A decidedly minor Toho production, Yog: Monster from Space heralds the mediocre material that Godzilla and other big monsters would become in the uninspiring '70s. 

     Helios 7 is an unmanned probe sent to Jupiter to orbit the planet, and perhaps land on the surface (!).  As it nears its destination, however, it encounters a sparkling cloud which enters the ship and turns it around in its course, back toward Earth....

     On that small blue-green planet, a biological expedition is mounted to the island Selga, a cast of various characters: a reporter, a photographer (who believes he saw the Helios 7 return to crash in the area), scientists, and hangers-on of questionable motivation.  The search is for primitive animals, and they get it in spades when massive creatures begin to run wild.  

     These include a fifty-foot landwalking cuttlefish, giant crabs, and turtles, all grown to huge size and used as hosts by the alien lifeform brought back on the Helios 7 probe.  The natives say that the monster(s) is/are their god, unhappy with the outsiders.  Then the intelligence finds one of the humans receptive to its influence...

    Yog: Monster from Space is to cinema what styrofoam peanuts are to the universe-- they occupy space, and are inert.  That's pretty much it.  Yog isn't a particularly bad film, nor a particularly good one.  It is, and that's about it.  Until the alien consciousness decides to invade the human Obata, the story is bland and adrift.

     Things only start to get interesting when Obata is possessed by the alien intelligence...When the threat can be personified in an intelligent being, rather than in simple marauding creatures, it comes off much better.  Unfortunately, this does not take place until late into the film and by this point there's little redemption.

     The plot drags heavily, relying on sudden revelations from the lead scientist to get things moving again.  These come from so far out in left field that it makes you wonder if they came from another movie.  These sudden leaps, of course, turn out to be correct and lead our helpless humans to foil the plans of the alien Astro-Quasars.

     The final coup de grace that destroys the monsters (along with alien influence) is such a convenient, out-of-nowhere solution that it should leave you shouting at the screen with a hearty 'What the--?'. 

     Production values, sadly, are about equal to the least of the Godzilla movies.  The space scenes are adequate, but they're only the first few minutes of the film and after that it's mostly palm fronds and dirt.  The rubber monsters are, again, adequate, but there's not very much for them to do.  The genre was moving away from plot and premise and into endless monster stomping.

     The score is used to try to pump some interest into the scenes by being loud. It helps, but only a little (as if it's shouting "HEY, BE SCARED!").  

     If you've got a free Saturday afternoon and you want to do something other than clean the gutters, this film will do...

2 rocketships (out of five) 

PLUSES: If you're really into the kaiju eiga genre, this will help you kill 90 minutes without much pain.

MINUSES: It's adequate.  Not great, just adquate.