Message from Space - Thanks for Clarifying

[AndyC]

Good to see a review of Message from Space. Saw it at B-Fest in January, and couldn't make heads or tails of it. Didn't help that the sound was very low and the guys behind me shouted through the whole thing. Imagine trying to follow the movie based on only what you see. It was a strange experience.

[Squishy]

The cineplex--wow, how many years have gone by since you heard THAT word?--that showed this one didn't have a lot of room on its mini-marquee to display the title, so it  was shortened to "MESS FROM SPACE." Appropriate, no?

[Fearless Freep]

My memories of this movie from when I was young are rather disjointed and confusing.

All this time I thought it was my fault...

[Flangepart]

Nope...its the movie alright. I remember an old TNT Monstervision promo refering to "Bone Chilling Diologue"....what an understatment! I saw this in a theater, and as soon as the sailing spaceship came on, i thought...."What?"
....Think about it, how many things are such perfect oxymorons?
....Sailing...spaceship. What, do they have a screen door to the gally? Sure gets your attention......but respect? I don't think so......

[Fearless Freep]

....Sailing...spaceship.

Not much worse than the "Galaxy Express 999" :)

[Andrew]

My pleasure, though my grasp of the film is still faulty.  This is despite repeated viewing and even pondering it one time during a military flight.  Settled down into the C-130's harnesses and tried to figure out "Message from Space."  I eventually fell asleep and had weird dreams.

Sorry for not being around much the last few days.  I am keeping an eye on the board and things, but the days have been long (0530 - 2100 long).  Going to Pittsburgh for a few days to assist the unit there, so no relief until next weekend.

[Squishy]

At the time this "Mess" was made, "solar sails" were all the rage in sci-fi; plus (as Fearless Freep pointed out earlier) spaceships depicted as seafaring vessels is not unusual in Japanese fantasy. Reiji Matsumoto is/was a big fan of that, giving the world "Space Cruiser Yamato" (AKA "Star Blazers"), the Captain Harlock saga ("My Youth In Arcadia," et al, with ships based on pirate vessels), and "Galaxy Express."

Meitel, in "Galaxy Express" (the old dubbed version, at least--I don't know about other versions) explains that building a spaceship in the form of an old choo-choo, among other forms, is strictly for esthetics and nostalgia--and let's face it, were the technology available, some of us would do exactly that. I'm surprised the hot-shots weren't zooming around in "space Corvettes" or somesuch.

Trivia: The "Futurama" parody-episode "A Flight To Remember" had the cast take a vacation on the maiden voyage of the future version of the Titanic, which, of course, the idiot pilot sent into a black hole after colliding with a comet. This Titanic was a fine replica of the original, complete with a (bubble-enclosed) sun deck. (Hope you're using a 40,000SPF sunscreen, sweetheart.)

[Fearless Freep]

Captain Harlock saga ("My Youth In Arcadia"..

That would be "Arcadia In My Youth"

Capt. Harlock also puts in an appearance in "Galaxy Express 999"

"Space Cruiser Yamato" (AKA "Star Blazers")

I think the Yamato actaully *was* a ship, dug outta the Earth and refitted for space travel.

[Flangepart]

Hai.
....Yamato was the resurrection of the WW2 Battleship. She and her sistership, IJN Musashi, were sunk by USN aircraft twards the end of the war.
....As for Squishy's point about "Doing it for esthetics", that does make sense. If you have the tech...why not? Loved the Titanic eph. of Futurama. Is the show comming out on dvd any time soon?

[Chadzilla]

"There's a nut in my drink?"

Man this so looks like a movie I would adore!  Put it up with there with STARCRASH as a wish list must have.

[Dano]

The connection between seafaring and spacefaring is rather obvious, I think.  The futuristic vision of man setting forth to explore the stars (we've progressed more slowly than it looked like we might after the moon landing) has only one historical comparison from Western culture I can think of - the age of exploration and discovery beginning during the late middle ages and Renaissance.  What did they use then?  Ships of course, with navigation breakthroughs being a catalyst.

I think this is the reason why spacecraft (and even airplanes) use nautical terminology - port and starboard instead of left and right; bulkheads; hijackings; cabins; holds; captains; even "aeronautics."  Air and space travel (and the fiction that sprang forth from it) borrowed nautical terminology.  

That's why the old Star Wars card read: "Han Solo - Space Pirate" instead of "Han Solo: Space Bandit."

[Scott]

Is this a Japanese movie. I think I have caught part of it on FLIX channel one night. It was weird. Like FLASH GORDON, but alot stranger.

[yaddo42]

Loved the review, thanks Andrew! I fond memories of watching parts of this on TV growing up, but I never remember making it to the end. And all this time I thought it was just me, glad to know the storyline had something to do with it.

Does anyone else remember a video game from the early 80s that used the spaceships racing through the gorge sequence as part of the action? It was during that brief phase of arcade games incorporating film and video segments into the gameplay.

[John]

>Does anyone else remember a video game from the early 80s that used the >spaceships racing through the gorge sequence as part of the action? It was
>during that brief phase of arcade games incorporating film and video segments
>into the gameplay

 Doesn't rings any bells, but you can try searching for it here;

Killer List of Video Games

[Fearless Freep]

I remember it,.  It was about the time of "Dragon's Lair" where video game makers were experimenting with various forms of using laserdiscs.

Don't remember the title, though