Review for Message From Space

Introduction

It might make your head spin to learn that this Star Wars inspired space action movie actually came out before Star Wars! It’s a reminder that the entertainment landscape was a whole lot different 40 or 50 years ago. Everything was analogue, and everything took time. Star Wars was the big hit of summer 1977... in the United States. Today we’re used to day and date releases of movies, simultaneous streams of TV shows online. Back then, it took months for a movie to open in another territory. According to IMDb, Star Wars opened on May 25th in the United States, but we didn’t get in the UK until late December of that year. In Japan, they actually got it at the end of June, 1978! Can you imagine waiting over a year for the biggest movie ever? The suits at Toei knew about Star Wars early on, and they wanted a piece of that pie. And they had a whole year to come up with their own space fantasy adventure. Their pseudo-Star Wars came out at the end of April 1978, three months before Star Wars. Of course, there are compromises when you’re rushing a cash-in movie to the cinema...


Planet Jillucia was a paradise, but then it was attacked and conquered by the Gavanas Empire, who laid it to waste. The survivors of Jillucia seek help by casting eight Liabe seeds out into the universe to seek out eight worthy heroes. But with humans spreading through the galaxy, the heroes the seeds find aren’t exactly conventional; a gang of space hot-rodders, an abject coward, a fallen prince, and a disgraced general and his buddy robot. And getting them on board with a rescue mission will be challenge enough. Meanwhile, the Gavanas Emperor has turned his gaze to an even more paradisiacal target, the planet Earth.

The Disc

Message From Space gets a 1.85:1 widescreen 1080p transfer with the choice between PCM 2.0 Mono English and Japanese with optional translated subtitles and a signs only track. The source material hasn’t stood up to the test of time all that well, although how much is actually down to wear and tear, and how much is down to the nature of the effects technology used is up for debate. This isn’t a movie that used motion control for its space ship effects shots. It’s all a little Blakes Seven at times, although some serious budget was thrown at the screen when it comes to what they attempted to do, and the explosions are epic. But there are soft moments in the film, and moments of what might be cine-wobble, or might be a creative choice, but colours are rich, and contrast is effective. The audio is fine in both versions, although the English dub is at a lower level than the Japanese. The subtitles are accurately timed and free of typos. The action comes across well, the dialogue is clear, and the music is suitably grand and operatic, a little bit Star Wars, a little bit TRON.

The images in this review were kindly supplied by Eureka Entertainment.

Extras

The disc boots to a static menu, and you’ll find the following extras.

Audio Commentary with Tom Mes
Ah! Massage From Space: An Appreciation by Patrick Macias (14:26)
Message From Earth: Making of Featurette (30:15)
Stills Gallery #1: Promotional Materials
Stills Gallery #2: Behind the Scenes
Trailer #1 (2:00)
Trailer #2 (2:07)
Trailer #3 (4:08)
U.S. Release Trailer (2:50)

Conclusion

They say Star Wars, but Message From Space has more in common with Battle Beyond the Stars, itself a sci-fi take on The Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai. A rural idyll is being terrorised, and they put the call out for heroes to help protect their village/planet. And once I saw the silver faced villains in the film, I was put in mind of one of those super-Sentai shows, where a group of heroes on Earth defend the world against a cackling villain, who each week sends some new giant threat which can only be defeated by linking iconic vehicles into a giant robot. There’s no giant robot here, but the vehicles do link up. It’s no surprise to see the name of Shotaro Ishinomori in the story writing credits.


I didn’t enjoy the film at first. I started off watching the Japanese audio, and it was hard to bear, with everyone shouting their lines, emotional intensity never diminishing from 100%. It was full on, all the way, and my attention started to drift, overwhelmed by the wall of noise. Halfway through I switched to the English dub, and it was like a different film. The performances are more subtle and nuanced, while there is the benefit of hearing the English cast with their own voices. I found it to be a better, more engaging experience.


As long as you go in with suitable expectations, you should get something out of this film. Message From Space is a kids' movie. It’s not Star Wars, it’s not sci-fi, and it’s not something that deserves any measure of serious thought. Characters act childishly and petulantly, daft things happen for no real reason and there is absolutely no realism in a film where you can go for a spacewalk with a simple face mask. It’s straightforward, good guys versus bad guys entertainment, with lots of swords and laser pistols, plenty of space dog-fighting all accomplished with the kind of special effects that could never match the imaginations of the filmmakers. But you have to give them full marks for making the attempt.


Message From Space is more than a curiosity, one of countless films at the end of the seventies and early eighties that were eagerly hopping on the Star Wars bandwagon. After all it was directed by Kinji “Battle Royale” Fukasaku, and starred Sonny Chiba among others. At the time, this was the most expensive Japanese movie made. Yet there is a tinge of independence to its studio bound formality. It’s worth a watch, and can be had direct from Eureka Entertainment, from Terracotta, and from mainstream retailers.