Message from Space (1978)
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(Foreign Titles)
Nomination Year: 2009
SYNOPSIS: The peaceful planet of Jillucia has been attacked by the forces of the Gavanas, lead by the evil Rockseia XLL (whose #1 advisor is his mother). They have a plan to save themselves, however. They are sending out eight seeds from the Liabe tree, which is also their God. Or something like that. And the seeds (which look like a cross between filberts and acorns) will fly into space to seek out the eight heroes that will help them defeat Rockseia and the Gavanas.
The seeds actually do what they're supposed to, seeking out a couple of hotshot Terran pilots, a grizzled old general (Vic Morrow) who retired after giving his robot valet a Viking (think Viking rocket) funeral, a smarmy guy, the rich girl who hangs out with the pilots, and a few other people who show up very late in the movie. These people eventually get it together, but not until after the Gavanas actually track down where the Liabe seeds went, and threaten Earth -- Rockseia thinks it looks really pretty, and wants it for his new homeworld. Unfortunately, it looks like the only way to destroy the Gavanas is to pilot some small fighter jets into the reactor core of a large space battlestation that they have actually built into the planet of Jillucia (this will, of course, cause Jillucia to explode -- but hopefully not explode enough to threaten Earth).
The seeds actually do what they're supposed to, seeking out a couple of hotshot Terran pilots, a grizzled old general (Vic Morrow) who retired after giving his robot valet a Viking (think Viking rocket) funeral, a smarmy guy, the rich girl who hangs out with the pilots, and a few other people who show up very late in the movie. These people eventually get it together, but not until after the Gavanas actually track down where the Liabe seeds went, and threaten Earth -- Rockseia thinks it looks really pretty, and wants it for his new homeworld. Unfortunately, it looks like the only way to destroy the Gavanas is to pilot some small fighter jets into the reactor core of a large space battlestation that they have actually built into the planet of Jillucia (this will, of course, cause Jillucia to explode -- but hopefully not explode enough to threaten Earth).
Kevin Hogan
Kinji Fukasaku
Vic Morrow
