SF Shinseiki Lensman (1984)

Kimball Kinnison, a young man from the agricultural planet Mquie and his Valerian companinon, Buscirk find a dying man with a legendary crystal lens embedded in his hand. As the man was ... See full summary »

Directors:

Kazuyuki Hirokawa, Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Writers:

Edward E. Smith (novels), Soji Yoshikawa

Stars:

Kerrigan Mahan, Michael McConnohie, Edie Mirman

Cast

Credited cast:
Kerrigan Mahan	...	Kimball Kinnison (voice)
Michael McConnohie	...	Van Buskirk (voice)
Edie Mirman	...	Clarissa MacDougall (voice)
Steve Kramer	...	Worsel (voice)
Gregory Snegoff	...	DJ Bill (voice)
Tom Wyner	...	Lord Helmuth (voice)
Mike Reynolds	...	Gary Kinnison (voice)
Michael Forest	...	Adm. Haines (voice)
Alexandra Kenworthy	...	Lens (voice)
Dave Mallow	...	Thorndyke (voice)
Robert Axelrod	...	Sol (voice)
Doug Stone	...	Blakslee (voice)
Milton James	...	Zwilk (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yôko Asagami	...	Sol / Greedle (voice)
Toshio Furukawa	...	Kimball Kinnison (voice)

Storyline

Kimball Kinnison, a young man from the agricultural planet Mquie and his Valerian companinon, Buscirk find a dying man with a legendary crystal lens embedded in his hand. As the man was dying, he mysteriously passed on the Lens to Kim. With more companions to come by, Kim must find out the purpose of the Lens before the Boskone dynasty does.

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Plot Keywords:

crystal | alien | cult film | campy | suicide mission | 

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Genres:

Sci-Fi | Action | Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

31 August 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lensman

Company Credits

Production Co:

EE Doc Smith MK Company, Kodansha, MK Productions Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Debut roles for Akimitsu Takase and Kenji Nomura.

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Quotes

Buzz: Look, it's not that I don't like you. It's just that I don't like you.

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Connections

Referenced in Final Fantasy VII (1997)

User Reviews

LUSH SPACE OPERA

I first saw LENSMAN on an untranslated VHS copy sometime around 1987 and it has been a favorite since. During the brief period in the early 1990's when Streamline films distributed several Japanese animated films theatrically (LENSMAN, THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 and FIST OF THE NORTH STAR) I was also fortunate to see this on the big screen, and let me tell you that the visuals are spectacular when seen in the format for which they were created. The colors and early computer graphics almost leap from the screen and I can only imagine what it would have been like had I seen this during my misspent days of doing mushrooms and going to the movies (as you can pretty well imagine, seeing ALIENS on opening night in that state was quite an experience!).

Now that DVD is conquering the home video world, I not only want to see LENSMAN get an extras-loaded release, I also want to get my hands on the companion television series that aired around the time the movie came out. It isn't listed on the IMDB, but it does exist; I have only seen one episode, and that was a poor quality untranslated copy, but it was every bit as entertaining as the feature. And it had a kickass theme song, too!