nose of the Gohten and the alien ship being based on a Roman galley is for the visual appeal. The short time frame and the Toho vision in making an SF movie help explain why the movie isn't much better than average. It is astounding that they could make all the props and sets and models in such a short time. It's worth looking at but mostly for the fan. I still find the earlier Toho SF movies to be more entertaining.
In Orochi The Eight Headed Dragon Toho turns to the myth of Prince Yamato Takeru as the base for their story. They turn out a fantasy action movie with magic, sword fighting, mecha, court intrigue and a dragon with 8 heads. The 1994 movie is called Yamato Takeru in Japan and it's pretty much fun. It drags here and there and some of the special effects aren't that good. All the physical items like props, costumes and sets are much better. The story is a period piece with giant robots and monsters fighting. It's highly stylized and colorful. It might have been aimed at the younger crowd. It hasn't been a favorite of mine but I like it well enough when I see it. Not everyone will like it.
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