Battle in Outer Space

The amount of special effects in this movie is astonishing. The miniatures are amazing and the outer space shots are beautiful. At the very beginning of the film, alien ships that look a bit like manta rays attack a space station. The space station looks a lot like the one in "The Mysterians", which means it appears to be a spinning roulette wheel. Suddenly, the Earth men retaliate, firing shots that come whipping off the top of the space station at the aliens ships. Very cool! The "Spips", which are the newly developed rockets of the Earth men, are amazing. Especially when coupled with their highly detailed launch pads/service structures. The sets are roomy and futuristic for the time, with lots of levers, screens and gauges. The characters are underdeveloped and dry. The story is standard Toho Science Fiction. There's a threat and scientists use new technology to fight it . Overall, this gets a good rating from me because of the outstanding special effects and imaginative sets.