Message From Space

Beats the pants off "Turkish Star Wars!"
I've been in love with this movie since I saw it on "Star Channel" (IIRC) back in 1979 or so, and ordered the DVD as soon as I saw that it was available. I expected a mediocre transfer from a dirty, scratched print; what I got was a great-looking transfer from a great-looking (if not pristine) print. From the crisp menu screen to the end credits, this DVD is glorious. It looks fantastic on my Panasonic LCD TV.

The story is but a minor tweaking of "Star Wars" (that is, the inanely retitled "Episode IV: A New Hope"): Earth people team up with a space princess to save the universe from a bad guy in a helmet and cape. Spaceship models on wires zoom around; space samurai fight with electric swords; lots of stuff blows up real good. What I find endlessly fascinating is that the designers of "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" borrowed elements (action scenes, ship designs) right back.

The performances are just what you'd expect: completely over the top...

Greatest STAR WARS rip-off EVER! I want JAPANESE "Star Wars"!
This movie came out in Japan within a year of "Star Wars" release in '78 and was released throughout the U.S. shortly thereafter and on television shortly AFTER THAT. I've read it was made into a tv series in Europe. There are so many familiar elements - spacehips, robots, space pirates, spunky princesses in distress - all elements well known to Star Wars fans, just done the Japanese way. Story? I don't remember the story and I don't care - something about finding these seeds. The main thing is just seeing how "Star Wars" was mainlined into this production and how it's stylistically translated. It's neat to watch this and think how Lucas might've done his epic if he couldn't have got a movie deal in the U.S. and instead went to Japan and made it. That's the fun of it, and nothing else did it like this. There were a number of things that came out on tv and in the movies right after Star Wars, from Saturday morning kid shows like "Jason of Star Command" primetime stuff like the original...

Fantastic Space Samurai Fantasy Adventure
In the wake of the unprecedented box office bounty of George Lucas' seminal STAR WARS in 1977, filmmakers around the world raced to unveil their own epic space operas, all hoping to strike gold mining the same cosmic vein. Among the most prominent of these international productions was Toei Studios' MESSAGE FROM SPACE (UCHU KARA NO MESSEJI), released in the United States in the Autumn of 1978 by United Artists.

The planet Jillucia has been conquered by the Gavanas Empire, its natural beauty devastated after years of war. The few survivors call upon their gods and are given eight magic seeds (that look like walnuts), which they send out into the universe to find eight champions to help Jillucia overthrow its conquerors. The seeds end up in the hands of a motley crew - including a disgraced Earth general Garuda (Vic Morrow, COMBAT!) and his robot, a couple of young "space hot rodders" (Philip Casnoff, DOLLHOUSE, and Hiroyuki Sanada, LOST), a thrill-seeking heiress (Peggy Lee...

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