History Film / TheMysterians

--> ''From behind the moon they came...''\\
''To invade Earth...''
--> ''Abduct its women...''
--> ''And level its cities!''

--> ~Tagline from the American theatrical poster and the back of the Media Blasters US DVD.

''The Mysterians'' (地球防衛軍, ''Chikyu Boeigun'', or ''Earth Defense Force'') is a 1957 alien invasion film from Creator/{{Toho}}, directed by Creator/IshiroHonda, with music by Music/AkiraIfukube, special effects by Creator/EijiTsuburaya, and was produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka. If these names sound familiar, that's because these four men are the four fathers of Godzilla and are collectively known as the Toho dream team. The film stars Kenji Sahara, Akihiko Hirata, Yumi Shirakawa, Momoko Kochi, Takashi Shimura, Susumu Fujita, Tetsu Nakamura, and Yoshio Tsuchiya.

''The Mysterians'' (地球防衛軍, ''Chikyu Boeigun'', or ''Earth Defense Force'') is a 1957 alien invasion film from Creator/{{Toho}}, directed by Creator/IshiroHonda, with music by Music/AkiraIfukube, special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, and was produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka. If these names sound familiar, that's because these four men are the four fathers of Godzilla and are collectively known as the Toho dream team. The film stars Kenji Sahara, Akihiko Hirata, Yumi Shirakawa, Momoko Kochi, Takashi Shimura, Susumu Fujita, Tetsu Nakamura, and Yoshio Tsuchiya.

''Chikyu Boeigun'', or ''Earth Defense Force''. Known in the US as ''The Mysterians''.

The Mysterians is a 1957 alien invasion film from Creator/{{Toho}}, directed by Creator/IshiroHonda, with music by Music/AkiraIfukube, special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, and was produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka. If these names sound familiar, that's because these four men are the four fathers of Godzilla and are collectively known as the Toho dream team. The film stars Kenji Sahara, Akihiko Hirata, Yumi Shirakawa, Momoko Kochi, Takashi Shimura, Susumu Fujita, Tetsu Nakamura, and Yoshio Tsuchiya.

* DuelingDubs: The film has been dubbed into English twice. Once in 1958 (theatrically exhibited in 1959 by MGM after RKO went bankrupt), and again in 2005 by Bang! Zoom for the Media Blasters DVD. To put it quite bluntly, the newer dub is essentially sacrilege, because the original dub was perhaps the most tasteful, unaltered English version of a Toho Sci-Fi film at that time, and they would've been better off finding usable elements of the RKO version instead. At least two decent 35mm prints are known to exist in the hands of private collectors. You can get a feel of just how dreadful the new dub is [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1cb1n9 here]].

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: While not billed as such, and certainly not when compared to collector's editions of other films, the US DVD from Media Blasters might as well be called it, since it has so many special features, including five audio tracks, one of which is a Japanese audio commentary with optional English subtitles, trailers, image galleries, and an anamorphic widescreen presentation of the film. Back when the DVD was released, seeing so many features on a US DVD of a Toho film was almost unheard of, with the exception of ADV's DVD releases of the Heisei ''Film/{{Gamera}}'' Trilogy.

--> ''From behind the moon they came...''
--> ''To invade Earth...''

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: While not billed as such, and certainly not when compared to collector's editions of other films, the US DVD from Media Blasters might as well be called it, since it has so many special features, including five audio tracks, one of which is a Japanese audio commentary with optional English subtitles, trailers, image galleries, and an anamorphic widescreen presentation of the film. Back when the DVD was released, seeing so many features on a US DVD of a Toho film was almost unheard of, with the exception of ADV's DVD releases of the Heisei ''Franchise/{{Gamera}}'' Trilogy.

* HumongousMecha[=/=]{{Robeast}}: Moguera.

* HumanAliens: The Mysterians.

* MarsNeedsWomen: Kinda the whole point of the invasion. Also played straight in that these Mysterians were originally colonists from Mars who settled there before the nuclear holocaust destroyed Mysteroid.
* {{Robeast}}: Moguera.

The Mysterians is a 1957 alien invasion film from Toho, directed by Ishiro Honda, with music by Akira Ifukube, special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, and was produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka. If these names sound familiar, that's because these four men are the four fathers of Godzilla and are collectively known as the Toho dream team. The film stars Kenji Sahara, Akihiko Hirata, Yumi Shirakawa, Momoko Kochi, Takashi Shimura, Susumu Fujita, Tetsu Nakamura, and Yoshio Tsuchiya.

* DuelingDubs: The film has been dubbed into English twice. Once in 1958 (theatrically exhibited in 1959 by MGM after RKO went bankrupt), and again in 2005 by Bang! Zoom for the Media Blasters DVD. To put it quite bluntly, the newer dub is essentially sacrilege, because the original dub was perhaps the most tasteful, unaltered English version of a Toho Sci-Fi film at that time, and they would've been better off finding usable elements of the RKO version instead. At least two decent 35mm prints are known to exist in the hands of private collectors.

* MarsNeedsWomen: Kinda the whole point of the invasion.

* DuelingDubs: The film has been dubbed into English twice. Once in 1958 (theatrically exhibited in 1959 by MGM after RKO went bankrupt), and again in 2005 by Bang! Zoom for the Media Blasters DVD. To put it quite bluntly, the newer dub is essentially sacrilege, and they would've been better off finding usable elements of the RKO version instead. At least two decent 35mm prints are known to exist in the hands of private collectors.

* AlienInvasion: Played with. At first, it certainly seems like an invasion, but then later the Mysterians explain that they only want a small piece of land to live on, as well as some women to marry, since their history of nuclear war has left them with some truly horiffic genetic problems. However, it soon becomes apparent during the later part of the movie that, OF COURSE, it is in fact an invasion.

Chikyu Boeigun, or Earth Defense Force. Known in the US as The Mysterians.

The Mysterians is the first tokusatsu film to be released in ''Toho Scope'' and was the first Toho film to use Perspecta stereophonic sound. The movie also introduced Moguera, who would later be featured in ''Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla''.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Ishiro Honda originally wanted to make the film without a giant monster, but Tomoyuki Tanaka insisted that there be one. Thus, the Moguera was born. Not that this is a bad thing, mind you.

* FaceHeelTurn: Ryoichi Shiraishi (played by Akihiko Hirata), sort of. He initially sides with the Mysterians because of their advanced technology and out of sympathy for their situation, not even disagreeing with their kidnapping of his own sister and his ex-fiancee. He even makes some private television appearances to his friends, attempting to get them to cooperate with the Mysterians. They only want a place to live...at first.
* GiantEqualsInvincible: Averted. The Moguera is practically immune to most weaponry, but being a machine, it still succombs to physical damage when it falls into a ravine, and the second Moguera is destroyed by the very Markalite FAHP that it was tunneling under when it falls ontop of it.

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: While not billed as such, and certainly not when compared to collector's editions of other films, the US DVD from Media Blasters might as well be called it, since it has so many special features, including five audio tracks, one of which is a Japanese audio commentary with optional English subtitles, trailers, image galleries, and an anamorphic widescreen presentation of the film. Back when the DVD was released, seeing so many features on a US DVD of a Toho film was almost unheard of, with the exception of ADV's DVD releases of the Heisei Gamera Trilogy.

* WeComeInPeace: Subverted. The Mysterians use this as a ploy, saying that they were attacked first, although this is blatantly untrue. They do manage to sway Shiraishi to their side with this ploy, but everyone else is unconvinced. Near the end of the film, the Mysterians drop the whole act and simply reveal their true intentions.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/G5499-f_7823.jpg]]