Invasion of Astro-Monster
(1964 film)

Invasion of Astro-Monster is a 1965 tokusatsu kaiju film co-produced by Toho and UPA, and the sixth installment in the Godzilla series as well as the Showa series. The film was released to Japanese theaters on December 19, 1965.

The first Godzilla film to be a joint production between Toho and an American studio, Invasion of Astro-Monster picks up after the events of Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. When astronauts Kazuo Fuji and Glenn visit the newly-discovered Planet X, they encounter the planet's intelligent inhabitants: the Xiliens. The Xiliens are constantly under attack by King Ghidorah, who they know as "Monster Zero." The Controller of Planet X asks to "borrow" Godzilla and Rodan in the hope they can once again repel King Ghidorah. The people of Earth comply, but not all is as it seems when the Xiliens issue an ultimatum demanding Earth's surrender and threatening to unleash all three monsters on Earth under their mind control. Glenn and Fuji find themselves in a race against time to find a way to sever the Xiliens' control over the monsters before the Earth falls to the invaders from Planet X.

In the year 196X, the World Space Agency (WSA) has sent astronauts Glenn and Kazuo Fuji to investigate the newly-discovered Planet X located just beyond Jupiter. Back on Earth, Fuji's younger sister Haruno has become romantically involved with inventor Tetsuo Torii, who has just sold his invention, the Lady Guard alarm, to a toy company represented by a woman named Namikawa. Both hope that this successful sale will make Fuji warm up to Tetsuo, as he objects to his sister's relationship with him. Glenn and Fuji's spaceship, the P-1, finally arrives on Planet X. Fuji tells Glenn to stay with the ship while he plants the American and Japanese flags on a nearby hill. A violent lightning storm passes overhead, after which Fuji locates a set of footprints which are unmistakably human. He returns to the landing site but the P-1 and Glenn are nowhere to be found. A tubular elevator ascends to the surface, from which a voice emanates telling Fuji to enter the elevator quickly. Fuji asks who is speaking, and the voice says it is one of what Fuji would call "Xiliens." Fuji draws his gun, but a laser mounted on the elevator blasts it out of his hand. Fuji finally complies and enters the elevator. He is transported to an underground complex, and follows the light to a dark room where Glenn is seated. The two reunite, after which the room lights up and several men dressed in black bodysuits with black visors over their eyes enter. One of these Xiliens sits across from the two men and introduces himself as the Controller of Planet X. He tells the men they have urgent business to discuss, but is informed over a monitor that "Monster Zero" is attacking. The astronauts ask what Monster Zero is, to which the Controller replies that it is a horrible space monster which terrorizes their planet. He brings up a video feed showing the space monster, which the astronauts recognize as none other than King Ghidorah. The Controller states that Earthlings give names to all things, while the Xiliens give them numbers. The Controller is informed that a hydrogen oxide plant was damaged in Monster Zero's attack, and quickly turns off the universal translator before leaving the room and shutting off the lights. Fuji and Glenn find themselves trapped within a forcefield and unable to stand up. The Controller soon returns and apologizes. The astronauts ask if hydrogen oxide is water, to which the Controller replies that water is more precious than gold on Planet X. He then states his reason for bringing the men here. He is aware that Monster Zero attacked Earth before, but was driven off by the combined efforts of Monster Zero-One and Monster Zero-Two: Godzilla and Rodan. He asks that the Xiliens be allowed to "borrow" the monsters; in exchange they will provide humanity with the cure for cancer. They respond that they don't know where the monsters are, but the Controller responds by giving the exact locations of both monsters. He asks Glenn and Fuji to talk to their leaders and sends them on their way in the P-1.

The people of Earth are largely welcoming to the Xiliens' proposal, but Glenn and Fuji are uneasy about the Xiliens' true intentions. They meet Haruno and Tetsuo at a restaiurant, where Fuji again voices his disapproval of Tetsuo. Tetsuo protests that he sold his invention, but admits he hasn't been paid yet. Glenn gives Tetsuo some words of encouragement before leaving for a date. Fuji reaffirms his disapproval of his sister's relationship before leaving as well. Tetsuo looks out the window and sees Glenn leaving with his date, who happens to be Namikawa. He visits the World Education Corporation office to ask about his payment, but is turned away. Later, Glenn takes Fuji on a drive out by Lake Myojin. He tells him that he was staying in a lodge with Namikawa last night and swore he saw the Controller walk into the room and say "All preparations are complete." Namikawa supposedly did not see the Controller and only complained that Glenn was groaning all night. The two see the JSDF surrounding the lake and make their way there. The head of the platoon explains that there is activity in the lake. This is confirmed when the water begins to rise suddenly. Glenn at first assumes this to be Godzilla, but it is revealed to be an Xilien UFO, confirming the two men's suspicion that the Xiliens were already operating on Earth. By daybreak, the UFO has been joined by two others. One UFO finally lands on the beach before a crowd of spectators. From it emerges the Controller, who holds a meeting with several Earth officials, including Glenn, Fuji, and their superior from the WSA, Dr. Sakurai. The Controller thanks the humans for attending and apologizes for operating on Earth without their knowledge, but reiterates the urgency of their situation. The other UFOs seek out Godzilla and Rodan's locations and begin to levitate the sleeping monsters with a tractor beam. The Controller states that they will be able to transport the monsters all the way to Planet X like this, and requests that Glenn, Fuji, and Sakurai accompany them to oversee the operation. Before leaving, Glenn kisses Namikawa farewell, but she asks him not to go and stay with her. He promises he will be back and leaves aboard one of the UFOs. Tetsuo sees Namikawa drive off and decides to tail her. He arrives on an island and finds a lone house there. As he approaches the door, a trap door opens underneath him.

Aboard the UFO, Sakurai asks to see the control room, but the Controller responds that the ship is controlled from the very chamber in which they are seated. His brain waves, he explains, are fed into the computer which controls the ship. The Controller then says that they are traveling at one-tenth the speed of light, and that they hope one day to reach the speed of light. Once they arrive on Planet X, the two monsters are deposited on the surface while the others watch from the underground complex. A giant ray gun fires a beam at the two monsters which dissolves the tractor field around them. Godzilla and Rodan both awaken and are immediately attacked by King Ghidorah, who flies overhead and blasts them with his gravity beams. Godzilla and Rodan immediately join forces and fight back, with Godzilla tackling Ghidorah to the ground and forcing the space monster to retreat. The Controller happily remarks that for the first time they have beaten Monster Zero, but turns to see Glenn and Fuji are both gone. The two astronauts wander through the Xiliens' complex, but find themselves pursued. They jump on an elevator which takes them to a grotto on the surface. There they find plentiful deposits of gold, demonstrating the truth behind the Controller's statement that water is more precious than gold. Glenn sees a female Xilien who looks identical to Namikawa and approaches her. When she does not recognize him and backs away, Glenn is confused until he sees another identical female Xilien approach. The men are then surrounded by several armed Xiliens and taken back to the Controller. He asks why the men wandered off without permission, and they respond that they wanted to see more of the planet. He asks what they learned, and Fuji replies that water is more precious than gold. The Controller retorts that while that is the case, they can easily obtain water and are not in a drought. Glenn asks why all the women have the same face, and the Controller rhetorically asks if Glenn admires a beautiful face. Glenn responds that beauty is individual, but the Controller cuts him off and says he will not debate him. He tells both men that normally their law would punish them, but they will be allowed diplomatic immunity as guests. With Monster Zero fended off, the Controller presents the men with a tape he says contains the cure for cancer, then sends them back to Earth in a superior replica of the P-1 the Xiliens constructed based on data they obtained from the original. As the spaceship takes off, Glenn and Fuji see Godzilla and Rodan watching them from the surface. They ponder if perhaps it is wrong to leave the two behind before they depart.

Fuji, Glenn, and Sakurai return triumphantly to Earth and insert the tape into a player before an assembly. The tape takes some time to start playing, but when it does it is revealed as an ultimatum from the Controller demanding that the Earth surrender and become a colony of Planet X. Glenn and Fuji are not surprised by this revelation but are nonetheless very concerned. The Controller goes on to say that they now control both Godzilla and Rodan as well as King Ghidorah, and will unleash all three to destroy Earth's civilization if their demands are not met. The world erupts into chaos as humanity debates whether to comply or fight back against the overwhelming power of the Xiliens. Glenn meanwhile heads to the World Education Corporation office to confront Namikawa, who is wearing Xilien attire. He asks if their relationship was all part of her plan, but she responds that she was initially only supposed to observe Glenn but genuinely fell in love with him. She begs him to return to Planet X with her where they can be married, but Glenn responds that he won't stop fighting back against the Xiliens. Namikawa insists it is too late, but Glenn angrily responds that it isn't. He looks and sees several armed Xiliens now in the room, who hold Namikawa back. She breaks free and runs to Glenn, slipping a note into his pocket before the lead Xilien vaporizes her with his gun. Glenn is enraged at Namikawa's death, but the Xilien responds that any who disobey the computer's orders must be eliminated. Glenn is taken to a cell where he encounters Tetsuo. Glenn fruitlessly searches for an escape before finding the note Namikawa left in his pocket. The note says that if Glenn is reading this that she will have been killed for disobeying the computer, but concludes with vital information: the Xiliens are vulnerable to a certain sound. Tetsuo immediately realizes this must be the sound produced by his Lady Guard alarm, which is why Namikawa's company bought it. He activates the device which causes the Xilien guards to run to the cell screaming in agony. They manage to pull the key off one guard and escape the cell, throwing the guards inside in their place. Glenn and Tetsuo escape the facility on the island and make their way to a boat on the dock. The leader of the Xiliens' Earth base asks the Controller for help, and his UFO opens fire on the boat and destroys it. Fortunately, Glenn and Tetsuo foresaw this and jumped off the boat, then swim the rest of the way back.

As the countdown to the Xiliens' invasion winds down, Fuji is working on a way to possibly cut off the Xiliens' electromagnetic waves and sever their control over Godzilla and Rodan. Glenn and Tetsuo soon arrive and inform the others about the Xiliens' weakness. A plan is put in place to play the Lady Guard's sound over the radio en masse while using newly constructed A-Cycle Light Ray Guns to free Godzilla and Rodan from the aliens' control. As this plan is set in motion, the Xiliens' computer begins recalculating, prompting the Controller to start the invasion early. Godzilla and Rodan begin to rampage through Japan, with the JSDF unable to halt them. The Lady Guard's sound is broadcast over the airwaves, with a request for anyone listening to turn their volume as high as possible. The A-Cycle Light Ray Gun trucks are dispatched and begin opening fire at the monsters. Weakened by the sound, the Xiliens are helpless to stop the humans' counterattack. The JSDF begins bombarding the Xiliens' Earth base, who ask the Controller to help them. The Controller refuses, saying that they will all escape to the unknown future before pressing a button that causes all of the UFOs and the Earth base to self-destruct. Their mind control broken, Godzilla, Rodan, and King Ghidorah collapse to the ground. Godzilla awakens first and wakes up Rodan, then resumes their battle with King Ghidorah. Godzilla punches Ghidorah's heads rapidly while avoiding his gravity beams. Rodan grabs Godzilla and flies directly into King Ghidorah, causing all three kaiju to topple over a cliff and into the water below. After a few moments, King Ghidorah surfaces and promptly flies back into outer space. Haruno asks Tetsuo if Godzilla and Rodan have died, but he responds that he doesn't think so. Glenn and Fuji congratulate each other and are happy the ordeal is over, but Sakurai informs them that they will be undertaking a diplomatic mission to Planet X, much to their frustration.

U.S. release