Uchû senkan Yamato

I've been a fan of Matsumoto Leiji ever since I saw Dangard Ace many years ago, as well as Galaxy Express on Sci-Fi channel when they showed anime on Saturday mornings. I don't know why it took me so long to watch this show, but I highly recommend it.

This right here, the entry for Space Battleship Yamato, is the original series from which the '77 movie was derived. It fully chronicles the adventures of the crew of the Yamato, born from the wreckage of the WWII battleship, the last hope of Japan, or so it comes across that way in the series. I'm not sure how that was adapted when the show was made into Star Blazers, but I'd like to find out.

All the names I use here are the ones from the subtitles in the version I watched.

By the year 2199, Earth has been under constant bombardment from the planet Galimus for several decades. From their front line base on Pluto, they launch meteor bombs daily at the surface of the Earth, which has destroyed the surface, driving the entire populous into underground cities. But this does little to save the human race, as the meteors also spread a radioactive poison, which is slowly but inexorably seeping down into the crust. Their last hope (perhaps reflecting the feelings of Japan at the end of the war, or maybe not) is the first earth ship capable of faster-than-light travel, the Yamato. Launched in response to a message from Starsha of Iscandar, sister planet of Galimus, their mission is to retrieve an item called the Cosmo Cleaner, which can eliminate the poisons spread by the meteors. But, at the time of Yamato's departure, the amount of time mankind can survive is exactly one year. With out any help, can the crew of the Yamato travel the 148,000 light-years to Iscandar and back in one year, all the while being attacked by the space forces of Galimus?

Lyrics for Starblazers Opening Theme (1st Season)

We're off to outer space We're leaving Mother Earth To save the human race Our Star Blazers

Searching for a distant star Heading off to Iscandar Leaving all we love behind Who knows what danger we'll find?

We must be strong and brave Our home we've got to save If we don't in just one year Mother Earth will disappear

Fighting with the Gamilons We won't stop until we've won Then we'll return and when we arrive The Earth will survive With our Star Blazers

Opeming Theme for Second Season

We're off to outer space We're leaving mother Earth To save the human race Our Star Blazers

A cry for help, a desperate plight Makes our Star Force reunite As we rush to meet our fate The Comet Empire awaits

We must be strong and brave To stop its evil ways If Zordar's plot should work He'll destroy the universe

We'll fight the Comet Empire Battle through the raining fire Filled with the hope that Earth will survive We'll keep peace alive with Our Star Blazers

This anime defined my childhood for many years. The journey was entertaining, interesting and enthralling. Star blazers was ahead of its time

Combine Star Wars and Star Trek, and mix in a little Battlestar Galactica, and you've got Space Battleship Yamato - or as we Americans knew it, Star Blazers.

What a show. The animation was magnificent for its time, and the story was both compelling and fascinating. I remember dozens of times my friend Tom and I were watching the show, which aired in the early mornings on KPDX-49 in the Portland area, and we would have to rush out as soon as the episode ended so we could run to school to make it in time. We never missed an episode of the first or second series.

By the way, skip the third series, it is a rehash of the first two vastly superior series.

Recently the original two hour SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO movie was shown at a local university. Watching it offered more questions than answers in pondering how the 120 minute movie was edited into the first STAR BLAZERS series. What stands to memory is that STAR BLAZERS had its storyline given more detail and enrichment. However, either version is fun to watch.

The story, the music, the space battles, the animation... the two words to describe it is PURE FUN!

Enthralled, simply enthralled watching the STAR BLAZERS TV series for the first time 20 years ago. I have seen a fair number of Japanese cartoon series and no characters remain as vivid and real as the crew of the Argo.