Message From Space 1978-Star Wars Ripoff

[kennermike]

Okay I just watched a Japanese movie this morning on tv with commercials/I had never seen before .to tell you the truth I dont think its ever even been released on VHS let alone DVD .maybe a bootleg form? I liked it! the cheesy story ripped Star Wars to the core but it was fun the fx's were Batle Beyond the Stars type not bad.I liked seeing Sonny Chiba abd Vic Morrow.I guess this movie has often gotten a bad rap for 32 years but it was fun!.Just thought I would mention it since I have never seen a thread on it.

[thunderbolt]

taped it to watch tonight, was wondering what it was.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

It never came around much. When I was a kid I had a TOM of the model kits, but didn;t see the film 'til I was at the U. That was the only time I remember it being shown.

....unless you count "Astron Belt."

Don C.

[thunderbolt]

made it about 15 minutes thru. Couldn't take the boredom any longer.

[palitoy]

That was a channel 29 staple here, I love it and watch it annually. I think it's based on a TV series, when I was in grade school I had a classmate from South America that had these paper thin trading cards that showed the characters and ships plus some aliens not in the film.

I traded Empire Strikes Back cards for them, he thought I was high.

I also remember a really cool arcade game that used clips from the movie.

[starsky]

i had the popy die cast spaceship of it. didnt know what it was tho.

[Raydeen1]

My cousin and I saw this movie in the theatre in the 70s. We loved it. It is a head trip though. The ships are VERY cool and we had all the model kits. I haven't seen it since.

[Hedji]

Necro-bumping this thread....


This is now available as a limited edition on Blu Ray from Shout Factory. I watched it tonight for the first time, and... I loved it! It's wonderfully optimistic and gleeful. The spaceship scenes are super cool. The story is very Seven Samurai, but they added 1 to make it 8. Some of the costumes are really tremendous too. It probably could use maybe 10 minutes of editing to make it leaner, but I'd highly recommend it if you like Star Wars ripoffs.

[Apositive]

I remember seeing that movie on cable on The Movie Channel in the winter of 1979-80....we had extremely long winters in Western NY.
I disliked at first as a "Star Wars Ripoff" and that's basically what it is....but I appreciated the fun action sequences as the winter passed and the performance of the late Vic Morrow.

[palitoy]

Yeah I got it on Blu Ray a little while back as well. My kids were not having it but it's still a fun movie.

[Hedji]

There's like a whole spectrum of Star Wars ripoffs. This is not a big dollar Hollywood feature like Black Hole or Flash Gordon. But it's just so refreshing to see the Japanese take on it. With StarCrash and Battle Beyond the Stars already on my shelf, is there other stuff out there to mine that I'm forgetting?

[palitoy]

Actually, it was the biggest budgeted film in Japan history at that time.

Corman's Space Raiders is a good one to get.

[Hedji]

Very cool. Another one to add to my list. Thanks!

[Bruce Banner]

I remember seeing Message from Space during its theatrical run in Canada when I was a kid. Watched it again recently for the first time in years. Always liked it.

[acrovader]

The Humanoid w/Richard Kiel and Barbara Bach!