Synopsis:

The War of the Planets was directed by Antonio Margheriti (Cannibal Apocalypse), a versatile Italian filmmaker who work spans just about very genre of cinema. The screenplay for The War of the Planets was co-written by Ivan Reiner (The Green Slime). The cinematographer on The War of the Planets was Riccardo Pallottini, a frequent collaborator of Antonio Margheriti’s. Some of their more notable collaborations include The Virgin of Nuremberg, Castle of Blood and The Long Hair of Death. The War of the Planets groovy score was composed by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino (Beatrice Cenci). The War of the Planets is the second film in a Quadrilogy films. The other films are as follows Wild, Wild Planet, War Between the Planets and The Snow Devils.

All the main cast and crew return for this sequel. And just like its predecessor this film is also an impoverished production. The first budgetary cut back that leaps out is how this time around the main villain is disembodied entity that either appears as a glowing gas like substances or it takes control of humans by entering their bodies. Many of the same things that plagued Wild, Wild Planet have not been rectified for this film. Like a slow moving plot, unlikable characters that are devoid of charisma and crudely executed FX.

Once again the visuals do a great job making this production look more impressive than it really is. Another area where this film kind of works is its mind numbing dialog that is unintentionally funny, “He’s gone Galaxy!”, ” You space idiot, you!”. When all is said and done, The War of the Planets is yet another casualty in a long of sequels that fail to live up to its predecessor.

The DVD:

This Burn on demand DVDR from Warner Archive presents The War of the Planets in an anamorphic widescreen that retains the film’s original aspect ratio. This is another strong transfer from Warner Archive that is on par with their transfer for Wild, Wild Planet.

This release comes with one audio option, a Dolby Digital mono mix in English. The audio sounds clean, clear and consistent throughout.

This release comes with a static menu that offers only one option play the film. To navigate chapters you have to manually go forward or backwards via your remote control. There is no extra content. Overall The War of the Planets gets a very good audio / video presentation from Warner Archive.