Villain(s)  Energy aliens

Actor(s):  Tony Russel, Lisa Gastoni, Franco Nero, Charles Justin

Brief Description  War of the Planets (originally titled I Diafanoidi Vengono da Marte / The Diaphanoids Come from Mars) is a 1965 Italian science fiction film directed by Antonio Margheriti (using his frequent English pseudonym, Anthony M. Dawson). It is the second entry in Margheriti’s famous Gamma One space opera tetralogy. The film is celebrated for its campy, colorful "Swinging Sixties" aesthetic, featuring high-volume futuristic hair, retro space suits, and practical analog miniature special effects.

Plot:
The film is set in the distant future on New Year's Eve. The crew of the United Democracies Space Command aboard the orbiting space station Gamma 1 (referred to in some cuts as Alpha Two) is celebrating with a massive, bizarre zero-gravity party. Astronauts perform synchronized floating acrobatics outside the station to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne". The celebration is abruptly cut short by a distress signal from a neighboring station, Delta 2. The station has been assaulted by the Diaphanoids, an extraterrestrial Martian race consisting of pure, bodiless light and glowing green smoke. Upon invading, the green mist leaves the human crew frozen in place like lifeless, green-tinged mannequins. The Diaphanoids are an aggressive collective consciousness. They seek to take over the Earth by "hosting"—mind-controlling and possessing human bodies to turn them into mindless, telepathic slaves.

They possess Earth's Captain Dubois, using him as a puppet to orchestrate acts of mass sabotage. Commander Mike Halstead takes a small rescue team—including his communications officer girlfriend Connie and his hot-headed lieutenant buddy Jake—to Delta 2 to investigate. When a group of Diaphanoids are captured and brought to Earth for observation, they telepathically brainwash their guards to secure an escape. Realizing that diplomatic peace with an incorporeal collective hive mind is impossible, Commander Halstead and his crew must wage an ultimate space battle to destroy the alien threat at its source and save humanity. Features moving sidewalks, miniature toy rocket ships on visible strings, and glass-domed cars modeled directly after The Jetsons. The alien energy beings are famously simulated using simple flashing studio lights and heavy waves of dry ice smoke.