Sunday, October 7, 2018

THE WAR IN SPACE! Catching a Rare Screening of This '70s-Era Tokusatsu Extravaganza!

Teruyoshi Nakano blows out the candle on his birthday cake. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Today was quite fun. I attended a slightly early birthday celebration for Toho SFX director Teruyoshi Nakano. The event featured a rare screening of a 35mm print of The War in Space (1977), which I'd never seen on the big screen before. While the print was a bit scratchy, the film looked incredible. The War in Space is not a great film by any means, but it's always fun to watch.

Teruyoshi Nakano and Takashi Naganuma examine the Gohten. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Following the screening, Nakano-san blew out the candle on his birthday cake, but before anyone could eat, it was time for the Q&A event with Nakano-san and Naganuma-san. Of course, The War in Space was a quick shoot, and this came across in their memories they shared. 


One funny story happened over dinner. I asked Nakano-san about whether the Space Beastman was influenced by Star Wars. Nakano-san joked that since The War in Space was released in Japan before Star Wars, it was actually Star Wars that copied the character. That got a big laugh from our table!

Happy birthday, Nakano-san!

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