is a 1958 Japanese tokusatsu superhero television series created by Masaru Igami and produced by Senkosha, the series aired on NTV from November 4, 1958 to October 6, 1959, with a total of 49 episodes (comprising four separate adventures). It was created to capitalize on the success of Shintoho's Super Giant (Starman) movie series. In fact, the title hero (whose alter-ego was Waku-san, played by Toshio Mimura) bore a strong resemblance to Super Giant (known as "Starman" in the U.S.). The pair of Planet Prince theatrical featurettes, adapted from the Senkosha TV series, were produced by Toei Studios and filmed in black and white ToeiScope format.

Cast

(Americanized names in parentheses)

  • Planet Prince/Waku-san (Prince of Space/Wally) - Tatsuo Umemiya
  • Ambassador Phantom (Ambassador Dictator Phantom) - Joji Oka
  • Sachiko (Susie) - Hiroko Mine
  • Dr. Maki (Dr. Macken) - Ushio Akashi
  • Ichiro (Johnny) - Akira Asami
  • Makoto (Mickey) - Koji Komori
  • Kimiko (Kimmy) - Midori Tsuzuki
  • Inspector Takeda - Takashi Kanda
  • Sawamoto (Dr. Sangamon) - Akira Tatematsu
  • Shibasaki - Masahiko Naruse
  • Mukai - Ken Sudo
  • Newsreporter Tabei (Mr. Tannen) - Ken Hasebe
  • Newsreporter Tono (Jerry the Reporter) - Giichi Sugi
  • Sakai - Koji Sahara
  • Tsunoda - Tokio Kozuka
  • Keichi Kawajima (Inspector) - Rin'ichi Yamamoto
  • Dr. Naito - Hiroshi Katayama
  • Newspaper reporter - Yuji Kitamine
  • Phantom's henchmen - Riki Iwaki, Kenji Todoroki, Hiroshi Mihara, Nobuo Yana
  • Dr. Tateishi (Dr. Fletcher) - Shusuke Sone
  • Mrs. Tateishi - Kaoru Nakano
  • Commander Koda - Akikane Sawa
  • Secretary of Defense Fukuhara - Shiko Saito
  • Captain Munakata - Tadashi Minamikawa
  • Colonel Matsuda - Junkichi Orimoto
  • Colonel Watanabe - Junji Masuda
  • The Guardian - Rinichi Yamamoto
  • Kidnapped American scientist (Dr. Cohen) - Osman Yusuf (uncredited)

Production credits

  • Planning - Sanehiko Okada
  • Director - Eijiro Wakabayashi
  • Producer - Sanehiko Sonoda
  • Screenplay - Shin Morita
  • Original Story - Masaru Igami
  • Music - Hirooki Ogawa (stock music; uncredited), Katsuhisa Hattori
  • Director of Photography - Masahiko Iimura
  • Lighting - Kenzo Ginya
  • Art Director - Shuichiro Nakamura
  • Recording - Shozo Hirokami
  • Film Editor - Yoshiki Nagasawa
  • Director of Special Effects - Shozo Horai
  • Assistant Director - Hajime Sato
  • Production Assistant - Takeshi Nishii

Theme Song – "Planet Prince Song"

  • Vocals - Kamitakada Junior Chorus
  • Lyrics - Masaru Igami
  • Composer - Katsuhisa Hattori

Reboot

In 2021, Minoru Kawasaki directed a feature film reboot of the series, Planet Prince 2021.

References

  • Prince of Space Movie Poster by Alexander Leon of Alxlen.com
  • on Cinema Insomnia

Mystery Science Theater 3000

  • Episode guide: 816- Prince of Space