User reviews

Now of course, Message From Space is a Star Wars rip-off, but the Japanese have been doing space operas for a very long time anyway. But still, there are some direct steals from Star Wars, but hey isn't that part of the fun?

This isn't quite as enjoyable as Starcrash as far as bad Star Wars rip-offs, but it's still a blast. Everyone is over the top, except for Vic Morrow, who pretty much sleepwalks through the entire thing and acts as if someone has a gun to his head the whole time, forcing him to appear in this flick. The FX are interesting and fun to watch, and as bad as they are, I'd still rather see these FX than today's crappy computer-generated cartoons.

The TIE-Fighter type enemy ships are cool, especially the way they fire their lasers, and so is the rip-off of the Star Wars trench battle scene. Notice in this scene near the end, in the trench, the ships fly down trenches that actually curve away, so the FX people wouldn't have to worry about making "distance" shots appear realistic as in the Star Wars trench sequence.

This definitely has "Japanese B-flick" all over it, and you gotta figure a DVD release would be a decent seller (as far as these kind of films go). This film proves that the only thing as enjoyable as a decent Star Wars rip-off, is a bad one!

This certainly isn't a masterpiece, however it's something that shouldn't be overlooked. It's Japan's attempt to make Star Wars and is a complete failure. That doesn't mean it's terrible. It's history. These types of movies are so cool to look back on and watch. We shouldn't forget or overlook them.

This movie was ready for release in Japan when Star Wars was released.

If this film "rips off" anything, it's "The Seven Samurai".

And, since Star Wars is a blatant "rip off" of two or three Japanese films - mostly Kurosawa's "Hidden Fortress", but also somewhat his "Yojimbo" - and took other major action bits - the attack on the Death Star, for instance - from English World War 2 films, accusing *anything* of being "a STAR WARS ripoff" simply shows how little the accuser knows of film history.

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So, ah, imagine "Star Wars," only with as much Japanese-brand weirdness as is at all possible, dubbed by chimps and involving not only the wackiest costumes I've ever seen but magic, glowing walnuts. I don't have to tell you this is the best movie ever made. There's a witty robot, a wormy guy in a glittery jacket and very orange shirt, two guys in disco spacesuits, a plucky girl, some people who wear leaf-wreaths and lucky Vic Morrow in a kind of Captain Harlock get-up. The bad guys seem to be the children of Stormtroopers and the Wicked Witch of the West's soldiers. Oh... and there's a scene where the protagonists swim around on ropes catching SPACE FIREFLIES. In all sincerity, "Uchuu Kara no Message" is more fun than a barrel full of magic walnuts. If you're into that, I mean.

Ahhh.. Message From Space. This was, as you probably read in previous comments, a grab at Star Wars from Japan. Sonny Chiba plays the main character of Hans. Chiba has a multitude of films under his belt as well as a very large following. The film is pure eye candy for any child despite its weak overall attempts at working out plot, characters, etc.. I actually like this movie. I enjoyed the fumbling Vic Morrow despite his intoxicated performance. I thought the special effects & props were creative. You see, the problem with any scifi film released in 1978 is that it will be compared to Star Wars. Star Wars set something as far as expectations, and anything else is considered a ripoff & a cheap one at that. The effects are retarded compared to Lucas & Co. But good for a saturday afternoon type movie. As a child this had a massive look to it and it was fast paced. The ships were actual sailing vessels in space, lots of good ideas but even with a date of 1978 there is no real excuse for how corny it ended up. Yes, & the walnuts.. Hard to believe. A not so typical 1978 type space saga with one step below the effects of the Flash Gordon movie. 5/10

Where do I begin. I saw this film, in a theater, when I was 7 years old. It was fresh on the heels of a number of Star Wars rip-offs (i.e. 'Battle Beyond The Stars', etc.) This one, however was different. I hated it when I was a child, but I have grown to love it, in a screwed up Ed Wood kind-of-way. It is a terrible film, but it's so terrible, that it is legendary. Sailboats in space. Villains that make Power Rangers look like Academy Award material. Glowing acorns. Planets with rocket boosters on them. Plot holes you could ride an elephant through. Vic Morrow? Sonny Chiba? You could write a doctoral thesis about what's wrong with this movie, but why? Perhaps the most endearing quality of this film, aside from the raging fires in the vacuum of space, is the fact that a game company bought the rights to use some of the dogfight sequences in a very early laser disc arcade game, which I played at a waterslide park in Utah 1982. Believe it or not, this movie was a TV show in Japan, although it did not last long. Seriously, if you love really bad movies, this is the arc of the covenant.

At nearly half the budget of Star Wars - $6 to $7 million dollars - Message from Space was the most expensive movie in Japanese history up until 1980. At the time, it was routinely panned by the critics. Yet watching it nearly 40 years later, I was struck by just how ambitious, fun and strange it is. Jillucia was once a planet of peace, but that was before the Gavanas Empire turned it into one of their military bases. Kido, one of the planet's leaders, sends eight Liabe seeds into space to find soldiers strong enough to liberate the planet from the steel grip - and faces - of the Gavanas. Princess Emeralida (Etsuko Shiomi, Sister Street Fighter) and Urocco follow them into space in a space galleon. We meet some space racers - Shiro (Hiroyuki Sanada, Shingen from The Wolverine) and Aaron - and a spoiled rich kid named Meia who are chasing one another through some asteroids. These guys mess up the Kessel Run and wreck, but then find some Laibe seeds in their ships. General Garuda (the name means phoenix and the role is played by Vic Morrow, who graced the screen in films like 1990: The Bronx Warriors and Humanoids from the Deep before dying while making Twilight Zone: The Movie) is a drinking man, embittered by the loss of Beba-1, his robot. He orders that a rocket send the body of his faithful companion into space, which gets him in trouble with his superiors, who see it as a waste. This leads him to retire and take up a bar stool on Milazeria, where he also finds a Liabe seed. In that very same bar, Jack puts the pressure on Shiro and Aaron to repay their debts, as he himself owes the gangster Big Sam (no relation to Jabba) plenty of dough. Oh - he also finds a seed. To get the cash, they agree to take Meia to a forbidden zone where she can watch fireflies. On the way, the Gavanas attack, destroying the space galleon and a police ship. All of our heroes battle, but when the seeds - and Garuda, who is sleeping off his drinking - reveal themselves, Emeralida explains that the seeds have chosen them to liberate her planet. Garuda responds by leaving in a huff, but Beba-2 promises to get him to change his mind. There's supposedly a Chris Isaak cameo as a gambler in the bar scenes, way before he became famous.

Vic morrow appearing with Japanese professional wrestler Thunder Sugiyama should give you an idea about the craziness of this movie.

Residents of planet Jirusia who are losing a war against the invading forces of Gavanas sends a princess, and 8 glowing balls to earth, to seek for help.

If you've seen "The Legend of the eight samurai", you'll notice that eight glowing balls idea is strait out of that movie.

Kinji Fukasaku always brings cheap, and crazy atmosphere to his movies. This one is no exception. I have no idea why he's considered a great director in his country. He's one of the worst director I know who's movie is guaranteed to look cheezy, and schizophrenic. His son is even worse director.

The movie is like amalgamation of Star Wars and the Legend of Eight Samurai, done in worst possible way. Actors are pretty good, but their talents are wasted on this movie.

I guess the international casts were put in place so the movie has appeal for audiences in both Japan and USA, but instead they succeeded in making a movie that has appeal maybe only to little children.

"Battlestar Galactica" (1978), "Star Trek"( television series) and about fifteen others--I quit counting after half an hour (film is 107 minutes long).

The plot; The planet of Jelusia has been taken over and ruined by the evil Gavannas. The leader of what is left of Jelusians scatters eight magic seeds to the wind and tells his granddaughter that she must go where the seeds go; together she and the people the seeds choose to find them will save the planet. She then sails off into the night--on a motorized schooner.

Film relentlessly copies scenes and characters from Star Wars and any other film it can fit in. There is a supposed-to-be-cute little robot that is called Beba, instead of R2D2; a Bad copy of C3PO that's in one scene, then vanishes; the heroine wears a gown that looks like one Princess Leia rejected; a scene in a intergalactic bar where we meet the hero (Vic Morrow). The main villain even tries to copy the voice of Darth Vader (the attempt is a flop). There are often repeated shots of the underside of the evil battleship from Star Wars or maybe Battlestar Galactica. One of the characters actually says to the heroine "I'll get you, my pretty!" There is talk of "chicken runs" about racing.

The special effects are wildly inconsistent, varying from poverty row looking to impressive. The color scheme is brighter than in a Hammer horror film. Things go boom, explode, swords shoot lasers, with amusing regularity--anytime the good guys are in trouble, which is most of the time.

One character mutters "This is ridiculous". Perfect description of the film. I give it a 7/10 on a "So Bad It's Good" scale.

I keep a list of my picks for worst movies ever, arranged by year. Until I watched this slipshod hunk of insanity, Laserblast was my entry for 1978. It has now been deleted. That is all.

What's that? I still have to fill ten lines? Okay. Message from Space is one of those movies that epitomizes the astonishment that washes over you as you're staring at a bad movie like a deer caught in headlights, thoughts bursting: This was made by humans who possess the same mental faculties as me? Money was spent on this? Okay, not a lot, but it must have cost something to turn that mall or office building in a spaceship interior... right? Mystic walnuts that seek out eight heroes, inexplicably? Would that have even been a credible story element pre-cinema, centuries ago? You still would have been laughed out of the campfire fairytale gathering. Vic Morrow looks like he's wondering if he can stand up, shake his head and walk off the set, cursing, at any given moment. Is the dialogue this ridiculous in the original Japanese translation? Wow, look at all of the craftsmanship that went into the spaceship designs. The designers and model makers must have really (and probably still do) hate the IDIOT DIRECTOR AND CINEMATOGRAPHER.

Everyone knows Message From Space as a Japanese response to Star Wars but i must say there are not to much similarities, of course this movie is total cheese, but if you love spacey movies from the end of 70's and want to laugh hard this movie is for you. I was surprised to see that this movie is directed by legendary Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku who is more known for his Yakuza and gangster movies, in my opinion he is to this days one of the best Japanese directors. Believe it or not this was the most expensive movie in history of Japanese cinema in that time, now everything looks so funny, from costumes, special effects but there is something in that, some nostalgia. How not to love evil aliens with corpse paint in samurai outfit, or hippy music from the 60's in the bar, i found some similarities wtih other Fukasaku's movie "Street Mobster", that shaky camera, and many fighting and punching scenes, this is so funny, and yes i am founding this movie to be very surreal or feeling like you are on LSD, total madness. In my opinion better to watch this than "Battle Beyond Stars" it is more fun, imagine and action. i Gave it 6/10.

I've checked it out at least 3 other times that it was on a pay channel and definitely think it should rank as the worse. This was one of the few movies I walked out of in the middle. The clincher was when a four year old child in back of me told his parents after a particularly dumb scene, "Boy, is that stupid!" Later, I read Vincent Canby's review, who commented that, "It's rare to see a movie that you swear cost less to produce than the price of your admission ticket." Definitely one of the worse put-downs I've ever read or heard from a movie critic. One of which I heartily agree. Yet, don't take my word for it; for those of you, and I'm not one, who relish this sort of thing, see it for yourself

I first saw this movie when I was 8 and it just gets better every year. Sure, it's a Star Wars ripoff, but so what? Message From Space has better swordfights and Vic Morrow in a funny hat. Plus Sonny Chiba kills a lot of silver-skinned aliens, Peggy Lee Brennan demonstrates that in the future, people will still have Long Island accents. There aren't two minutes of this film that aren't filled with laser gunfights, spaceships, monsters, explosions, giant holograms, or major satellite destruction, and the original script is by Shotaro Ishinomori, who is Japan's #2 all-time manga genius. In short, this movie rocks. Somebody get off your butt and give me my DVD release!!!

An invaded nation with nothing to lose sends out their princess looking for the eight that would help them in their quest to defeat their conquerors.

There were a lot of unnecessary scenes that made no sense. The characters were all over the place that I couldn't take it seriously to root for them. I watched the English version so couldn't really appreciate the Japanese cast especially Chiba, Hanada and Shihomi. Watch out for the familiar John Williams tune any time the seeds are present.

I liked it but couldn't give justice to a higher rating. It is a fun movie in where a lot of references to Star Wars albeit fell short on proving it has more to give. It perfectly reminded me of those Sentai shows I grew up watching.

This is one of those jaw dropping bad films that is absolutely hilarious! I had no idea what was happening for a lot of this film(!) but the main story has a planet being taken over by the Gavanas which are nothing more than Clingons. And they send out 8 plastic walnuts to locate the chosen ones that will come and save them. Somehow a good actor like Vic Morrow ended up in this film and the rest are unknowns. At least in America they're unknowns. What can you say? Its a blatant Japanese rip-off of "Star Wars". Why is it that Japan can produce some wonderful and intricate gadgets but just have no clue how to produce decent special effects for films? Vic Morrow has a little robot as a sidekick that says lines like "Hot Dog, Master"! and "Only hurt when laugh" and when Morrow discovers a plastic walnut in his glass of booze he mutters, "I've been selected as a chosen one" which makes his robot react with "Hooray"! There is bright colors used throughout the film and the color red is very prominent. One of the flying ships in the film is just a big boat with sails! In another silly scene Morrow shows up to talk to the head of the Gavanas wearing a Napolean like outfit and challenges one the warriors to a duel! The scene is pointless. The special effects are so cheap and low budget that the monster movies like "Mothra" look like Spielberg made them. These are so terrible that every wire can be seen and every type of ship is a bad plastic model. The sets look like it was made by third grade stage producers. Cheap paint looking very colorful is everywhere. The costumes are everything from Samurai outfits to spandex space outfits and one leading Japanese character looks like a geisha. If Sid and Marty Krofft took acid and got drunk at the same time this is what they might have produced. Peggy Lee Brennan is cute and spunky and I remember her episode of "MASH" and she was fun to watch in this film but when she is flying the space ship and sticks her tongue out of the corner of her mouth to interpret that its serious business, you have to laugh! And Laugh! One of those rare "So bad its good" movies that absolutely requires multiple viewings. Plastic walnuts???

With Star Wars marking a turning point in cinematic blockbusters, it's only natural it would spawn countless imitators and knock-offs. I've taken a look at Toho's answer with The War in Space before and I thought it high time to take a look at Toei's attempt. Often unfairly slagged as a cheap rip-off of the previous year's Star Wars, Message from Space actually has way more going for it than what initially meets the eye.

The peaceful planet of Jillucia has been nearly wiped out by the Gavanas, whose leader takes orders from his mother rather than the Emperor. King Kaiba sends out eight Liabe holy seeds, each to be received by a chosen one to defend the Gavanas. Each recipient, ranging from hardened General Garuda to Gavana Prince Hans to young Terrans Meia, Kido, and Aaron all have different reactions to being chosen.

Considering how much George Lucas lifted from Japanese culture and cinema for Star Wars, consider Message from Space a case of, ahem, striking back. In a narrative sense, the story is completely baffling and at times indecipherable, taking the core elements that make up Star Wars' story but delivering it in a way that a viewer is left in a state of confusion. A white-clad princess on the run, an evil empire, armoured bad guy troopers, an obnoxious beepy droid, a trench run, a cantina, and spaceships flying in formation. There's even a long shot of an enemy starship cruising into the frame. And while Darth Vader may have drawn visual inspiration from samurai, Message from Space has full-on space samurai as the villains.

Where this film shines, and boy it does shine, is in its incredible visual and production design. Given this was the most expensive Japanese film at the time, and yet was made for half the budget of Star Wars, it looks mighty impressive. Be it the gorgeous, elaborate sets and costumes or the highly detailed and genuinely incredible and increasingly complex miniature special effects work by Nobuo Yajima, the ethereal and dreamlike fantasy nature of the film is present from the encapsulating opening titles. The very literal "space ships" are a real work of art and wouldn't be out of place from a Gerry Anderson production.

Given my love for Kinji Fukasaku's final film, Battle Royale, it's no wonder that I would love this as well. With the sweeping and evocative landscape shots, the gritty and intense yet easy-to-follow fight sequences, the expert choice of shots and thanks to regular collaborator Toru Nakajima the film isn't without a bold use of colour from brilliant orange to deep blues, its most certainly a visual treat for the eyes.

The film's cast is populated by many faces you may recognise, be it the always reliable Vic Morrow or Sonny Chiba to a baby-faced Hiroyuki Sanada. There are hardly any complaints to be had on the talent front and they all perform the film well even if what is being delivered is a bit too much at times. The music by Ken-Ichiro Morioka is pretty good, there's plenty to love in its more fantastical elements and less synth-laden than you'd expect but it matches the visuals well and does a good job, lends itself to easy listening so maybe I'll give it another listen one day.

Overall, Message from Space is a very bold attempt at the Star Wars formula and makes up for its shortcomings with devil-may-care energy reminiscent of '40s-era serials. The Blu-ray set I bought comes with both the English version of the film, the spin-off show Galatic Wars and the compilation movie of that show, so I'm hardly done with Message from Space for a while yet.

This Japanese, Star-Wars rip-off is hysterical! My 13 year-old son and myself watched it on a Saturday morning and were falling on the floor laughing at the horrible special effects. The special effects included the very worst in plastic model building and in some scenes, you can see the rubber peel away (revealing hair) on the monsters. Pay attention and don't miss the exploding bad guy in the end! Better yet, skip this movie and doing something much more fun, like stick bamboo splinters under your fingernails... Your time will be much better spent.

I first saw this flick when it was released in 78 under the tile Message From Space. Everyone was hyped about Star Wars and all Sci Fi movies were attracting new audiences. Unfortunately this one attracted me. It turned out to not really be a Sci Fi movie but a piece of rip-off crap that was produced only to sucker people in wanting to quench their Star Wars thirst. Think bad "B" movie and multiply it about 10 times. I have only seen it once and that was 27 years ago so there are only a few things that stand out. The first is a big tall ship sailing through space. I don't mean some cool Han Solo giant Falcon type ship, I'm talking an actual wooden Tall Ship with oars, sails and everything, floating through space. My friend and I looked at each other in disbelief. This was the stupidest thing I had ever seen in a so called "legitimate" move. The second thing I remember is getting up half way through the film, and going to get my money back. Unfortunately I had to wait in a long line as a good portion of the audience was doing the same thing. This is something I had never witnessed before or since (although I'm sure it happened with Battlefield Earth but I didn't pay for that toilet tank before walking out). The third thing I remember is vowing to never watch a Vic Morrow movie again. Of course his career was cut short (pun intended) a few years later, perhaps deservedly so for this over-ripe piece of tripe.

Reminded me a lot of Battle Beyond the Stars. Same Seven Samuraiish structure, where valiant warriors from all walks of life are thrown together by fate to defend the peaceful townsfolk from the marauding intruders. ('Liabe Gods pick robots too').

Extra points for deadly serious Vic Morrow grimly stalking like Hamlet amidst the leftover Buck Rogers TV series robots, spacegoing sailing galleons with rows of oars, gauzy space princesses, green evil Space Vikings, bad grannies in space wheelchairs, dayglow plastic walnuts from the Liabe Gods, and comical Space Cop pursuing those crazy teenagers playing space chicken in their combination Thunderbirds and Transformers hot rod spaceship.

You know, not too long ago I rewatched the original 'Star Wars' for the first time in a long time, and it struck me that for as excellent as it truly is, it was kind of a concatenation of fortunate circumstances that made George Lucas' creation the premier sci-fi franchise of cinema. There were a lot of similar features made in the 70s and 80s, and there's a universe where it wasn't 'Star Wars' but Peter Yates' 'Krull' of 1983 that developed into a major multimedia phenomenon. There is also conceivably a universe where Fukasaku Kinji's 'Message from space' was instead the space opera to enchant global audiences. Granted, the latter possibility is surely less likely in the grand scheme of things; the production values aren't so uniformly hearty, the storytelling isn't entirely as earnest, and it really does feel like much of this picture distinctly borrows ideas from its 1977 superior. This flick carries itself with a very different vibe, and no matter one's opinion I don't think there's much arguing that it's more of a fun-loving romp, and at that one which is second tier at best. Still, if you're open to all the wide possibilities of the genre and the medium, for the most part this is fairly well made, and ultimately pretty enjoyable.

I would be curious to know when exactly 'Message from space' entered production, because the comparisons one can draw to 'Star Wars' are substantial. Morioka Kenichiro's score has one theme that more closely echoes surfer bops of the 60s, but the bulk of it - whimsical, dramatic, sweeping, stirring, and/or dynamic - pointedly recalls John Williams' work of the prior year. Between the original story of Fukasaku, Ishinomori Shotaro, and Noda Masahiro, and Matusda Hiro's screenplay, no few of the character archetypes, relationships, and settings, and broad strokes of the scene writing and certainly the plot, echo their counterparts in a famous galaxy far, far away. And even some conceptions in the visuals share a measure of kinship, not least with regards to spaceships and practical effects. Still, for whatever parity there is between this picture and Lucas', there's no possible mistaking one for the other. The sets, costume design, hair and makeup, and miniatures, props, and weapons take their cues not just from other sci-fi fare, but also from historical Japanese culture (chiefly samurai), fantasy, and more, seemingly including contemporary American features of a nature very far removed. Though some creative choices are more curious than others, all such facets really do look great, if not downright gorgeous, with welcome detail. The post-production visuals range from basically on par with 'Star Wars' to perhaps notably inferior, especially some rear projection, but they're not bad, and in the very least I've seen much worse. For the most part I really do like Morioka's music as it adds swell flavor, and the sound effects are actually rather terrific.

Some sparing instances of Fukasaku's direction seem a smidgen heavy-handed in terms of the tone imparted; in fairness, it's also possible that the difficulty instead lies with an actor's interpretation of a scene. Excepting such examples, however, by and large the man's direction is solid (if less refined than what he has demonstrated elsewhere), and likewise, the cast gives appreciable, committed performances appropriate for the material. And while the narrative is filled with some familiar elements - including a gargantuan mobile fortress for the villain, a very particular final target for the heroes along a very particular route, and a reference to the heroes receiving medals - there is definitely more than enough here for the title to stand out as its own creation. Some of the dialogue could be stronger, sure, and maybe the character writing, too, but the scene writing is more sure-footed, and the overall narrative is just fine in imparting the tale of select individuals chosen by fate (mystical space seeds) to save the people of Jillucia and rise against the evil Gavanas Empire. 'Message from space' comes off with a tenor and a set of production values somewhere on the spectrum between 'Star Wars' and the like-minded films of Roger Corman, but that doesn't mean it's specifically bad any more than it means it's pure mimicry. This knows what it is and doesn't pretend to be anything it's not, and some small odds and ends are unexpectedly sharp.

No matter one's impetus for watching there's no reason to go out of one's way for it, and I can understand how it won't meet with especial favor from all comers. Nonetheless, it's a movie that only wants to have a good time, and if you're receptive to works of such a variety, I don't think it's nearly so bad as its reputation suggests. I had mixed expectations when I sat to watch and I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable this turned out to be; warts, imitations, and all, I for one quite like 'Message from space,' and as far as I'm concerned it earns a casual recommendation.

OK.......imagine being incredibly drunk or high on illegal drugs. Now imagine that you have smeared your TV screen with tomato paste. Then imagine watching a pastiche of STAR WARS, BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, THE WIZARD OF OZ, MIGHTY MORPHING POWER RANGERS (ZYU RANGERS), SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS, THE HIDDEN FORTRESS, THE SEVEN SAMURAI, FLASH GORDON (1980), BUCK ROGERS and every Toho film ever made. Now add spicy food to the alcohol and drugs in your system. Now go to sleep.......the nightmares that you will experience will give you an idea of what this misbegotten "live-action anime" looks and sounds like. Vic Morrow looks embarrassed (and a tad drunk) while playing opposite a robot more annoying than the robot from the BUCK ROGERS TV series. Sonny Chiba looks even more bored than he did appearing in SISTER STREETFIGHTER with Sue Shiomi. Peggy Brennan's goofy smile and annoying dubbed voice makes one want to commit seppuku (the dubbed voice was so screechy, awful and hard to understand that Brennan's DUBBED voice actually needed subtitles), while Phil Cassnoff's poofy hairdo seems to be alive (more alive than many of the actors, perhaps the hair should have asked for screen credit).