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| No robot that sounds like a cowboy? I am ou- Wait, is that an actual Space Ship? I am back in. |
As we just dug deep into talking about Star Wars (before it was called A New Hope) and its Italian knockoff, Starcrash (it was always called Starcrash) on our most recent episode, I figured there had to be other efforts out there that tried to find the magic that made Star Wars go right or the lack there of that made Starcrash go so wonderfully wrong. 1978's Message from Space rests in the area between the two.
Here is the wikipedia page, and the imdb.com listing.
I will start off trying to explain the context in which Message from Space exists. If you are more than a passing fan of Star Wars, you know that George Lucas was heavily influenced by Japanese cinema, especially Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (Someone much more knowledgeable than myself has taken the time to write about these influences and connections, I would suggest checking that piece out). So when Star Wars became the biggest movie at the time, everyone wanted a piece of that action and attempted to make their own star war. Enter the Toei Company. They are a hugely successful Japanese film and TV production company that are responsible for creating and/or distributing a lot of popular live action super hero and fantasy fare (they did do that odd Japanese Spider-Man series where uses a large robot to fight his enemies, and they have had their hand in some of the Power Rangers productions to name a few).
So in a very basic nutshell you have a well known Japanese Production company that has a solid background in fun live action cinema doing their take on a Ameriance made property that was heavily influenced by other Japanese films. The snake really does start to eat itself at this point and it is easy to argue that Lucas made a knockoff of The Hidden Temple and that Toei was just taking back what was already their's. I can see that argument. My counter point to that is that Message from Space would have never been made had Star Wars not been made first.
We start off on the Planet Jillucia, in another galaxy (far far away), which has been conquered by Emperor Rockseia XXII of the Gavanas Empire. The Jillucians do not want to surrender to the empire and decided to use their last hope for survival. The elder leader of the tribes sends out 8 Liabe Seeds that will seek out 8 people destined to help them fight back. The elder then tasks his granddaughter, Princess Emeralida and the warrior named Urocco to follow where the seeds go and bring back the 8.
Their mode of travel is a space... ship. I couldn't find a good screen capture of it from the film, but below is some concept art.
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| Does this mean there is a space Long John Silver's with space Hush Puppies? |
The Emperor sees this last ditch effort to defy him and sends his own ship, which looks a lot more like Star Wars, to track down the Princess and bring her back.
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| Darth Vader ain't got nothing on Emperor Rockseia XXII. |
The story then shifts to Earth where we meet a number of people that may or may not have been chosen by Liabe Seeds to assist the Jillucians. Here is a quick breakdown of each:
- Shiro and Aaron: two 'roughriders' that basically are space drag racers that just want to have fun and avoid the space patrol. They owe money to a mobster because they took a loan out to work on their ships.
- Jack: a friend of Shiro and Aaron. He is always dressed stylish and really only looks out for himself when push comes to shove.
- Meia: a rich girl who befriends Shiro and Aaron after they buzz her ship while racing. She knows they need money and she wants adventure.
- General Garuda (played by Vic Marrow): a long serving military man who suddenly retires because he disagreed with the government's mandatory decision to deactivate his years long faithful robot companion. He decides to wear a pimp jacket and large hat and spend the rest of his days drinking.
- Beba-2: the new robot companion for Garuda. He is quick with a joke and warns Garuda to not drink so much.
Meia, knowing that Shiro and Aaron need cash quick, asks them to take her back to the asteroid belt where she first saw them at as she wants to go collect 'fireflies' which is some kind of radioactive phenomenon in space. It's as weird as it sounds.
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| All you need to survive in space is a face mask and the ability to swim. |
They soon find the Jillucian space boat and see that the Princess Emeralida and Urocco are hurt. The Emperor's ship soons arrive. Shiro, Aaron, and Meia decide to rescue them and take them back to Earth.
Soon, some of them start finding Liabe Seeds that seem to be seeking them all out specifically. They show up in odd places, like Shiro's ship, Jack finds one in a tomato he bit into, and Garuda finds one in his drink.
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| I thought this drink tasted a bit glowy. |
The princess and Urocco try to convince the Liabe seed chosen that they are needed in order to help their people fight and defeat the empire. After some discussion, most of them don't really believe that this is a sign of fate and don't want to get tangled up in a fight that's a whole galaxy away. The princess decides to keep on trying to find the remaining four seed holders, believing they are on Earth and that they will help.
Jack double crosses her and sells her to an old mountain woman (witch?) and soon the Empire finds the orincess and takes her and the witch back to Jillucia. Here the Emperor scans the old woman's mind and discovers the beauty of Earth. He decides that Earth would be the ideal location for his throne from which can rule the galaxy. He then orders that Jillucia be turned on, as it is now revealed that planet has been turned into one large ship/weapon, and head towards Earth.
Once the Emperor arrives, he gives Earth three days to surrender. The Liabe Chosen start to realize that the fight has come to them and they have to make a decision. The roughriders and Meia decide to fly to Jillucia and try to rescue the Princess but get side tracked (Meia's Liabe Seed explodes and bounces all over the ship causing them to crash land on a different planet... it's weird) and meet what appears to be a Gavanas warrior. They soon find out that this warrior is not like the rest of the Empire and was the original heir to the throne but was pushed out of power by Rockseia. Prince Hans, with his own Liabe Seed, joins their team.
Prince Hans is played by Sonny Chiba. The badass score of Message from Space just went up a billion percent.
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| Is that a Space Hattori Hanzo sword he is carrying? |
On Earth, the Earth Council reaches out to General Garuda, asking him to be the envoy on behalf of Earth, to speak to the Emperor. Garuda agrees to do this as he has always defended Earth and as he has a Liabe Seed, he knows it is his destiny. Garuda's secret assignment is to buy as much time as he can so that Earth can get its defenses in place to the challenge the Empire.
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| And to look dapper AF while doing it. |
The Emperor calls out Garuda and his plan to stall for time. He decides to show Garuda and Earth that he is deadly serious in his intention to take the Earth by using a show of force.
...by DESTROYING THE MOON.
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| Werewolves everywhere cried out in relief. |
No one really understands that by having the moon destroyed that the Earth is pretty much screwed anyway, but hey if there can be space boats and space seeds of destiny, then I guess the Earth doesn't need the tide cycle of the oceans to survive.
Soon, all of the main characters (and the identities of all the 8 seed chosen) are on the surface of Jillucia, and trying to come up with a plan to defeat the Empire. They figure out that best way to win is to destroy a portion of the engine that is inside the planet. The only access point to this part is through a narrow corridor and only a crazy person would try to fly a ship in there. Shiro and Aaron are just crazy enough to try it. While they are completing their task, Garuda and Prince Hans challenge the Emperor and his men in order to distract them from the princess rescuing her people and getting them safely onto the space boat and off the planet.
The leads to a badass showdown between Prince Hans and Emperor Rockseia.
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| There is so much awesome going on right now that no caption will do it justice. |
Do the heroes win? Does the Empire lose? I am pretty sure you know how this ends. The only big thing left unaddressed is what is Earth going to do without a moon. I mean that really bothers me, because I have seen what happens when the moon is destroyed.
I really enjoyed Message from Space. It has the heart and story telling that Starcrash did not have while still having some silly effects that the 'limited' budget (it cost between 5-6 million, which at that time was the most expensive Japanese film ever made... Star Wars had an 11 million dollar budget by comparison) could not overcome at times. That does not mean that this film doesn't look big in scope and is not epic in its own ways. I would argue the some of the costume designs, especially that of Prince Hans and Emperor Rockseia, are on par or better than some of the ones in Star Wars. Even the more official dress worn by General Garuda was a great choice, it gave his role more weight as he negotiated with the Emperor.
I want to mention the model work and the action set pieces as well. The model work here wasn't as ground breaking as Star Wars, though it was pretty damn close. The gif below is a quick segment of Shiro and Aaron drag racing in the asteroid belt. The shake of the camera and the use of the asteroids flying by in the background give these ships a sense of speed that Starcrash just never had. The effect looks more realistic to me than even some of the X-wing and Tie fighter movements in Star Wars. Message from Space's spaceship action worked way more often than not and it is something to see.
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| DANGER ZONE! |
I also want to speak about Vic Morrow for a moment. The cast in Message from Space is quite large and he is not always in the forefront of it. However, when he is on screen, his disillusioned and jadedness can really be felt. He served his country and planet for years and feels that it has gotten him nothing but frustration and the bottom of many bottles. When he is given a purpose again, he lights up just as much as the Liabe Seed that chose him. It's a great performance from a man that was coming into his prime at a later stage of his career. It is shame he didn't get a chance to do to much more work.
My opinion of this film may be a little skewed as I went from never knowing this film existed little under 24 hours ago to diving deep into what I could find out about its production (sadly there isn't much out there at first glance, at least for a US audience) and being charmed off my ass while watching it. I have been entertained by all of the Year of the Knockoff films we have watched for the show, but usually it is in what they fail to do or in their failure of execution, but Message from Space is that rare gem I had hoped to find in my journey this year: a film that takes what was successful before it and then takes it into a different enough direction that makes it its own.
If you consider yourself a fan of Star Wars and can watch a film that doesn't always take itself so seriously, I would recommend you see out Message from Space. Give it a few minutes and you will want to go on that space boat ride with it.
On a scale of 1-10, how close did it adhere to the film it wanted to knock off?
I will give Message from Space an 8. Here are the things that it has in common with Star Wars:
- An evil empire bent on domination with its leader all clad in black.
- A planet sized weapon that can destroy other
planetsa moon. - Light saber-ish weapons. There was a laser whip at one point and Prince Hans's sword would emit energy every so often.
- Cocky flyboy pilots that took chances and owed money to organized crime.
- a club full of weird costumed people and robots with music playing.
- A princess dressed in white that was seeking out others to help them fight the empire.
- Force like powers of destiny in seed form.
- A hologram like projection of the Emperor.
- A trench run with small spaceships in order to access the one weak spot of the large planet sized weapon.
- A robot that makes jokes.
The only reason I am not giving it a ten is because it does enough on its own that is great that it should be recognized as such but the Star Wars influence is super heavy here.
On the Ator Scale, was it better or worse than Ator?
Ator is more fun for its low budget restrictions and story decisions but Message from Space is just a better film that is a joy to watch.
Would you recommend this film to anyone else?
In a heartbeat. If you have any interest in heading off the beaten path even just a little bit, this film is a big recommendation to anyone that loves fun movies.
Bonus:
The score of the film is quite nice and very John Williams like at times and other times it has the horns of a spaghetti western. Not all of it is a winner (the modern dance club portions are not great). Worth a listen at least for the intro theme.
Bonus Bonus:
The whole film is up on Youtube. Not the best quality version but certainly very watchable.
If you guys have any other suggestions for knockoffs that Steve and I should watch, let me know in the comments below or on our Facebook page.
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