Some years back when Sony's Godzilla invaded American theaters, the bulk of Toho's Heisei Godzilla series was released on home video and DVD. During this time, I picked up a copy of Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla which featured a large robotic monster called M.O.G.U.E.R.A. (acronym for Mobile Operation Godzilla Universal Expert Robot Aero-type). After watching the movie, I realized that I had seen Moguera before, but not looking nearly as spiffy! After a little research, I discovered that the original Moguera appeared in 1957's The Mysterians. Since the movie was out of print in the States, I decided to purchase a DVD-R of the film at Video Daikaiju. Having been a fan of Godzilla films all my life, I had high expectations for this movie and it truly didn't disappoint.

The film begins during a lantern festival, where we meet our main cast of characters, namely Ryoichi Shiraishi, his ex-fiancé Hiroko Iwamoto, his sister Etsuko, and her boyfriend Joji Atsumi. Everyone seems to be in high spirits during the celebration except for Ryoichi. His sister tries to get him to dance with Hiroko and he immediately stomps away. Joji follows Ryoichi and attempts to question him about his recent behavior. To paraphrase: "You broke off your marriage to Hiroko and you're just not yourself lately. What's wrong?!" Suddenly a huge forest fire is sighted across the river from the lantern festival. Panic sweeps the crowd and three brave (albeit stupid) men rush towards the raging inferno, with the intention of halting the spread of the fire. They are stopped by Ryoichi along the way and despite the scientist's warning, they continue on to their eventual demise.

The following day, police officials and military personnel began making a sweep of the area. Along with the sudden forest fire, it appears that an earthquake also occurred recently and has decimated a local village and shrine. On top of that, a nearby stream is filled with dead fish and a large radioactive source has apparently been moving through the area. These odd happenings all make sense when the clunky Moguera robot suddenly bursts from a nearby mountainside. Joji and several officers escape, but one unlucky fellow gets blasted by the kaiju-bot's eye lasers. Soon the giant robot is going on a miniature rampage and thwarts the best efforts of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. The ineffective military does manage to catch a break when Moguera tries to cross a bridge. The bridge is blown up by the military, and Moguera falls into the ravine below. Surprisingly, the fall destroys the robot. Yeah, exactly. WHAT?! Machine guns, bombs, tanks, missiles, and flamethrowers don't even make a dent, but a little tumble off a bridge destroys it! Clearly Moguera wasn't built for urban warfare.

Following the defeat of the giant robot, Joji speaks before a news conference and tells the press and all those attending that the metallic samples from the machine are not of this Earth! (WOW! Joji is clearly a genius because I would never have come to that conclusion!) Further validity is added to Joji's claim, when a large dome suddenly appears near the area where the strange robot came from. Apparently these invaders were just showcasing their technology in order to show us how futile it is to fight them. They hold a meeting within their Earth base with Joji, Professor Tanjiro Adachi, and several military officials. The Mysterians claim that they only want three kilometers of land, which by the way they have already taken by force. They also require five Earth women to further the longevity of their race. You see, the Mysterians planet was destroyed in a nuclear holocaust and the survivors were all badly contaminated by the radiation. Because of this, a majority of the Mysterians that are born have horrible birth defects. (Which raises the following question: Where the hell are all the Mysterian women at? I bet this is all a huge bachelor party and the Mysterian wives are all at home watching T.V. and baking cakes while their husbands try to capture and have their way with Earth's Asian female population.)

Again this seems like a small favor, I mean, what's five measly Earth women between future friends? Well it turns out that three women have already been captured, and the other two happen to be Hiroko and Etsuko! (Boy was Joji ever pissed about that!) With the demands now heard, the human visitors are ushered safely back outside. A meeting is held afterwards between the Japanese and their worldly allies. They all decide that the Mysterians have already gone too far and are not as peaceable as they are trying to appear. The Japanese Self-Defense Force then launches a huge strike against the Mysterian dome. The attack naturally fails and the military is routed by the aliens' powerful technology. Seeing as how modern weaponry is useless, scientists from around the world design two new weapons that may turn the tide of the war in humanity's favor, namely the Markalite and Electron Cannons! The Markalite is a huge radar dish that can absorb the Mysterians rays and reflect them back with a greater intensity. The Electron Cannon is well... a big ole laser that blows things up! Despite the fact that the Electron Cannon hasn't been built or tested, the scientiests assure everyone that it will work!

The new super-weapons are eventually completed and an all new assault begins on the Mysterians' base. The Markalites lead the charge and continuously blast the dome before the arrival of a specially armored rocket-plane that is carrying the Electron Cannon. In the meantime, Joji plays James Bond and sneaks into the Mysterian base via a secret entrance. His main objective is to save both Hiroko and Etsuko who have both been kidnaped at this point. After incapacitating a few guards and obtaining a ray-gun, Joji throws a tantrum and starts destroying every scientific-looking object in sight. Eventually he's captured by a large group of Mysterians and is quickly ushered away by one of them. It turns out that it's Ryoichi (who had seemingly turned against humanity). He aids Joji in escaping and leads all of the imprisoned Earth women from the Mysterian base. After some emotional words are exchanged and good-byes are said, Ryoichi ventures back into the base and continues what Joji started.

The life support and temperature controls of the base are badly damaged so the remaining Mysterians begin leaving the dome. Outside, the battle rages on and one of the Markalites is destroyed by a second Moguera. Unfortunately, this kaiju-bot fares even worse than it's predecessor. Moguera digs up from the ground and causes one of the Markalite Cannons to fall over, crushing the giant robot in the process. At this point, the Electron Cannon has been completed and is used to successfully shatter the Mysterians' defensive dome, thus destroying The Mysterians' base on Earth. The surviving aliens (and Ryoichi) escape from Earth in the last of their ships and humanity claims total victory over the once mighty Mysterians! However, this peace on Earth would be short-lived because a similar race of aliens would return two years later to attack Japan in The Battle in Outer Space!

The Mysterians brought together the greatest film making team that Toho had ever seen. Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka (who created Godzilla) hired Ishirô Honda to film the movie, Eiji Tsuburaya to direct the special effects, and Akira Ifukube to compose the music. The miniatures in the film are superb and the battle scenes are fun and energetic. However, the animated lasers and ray-gun blasts look terribly dated. (Even more so than many other classic Toho films, including Gojira.) My first big complaint about the film is it's kaiju star, Moguera. Moguera sees less than ten minutes of screen-time and has absolutely no character. Yes I know, it's just a robot, but later robotic monsters in Japanese Cinema (most importantly Mechagodzilla) actually seemed to have some character and even some emotion. Other than that though, it was extremely cool and nostalgic to actually see the original Moguera in action.

The music in The Mysterians is superb and Akira Ifukube is in top form. The movie contains a variety of rousing military marches (variations of which can be heard in later Ifukube compositions) and adds to the fun of all the battle scenes. Other than having the "holy trinity" of Toho films, this film also has a great cast of familiar faces. Akihiko Hirata who plays Ryoichi Shiraishi was a regular in Toho's giant monster films and is best known for his role as Dr. Serizawa in the first Godzilla film. One thing that bugged me about his character in this film is that he didn't act very emotional, and there's no rational reasons given for his sudden stay with the Mysterians. I'm sure he was driven to know more about them on a scientific basis, but why betray your own people to know more about an alien race?! That would've been a great subplot had it been fully realized and better written.

The film also boasts two other very familiar faces from the Godzilla universe. Kenji Sahara who plays Joji Atsumi has been in tons of Toho fare, including Rodan, Mothra, and even the most recent Godzilla film, Godzilla: Final Wars. He more or less plays a cut and paste hero in The Mysterians and his only motivation in the film is to save the girl he loves from having sex with an alien being. (A respectable cause in my book.) Lastly there's Takashi Shimura who portrayed Professor Tanjiro Adachi. Godzilla fans will recognize him as Dr. Yamane from Gojira and Godzilla Raids Again and sadly he's not utilized well at all in this film. And that is my biggest gripe with this movie: The total lack of any character development. Because of this, there is a ton of boring interaction amongst characters between all the action. But despite that one shortcoming, the movie is still great and a worthwhile sci-fi movie to watch. If you're a fan of Godzilla films or Toho films in general, you need to see (and own) this movie!

Media Blasters has released The Mysterians on DVD (under their Tokyo Shock label) and the disc retails for roughly $19.99. (Note: The film has been pushed back from its original January 25th street date but can still be ordered at Amazon.) I haven't heard much about this release, but I'm sure it'll be in widescreen with English dubbing and subtitles. But if you really don't want to wait an entire month to own it, then visit Video Daikaiju. The DVD-R has the widescreen version of the film with English subtitles and contains the original theatrical trailer. (The disc also has the original poster art for the film's theatrical release.) So either way, you're guaranteed a top-notch product and can watch the film as it was originally intended to be seen!