Space Battleship Yamato

The show was a refreshing break from all cartoons about critters dropping pounds of TNT on one another and assorted silliness. It rode the heels of the popularity of Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, despite the fact that, in Japan, it preceded them.

The greatest flaw was that it was not properly marketed, and has been confined to a niche category.

Disney made an attempt a few years ago to resurrect and modernize the property, but it seems to be stuck in dev-hell. From what I understand about the script, it should stay there until a better script makes its way through the bowels of Hollywood.

I've got to say that this is a spectacular show. The animation may seem trite now, but 20 years ago, it was incredible. I do have to say that it absolutely kills today's Dragonball Z... (what a waste). What really sets this show apart is the realism. During the first movie/series, the original Captain dies, but the series goes on AND references their dead leader throughout the show. Well done. This happens throughout the series, causing the viewers to feel the remorse of what is happening on screen.

Being young and impressionable, I suppose I was sucked in by the glamour of being in outer space, fighting aliens and saving the day. But, as I look back, the drama was good enough that I would want to see it all again, nearly 20 years later. And, in the spirit of that, I've found that you can currently watch the 2nd season of Star Blazers on Cartoon Network under the Toonami/Reactor section.

It's just as good as I remembered...

I think another (maybe the first) reviewer said it best: "I can't believe there aren't more reviews here!" The original Japanese title for this show is "Uchuu Senkan Yamato" (Space Battleship Yamato). I believe it came out in 1974 in Japan, but was Americanized and released in the US in 1979. Be that as it may, this is, has been, and probably will be my favorite anime series of all time. Not only do I like it because it brings back great after-school memories of congregations of neighborhood kids, but it has a very believable and emotional storyline. Not many series I know of devote an ENTIRE episode to having an emotional goodbye to families before the Argo (Yamato) leaves the Solar System. There are so many well-developed sub-plots...you'll just have to see for yourself if you've never heard of this. It is a GEM, and if you like sci-fi at all, you will not be disappointed. Of the 3 series, my personal favorite is the "Quest for Iscandar." Rent it, buy it, or borrow it if you can. With VHS tapes becoming obsolete, you can get them cheaply on e-bay. I own all the VHS tapes, and the American DVDs recently put out by Voyager Entertainment. But I must say to the purists who aren't aware of this: get the 9-DVD set from www.sundevildvd.com. I am not affiliated with them in any way, but they offer a "Star Blazers DVD Bundle." It is the ENTIRE 78-episode series (Quest for Iscandar, The Comet Empire, and The Bolar Wars) for less than $100. One catch: the language is Japanese, but if you can bear the not-perfect-but-acceptable English subtitles, that's the way to go. All of these episodes are COMPLETELY UNCUT, and you'll see just how much footage was cut from the American versions! Desslok with his original Japanese voice sounds as cool as Mr. Eddie Allen doing his voice in English.

They just don't make 'em like this anymore. Watch one, and you'll be hooked.....I can just about guarantee it. Enjoy.

I can still sing the theme song...."We're offfffffffff to outer spaaaaaaaace. We're leaving mother eaaaaaarth. To save the human raaaaaaaace........" My friends and I watched this show everyDAY before 7th grade and after that also. It came on right after Speed Racer and before Rodger Ramjet. We continually followed the plights of Mark Venture, Derek Wildstar, Nova, the Captain and all the others. I believe that I was actually very, very sad when the Captain died. It seemed that there was ALWAYS a reason to fire off the "wave-motion" gun in each episode.....but oh well. I loved the series....hope it comes back on cable!

I'm really suprised this anime doesn't have a stronger following, this is one the first animes that was brought to the US that had an actual ongoing storyline. It also is the anime that upped my expectations of cartoons, after this series I was much more skeptical and demanding of how cartoons where done. Unlike Superfriends, characters ability's didn't change with the demand of the situation in each episode of Starblazers, I really recommend anybody who wants to see a good ongoing anime series to go out and try to rent this series, you won't regret it.