Saturday, March 5, 2011

Star Blazers Theme

Next to Battle Of The Planets, Star Blazers was my second favorite initiation into the world of anime. Yes, those were the days.
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Star Blazers [1979-1984; Three Seasons-The Quest For Iscandar, The Comet Empire, The Bolar Wars; 77 Episodes], the English translation of Japan's Space Battleship Yamato, received the Battle Of The Planets edit treatment to reach the states.
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Star Blazers did receive far less editing apart from some nudity or fan service and references to World War II including the series name change away from the battleship Yamato.
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Still, as a young boy StarBlazers was a mighty space opera. It was more of an ongoing epic saga with much greater continuity than the more stand alone style of Battle Of The Planets.
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I've certainly taken the time to check them both out recently. It is my personal opinion that Battle Of The Planets holds up better today as far as animation goes. I think Star Blazers offers an engaging story and one that still plays well. Substantively Star Blazers may have the true edge. If held at gunpoint, I would easily pick Battle Of The Planets as my animation of choice.
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Both anime were incredibly influential on our young minds, but I must admit watching Battle Of The Planets definitely gives me a more nostalgic feel than Star Blazers, which probably speaks to the fact that the Sandy Frank series connected with me on a different level than Star Blazers. Nevertheless, they are both classics, but which do you prefer?
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I will say I have a nasty, filthy Soul Of Chogokin mock-up of the Argo battleship. The ship is something sweet and is the main reason I look forward to seeing the live action film, Space Battleship Yamato, that was released in Japan in December 2010. It should be available in America soon. For the uninitiated and those simply revisiting here is the infinitely singable Star Blazers theme song.

7 comments:

John Kenneth Muir said...

Hi SFF:

I'm a total Star Blazers fan, and so is my wife, Kathryn.

When I was a youngster (a long time ago in a galaxy, far, far away...), I would visit a shop in Manhattan called Forbidden Plant and buy all of these Yamato model kits and plastic toys (as well as Dr. Who novels).

I still have many of the toys and models...but they're in pretty raw shape after years of play. I ended up giving a lot of them to Joel, but he has no idea what series they are from or what the heck Star Blazers is.

I've been toying with buying Star Blazers on DVD...but the sets are pretty damn expensive!

Great post, my friend. I really enjoyed this look back, and it got me thinking it's about time to visit Star Blazers again...

Best,
JKM

SFF said...

Hello brother.

I'm with you completely John.

There used to be an Anime Crash in my area and I used to purchase anime goods there.

Well, I once had Starblazers Quest For Iscandar on VHS! UGH! Good grief.

I don't have the entire series and I don't think I've ever seen it from start to finish.

At the moment I have the final volume of the DVD because I always wanted to know how it ended.

I always wanted to know how Battle Of The Planets ended too. Of course there were only 85 episodes in America. Gatchaman had the full 105 episodes.

Did you know Jason actually dies in the end? We never did get to see that happen on Battle Of The Planets. I'll bet that's why they never did the whole series.

Joel must be having a ball like my son.

He just landed an EVA-02 off me today. But, he's a good kid!

Thank you for stopping to share your thoughts.
SFF

Unknown said...

"...Mother Earth will disappear!" oh wow, I haven't heard that theme song in years. I definitely prefer that theme song. Hands down.

Like, JKM, I grew up on the show. Never had any toys and am also dismayed at how expensive the DVD sets are! I know Netflix has some episodes and movies streaming.

Thanks for the blast from the past. Ah, memories...

SFF said...

Cheers- thanks JD. Yes, good memories.

Anonymous said...

Theme song written in Japanese as Ucchu Senkan Yamato aka Starblazers.

Anonymous said...

Starblazers the classic animated series based from the novel by Yoshinobu Nishizaki became the compilation film and TV series.

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