Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato

On this blog, I want to cover one of my favourite tv cartoon shows of all time.  It is called Star Blazers (or Space Battleship Yamato in Japan).  I first saw this show when I was very little (maybe at age 5 or 6).  It would come on in the early morning and I would wake up real early to watch this show.  The reason why this show was so good was because it had a linear story line meaning that the more of the show you watched, the further you progressed in the story.  Most cartoons of its time didn't have any story from show to show so Star Blazers was one of the first to do so.  Also, this cartoon was one of the first to entertain the idea that cartoons weren't just to be funny, in Star Blazers there were many themes that were more serious in nature.

The story of Star Blazers is that the current Earth was being bombarded by the planet Gamilon, which forced to the citizens of the Earth to live underground.  The Earth then receives unexpected help from Queen Starsha of the planet Iscandar, who offers a device called "Cosmo DNA" which will remove the radiation. However, since Iscandar is 148,000 light years away, Starsha also sends plans for the experimental Wave Motion Engine that, when constructed, will aid whoever can travel to Iscandar. On Earth, a crew is recruited, headed by Captain Avatar, and an old sunken battleship (the Yamato) is transformed into a spaceship (the Argo), outfitted with the Wave Motion Engine, and sent to Iscandar.  It is important to note that the Yamato was an actual battleship used in World War II and was one of the heaviest and most powerful armed battleship of all time. The wave motion physic was also used for the wave motion gun, which was a huge gun at the front of the ship.  Another aspect of the Yamato was the use of smaller airships called the Black Tigers.  There were 3 seasons of the Star Blazers story and they are available on DVD (which I have). One of the reasons why I love Star Blazers so much is the music.  If you ever get the chance to listen to the music, it is one of the greatest music ever for a television show.  The music is full orchestral and has nice vocals as well.  I would recommend everyone to listen to the music. 

Star Blazers is often compared to Star Wars because the story takes place in the future and has a lot of science fiction in it.  I had first watched Star Blazers before I watched Star Wars, so when I first watched Star Wars, I didn't feel too impressed by it.  I thought Star Blazers was a way better version of the science fiction genre.  There many things that I liked in Star Blazers over than Star Wars.  The main spaceship, the Yamato, was way better than the Millennium Falcon.  I also thought that the Black Tigers were better than the X-wing.  I liked the character Derek Wildstar over Luke Skywalker (although Derek Wildstar is more like Han Solo).  Also, Nova was more attractive than Princess Leia. 

The "live" version of Star Blazers is now out on DVD and I had a chance to view it recently.  There are a few subtle differences from the cartoon series.  First, Nova is a much better in the "live" version.  She is more opinionated and a much stronger character (she even knocks out a couple of guys).  The doctor is a female in the "live" version but still carries a bottle of sake and has a pet cat.  The weirdest change between the cartoon and the "live" version is the Gamilons.  In the cartoon version, the Gamilons are humanoid form but in the "live" version they seem to be more of a non-physical form.  This is a bit confusing since it could have been easier just casting more people to play the role of the villain.  Overall, I thought the "live" version had pretty good acting in it, although at times, the story seemed a little too drawn out.  There were times that it was pretty obvious as to what was going to happen next.