Message From Space

Ever wondered what a Japanese clone of Star Wars directed by Yakuza master Kinji Fukasaku would look like? If so, look no further than Message From Space. This 1978 film courtesy of Toei was then Japan’s most expensive film, boasting an international cast that was rushed out to beat Star Wars to the Japanese box office.

The peaceful planet of Jillucia has been conquered by Gavanas Empire! What else can the remaining Jillucians do but send eight Liabe seeds into space – each one to find a galactic warrior to come to their aid. Following the seeds in her space galleon is Princess Emeralida (Etsuko Shihomi) and her protector, Urocco (Makoto Sato).

Meanwhile Earthling hotrodders in space, Shiro (Hiroyuki Sanada) and Aaron (Philip Casnoff) along with their friend the rich Meia (Peggy Lee Brennan), find themslves in possession of a Liabe seed, as do other heroes, some unlikely, some more so, including ex-General Garuda (Vic Morrow) and his robot Beba-2 (Isamu Shimizu) and deposed Prince Hans (Sonny Chiba).

As the Gavanas Emperor Rockseia (Mikio Narita) then become aware of Earth, our eight heroes must take the battle to the invading empire!

The obvious question is: is Message From Space any good? Honestly? It’s a mixed bag. Some aspects are surprisingly good - the effects and many of the sets stand up remarkably well, in part because these never ape Star Wars. Noticeably, the Gavanas court seems to be influenced by Japanese design, so there is no attempt to just clone the worlds Lucas built. Even the costumes feel unique. OK, some of the designs seem a bit bonkers, like how the Jillucians all wear leaves in their hair, and why their interstellar craft is a galleon similar to the Space Battleship Yamato is anyone’s guess, but it never matters, as it gives the film its own unique look. The model work for the ships is also surprisingly good, especially the Gavanas craft. I'll grant you that how they're shot echoes the entry of the Star Destoyer, as they are often shot moving over the camera. But none of these effects are ropey. It’s not as polished as Star Wars, true, but then again Lucas has tinkered with those films and their effects throughout the years so can we really remember what they looked like originally? I can’t. Some moments look a little shoddy, it seems due to an effects process that introduces video as well as film but these moments become almost charming. Some of the designs, even if perhaps more at home in a mecha anime, seem well thought out, such as how our hotrodders mod their vehicles to come together as one.

So at least on a visual level it’s interesting, though arguably the plot is mad as a bag of hammers. That they had to rush to make the film comes out mainly in the story, which is thin at best. Part of the problem here is, I admit, that four of our heroes (the space hotrodders Shiro, Aaron, Meia and joined by gambler Jack played by Masazumi Okabe) are mainly very annoying. When we meet them they are clearly meant to be teenagers having fun, but they are hardly a charismatic bunch, with Jack proving especially loathsome, a chancer happy to sell Princess Emeralida into sexual slavery. At best they are teen wankers who are probably supposed to be on their arc to adulthood and responsibility but they mainly just jump around and shout at each other, to the point where I really wanted them to just get off the screen. The one interview for the film found on the disc has the interviewee saying he likes their performance, so this may very well be a matter of taste (or just being polite - Ed) – he notes the actors behind Aaron and Meia were both in the Broadway version of Grease but you note, Philip Casnoff as Aaron was only the understudy and his lack of acting skill shows through. As they come to fight for Earth and the Jillucians most of them become more bearable but then that’s often because when on screen they are just in spaceship cockpits pulling very large levers.  

They do explain why the Jillucian space galleon has sails, I just assumed it was.. well, why not?

More entertaining is Vic Morrow as the ex-General with his robot, which is less C3PO and more Twiki from Buck Rogers (even if that show would not arrive until after the film was made). Morrow has a quiet gravity to him, and there is some attempt to flesh out his character, and as you may have guessed characterisation is not front and centre in Message From Space. But he gives the film something to build around. You might expect Sonny Chiba, as Prince Hans, to be the actor to lift the film but he enters late into the narrative and mainly held back for the final big battle. Arguably Etsuko Shihomi as Emeralida has less to do in this film than Carrie Fisher ever did as Leia, which is probably a good thing as Shihomi has shown she can knock-out anyone in the Sister Street Fighter films, so it is hard to see her as a victim. I was almost waiting for the moment when she might throw off her white gown and start kicking arse. (Sadly that never happens).

In the main there's a lot of fun to be had in Kinji Fukasaku’s film, and his skill as a director I think is almost invisible. The fact that he is able to hold together disparate sets of ideas, designs and characters so that it is not a god-awful mess is remarkable. He manages to make a cohesive work and though he copies Star Wars in so many ways, the film manages to stand on its own creative feet. Also, there are some intriguing aspects. Earlier on in the film there is a trench run sequence and yes, Message From Space takes a similar need to destroy the Deathstar moment, it’s not a trench run but similar instead to the end of Return of the Jedi, having to fly through cramped spaces to a core, so there is a quiet question as to whether this clone managed itself to influence that later film?

Thankfully the score never tries to go full John Williams and if anything seemed more inspired by spaghetti westerns, ala Ennio Morricone, which if anything is far more fitting to the film.

So should you watch Message From Space? As long as you're not expecting a true Fukasaku masterpiece then yes. It’s an oddity and mostly fun, if for me dragged down by the teenage antics (though Hiroyuki Sanada has of course turned into a fine actor in the intervening years). Yes, the story is a bit limp but the designs are engaging and the effects were better than I was expecting.  

And what other film allows you to see an evil empire get taken down thanks to the power of eight glowing walnuts? I rest my case. 

Hail to our heroes!