Star Blazers

Infobox Television
show_name = Star Blazers


caption =
format = Drama, Military, Science Fiction, Action, Adventure
creator =
starring = Eddie Allen
Amy Howard Wilson
Mike Czechopoulos
Jack Grimes
Chris Latta
Lydia Leeds
Corinne Orr
Tom Tweedy
country = flagicon|Japan Japan
language = English
network = flagicon|United States Syndication
first_aired = May 8, 1979
last_aired = December 4, 1984
num_episodes = 78|

"Star Blazers" is an English-dubbed and partly edited version of the 1974-1980 Japanese science fiction anime series Nihongo|"Space Battleship Yamato"|宇宙戦艦ヤマト|Uchū Senkan Yamato, first broadcast in the United States in 1979. Significantly, it was the first popular English-translated anime that had an over-arching plot and storyline that required the episodes to be shown in order. Even while being toned down a bit by editing, it also dealt with much more mature themes than any other productions being aimed at the same target audience at the time. As a result, it paved the way for the introduction and popularity of future arc-based, plot-driven anime translations.

History

In 1978, before the debut of the American "Star Blazers" series, the Japanese 1977 "Space Battleship Yamato movie" (or "Space Cruiser Yamato" as it was known at the time) was dubbed into English and re-titled "Space Cruiser". The movie poster illustration for this little known release contained several inaccuracies such as the Wave Motion Gun shaft acting as a launch tube for starfighters.

Following this, Westchester Corporation identified the "Space Battleship Yamato" series as a potential "kids' property" ("Starlog", June 1980), and bought the rights to the first two seasons. Dubbing and editing were done by Griffin-Bacal Advertising and production and syndication by Claster Television. Being marketed at a school-age audience, "Yamato" was bowdlerized by the American editors in order to satisfy the broadcast standards and practices offices of American TV stations. However, far fewer edits were made than with another 1970s anime, "Battle of the Planets" (a heavily-censored version of "Science Ninja Team Gatchaman"). Even in its edited American form "Star Blazers" retains practically all of its uniquely Japanese characteristics in terms of content, plot, character development, and philosophy. [cite news|title=WCC Animation Comics|work=StarBlazers.com|date=|url=http://www.starblazers.com/html.php?page_id=180|accessdate=2008-09-02]

Principal changes in "Star Blazers" included Westernization of character names, reduction of personal violence, toning down of offensive language and alcohol use (references to sake were changed to "spring water," and the ship's Doctor's perpetually drunken state was put forth as merely good humor), removal of sexual fan service, and reduction of references to World War II, although the sunken battleship ruins were still identified as the Battleship Yamato in dialogue. The most significant reference removed—and the longest single edit in the series—was a section depicting the Battleship Yamato's final battle during World War II, including imagery of the captain tied to the helm as he went down with his ship. [cite news|title=The Star Blazers You Didn't See|work=desslok.com|date=|url=http://www.desslok.com/INFO/didntsee.htm|accessdate=2008-09-02] (This section can be viewed as a bonus on the Voyager Entertainment Series 1 Part II English-language DVD release.)

Many fans nonetheless regard "Star Blazers" as more "adult" than other cartoons shown in the U.S. at the time, as personal tragedy, funeral scenes for fallen comrades, and the extinction faced by humanity were left intact. The very Japanese theme of "the honorable enemy" was also a tremendously important aspect of character development in the major villain of the first series, Desslok, during the second and third seasons as well as in the later movies.

The most significant change made by Griffin-Bacal was purely narrative: In the original series the "Yamato" and its crew were regarded as a single entity, the narrator each week urging "Yamato", hurry to Iscandar!" In English, the significance of the name Yamato as a word the viewers can identify with, signifying the land, people, and spirit of Japan is lost, so in "Star Blazers" the crew were named the "Star Force" and became the focus of the show. The ship is still the historical "Yamato" and is once referred to as such, but is renamed the "Argo" (after the ship Argo of Jason and the Argonauts) once rebuilt, and becomes merely the vessel in which they traveled.

The first two seasons (whose DVD releases are titled "The Quest for Iscandar" and "The Comet Empire") were broadcast in 1979 and 1980. By the time the third season of "Yamato" was released, however, the original voice actors had moved on and, being non-union, were uncontactable by the American production company. The third season (released as "The Bolar Wars") played to a small test market at the time and was not as widely seen until its release on video and DVD, and remains less popular than the first two seasons. Many of the original English voice actors have since been tracked down and interviewed for the "Star Blazers" DVD releases.

Cast

*Eddie Allen Gamilon Leader Desslok / Lt. Dash Jordan (Eps. 1-52)
*Amy Howard Wilson Nova (Eps. 1-52)
*Mike Czechopoulos Gamilon Col. Volgar (Eps. 1-26)
*Chris Latta Comet Empire Gen. Dire / Sgt. Major Knox (Eps. 27-52)
*Lydia Leeds Queen Starsha (Eps. 1-26) / Trelaina (Eps. 27-52)
*Tom Tweedy Mark Venture (Eps. 1-52)
*Jack Grimes Gamilon General Gustaf (Eps. 53-78)
*Corinne Orr Nova Forrester / Queen Mariposa (Eps. 53-78) [cite news|title="Star Blazers" (1979)-Full cast and crew|work=Internet Movie Database|date=|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078692/fullcredits#cast|accessdate=2008-09-02]

American remake

During the mid 1990s, the Walt Disney Company purchased the theatrical rights to a live-action "Yamato" movie. A highly publicized draft of the script by Tab Murphy was leaked on the internet in the late 1990s. [cite news|title=Sci fi Scripts|work=Sci fi Scripts|date=|url=http://www.scifiscripts.com/cartoon/starblazer.txt|accessdate=2008-09-02] It followed a ragtag crew of misfits (most of whom are not named after any of the original show's crew from either the Japanese or English version) aboard the rebuilt United States battleship "Arizona" (which was sunk by the Japanese during the attack on Pearl Harbor) on a mission to save Earth. The project is believed to have been shelved following Michael Eisner's departure from the company. In April 2006 it was announced that Benderspink and producer Josh C. Kline had teamed up to make another attempt at creating a live action version of the story. [cite news|title=TV.com:Star Blazers movie will save Earth|work=TV.com|date=2006-06-24|url=http://www.tv.com/pok%C3%A9mon/show/467/story/4247.html|accessdate=2008-09-02]

American comic adaptations

To date four American comic adaptations have been published; five books retelling the original series, two comic book series and the most recent as a web comic. [cite news|title=WCC Animation Comics|work=StarBlazers.com|date=|url=http://www.starblazers.com/html.php?page_id=180|accessdate=2008-09-02]

The first adaptation was a set of books retelling the original first season in five volumes, using the original cel animation. [cite news|title=The Star Blazers you did not see|work=desslok.com|date=|url=http://www.desslok.com/INFO/books.htm|accessdate=2008-09-02]

It was published in 1983 by West Cape Co., Ltd. under their imprint W.C.C. Animation Comics. The books are translations of material that was already laid out and published for the Japanese market as "film comics." The English language editions were printed in Japan and distributed by Books Nippan of Los Angeles, the American branch of Nippon Shuppan Hanbai. The title of each book includes "Original Title: Space Cruiser Yamato" as a sub-title. [cite news|title=WCC Animation Comics|work=StarBlazers.com|date=|url=http://www.starblazers.com/html.php?page_id=180|accessdate=2008-09-02]

The second adaptation (actually two miniseries) was published by Comico Comics in the late 1980s and served as a postscript to the second season. In this series it was discovered that the White Comet Empire's rear fleet (comprising fully half of the empire's entire fleet) still existed and - with Earth's entire fleet other than the "Argo" having been wiped out - only the "Argo" stood between the massive fleet of the empire and Earth. In this story, the Comet Empire took over the Yamato and used it against Earth. The second Comico miniseries dealt with the Star Force's battle against a renegade Earth General and his alien allies. Due to weak artwork and story this second miniseries was less well received than the first. [cite news|title=Comico Comic Book Series|work=StarBlazers.com|date=|url=http://www.starblazers.com/html.php?page_id=189|accessdate=2008-09-02] [cite news|title=Comico Comic Book Series 2|work=StarBlazers.com|date=|url=http://www.starblazers.com/html.php?page_id=190|accessdate=2008-09-02]

In the mid-'90s Voyager Entertainment published 12 issues of a "Star Blazers" comic book before publication was halted due to poor sales.

" [http://www.starblazers.com/comicshome.php Star Blazers Rebirth] " is currently being published as a web comic, with new chapters appearing on the [http://www.starblazers.com/ official "Star Blazers" site] every month or two. The art and story is by Tim Eldred, who was also responsible for the Voyager Entertainment series. In "Star Blazers Rebirth" the Earth is once again threatened by a menace from space headed for the Earth 25 years after the first series; this time in the shape of what appears to be a black hole. At first Earth's government does not believe the information, on the basis that black holes aren't supposed to be able to move. However, they eventually agree to send Earth's newest and most powerful starship, "Andromeda II", to investigate. Upon reaching its destination, "Andromeda II" is quickly destroyed with all hands on board, though not before transmitting its data to Earth. Shocked by the disaster, and disgusted at the lack of response from Earth's government (other than to begin evacuating the citizens of the Earth to the far less hospitable planets discovered during the third series), Sandor and Wildstar (now grey-haired, bearded, in his mid-40s, and constantly haunted by the past - as well as by pasts which never happened) devote their wealth and energies to rebuilding the nearly shattered "Argo", which was encased in ice and left floating in Earth orbit at the end of "Final Yamato". Since most of the old surviving bridge crew of "Argo" are now captains in command of their own ships, many of the new crew members are the children or grandchildren of the original "Argo" crew. In keeping with the original series' emphasis on human mortality, one of these children is the daughter of one of the original crew's most important members, who (apparently) died in the "Andromeda II" mission to investigate the mysterious black hole. In the meantime, the decision to relocate Earth's population to numerous colonies has left Earth's forces stretched far too thinly, with several colonies beginning to break away from Earth's control under command of Capt. Nenezich. Short on supplies, "Argo" heads toward the center of the galaxy in an attempt to learn more about the mysterious black hole and a rash of attacks on Earth's colonies.

DVDs

DVDs of the three series were released in 2002 by Voyager Entertainment as "The Quest for Iscandar," "The Comet Empire" and "The Bolar Wars." [cite news|title=Star Blazers - Star Blazers Collection: Series I|work=TVShowsOnDVD.com|date=|url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/releases/Star-Blazers-Volume-Release/637|accessdate=2008-09-02] Each series is contained on six discs, including bonuses on each disc. The discs are available individually or collected in three separate boxed sets of six discs each. [cite news|title=Star Blazers - Star Blazers Collection: Series II|work=TVShowsOnDVD.com|date=|url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/releases/Star-Blazers-Volume-Release/2230|accessdate=2008-09-02]

References

External links

* [http://www.starblazers.com/department.php?page_id=125 Starblazers Official website]
* [http://www.desslok.com/main.htm Star Blazers / Space Cruiser Yamato Wave Motion Web Page]
* [http://www.starblazers.com/comicshome.php "Star Blazers Rebirth" web comic]
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