Space Battleship Yamato

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!

With the exception of bell-bottoms on their uniforms, Star Blazers is one of the greatest, most eclectic stargazing sagas of all time. In an era when animation depicting technological advances was still in its infantile stages (late 1970s), the producers of Star Blazers have done such an excellent job of keeping the viewer fixed on the characters, dialogue, story plots, and vivid battles scenes. I remember watching the series when I was 10 years old, and I am still watching videos today. I would love to see a remake of the series, with clean, crisper episodes; in reality, if the episodes are ever shown again on prime time, little changes need to be made to the original series. It is just that good.

If they follow through and really do make a live-action version as planned, it could well be one of the greatest movies of all time. I'd rather a TV series, though, because there's too much for just one movie. (Let's pray they don't get Power Rangers actors for the roles.)

As a child (3 or 4 when it premiered in English), I couldn't fully appreciate the plot, character development and music. "One so young" can't perceive how Desslok is insane, not merely cruel, and how his evil has been seen in many Earth tyrants. There are further historical implications, like about radiation bombing, that you won't notice until after learning some world history. In one of the most dramatic episodes, Derek Wildstar's family discusses the Gamilon's radiation bombing (nuking). As Derek is just out of range while on the train, his parents along with their city are destroyed in another attack.

Voice acting is actually good for a "kids" show. There are scenes of pure human drama, and the voice cast pulled through so well. Certainly it's not Olivier, but it beats the pants off most movies and TV today. The characters actually grew, especially Derek Wildstar in his friendship with Venture and his coming to love Nova.

A lot of their technology was already present in science fiction. I'm not sure about a hologram room, though, which they had 13 *years* before Star Trek TNG. The parallels between the two space operas is uncanny, and I say this as a big Trek fan. The second Star Blazers season's mutinous escape is very similar to Star Trek III. And dare I point this out: Derek blamed the Captain for his brother's death, and Wesley blamed Picard for his father's death. The angry young men grow up to realize the captain is not such a bad guy, and that their loved ones died to save others.

I have a friend who dislikes anime, but he had to admit the music is superb. WHO is the woman singing the Argo cruising theme, and the male chorus for the theme song? One of my favorite clips is when Derek and the Captain shout to the Earth, "We will return!" The male chorus hums and sings "We will return, we WILL return" like something from Henry Mancini.

Voyager Entertainment didn't remaster (or minimally did) the video and sound, but the nostalgia is worth it (Amazon.com has a good price for the first season DVD box set). There are some bonus features, including a cut scene detailing the Argo's WWII history, when it was the Yamato. History repeats itself in the first season's largest battle, the denoument of Gamilon, where their entire fleet pounds the Argo.

If you enjoyed it as a child, you'll feel 20 years younger to watch it again. I know I do. I must be sappy, but I don't mind: three times I watched the penultimate episode, where one of the crew reunites with someone from the past (I don't want to spoil it too much), and three times I cried. How the tough guy's face softens as he starts to cry, and later when the person asks him, "Forgive me!" and runs off.

I remember this series only too well. It was only slightly cut for American audiences, leaving out only the actual deaths of characters (Mostly redshirt types, excepting Captain Avatar) when they were shot, blown up, or other. The characters were exceedingly well realized with backstories and CHANGES to the characters as their characters developed. Compared to the pitifully slaughtered 'Battle of the Planets' (Gatchaman, later re-translated into G-Force which managed to be better) or anything American animated series were planning on doing (He-Man, Bravestarr, etc ad nauseum), this series really shone. Only the 'Robotech' series came close, and that one suffered from trying to combine 3 Japanime series into one.

Looking at the coming attraction scenes made me realize that some editing was done in the last episode of the 1st season. In it, a Gamilon was rushing into the cargo bay where Nova was trying to activate the CosmoDNA (The Gamilon boarding party was using a radioactive gas) Starsha had given them and Sandor was protesting that it might not be safe. In the actual ep, Sandor and Nova both turn to see the Gamilon enter, but we never actually see him, and Nova ends up wounded for no readily apparant reason other than the aforementioned gas. I am certain that Sandor shot the encroaching Gamilon, but too late to prevent Nova from being hit.

There were several episodes where bodies were seen, if not the causes for their deaths. This marked it apart from anything else being shown 'for children' at this point. Considering that American animation seemed to be following the same rules that American comics were following (No death, sex, excessive violence, excitement, things of interest, plot development, etc) it isn't really a surprise that so many of us rushed home to watch it. (While at a meeting for my high school band, I came across several of the 'cool kids' singing the theme song together.)

In my area only the first 2 seasons were shown, but my wife reports that she not only got just the first, but it didn't include the final episode where they return to Earth, never mind the whole Comet Empire season. After hearing that, I didn't feel so bad about missing the 3rd season.

Just as a clarifying point for my faithful readers, though one of the crewmembers reported that Sgt. Knox had returned in another fighter, it was dubbed in. He died destroying the power center on the Comet Ship (In fact, none of the Marines they brought aboard survived the season). According to a later movie, Orion the engineer also died in the final ep of the 2nd season (Much to my sadness, I liked him). Also the chief pilot, Conroy died fighting the Comet Empire, but was replaced by his identical younger brother in the 3rd Japanese series, though the American series considered him to be the same character. (Nevermind that he was using a urinal when he spotted the Andremeda coming after them in the 2nd season's 5th episode. I wouldn't expect American TV to show that).

I hope that the various petitions are successful in returning Star Blazers to television. While there are several interesting animated shows, with the exception of Roughnecks; the Starship Troopers Chronicles, that are merely interesting, Star Blazers was actually engrossing.

The animation is a bit crude by today's standards, but only on the surface. Its style and heart are still unique and compelling, and clearly each frame is lovingly crafted. The music is phenomenal and moving, especially given that it was probably taken from the original 1974 film. The SF ideas presented (e.g. holography room, space/time warps, etc.) are borrowed by many films and series that have followed. The plots, though overly dramatic sometimes, are poignant and epic nonetheless. Overall, the series is rough on the edges, with many minor flaws such as character inconsistencies and scientific factual blunders, not to mention the gross inefficiency of using a seagoing battleship design for a space cruiser. However, the core of it is pure genius and I'm held in rapt admiration of it.

The references to World War II are obvious: fighting an almost hopeless war against an evil, corrupt empire. The enemy leader, Desslok, even looks like a Nazi with the uniform he wears. The story is emotionally driven: fraught with patriotism, sacrifice, and the desperation to save Earth. The writers employ healthy doses of characterization and detail, something sadly lacking in most other series. Lots of morality and spiritualism are brandished effectively such as (paraphrased) "don't destroy other worlds in desperation, even though Earth will die in less than a year", "with great power comes great responsibility", "take pains not to harm indigenous life on other worlds", "take the blame for your actions and move on", "in spite of all the Capt has lost, he goes on, indomitable", and "your brother survives in you."

Part of the series' attraction is the epic space battles. The see the animators craft the ships and their weaponry, and put them into action, is a sight to behold. "Space planes" soar in formation around the enemy and bristle with missiles and torpedoes. Weapons of mass destruction are brought into play to save the day. And the battleship Argo itself is such a work of art. Its splendor is shown off in a vast array of combat attitudes. They couldn't resist having the ship land in on an ocean, so that its seagoing superstructure and profile could be admired (powerfully reminiscent of the sea battles in our history). Overall, the heroic spirit personified by ship and her crew is exploited to the hilt, and it's hard to resist cheering for them in spite of the melodrama.