I diafanoidi vengono da Marte

With the advent of space travel, many space stations are sent into the cosmos. It's New Year's Eve. Space station Alpha-Two is attacked by the Deafenoids which brainwash its crew. Captain Tice and his crew find the Alpha-Two crew frozen and they come under attack themselves.

It's an Italian spaghetti sci-fi movie. The actors are dubbed. It has 50's sci-fi designs with a dash of 60's style. It's European. It's not that imaginative but the miniature work is silly fun. The spacewalks are ridiculous. It's bad but there is some fun with the weird mix of badness. The actors are not helped by the stiff dialogue. The story is essentially The Fog in space which limits any action. People rarely run in this movie. There is an all-out brawl later in the movie but it's too late by then. This is begging to be mocked in a fun way.

While this is a rather poor sci-fi film, for the time it wasn't all that bad. While compared to the artistry of "2001" which debuted just two years later it comes up severely lacking, all sci-fi from around 1966 was pretty shabby compared to the groundbreaking "2001". So, cut this cheesy Italian film a bit of slack when it comes to special effects! Now I am not saying it's all that good a film. But, at least it is watchable.

"The War of the Planets" begins in the near future. Space travel is routine and things look a bit like "The Jetsons" in this film. However, when a strange greenish cloud-like 'thing' appears in the sky, BAD things will follow! A group of astronauts are transformed into zombie-like people--who are A LOT like the "Star Trek" notion of The Borg. In other words, the infected people all think as one and are emotionless jerks. Can they be stopped or will everyone become duller than Dick Cavett on Valium?! The film has the usual 60s fare--the usual sort of spacey outfits , silly paranoid plot and sexist banter. It's all a bit silly but for fans of cheesy sci-fi (and I am one), it's all enjoyable silliness. Not all bad--and the plot idea wasn't bad at all.

Steadfast, but dreary and second-rate low-budget b-grade sci-fi matinée by Italian director Antonio Margheriti (better known for such films as; "Cannibal Apocalypse" and "Naked You Die"). Anyhow "The War of the Planets" (the second addition to the Gamma One series) is typical fodder, that can't escape its over melodramatic sub-plotting with stodgy dialogues and the direction is limply brought across. Its budget shows with the obviously fashionable miniature sets and models… as well as all-out plain and spotty effects (where the aliens are a glowing green mist or light of energy that possesses its victims). Some of the junky space sequences are rather laughable too (like astronauts floating in space, which is clearly by rope). The idea is workable, but the lacklustre execution is less accommodating despite some spaced-out atmospheric visuals and colourful set decors. Textbook performances (with the likes of Tony Russel and Franco Nero) come across shallowly flat, but there seems to be too many characters that at times it got hard to tell which space station / ship the action was focusing on. On the other hand the patchy score remains effectively uncanny. Not entirely awful, but still an utter drag.

One of the four GAMMA series SF films from Italy's Antonio Margheriti. Not as "wild" as WILD WILD PLANET, but still fun in colorful low-budget vein. This time, the space crew has to battle a race of aliens who turn men into mindless slaves via a green gas. Reminiscent of stuff going back to INVADERS FROM MARS and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, not to mention the loosely concurrent STAR TREK pilot "THE CAGE", it has a visual flair that helps it move past a very slow middle act.

But, all cult film fans will at least want to tune into the First act with what is certainly cinema's most bizarre New Year's Eve celebration with space-walking astronauts literally spinning and floating in formation! And wait 'til you see the big finale! All this to Italian 60's lounge rock courtesy of Angelo Francesco Lavagnino. The film shares with other Euro SF films of the period decidedly 'mod' music sequences (the famous STAR WARS 'Cantina' sequence has nothing on this stuff) - I.E. Germany's SPACE PATROL and even something as sober as the Czech classic VOYAGE TO THE END OF THE UNIVERSE.

Far from classic, but it was a fun period in Italian SF. Though one has to be careful when attributing dialog to the dubbed USA versions, this one has a doozy -- An astronaut has been "taken over" by the aliens, which sparks the comment: "He's gone Galactic!" Too bad the TCM print you are most likely to see isn't Letterboxed (as so much of their vault is). (the closing credits are letterboxed)

Tony Russel returns to his role of brave astronaut Commander Mike Halstead, in this follow- up to "Wild, Wild Planet", which had been the first entry in this "Gamma One" series of groovy Spaghetti Sci-Fi productions. Mike and associates such as Ken (Carlo Giustini) and Jake (the always welcome Franco Nero) must do battle with an alien race. Their natural form is of a green light / mist, and they possess other humans in order to enslave them and fulfill some unknown purpose.

"War of the Planets" is okay. This viewer clearly sees it more favorably than some people, but he still admits that it's something of a comedown. There's just not as much of the general weirdness and neat ideas as in "Wild, Wild Planet". There is also not a great deal in terms of genuinely surreal and colorful environments. The story (by Ivan Reiner and Renato Moretti) is more by the numbers, overall.

The actors, too, don't appear too enthused. One standout is Michel Lemoine, who plays the possessed Captain Dubois. He has a most amusing look on his face the entire time. Handsome Russel is still a decent hero, but Lisa Gastoni as his love interest / fellow astronaut Connie isn't given anything truly substantial to do. It's also a hoot to see Mike taking orders from a general, who is his father, to boot!

There may not be a lot to praise with this one, but if you're like me and fancy this sort of entertainment, you could do worse.

Six out of 10.