Planet Prince

is a 1958 Japanese tokusatsu superhero television series created by Masaru Igami and produced by Senkosha, the series aired on NTV from November 4, 1958 to October 6, 1959, with a total of 49 episodes (comprising four separate adventures). It was created to capitalize on the success of Shintoho's Super Giant (Starman) movie series. In fact, the title hero (whose alter-ego was Waku-san, played by Toshio Mimura) bore a strong resemblance to Super Giant (known as "Starman" in the U.S.). The pair of Planet Prince theatrical featurettes, adapted from the Senkosha TV series, were produced by Toei Studios and filmed in black and white ToeiScope format.

Toei produced two theatrical movies in 1959 that featured the Planet Prince character, but wearing a completely different, more streamlined costume (and goggled helmet) than the one worn in the tv series. The hero in these two movies was played by Tatsuo Umemiya. The movies were released a week apart. The films were titled:

* Released: May 19, 1959
* Released: May 25, 1959

For TV release in America, these two Planet Prince movies were compiled into a 95-minute, English-dubbed movie entitled ''Prince of Space'' in 1962. It was also called The Star Prince, Planet Prince, or Prince Planet.

Production

The TV version looks very similar to Super Giant (Starman), in that both wear cowled costumes and capes. Each character also has superpowers and flies. The two-part movie version (produced by Toei) is very different, as Prince of Space wears a more streamlined costume, cape, and helmet with goggles. In the edited US version, he has no superpowers other than the invulnerability of his costume, but in a subplot unique to the Japanese version he is able to revert a man who was brainwashed by the Ginsei aliens back to a peaceful state. In the films, he uses a wand-like laser gun and flies a small spaceship.

In the TV version, just like Moonlight Mask, the Planet Prince persona was listed in the credits as being played by "?" (even though the character never wore a mask to conceal his face).

In the film, Prince's enemy is called Ambassador Phantom of the Silver Planet (銀星のまぼろし大使) (this villain also appeared in one of the tv series' story arcs), while in the English-language version, the villain is called Dictator Phantom of the Planet Krankor. He (along with his henchmen) wears a large prosthetic nose and cowl that give him a decidedly chicken-like appearance, something that was constantly mocked when the film was featured on ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''. Dictator Phantom and his henchmen also don't appear to wear undergarments, as is made painfully obvious in several shots.

A translation error in the English language dub has Prince of Space declare "Your weapons are useless against me!", implying he is invulnerable to them. In the Japanese version, this line simply had him implying that their weapons were ineffective because he was capable of ''dodging'' them. The English line leads to confusion as the Prince is constantly shown running away from the lasers in spite of his stated invulnerability.

''Prince of Space'' was also featured on the nationally syndicated television series ''Cinema Insomnia''. On the show, there is a commercial for the album ''Candles, Krankor and You'' where the Dictator Phantom sings various cover songs such as " Unforgettable" and " Summer Wind".

Cast

(Americanized names in parentheses)

* Planet Prince/Waku-san (Prince of Space/Wally) - Tatsuo Umemiya
* Ambassador Phantom (Ambassador Dictator Phantom) - Joji Oka
* Sachiko (Susie) - Hiroko Mine
* Dr. Maki (Dr. Macken) - Ushio Akashi
* Ichiro (Johnnie) - Akira Asami
* Makoto (Mickey) - Koji Komori
* Kimiko (Kimmy) - Midori Tsuzuki
* Inspector Takeda (Commissioner) - Takashi Kanda
* Sawamoto (Dr. Sangamon) - Akira Tatematsu
* Shibasaki - Masahiko Naruse
* Mukai - Ken Sudo
* Newsreporter Tabei - Ken Hasebe
* Newsreporter Tono - Giichi Sugi
* Sakai - Koji Sahara
* Tsunoda - Tokio Kozuka
* Keichi Kawajima (Inspector) - Rin'ichi Yamamoto
* Dr. Naito - Hiroshi Katayama
* Newspaper reporter - Yuji Kitamine
* Phantom's henchmen - Riki Iwaki, Kenji Todoroki, Hiroshi Mihara, Nobuo Yana
* Dr. Tateishi (Dr. Fletcher) - Shusuke Sone
* Mrs. Tateishi - Kaoru Nakano
* Commander Koda - Akikane Sawa
* Secretary of Defense Fukuhara - Shiko Saito
* Major Munakata - Tadashi Minamikawa
* Colonel Matsuda - Junkichi Orimoto
* Colonel Watanabe - Junji Masuda
* The Guardian - Rinichi Yamamoto

Production credits

* Planning - Sanehiko Okada
* Director - Eijiro Wakabayashi
* Producer - Sanehiko Sonoda
* Screenplay - Shin Morita
* Original Story - Masaru Igami
* Music - Hirooki Ogawa (stock music; uncredited), Katsuhisa Hattori
* Director of Photography - Masahiko Iimura
* Lighting - Kenzo Ginya
* Art Director - Shuichiro Nakamura
* Recording - Shozo Hirokami
* Film Editor - Yoshiki Nagasawa
* Director of Special Effects - Shozo Horai
* Assistant Director - Hajime Sato
* Production Assistant - Takeshi Nishii
Theme Song – "Planet Prince Song"
* Vocals - Kamitakada Junior Chorus
* Lyrics - Masaru Igami
* Composer - Katsuhisa Hattori

Reboot

References

External links

*

Prince of Space Movie Poster
by Alexander Leon o
Alxlen.com
* on ''Cinema Insomnia''

Mystery Science Theater 3000

* {{IMDb title, id=0655439, title="Mystery Science Theater 3000" Prince of Space (TV episode 1997)

Episode guide: 816- Prince of Space

Toei tokusatsu films
Tokusatsu television series
1959 films
1950s science fiction films
Japanese superhero films
1950s superhero films
1950s Japanese films
Films scored by Katsuhisa Hattori