sayonara jupiter ( film )
koichi kawakita, of the
ultraman
series, provides the special effects for
sayonara jupiter .
[ 20 ]. information sourced from' about the film' text - based special features from: sayonara jupiter. dvd. discotek media. 2007
[ 21 ]. the
making of special
that accompanies the special features on discotek media' s sayonara jupiter dvd reveals the
jupiter ghost
to be the mothership of an alien race, another element from komatsu' s book that gets short shrift in the film adaptation .
the original japanese movie trailer from 1983 in high definition. alternativetitles: operation jupiter jupiter inferno sayonara jupiter original: sayônara, jyûpetâ country: japan release: 1983 directors: koji hashimoto, sakyo komatsu actors: dangely diane akihiko hirata andrew hughes tomokazu miura hisaya morishige masumi okada huggert rachael irwin ron william h. tapier
while extracting water from the martian polar ice caps, ancient carvings are uncovered describing an alien spacecraft crashing into jupiter, postponing plans to turn jupiter into a second sun .
sayonara jupiter, aka bye bye jupiter, is a wildly imaginative science fiction film that centers on an impending disaster which could possibly wipe out the planet earth and destroy humanity as we know it. told in the obscurest of ways, the film is jam - packed with stupendous special effects and consistently outstanding production values, making it one of the most interesting and unusual sci - fi efforts to come out after toho' s hiatus from the space genre with their 1977 film, war in space. blessed with an international cast and a believably constructed future world, sayonara jupiter is a little known gem that may stumble in its editing, but in the end makes for a highly enjoyable science fiction yarn that has a lot going for it .
daikaijusokogeki! wrote: i also already made a topic about the film. urltoken
set in the 22nd century, sayonara jupiter depicts an era where much of the solar system has been colonised. the jupiter solarisation project has been established to turn jupiter into a new sun, thereby providing energy to humankind' s far - flung outposts. of course, not everyone is comfortable with this proposal of planetary genocide, with the jupiter church performing anti - solarisation demonstrations and being a general nuisance to the cause. however, a newly discovered black hole threatens the existence of earth, so dr. eiji honda (tomokazu miura) – surely a loving homage to eiji tsuburaya and ishiro honda – and his colleagues devise a new plan where jupiter will be sacrificed in the hope that it will adjust the black hole' s trajectory .
peter
( paul tagawa) leads the cult known as the jupiter church with pop songs and dolphin tricks .
a bigger problem is the film' s depressing and wholesale lifting of visual designs and sequences from western productions. the approach to the solarization ships hovering over jupiter shamelessly steals miniature designs and camera angles whole cloth from both
the best from over 15 years of asian film reviews, interviews, features and news ...
probe reveals that a wayward black hole is heading toward the solar system and which will destroy all life, but honda hits upon the idea of altering his
solarization
plans for jupiter and instead send jupiter into the black hole, thus altering its trajectory .
with this in mind, the amount of time dedicated to an earth - bound subplot involving the jupiter church, who live in an idyllic, beach - based commune (shot on okinawa), and their mascot dolphin named jupiter is puzzling. interludes where jupiter church leader peter (paul tagawa) whips out his acoustic guitar to sing songs about how pleasant the world is, coupled with montages of wildlife frolicking about and enjoying their natural surroundings, feel like they' re from a different film altogether. the motivation behind the jupiter church is generally questionable. they clearly love what earth has to offer, but are happy to see that be destroyed, along with themselves and billions more, if it means that jupiter is not sacrificed to deflect the black hole .
this entry was posted in theater fantastique and tagged 80' s, dolphin, japan, jupiter, killer shark, science fiction .
yes, you read that rating right. five stars out of five. i find that films that get this kind of rating are the top in their genres or fields. if that’s the measurement, then sayonara jupiter is a clear winner because it’s in a genre of its own. quite what genre that is is anyone’s guess. i’ll do my best to describe this film to you but it does get a bit abstract. here goes .
i confess to being one of the actors in sayonara jupiter - - as a space pilot in the beginning and end of the movie. in fact, that guy reaching out for a gravitationless hamburger in one of your photos is me. your review is much too kind to the film. it' s most distinctive attribute: it was (at that time, at least) the most expensive science fiction movie ever made in japan. charlie in washington, dc
for all its mistakes and cheesy melodrama (of which there is a lot), sayonara jupiter is strangely endearing nonetheless and gave the sub - genre the technical revamp it so sorely needed to continue being relevant. the film, while quite successful, came and went without much staying power. interestingly, it never saw a u. s. release, which partly explains its obscurity. its presence is barely a footnote in western understanding of the long and turbulent history of japanese genre cinema .
what i' ve seen and heard of this film reminds me of message from space. is my assessment correct ?
in truly excessive flair, sayonara jupiter throws caution to the wind as it bombards its viewers with non - stop information, sometimes large sweeping concepts that have little to nothing to do with the overall story that it is trying to tell. whether these were intentional red hearings or just weird tidbits of info about the world that these characters inhabit, it' s still unknown by this reviewer, but it accomplishes its end goal in keeping us on our toes in expecting the unexpected. visually this film is in a class of its own and that is really something when you consider the absolute oddness that is at the core of this production. without a doubt, this film took me for a loop and when i made it to the end of this twisted little sci - fi tale i could truthfully say that i had seen something that i' ve never seen before. give this one a try if you' re up for something different, refreshing, and wholly unbelievable. sayonara jupiter is... . .
we don' t have enough data to suggest any movies based on bye - bye, jupiter. you can help by rating movies you' ve seen .
though bye - bye jupiter is not available on blu - ray, an hd version can be rented or purchased on the japanese versions of amazon video and itunes .
in the 22nd century, humanity is facing a population problem as it continues to expand through the solar system. to make more inhabitable planets, a plan is created to solarize jupiter to create another sun. however, life being discovered on the large planet and continued protests from a group named the jupiter church threaten the plan .
the film follows dr. eiji honda as he prepares to set into motion the “jupiter solarization project”, which aims to turn the planet into a new sun so as to colonize nearby planets and moons. just as the project is about to come to fruition, a hippy cult known as the “jupiter church”, led by a famous singer / songwriter, begin making terrorist attacks against the space station, threatening the success of the “jupiter solarization project” and the advancement of mankind. to make matters worse, a black hole has been discovered moving through the galaxy and it is on a collision course with our solar system. realizing the impending doom at hand, dr. honda proposes to blow up the planet jupiter just as the black hole crosses its path, forcing the black hole from its current course towards the planet earth and instead sending it out of our solar system. still even with the existence of mankind in the balance, the “jupiter church” cult still pursues to bring down the jupiter project by any means necessary. will humanity survive this cosmic crossroad of fate, or will mankind' s personal problems spell our ultimate downfall ?
tamura wrote: what i' ve seen and heard of this film reminds me of message from space. is my assessment correct ?
solaris director: andrei tarkovsky year 1972 solaris is a hypnotic russian science fiction film brought to us by the legendary director ...
[ 3 ]. desjardins, chris. outlaw masters of japanese film, i. b. tauris, 2005, p. 7
in the 22nd century, the united earth federation has begun colonizing neighboring planets in the solar system. while attempting to extract water from mars' polar ice caps, a uef science team uncovers ancient carvings that describe the crash of an alien spacecraft on the planet jupiter several millennia ago. the discovery postpones the initial phase of the jupiter solarization project, a plan to transform the gas giant into a second sun, providing both additional solar energy for earth and making the outer worlds fit for colonization. from minerva station in the orbit of jupiter, dr. eiji honda is dispatched to ensure that alien life does not exist on jupiter before the planned mission is to commence .
early on in the film, our lead is watching old toho movies on some sort of futuristic super - 8 player. he turns off
black orpheus director: marcel camus year 1959 black orpheus is a beautiful and magical film that borrows elements from the orpheus and ...
film this – graphic novels that should be made into feature films hard boiled writer: frank miller artist: geof darrow col ...
komatsu and his army of special effects technicians were not content to rest on the laurels of the studio' s illustrious past and were keen to bring their film in line with the technological advancements pioneered by star wars. for sequences involving spacecraft ambling through the cosmos, komatsu insisted that suspending the models with wires – the way those scenes had been achieved in the past – was not an option. to film these scenes, the production acquired the dykstraflex, a motion control camera system first developed by john dykstra in 1976 to film similar scenes in star wars. programming the movements one wishes to have for a given shot, the dykstraflex can repeat that motion again and again, allowing special effects crews to photograph individual elements of the shot – background, model spacecraft, etc. – and then composite them together later to create the completed effect. sayonara jupiter was the first japanese production to employ such a process, in a bid to give the japanese sci - fi film a much - needed technological revamp .
when it comes to off the wall situations and unpredictable narratives, sayonara jupiter stands proud in its obscurity as it throws a ton of information at you that simply comes off as crazy. first of all, the cult terrorist group the “jupiter church”, is run by a spaced out guru who sings nonsensical songs about a dolphin named jupiter in order to inspire his followers. say what? not only that, but this peaceful group' s main goal is to stop the transition of jupiter, from a planet to a sun, by injuring and killing as many people as they can. hell, even when they find out that the only way to save mankind from the black hole is to destroy jupiter, they still don' t give a shit and basically decide to continue on with the sabotage of the “jupiter solarization project” simply out of spite. needless to say their motivations are anything but logical, but there in lies the appeal of this off kilter production. in this stellar smorgasbord we get unusually blatant product placement, a ridiculously hilarious and brutal jaws homage, a mysterious alien race, hints of an ancient civilization on mars, the already mentioned space hippy terrorists, and a zero gravity space sex scene that is truly out of this world in execution and delivery. with all of this weirdness, how can you really go wrong ?
the film is like nothing made by the japanese film industry before or since. like an aging marathon runner, toho' s visual effects department, which had been as good as any in the world in the late - 1950s and early -' 60s, had become downright quaint in the wake of
now let' s get down to what this film really excels in, aside from its oddity factor, and that' s the effects. with a combination of visually splendid planet - scapes, essentially sublime matte work and wonderfully crafted miniatures, sayonara jupiter is a non - stop thrill ride for those of you out there that appreciate the practical art of filmmaking. you could almost say that the movie' s effects far surpass the film' s other elements, coming off as more of a showcase of the collaborative filmmakers' artistic efforts over the core of the story. every aspect of the movie' s visuals are obsessively constructed in a tangible presentation that fully brings this production to life. you' ll find yourself getting caught up in the moment as you witness scene upon scene of atmospheric space anomalies that just exude atmosphere and tone. the presentation is absolutely fantastic, and the unimaginable worlds that sayonara jupiter is able to bring to the table is a sure sign that this production is not to be taken lightly. in the end, it' s the combination of all of these factors that really give the film its unusual appeal. be it the outlandish premise, the diverse cast of characters, or the sheer visual beauty that this movie is able to convey, you really can' t deny that this is a spectacle that always keeps you guessing, and for that alone it' s worth a look .
i also already made a topic about the film. urltoken it is available on dvd from discotek media, so i' d give it a rental .
shanghai express director: sammo hung year 1986 shanghai express, also known as millionare' s express, is a dense action comedy film th ...
although much time and expertise was dedicated to the technical aspects of the production, it appears that the narrative doesn' t receive the same amount of attention, as sayonara jupiter struggles to keep its many story strands in order. some scenes are bogged down in copious mumbo - jumbo, whilst other elements are barely developed. case in point: the
jupiter ghost ,
a mysterious entity – part giant sentient organism, part space vessel – that aimlessly galavants amid the storms in the planet' s great red spot. once established, its presence in the story is never really explained or taken advantage of [ 21 ]. despite being presided over by the story' s creator, the two - hours plus film can' t quite boil down all the elements of komatsu' s gargantuan source material, which was published as two volumes .
さよならジュピター, aka bye bye jupiter. japan 1984. directed by koji hashimoto & sakyo komatsu. starring diane dangely, tomokazu miura, akihiko hirata. in japanese with english subtitles or english dubbed .
by avoiding the archetypal fantasy of star wars, komatsu' s story inadvertently draws many comparisons with the 2001: a space odyssey sequel, 2010: the year we make contact (1984), which was being produced concurrently by hollywood. both films deal with the idea of jupiter turning into a new star, with 2010 being based on arthur c. clarke' s follow - up novel 2010: odyssey two (1982). both clarke' s and komatsu' s books were published the same year, with the film adaptation of sayonara jupiter making it into japanese cinemas months before 2010: the year we make contact was released in the u. s. , rendering any accusations of copying or ripping off somewhat moot. however, it' s likely there was a competitive element in seeing who could finish their production to the highest standard first .
although a big - screen iteration of the story was always the writer' s goal, komatsu' s efforts also yielded a novel published in 1982. in the spring of 1983, toho began film production in earnest, with koji hashimoto assigned to direct. having worked as an assistant director for various tokusatsu productions throughout the 60s and 70s, sayonara jupiter was hashimoto' s debut as a fully - fledged director. however, he was not alone. rather than abandoning his creation to the tumultuous quagmire of the filmmaking process, komatsu was also heavily involved in day - to - day production decisions, earning him the unusual credit of
executive director .
dobermann director: jan kounen year 1997 dobermann is a rabid and fast paced french heist film with teeth to bare, brought to us by dire ...
[ 23 ]. lee, maggie.' space battleship yamato film review', hollywoodreporter. com, 2010. urltoken (accessed: january 23rd 2014 )
what reason would you want to watch this? well, it is the most batshit insane film i’ve ever watched. it has the filmic effect of a telex machine, just punching line after line and character after character at you. relentlessly bashing you with solemn senior citizens and brooding heroes with nothing to really brood about, the film moves from earth to space to jupiter to mars to island hippieland and back to jupiter without a care in the world. it’s got the most cheerful theme song to listen to as jupiter goes up faster than you can set your hair on fire in a pepsi commercial. it has a dogged persistence in staging its setups and characters in a wonderfully designed universe while giving the script equivalent of a slinky to play with. despite everything i saw, i’m proud it’s in my collection because my world is better having seen it rather than having only heard about it. buy it online or wherever you find it and stick into your collection to impress your friends at parties that you have a crazier film than house of 1, 000 corpses. otherwise, if it turns up on tv (god forbid) or at a film festival, then get whiskey - blind drunk (and i mean that) and enjoy .
sayonara jupiter is a strange science fiction concoction, featuring a eclectic collection of ideas that literally liter this obscure space story in a half - hazard and chaotic manner. it' s a wild production that truly feels untamed thanks to all the diverse elements that inhabit its twisting narrative. the acting portrayals of tomokazu miura and diane dangely, as the star crossed lovers dr. eiji honda and maria basehart, are a nice touch to what could have been a rather disconnected space yarn. though the strangeness of the film does allow for an extremely detached presentation to unfold, we are still pulled in by both actors commendable approaches to their respective characters and that is quite an accomplishment .
when his friend comes in and wrestles him. the lead later leaves to meet with one of the scientists planning to tour jupiter' s atmosphere, then his friend plops in a movie and it' s
film historian stuart galbraith iv' s most recent essays appear in criterion' s new three - disc seven samurai dvd and bci eclipse' s the quiet duel .
run lola run director: tom tykwer year 1998 run lola run is an off the rails, pulse pounding german film that follows a young woman by ...
but even though the reach of sayonara jupiter exceeds its grasp, its aspirations are commendable. a zero - gravity love scene between miura and former flame - turned - jupiter church activist maria (dangely diane) is another particularly impressive special effect, although the prolonged sight of two naked people dreamily fondling each other whilst floating through the cosmos can be chuckle - inducing. the film also utilises a huge, multilingual cast. characters wear a universal translating button, resulting in conversations that often mix japanese, english, french and german depending on who' s speaking, which is interesting to see play out. the production sought the talents of many french, german and canadian actors, however, many of the minor english - speaking roles seem to be performed by amateurs or semi - professionals, which occasionally stand out as being particularly awkward. as was the case with the green slime, they were most likely expatriates living in japan .
easily discotek' s best toho dvd to date, sayonara jupiter is an excellent release across the board, featuring superb video and audio quality while also being stocked with a ton of extras. to be fair, though, this release isn' t quite as grand as the pioneer two disc set that was released in japan, but given that the region 2 set is now long out of print, sold for more than three times the cost of this one, and lacks english viewing options, the choice between the two should be easy for most .
tomokazu miura takes on the role of dr. eiji honda, the scientific hero of this interstellar enigma. miura does an excellent job in this wild effort, and he helps bring all of these fantastic and out of control elements together, allowing the ridiculousness of all that is going on around him seem somewhat plausible and genuine. if there is one thing to be said about sayonara jupiter, it' s that it is a film that could easily have fallen into spoof territory. with such a large array of wackiness combined with a fantastical premise, you' d think the film would be categorized as a comedy, but thanks to the dead - serious performance of tomokazu the movie sustains its craziness and revels in it with a straight - laced disposition. the central character of eiji honda is essential in keeping all of these elements in check and miura does a wonderful job in wrangling in all of the galactic mayhem .
awesome! it must have been an interesting shoot to be on, seeing that the film had a rather diverse cast and was rather ambitious, being the most expensive sci - fi out of japan. even though you' re only in the film for a brief moment, your scenes still leave an impression, so good job. love the product placement too in that scene .
i' d consider more of the long, mostly drawn out environmental shots, like the ships and jupiter, to me more artsy. the naked floating scene is definitley more wtf. it does become a very weird, surreal moment though .
star wars, of course, is a film that needs little introduction, and its impact on cinema and global popular culture has been written about in more depth elsewhere. what does need to be said, however, is that it was a film whose reputation preceded it, even in the months immediately after its initial u. s. release in may 1977. toho were quick to catch on to the new potential boom in the market, releasing the war in space as early as december – a full six months before lucas' s film made it into japanese cinemas during summer 1978 .
daikaijusokogeki! wrote: early on in the film, our lead is watching old toho movies on some sort of futuristic super - 8 player. he turns off samurai i: musashi miyamoto when his friend comes in and wrestles him. the lead later leaves to meet with one of the scientists planning to tour jupiter' s atmosphere, then his friend plops in a movie and it' s ghidrah the three headed monster and starts to root for godzilla .
this is a list of references for bye - bye jupiter. these citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. these references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [ 1 ]
dvd (2007) discotek do their best and present a cleaned up, remastered picture. the film holds up well and looks great on a big hdtv. audio wise, we get the original japanese audio with clean subtitles and an english dub. the dub is the icing on the cake in terms of having a last laugh with the film. enjoy it because the alternative is start questioning things about your sanity that you hadn' t before. we get a decent making of and a text essay from one of the films creators. trailers for the film and fine discotek products wrap up this cinematic masterpiece .
sorry for bringing back an ancient thread. but i finally managed to watch this movie, and couldn' t resist. i don' t think my opinion matters to anybody, but i need to let this out. especially for such an old, unknown film. i just love sayonara jupiter. it was crappy as far as characters and pacing went. but i still love it. the basic story, although incredibly drawn out and crowded with different ideas, was great. a massive object heading towards earth is nothing new, but it certainly was interesting to see them use both old and new ideas to associate with the catastrophe. now many people would probably, and understandably, groan at all of these long, artsy, and sometimes needless scenes. but i liked the feeling these scenes gave out. i get a sense of awe and wonder at the emptiness of space, the eerie atmosphere of the zero - grav scene, the haunting appearance of the jupiter ghost, the hypnotic (but cheesy) songs peter played, and even the fun, useless novelty of a pro - longed shark attack! it made the movie a sort of weird mash up of art, both high and crude. like an almost psychedelic gallery. perhaps my most favorite of scenes were the ones on jupiter itself. the gas and smoke was mystifying and the jupiter ghost was quite an interesting sight. the characters... really didn' t fare too well. especially the english - speaking ones. eiji honda, carlos, and peter were probably the only real interesting ones of the bunch. but obviously that' s because these characters recieved the most focus, and also the best acting, of the film. but thanks to the major impact of jupiter and its
ghost' s
final cries, i actually saw the planet as a nice character itself. so, no doubt, i felt a slight pull of emotion when it finally went away. note: movie characters don' t typically pull at my heart... the fact this was just a planet should really make this weird. but perhaps that' s what the developers were aiming for. my only major complaints about this film (on a mere personal view) was the horribly mind - numbing length of the whole thing and how downplayed the aliens and jupiter ghost were. i suppose the ghost did everything it needed to for the story, but it still felt... meager. now then, sorry for the post. but i needed to type this ...
when scientists discover that a black hole is approaching the solar system, earth' s only hope is to abandon the solarization project and instead send jupiter into the black hole. dr. honda must race to complete the new mission before time runs out !
[ 15 ]. shoemaker, greg.' daiei: a history of the greater japan motion picture company', originally published in japanese fantasy film journal, issue # 12, 1979, p. 15
dust _ pan wrote: i' d consider more of the long, mostly drawn out environmental shots, like the ships and jupiter, to me more artsy. the naked floating scene is definitley more wtf. it does become a very weird, surreal moment though .
i barely remember watching this four years ago... the only thing that really sticks out about the movie is the godzilla cameo and the zero gravity sex scene. definitely tells me i need to rewatch this film .
welcome to the lucid nightmare blog, where i' ll be discussing everything film related from horror, sci - fi, fantasy, foreign flicks, and all that is in between. i' ll be giving my opinions, reviews, and general tid bits from obscure to mainstream films and hopefully enlightening some people on some long lost gems that deserve to be seen by the masses. i' ll also be updating on my progress in the film industry as i tackle various film projects so you' ll be seeing tons of behind the scenes photos, videos, and trailers of the projects that are plaguing my mind. so everyone enjoy and prepare for the nightmare .
), and in an attempt to reconcile both commercial needs and artistic ambitions everything everybody wanted was left in the final cut of the film, which runs a grueling two hours and nineteen minutes (and feels even longer) .
it' s interesting to see the industry starting to have more confidence in larger budget productions. however, similar to hollywood' s over - reliance of previously existing properties (particularly comic books and graphic novels), these japanese releases are pinning their success on the nostalgia and loyal fandom generated by these old favourites. like hollywood, the japanese blockbuster – space operas or otherwise – exists in a holding pattern that eschews risk. as such, it may be a while before we see another warning from space, green slime or sayonara jupiter. some may argue that it' s no great loss, as these films have less than stellar reputations. but, as this journey has hopefully illustrated, our view of popular japanese visual culture wouldn' t be the same without them .
. though the film offers much that is new, special effects director koichi kawakita (in his first major assignment in that role) depressingly feels the need to clone the work of others simply because he finally has been given the hardware to do so .
paired up with tomokazu' s dr. eiji honda character, is actress diane dangley playing the role of maria basehart, a “jupiter church” cult member and former lover of the hero scientist. dangley does a great job as the conflicted terrorist, who' s caught between her love for a man from her past and the task of thwarting the exploitation of the planet jupiter. though the fundamentals of her character were questionable at best, you still feel a deal of sympathy for the situation that she finds herself in. the storied relationship that honda and herself share is an interesting thematic glue that holds this film in place for the most part. the movie enjoys metaphorically showing us the contrast between each faction of this conflict, and both dr. eiji honda and maria basehart are basically the spokespersons of their respective group, allowing us to approach this turbulent subject from more of an intimate angle. for that reason alone i would say that dangley does a respectable job with the material that she is given, and though you may not see eye to eye with her character' s motivations in bringing down the “jupiter solarization project”, you still are able to appreciate the internal struggle that she goes through and that' s always appreciated .
in 2240, the people of earth decide to turn jupiter into a sun. this will allow the human race to expand and explore more of the solar system and open up the opportunities for the whole race and take the pressure off the need for more energy as we move further out. while working out the final details for this enormous project, it is discovered that there may be lifeforms in the atmosphere of jupiter. how do we know this? because someone helpfully carved the details onto the surface of mars for us to read! so, while our heroes are digesting this information, a space probe with some of the cast onboard is destroyed by a rogue black hole. this black hole is on a collision course with our sun which will most likely destroy the inner solar system and us along with it. faced with this bleak future, the human race decides to push jupiter into the path of the black hole by detonating the gas giant and hopefully change the black hole’s course .
akihiko hirata' s role as inoue ryutarou in this film was the actor' s final role before he died later that same year. hirata was planned to appear in the return of godzilla as doctor hayashida, but was replaced by yosuke natsuki after his death .
however, maybe this was for the best. at the end of part 1 of this essay, it was suggested that this type of film had reached an impasse; at best regurgitating storylines from previous entries and, at worst, using stock footage to cheaply bulk up the running time by simply showing the same old effects sequences. for tokusatsu to survive, it was going to need to think outside the box, or rather, outside the japanese film industry, which had been stubbornly self - sufficient up until that point .
so if toho' s plan to capitalise on star wars was to rip off its own back catalogue, toei deemed it a far more logical strategy to rip off star wars itself. their film, message from space (uchu kara no messeji, 1978), not only borrows similar plot elements, settings and aesthetic choices (including the typeface design of the title), but also mimics the music cues from john williams' s iconic score for lucas' s film. it is, in every way, an unabashed copy .
, 1984) is an awkward blend of derivative if state - of - the - art visual effects and misguided efforts by the once dominant japanese film studio toho to fashion a hollywood - style blockbuster with broad international appeal. after the death of legendary effects pioneer eiji tsuburaya in 1970 and the near - collapse of the japanese film industry soon thereafter, toho produced a handful of mostly threadbare godzilla movies for children' s matinees before concentrating its efforts on high - concept, bigger - budgeted movies that it hoped would appeal to both a wide domestic market and international audiences .
for a single disc release, sayonara jupiter is packed with extra content. the star attraction here is a half hour
making of special
, covering mostly the special effects that went into the production. unfortunately, the video quality is a little iffy, as seen here, but the reason for this is because pioneer (the company in japan which put out the r2 dvd, and the same dvd discotek is using for their release), decided to transfer the original vhs tape of this
making of
special directly to dvd. as a matter of fact, the very beginning of the special starts off by saying toho video. so, what we are watching essentially is a copy of the original vhs cassette, which is kind of nostalgic in a way, but also makes one wish that the original source could have been found. the feature is still very informative and in depth on how a lot of the sequences were created, making for an excellent inclusion regardless .
first unit sequences are equally derivative or smack of box office concessions. the idea of a doomsday cult determined to destroy the solar system in order to save it is impressively prophetic. its pop star - turned - guru, peter (paul taiga), eerily resembles shoko asahara, the leader of the aum cult that created a nationwide panic after releasing sarin gas into tokyo' s subway system in 1995, and like asahara, peter deceptively denies playing any role in his followers' efforts to sabotage the jupiter project. unfortunately, the film' s producers saw in these scenes the chance to insert drippy commercial pop songs, to say nothing of a ludicrous sequence that, of all things, rips off
is an embarrassingly indulgent and self - serving essay by yuko weisser about her pals putting on an osaka stage production based on the film. as with the unfortunate books she co - authored with husband thomas weisser, the essay is rife with clumsy grammatical and factual errors. (she claims, for instance, that
tokusatsu cinema was in its death - throes throughout the 1970s. pioneering special effects director eiji tsuburaya had passed away in 1970, and ishiro honda retired from feature film directing in 1975 [ 8 ]. thus it' s easy to see why jun fukuda' s interplanetary adventure the war in space (wakusei daisenso: za uo in supesu, 1977) has been viewed as' toho' s last
hurrah
for their special effects department' [ 9 ]. sadly it does not represent the best of send - offs, as the film was rushed into production in the wake of a certain cinematic phenomenon happening in america: george lucas' s star wars (1977) .
bye - bye jupiter is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1. 85: 1, and is anamorphic for widescreen tvs. sadly, the video track has been heavily window boxed (a black border around the image). this will allow the dvd to play without a hitch on older sets, which sometimes crop the edges, but also causes for the video, from the perspective of newer sets, to be needlessly compressed .
in the 22nd century, scientists from an energy - depleted earth research new fuel sources in the far corners of the solar system, where they discover an ancient alien race from jupiter as well as the emergence of an apocalyptically dangerous black hole. koji hashimoto' s 1983 sci - fi adventure was conceived as a japanese competitor to the upcoming sequel to stanley kubrick' s classic 2001, titled 2010, and often mirrors the sequel' s plot .
, a 30 - minute, full - frame behind - the - scenes documentary apparently culled from a vhs source, as it retains toho video' s logo from the mid - 1980s. the show focuses almost entirely on the film' s technical aspects, but offers little in the way of interviews and mainly shows first unit and effects sequences being filmed .
now, just read that last paragraph back to yourself. because when i read that i thought “hot damn! this is the movie for me! ” but nothing could prepare me for this nor will it prepare you for it either. the film swings on angles from melodrama to crazy logic street in the blink of an eye. first of all, who the hell would bother blowing up jupiter? the logic presented is that we need the extra solar energy. but as a reservoir of raw materials to build and power humanity’s journey to the outer solar system, jupiter makes more sense as a gas giant. europa and io, with their supplies of water and molten rock and ore, would be destroyed in the event so there’s more material gone. next, there’s the problem of the lifeforms in the atmosphere of jupiter. would they really kill all that life for more energy? in any event, it doesn’t matter because once the world is threatened with black hole suckage (is that even a word ?), the earth federation gleefully throws the jovians under a bus. finally, the whole idea of a black hole travelling through the solar system and not hitting anything important until it smacks into the sun is such an insane idea, it beggars belief. did nobody read a book on quantum physics or mechanics back in the 70’s or 80’s? i understand not a lot was known about black holes back then but we knew enough that nothing escaped its grip. the mere distance of earth to a local black hole would be enough to draw us into its grip. look at it another way: if tomorrow the sun became a black hole, how long would it take before it sucked us in? yeah, there’s your answer .
the audio can be accompanied with, removable, english subtitles. the subtitles only appear for the non - english speaking parts in the film, though. for those interested in the pricey region 2 set, it' s worth mentioning that this release lacks the original 2. 0 audio track and the 5. 1 dts track of the movie that are located there .
at the start of the 1980s, producing large - scale films was still increasingly troublesome. even a filmmaker as senior and internationally recognised as akira kurosawa felt the pinch, requiring the help of george lucas and francis ford coppola to secure additional funding from 20th century fox to finish his period epic kagemusha (1980) when toho was unable to foot the bill on its own. kurosawa also resorted to shooting adverts for suntory whiskey on the set for extra finance / publicity as channels within the japanese film industry continued to dry up. kagemusha went on to win the palme d' or at the 1980 cannes film festival (a victory shared with bob fosse' s all that jazz (1979) ) and was a domestic hit. however, this success hardly reversed the downturn of the industry .
), in his last film - he died of cancer soon after this was released - japanese actor masumi okada has a small, english - speaking role while longtime toho star hisaya morishige turns up as the president of the earth federation, adorned in unconvincing white wig and flowing beard. besides morishige and miura, more famous at the time as the husband of momoe yamaguchi, there are no stars .
i mean, where to begin? after acolytes of the jupiter church are arrested for a crazed protest at minerva base (they smash a single computer over and over), honda recognizes one of them as the love of his life, maria (diane dangely) – who’s french, to keep with the multinational theme – and immediately grabs her by the hand and runs with her in slow - motion through the halls of the ship. when they reach his private cabin, they make zero - gravity love, moonraker - style. in an abstract sequence, they float naked through the cosmos, holding hands like superman and lois lane, while delivering background exposition that amounts to: they haven’t seen each other for years; he likes outer space; she doesn’t really care for it. within the blink of an eye, maria is back on earth along with the rest of her protest group, whose daily activities apparently consist of hanging out on a sunny beach, tanning, windsurfing, and smiling with glazed eyes at their leader and spiritual guide, the aforementioned peter, who has a pet dolphin named jupiter, and sings pop music about how wonderful the earth is. the beach scenes suggest a j - pop video directed by roger corman. an underwater camera captures a woman swimming topless, her breasts gliding slowly toward the camera, as though this is going to be that kind of movie. late in the film, a killer shark attacks poor jupiter, gorily mauling him to death. honda – on a rare visit to his home planet – attempts to recreate the climax of jaws by throwing explosives into the water and firing at them with a pistol. when the shark cannily dodges the explosions, honda plunges the boat’s propeller into its face and grinds it into pieces. returning to the beached and blood - drenched dolphin, honda looks at the bikini - clad girls and beach bums and asks optimistically, “is there a vet around? ”
likewise, the green slime wasn' t particularly well received when it finally reached u. s. theatres in the summer of 1969, especially in the aftermath of stanley kubrick' s 2001: a space odyssey (1968), which had been on release for a solid year before fukasaku' s film reared its bargain - basement head. the film was also dubbed into japanese (an interesting role reversal) and released in japan by the end of 1968. the japanese version is almost 20 minutes shorter than the u. s. cut, and is, unsurprisingly, a far more brisk affair. another major difference between the two versions is the theme music. the japanese cut utilises a big, brassy fanfare by toei composer toshiaki tsushima over its opening credits sequence, a portentous march that' s typically heard in tokusatsu movies. the u. s. version features a misplaced novelty psychedelic - rock number composed by charles fox, and sung by richard delvy, which certainly plays up the camper aspects of the production, and perhaps didn' t do the film any favours after space odyssey showcased the technical and artistic integrity the sub - genre was capable of. bizarrely, the song was released as a promotional single .
it is the year 2125. the earth’s population is 18 billion, and colonies throughout the solar system hold an additional five billion (the opening titles inform us). new sources of energy and sustenance are urgently pursued to sustain those vast numbers. on mars, the polar ice cap is detonated to melt free a new source of water; but it also reveals previously hidden markings on the planet’s surface, pictographs which suggest an ancient alien intelligence, a la chariots of the gods. a similar discovery is about to be made on jupiter. an operation known as the j. s. (“jupiter solarization”) project hopes to use a chain reaction of nuclear fusion to transform the planet into a sun, thus providing a source of energy for the outer colonies. but the planet hides a secret: something strange and mammoth hides deep within the gas giant, which transmits a mysterious signal when two officers, “chief investigator” eiji honda (tomokazu miura) and “intergalactic linguist” millicent willem (rachel huggett), fly their shuttle dangerously close to the alien object. meanwhile, a black hole begins to materialize near the planet, swallowing one of their vessels and threatening to consume earth within two years. a plan is hatched to “divert the path” of the black hole by slightly modifying the j. s. project – the planet will be exploded instead. when word of the new plan reaches the protest group called the jupiter church – led by a grinning, guitar - toting, dolphin - owning hippie named peter (paul tagawa) – they attempt sabotage with explosives and laser guns .
set in the year 2125, when space travel and colonization within the solar system is commonplace, dr. eiji honda (tomokazu miura) - the character apparently so named in honor both tsuburaya and director ishiro honda - is a scientist working on a project to transform jupiter into a
second sun ,
and thus provide energy for colonies established on the outer planets. plans for this are opposed by a radical religious cult (founded by a bearded former pop star), who repeatedly attempt to sabotage honda' s efforts aboard
sayonara jupiter ( さよならジュピター sayonara jiupitā , english release : bye bye jupiter ) is a 1984 japanese science fiction film directed by koji hashimoto and produced by toho . the script was adapted by pioneering science-fiction author sakyo komatsu from his novel of the same name . the special effects were directed by koichi kawakita . cast with a mix of actors speaking english , french and japanese , the film was conceived by toho as a rival to the forthcoming box office blockbuster hit 2010 . the two films bear comparison of plot elements . this was actor akihiko hirata 's final film role . he was set to star in the return of godzilla ( 1984 ) , but died of throat cancer before he was cast . in one scene , captain hoger kinn watches ghidorah , the three-headed monster , which featured a much younger akihiko hirata . 
sayonara jupiter (さよならジュピター sayonara jiupitā, english release: bye bye jupiter) is a 1984 japanese science fiction film directed by koji hashimoto and produced by toho. the script was adapted by pioneering science-fiction author sakyo komatsu from his novel of the same name. the special effects were directed by koichi kawakita. cast with a mix of actors speaking english, french and japanese, the film was conceived by toho as a rival to the forthcoming box office blockbuster hit 2010. the two films bear comparison of plot elements. this was actor akihiko hirata's final film role. he was set to star in the return of godzilla (1984), but died of throat cancer before he was cast. in one scene, captain hoger kinn watches ghidorah, the three-headed monster, which featured a much younger akihiko hirata.
sayonara jupiter (さよならジュピター sayonara jiupitā, english release: bye bye jupiter) is a 1984 japanese science fiction film directed by koji hashimoto and produced by toho. the script was adapted by pioneering science-fiction author sakyo komatsu from his novel of the same name. the special effects were directed by koichi kawakita. cast with a mix of actors speaking english, french and japanese, the film was conceived by toho as a rival to the forthcoming box office blockbuster hit 2010. the two films bear comparison of plot elements. this was actor akihiko hirata's final film role. he was set to star in the return of godzilla (1984), but died of throat cancer before he was cast. in one scene, captain hoger kinn watches ghidorah, the three-headed monster, which featured a much younger akihiko hirata.