"Star Blazers" (1979) TV series

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Director:

Leiji Matsumoto

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

We're off to outer space, we're leaving Mother Earth. To save the human race...

Plot:

A starship must make a dangerous voyage to a distant planet and back to save Earth.

Plot Keywords:

Anime | Spacecraft | Fighter Pilot | Manga | Space Carrier

Cast

Eddie Allen	...	Dashell 'Dash' Jordan / ... (77 episodes)
Michael Bertolini	...	Homer Glitchman (77 episodes, 1979)
Amy Howard Wilson	...	Nova Forrester / ... (52 episodes)
Lydia Leeds	...	Queen Starsha / ... (52 episodes)
Kenneth Meseroll	...	Derek Wildstar (52 episodes)
Tom Tweedy	...	Mark Venture (52 episodes)
Gordon Ramsay	...	Orion Sr. (52 episodes)

Also Known As:

"Space Battleship Yamato"
"Space Cruiser Yamato" (Japan: English title)
"Star Blazers: Quest for Iscandar" (USA) (first part title)

Runtime:

USA:22 min (78 episodes)

Country:

Japan

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:G (some episodes) | Australia:PG (some episodes)

Company:

Claster Television Productions

Trivia:

Released in the U.S. to cash in on Star Wars (1977), the series actually predates A New Hope by three years.

Quotes:

Gamilon Leader Desslok: Go ahead. Fire it. Fire the gun. I've been most anxious to see what this great weapon of yours can do, so... fire the gun...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Heppoko jikken animêshon excel saga: Invasion, Mother (#1.22)" (2000)

Watched it at age 10......still watching it at age 34.

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.