Message from Space
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku4.926%5.8
The peaceful planet of Jillucia has been nearly wiped out by the Gavanas, whose leader takes orders from his mother rather than the Emperor. King Kaiba sends out eight Liabe holy seeds, each to be received by a chosen one to defend the Gavanas. Each recipient, ranging from hardened General Garuda to Gavana Prince Hans to young Terrans Meia, Kido, and Aaron all have different reactions to being chosen.
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Message from Space Ratings & Reviews
- RichardOctober 5, 2025I first saw this on TV in the '80s and it felt like discovering a bootleg Star Wars through a Japanese lens with extra explosions. This was one of those late-night sci-fi surprises you didn’t plan to watch, you just stumbled onto it while flipping channels and suddenly you were kneedeep in glowing walnuts, space galleons and wielding a swords in zero gravity. It was loud, chaotic and absolutely trying to ride the Star Wars wave,but with a uniquely Japanese twist. Watching it on TV gave it a kind of bootleg charm. The effects were dated even back then, but it didn’t matter asi t was fun. Compared to Star Wars, it’s undeniably derivative. But it’s also more colorful, more eccentric and more willing to throw logic out the airlock in favor of spectacle. It’s not trying to be timeless, it’s trying to be awesome, in the most 1978 way possible And for a kid watching it on a fuzzy TV signal, it was awesome. It was proof that sci-fi didn’t have to be slick, it just had to be bold.
- Shamus2kJanuary 26, 2025On the "so bad it's good" scale, this would be 5/5 stars. If you've ever wondered what Star Wars would have looked like without the meddlesome interference of John Williams and George Lucas, check it out.
Message from Space Trivia
Message from Space was released on April 29, 1978.
Message from Space was directed by Kinji Fukasaku.
Message from Space has a runtime of 1 hr 45 min.
Message from Space was produced by Akira Ito, Yusuke Okada, Simon Tse, Naoyuki Sugimoto, Tōru Hirayama, Tan Takaiwa, Yoshinori Watanabe, Banjiro Uemura.
The key characters in Message from Space are General Garuda (Vic Morrow), Prince Hans (Sonny Chiba), Aaron Solar (Philip Casnoff).
Message from Space is rated PG.
Message from Space is a Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure film.
Message from Space has an audience rating of 2.6 out of 10.