mikey-242-435767 One reviewer said that this was so bad it was good. Wrong, IMHO. This is so bad, it is bad.They break lots of the laws of physics in space. 1. Why in the world would a space ship have a full set of sails? They would get knocked off immediately upon use.2. The exhaust from a huge ship just trails out randomly. a. It would not be on in space most of the time b. It would shoot out, at least for a while, in a straight line 3. The hotshots crash land on some minor rock and find air. No thought of putting on protective helmets. 4. The space cop has a siren. Didn't he know there is no sound transmission in space? 5. Without retro rockets, space ships stop on a dime and hover. 6. They move around free in space by flapping their arms like it was water.This silliness goes on and on. Dancing Robot, indeed!I was looking for a real space movie and found this abortion. I'm think this pass you should. Well, then, the costumes are nice shades of orange and pink. The only saving grace. After 29 minutes, there was no plot in evidence. Maybe one happens later. Right at 30 minutes, a plot point. The clouds are lifting. We can go out and play after all. Mother, Father, kindly disregard this letter.

spiritof67 Okay, fans, here's a few clear-up moments for you.How did Vic Morrow get in this movie? He needed the money and wanted the vacation. Like Nick Adams before him, he wasn't exactly at the top of his career. He had little inkling though that The Twilight Zone movie was in his near future..Did Star Wars rip off anything from this movie? NO, since it was already made. The Japanese control distribution very carefully, and when they saw the grosses from SW they were in shock. They then summarily blocked it from the Japanese market for long enough for this film to be made. And by the way, the "Death Star Trench" was stolen from the British film "633 Squadron" along with some of its dialog. So, in fact, STAR WARS ripped of this and a bunch of other movies that people who really have seen a lot of movies could name.As for Philip Casnoff, I met him in NY when he was doing, of all things, SHOGUN - THE MUSICAL. I saw him at the stage door (he was wearing an exquisite calf-length coat and a matching hat..) and gave him (again, of all things..) a SHOGUN WARRIORS Liabe (the main ship in the movie). He said "Where the hell did you get this?" and went back through the stage door. I hear him saying "Hey you gotta see this. Some guy just gave me a miniature of a ship from some shitty Japanese movie I did years ago!" Then he came back out and we had a long talk about the movie. Keep in mind, this is the same guy who payed (and sang) the most authentic Frank Sinatra in USA TV's biopic.Is it a bad movie? What does that mean, objectively? I like it. I actually liked it enough to see it four or five times, once in a '70s sticky-floored Times Square theater populated by the first generation of Americas' crackheads and 40 drinkers.It doesn't have the best special effects of its era, but I thought the Bengal tigers in Gladiator looked like cartoons. I love the fake silver stuck-on nose on the warlords' mom's face..the extensive pyro effects, especially the Alliance space carrier. Enjoy it for what it is: an action adventure space opera created to drain off some STAR WARS money.Post Script: I got a chance to see the Japanese original version of this movie, subtitled. It's a completely different movie,mostly because the translation corrects and explains a LOT.Spoiler alert: like, why Philip Casnoff's character doesn't want to fight...why the rich girl is rich...and a whole lot of other stuff that would raise the rating of this movie by a point if viewers had seen the CORRECT version instead of the shortened (but not by much) and mistranslated version seen on TV and in the movies. It's literally a whole different movie.

yakadee I first saw this flick when it was released in 78 under the tile Message From Space. Everyone was hyped about Star Wars and all Sci Fi movies were attracting new audiences. Unfortunately this one attracted me. It turned out to not really be a Sci Fi movie but a piece of rip-off crap that was produced only to sucker people in wanting to quench their Star Wars thirst. Think bad "B" movie and multiply it about 10 times. I have only seen it once and that was 27 years ago so there are only a few things that stand out. The first is a big tall ship sailing through space. I don't mean some cool Han Solo giant Falcon type ship, I'm talking an actual wooden Tall Ship with oars, sails and everything, floating through space. My friend and I looked at each other in disbelief. This was the stupidest thing I had ever seen in a so called "legitimate" move. The second thing I remember is getting up half way through the film, and going to get my money back. Unfortunately I had to wait in a long line as a good portion of the audience was doing the same thing. This is something I had never witnessed before or since (although I'm sure it happened with Battlefield Earth but I didn't pay for that toilet tank before walking out). The third thing I remember is vowing to never watch a Vic Morrow movie again. Of course his career was cut short (pun intended) a few years later, perhaps deservedly so for this over-ripe piece of tripe.

A. Squadrilli Ahhh.. Message From Space. This was, as you probably read in previous comments, a grab at Star Wars from Japan. Sonny Chiba plays the main character of Hans. Chiba has a multitude of films under his belt as well as a very large following. The film is pure eye candy for any child despite its weak overall attempts at working out plot, characters, etc.. I actually like this movie. I enjoyed the fumbling Vic Morrow despite his intoxicated performance. I thought the special effects & props were creative. You see, the problem with any scifi film released in 1978 is that it will be compared to Star Wars. Star Wars set something as far as expectations, and anything else is considered a ripoff & a cheap one at that. The effects are retarded compared to Lucas & Co. But good for a saturday afternoon type movie. As a child this had a massive look to it and it was fast paced. The ships were actual sailing vessels in space, lots of good ideas but even with a date of 1978 there is no real excuse for how corny it ended up. Yes, & the walnuts.. Hard to believe. A not so typical 1978 type space saga with one step below the effects of the Flash Gordon movie. 5/10