From Japan

 

 (imdb)

FUGITIVE ALIEN-1978- Alien Ken (Tatsuya Azuma) is on the run from his home planet because he wouldn't kill a human child. On Earth he has super abilities and is kind of forced to join a special space force unit headed by Captain Joe (Jo Shishido; BRANDED TO KILL (1967)), whose wife and child were killed by Ken's race. A pasty-faced alien leader sends Ken's lover to kill him because Ken killed her brother (he was going to kill the kid Ken wouldn't). It's several episodes of the Japanese TV show "Space Wolf" which in turn was an adaptation of a novel by American author Edmund Hamilton. There was also a FUGITIVE ALIEN 2.

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Mighty Jack

 

 (imdb)

MIGHTY JACK-1968-In Japan Mighty Jack was a 13-part TV show co-created by sfx guru Eiji Tsuburaya. American producer Sandy Howard got a hold of 2 episodes (1 & 6) and edited them together to create this feature film. 

It features a group of government agents called Mighty Jack and their atomic submarine also called Mighty Jack. Their main enemy is the villainous organization called Q. In the first half MJ rescues the mysterious Mr. Atari who was kidnapped in France. He becomes their new leader. In the second part, MJ investigates the creation of "hot ice" from a scientist's stolen papers. The protagonists are the scientist's German son and star reporter. I'm sure the original was entertaining enough but this version is a mess. 

Star Kenji Sahara was in the original Godzilla and several sequels and other series like Ultraman. This is also the only directorial effort from Kazuo Sagawa who did sfx for other movies.

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Ape Time!

 

 (imdb)

TIME OF THE APES-1987-Scientist Catherine (Reiko Tukunaga) and 2 children Johnny (Masaaki Kaji) and Caroline (Hiroko Saito) are transported to a future where apes rule the world. "I don't want to be killed by a monkey!", screams one kid.They are chased by some militaristic apes but with the help of a little monkey kid Pepe (Kasue Takita) they escape into the mysterious Green Mountain. Later they meet Godo (Tetsuya Usiho), a surviving human. It turns out the ape leader is really a nice guy and they were only treated badly by a militaristic uprising. 

This was actually a 26 episode Japanese TV (1974-75) series edited into one film by Sandy Frank. Despite the sub-par make-up, bad dubbing and low budget the ending is rather poignant (not unusual actually for a movie from Japan). Oddly, it was the last work by the two credited directors Kiyosumi Fukasawa and Atsushi Okunaka.

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Clone-Zilla

 

AGON THE ATOMIC DRAGON-A giant dyno-lizard terrorizes the coast of Japan, stomping trees, buildings, an atomic reactor and a lighthouse. It's attracted to uranium. A reporter (Shinji Hirota), a government agent (Asao Matsumoto), a scientist (Nobuhiko Shima) and his female assistant (Akemi Sawa) try to stop it. This four part Japanese TV series was shot in black and white but tinted in sepia given it a very odd quality. It's a pretty cheap production but with much more than a passing resemblance to Godzilla. At one point Toho prevented it from being shown but later relented.

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