| Invasion of the Neptune Men | |
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Theatrical poster for Invasion of the Neptune Men (1961) |
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| Directed by | Koji Ota |
| Produced by | Hiroshi Okawa |
| Written by | Shin Morita |
| Starring | Sonny Chiba Kappei Matsumoto Shinjiro Ebara Mitsue Komiya Ryuko Minakami |
| Music by | Michiaki Watanabe |
| Cinematography | Shizuka Fujii |
| Editing by | Ryohei Fujii |
| Distributed by | Toei Co. Ltd.; Walter Manley Enterprises Inc. (US TV release) |
| Release date(s) | 1961 (Japan) |
| Running time | 82 min., 74 min. |
| Language | Japanese English |
Invasion of the Neptune Men (宇宙快速船 Uchū Kaisokusen, Space Hypership) is a tokusatsu SF/superhero film produced by Toei Company Ltd. (as "New Toei") in 1961. The movie starred then 22-year old Sonny Chiba as the intergalactic superhero Iron-Sharp. (When listed in the credits in the Japanese version, "Iron Sharp" was played by "?", a gimmick often used in many similar Japanese superhero shows at the time) As of 2008[update], this is the only appearance of Iron-Sharp (who's dressed in silver tights, helmet, cape, carries a ray gun and rides a car-like rocketship), who is called "Space Chief" in the US version. In either case, this film is similar to many a show in the Toei Superhero genre from the same period, like Planet Prince (Toei's movie version).
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Shinichi Tachibana, a scientist/astronomer who is, in reality, the superhero "Iron-Sharp" (Space Chief in the English dub) is friends with a group of children. When the children are almost attacked by a mysterious group of metallic aliens (called "Neptune Men" in the US version), Iron-Sharp drives away the aliens. Even in human form, Tachibana is resourceful, as he helps the Japanese government invent a protective electric space barrier to block the aliens from entering the Earth. When the aliens can stand no more defeat, they announce that they will strengthen their invasion of the Earth (or at least Japan, for that matter), throwing the world into a state of fear and panic. The invasion begins, and the aliens destroy cities with their awesome mothership (which launches smaller ships from within). Iron-Sharp comes to the rescue, destroying multiple enemy ships. Japan launches a nuclear missile at the mothership, destroying it.
The US version was titled Invasion of the Neptune Men and went directly to TV after being cropped to fullscreen from its 2.35:1 aspect ratio. This version also deleted some of the opening, that explained the naming of Iron Sharp and a scene where both American and Soviet ambassadors suspect each other's countries of causing the nuclear explosion.
The film was later featured on the movie-mocking show Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1997, where it was subjected to some unusually brutal jokes (such as calling Space Chief "Space Dink", "Space Feeb", "Space Loser", and "Ineffectual Chicken-Headed Bachelor", among other things ["Hey, you know, Space Chief should actually consider going up into space sometime." "Yeah, he's more like Lower-Atmosphere Chief." "Barely-Off-The-Stupid-Ground Chief."]. The ship the Neptunians flew around in received little better treatment, first described in the riffing as "a pre-fab Lutheran Church," then remarked as possibly running on coal, or, as Crow quipped, "So, they glued wings to a fuel filter."). As MST3K's central concept revolves around attempts to torture an average Joe and his robots into insanity with bad movies, Invasion of the Neptune Men is significant by genuine effectiveness. The crew is borderline suicidal by the third host segment, only being saved by a surprise visit from the Phantom Dictator/Chicken Man of Krankor from Prince of Space. Host Mike and robot Crow leave the theater for a few moments, and only came back when madwoman Pearl Forrester shuts off the oxygen supply to the rest of the satellite. They were particularly disgruntled by the film's overly long climax which consisted of repetitive and vague footage of space ships flying around and shooting at each other, pointing out the number of ships destroyed by "Space Chief" do not seem to reduce the amount of ships he keeps fighting in subsequent scenes.
The film was also featured on the nationally syndicated horror host show Cinema Insomnia.[1]
A multi-story picture of Adolf Hitler with some Japanese writing (along with Mein Kampf, mistransliterated as Mine Kampf) is clearly visible on the side of one building before it is destroyed. MST3K passes by with ordinary riffing ("They took out the Hitler Building! Where is everyone going to see Hitler memorabilia?" and "What's next? The Mussolini Mall? Followed by the Pinochet Petting Zoo").
No such leniency was given to the use of actual World War II bombing footage for some of the "destruction of Tokyo" scenes. The writers for MST3K found its incorporation into a kids' movie to be abhorrent. The footage was not broadcast in the MST3K version, but caused some of the riffing, such as Servo's breakdown, to be especially harsh.
The alien mothership prop was actually 6 feet (1.8 m) long. It was designed by veteran Toru Narita, best known for his design work on Ultra Q, Ultraman, Ultra Seven and War of the Gargantuas. At the same period, he was an art director for the Toei superhero series National Kid.
Stock footage from the film was used in the music video for Rage Against the Machine's "Testify."