Message from Space
Entry updated 9 December 2024. Tagged: Film.
Japanese film (1978; original title Uchū Kara no Messēji). Toei Company, Tohokushinsha Film Corporation. Directed by Kinji Fukasaku. Written by Kinji Fukasaku, Shotaro Ishinomori, Hiro Matusda and Masahiro Noda. Cast includes Eisei Amamoto, Peggy Lee Brennan, Philip Casnoff, Sonny Chiba, Vic Morrow, Masazumi Okabe, Junkichi Orimoto, Hiroyuki Sanada, Makoto Satō, Isamu Shimizu and Etsuko Shihomi. 105 minutes. Colour.
When the planet of Jillucia undergoes Invasion by Emperor Rockseia XXII (Narita) of the Gavanas Empire as part of his plan to conquer the universe (see Galactic Empires, Imperialism), Jillucia's ruler Kido (Orimoto) casts eight glowing seeds into the sky, assuring his people that, guided by their god (see Religion), they will find eight Heroes to save them. His granddaughter, Princess Emeralida (Shihomi), accompanied by the warrior Urocco (Satō), will follow the seeds in a flying galleon with sails (see Solar Wind) and bring the heroes back. They are pursued by a more traditional Gavanas Spaceship, the Emperor's mother (Amamoto) – who looks like a brightly-coloured cross between Davros and the Wicked Witch of the West – having warned him of the threat they pose.
Four of the seeds end up with Shiro (Sanada) and Aaron (Casnoff), two young hot-rodders (but with spacecraft), plus their friends the cowardly Jack (Okabe) and the high-spirited heiress Meia (Brennan). Another recipient is General Garuda (Morrow), who has just resigned his post following the compulsory scrapping of his longstanding Robot aide Beba-1, who has been replaced with the wisecracking Beba-2 (Shimizu) (see Humour). Circumstances lead to the six meeting up with the princess, who explains her plight: the uninterested Garuda leaves, but Jack – with Shiro and Aaron partially complicit – tries to sell the princess to an old woman as a bride for her lizardman son. She ends up captured by the Emperor's men, with Urocco left wounded. Meia is furious, but the others argue this is not their battle (also pointing out that, for all her principles, her father's fortune was earned as a war profiteer). However, remorse haunts them and when a Gavanas ship kidnaps Jack for no obvious reason, they pursue; en route they meet Hans (Chiba), warrior prince and rightful heir to the Gavanas throne, who also has a seed. Later Beba-2 also finds one: the seventh hero.
Meanwhile, the Emperor has learnt of Earth and, impressed, decides to conquer it; having converted Jillucia into a mobile planet fortress, he heads towards our solar system. On arrival Earth's space fleet is quickly defeated: Garuda finds himself declared Earth's special envoy and sent to Jillucia to buy time (see Politics). However, the Emperor sees through his tactics and destroys the Moon as a warning, then sends him away with Jack. However the pair, with Beba-2, sneak back on to the surface and meet up with the surviving locals; Meia and the others arrive shortly after. Kido explains the only way to defeat the Emperor is to destroy the planet fortress's power supply, its "reactor furnaces", though this would also destroy the planet. It is only accessible via a 10 metre wide tunnel, but Shiro and Aaron point out they have piloted their spacecraft through similar narrow gaps before. Urocco, dismayed at the prospect of his planet being destroyed, betrays the others, but later recants and fires at the Gavanas troops, allowing the seven heroes to escape. As he dies the Princess notices he has a seed in his headdress: Urocco was the eighth hero.
There is an extended fight scene, on the ground and – when Shiro, Aaron and Meia make it aboard a spaceship – in the air. Prince Hans and the Emperor duel, with Hans victorious; the Emperor's dramatic death causes the reactor furnaces' doors to open. Shiro and Aaron, now in their spacecraft, fly down the tunnel – pursued by Gavanas spaceships – and destroy the reactor. The planet begins to break up, with the Princess and her people escaping on their galleon, though Kido chooses to stay behind. Jillucia explodes. Earth offers the Jillucians a home, but the princess explains they will look for a planet of their own to find their destiny (see Colonization of Other Worlds), as was Kido's wish: the seven surviving heroes choose to accompany them. The film ends with the galleon sailing away from Earth.
The borrowing from Star Wars (1977) is blatant and to the film's detriment, not only by being derivative but also drawing to the viewer's attention that the special effects, though reasonable for the time, are inferior. Presumably intended to be the lead heroes, Shiro and Aaron are unengaging, whilst Jack is thoroughly dislikable. More positively, the film has twice as many female main characters as its inspiration: the princess, after a passive start, shows she can fight, and Meia is a strong participant (see Women in SF). Message from Space is at its best when leaning towards the tropes of Japanese Tokusatsu movies rather than pastiching Star Wars, and while doing so is an entertaining film. [SP]
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