Space Battleship Yamato (1977)

Gamilons are a race of evil aliens that are trying to destroy the planet Earth. However, a group of civilians look to the battleship Yamato for its space travel and go on a mission to bring... See full summary »

Director:

Toshio Masuda

Writers:

Keisuke Fujikawa, Leiji Matsumoto (story and characters)

Stars:

Gorô Naya, Kei Tomiyama, Shûsei Nakamura

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gorô Naya	...	Okita Juzo / Aruga Kosaku (voice)
Kei Tomiyama	...	Kodai Susumu (voice)
Shûsei Nakamura	...	Shima Daisuke (voice)
Yôko Asagami	...	Mori Yuki / Fisherman's Son (voice)
Ichirô Nagai	...	Dr. Sado Sakezô / Hikozaemon Tokugawa / Fisherman / Ghetto (voice)
Taichirô Hirokawa	...	Kodai Mamoru (voice)
Takeshi Aono	...	Sanada Shirô / Berger (voice)
Masatô Ibu	...	Desler / Todo Heikuro (voice)
Osamu Kobayashi	...	Domel (voice)
Michiko Hirai	...	Starsha (voice)
Akira Kamiya	...	Katô Saburô (voice)
Ken'ichi Ogata	...	Analyzer / Yabu Sukeharu (voice)
Keisuke Yamashita	...	Hiss / Sugiyama Kazuhiko / Nomura Jiro (voice)
Takeshi Ôbayashi	...	Schultz (voice)
Akira Kimura	...	Narêtâ (voice)

Storyline

Gamilons are a race of evil aliens that are trying to destroy the planet Earth. However, a group of civilians look to the battleship Yamato for its space travel and go on a mission to bring back a neutralizer that will get rid of the radiation from the Earth.

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Plot Keywords:

adapted into a manga | pluto the planet | humanoid | alien invasion | warp speed | 

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Taglines:

The spectacular intergalactic space movie!

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Genres:

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

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

6 August 1977 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Space Battleship Yamato

Company Credits

Production Co:

Office Academy

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

This "movie" is actually the original series "Uchû senkan Yamato" (1974-1975) edited into 2+ hours and shown theatrically. It should also be noted that it was this movie that made "Yamato" extremely popular in Japan (the original TV series didn't do so well in the ratings) and its success led (so far) to two other TV shows, four more movies, and a direct-to-video mini-series.

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Alternate Versions

In the theatrical release (1977), a new ending was animated in which Starsha had already died by the time Yamato reached Iscandar and appeared as a holographic message to the crew. This sequence concluded with her palace sinking into the ocean as Yamato departs. For the Fuji TV airing in 1978, the sequence was replaced with footage from episode #25 of the TV series, which resurrected Starsha and provided an appearance for Kodai's older brother Mamoru. This is the version widely available on video in both the US and Japan.

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Connections

Followed by Space Cruiser Yamato III (1980)

User Reviews

Save yourself the trouble, watch the TV series

So basically, the first Yamato movie covers the entire Iscandar adventure.

Fair enough, allowing theatre-goers to experience the tale in time for the sequel which was released year later...only this is just really badly executed.

The single biggest problem with this movie is the pacing. Even knowing it recycles footage from the TV series cannot prepare you for the fact that they did absolutely no additional work whatsoever apart from new narration, meaning they didn't even record any new dialogue - this means that much of the first half of the film races through several key events in a manner that makes it look like the writers of the film really just didn't care. Reducing Yamato's visit to Mars to a mere mention in the fashion of the narrator going "Yamato visits Mars to make repairs" isn't even half as bad as the first test of the wave motion gun and the battle at Pluto receiving almost similar treatment, killing the dramatic tension - and I swear, I've never seen a movie narrate itself through an action scene! Sometimes, they even use the "cliffhanger" narration from the end of an episode! The faster pacing also makes the one-year voyage feel much less epic than it actually was in the TV series, and that in turn draws attention to the awkward fact that Yamato receives grave damage in one battle and is mysteriously repaired by the next scene. How many times does the third bridge get destroyed anyway? With no new animation and a really bizarre priority on what plot elements should be carried over from the TV series at that, the first Yamato movie does not feel like a theatrical feature at all, but a feature-length clip show for television.