The STAR BLAZERS thread

[johnmiic]

I love Star Blazers Mike! They never showed it at a decent time when I was a kid and I have bouight some of the DVD's but it's a damn fine example of Animation, Sci-Fi and very human drama.

I managed to buy the soundtrack a few years ago, ( 2001? or thereabouts). They have an official website. Maybe it's still available if you check with them. When I was young I didn't know what Anime and Manga were and thought the same people who made Battle of the Planets made Star Blazers.

[censy]

I was obsessed with this show growing up. Maybe I still am : ) If I could green light any one line of new megos, it would be Star Blazers. Glad you are enjoying it Mike.

Chris

[jds1911a1]

My wife is pretty old school but her allegiances are to Gatchaman, Albator and Goldorak as she watched them in French as a kid.

Albator as in Capt Harlock? if so I would think she'd like SB since it's the same stlye from Matsumoto

[supes]

Have to admit no love for the show. As a kid I was really irritated when it started because they took off Battle of the Planets to show StarBlazers. As a kid I tried watching the first episode and thought it was boring.
I'll stick with Battle of the Planets. Just my opinion.

[palitoy]

Modern Anime fans probably find starblazers slow and plodding, there aren't any "whoosh" lines around charcters to illustrate how fast they move through the air, no "dragged still" punches, fully rendered backrounds in bright colors, and little actual violence and blood. Of course these are all the things I dislike in Anime today.

My wife is pretty old school but her allegiances are to Gatchaman, Albator and Goldorak as she watched them in French as a kid.

[jds1911a1]

Loved the show as a kid, never missed it, who says kids can't follow story arcs? That was the reason we watched it in the first place!

Haven't really given it a chance as an adult, tried to get into it once but my wife wasn't having it, she's really into anime too.....

Modern Anime fans probably find starblazers slow and plodding, there aren't any "whoosh" lines around charcters to illustrate how fast they move through the air, no "dragged still" punches, fully rendered backrounds in bright colors, and little actual violence and blood. Of course these are all the things I dislike in Anime today.

[palitoy]

Loved the show as a kid, never missed it, who says kids can't follow story arcs? That was the reason we watched it in the first place!

Haven't really given it a chance as an adult, tried to get into it once but my wife wasn't having it, she's really into anime too.....

[wilbs518]

One my all time favorite anime! Great story. I watched everyday waiting to see what happened next.

[ctc]

>if Desslock (Dessler in japan) wants the Starforce crushed why send piddling attacks against it.

Hmmmm.... I'd always thought it was 'cos his forces were dispersed along the route. The bombs were thought to eliminate Earth, and the attack waves would mop up any survivours. Unfortunately, given the distance, once he realized they were a threat it was too late to concentrate his attack.

>Dr sane is a representation of Japenese self loathing.

Hmmmm.... The Japanese have never had the problems with cartoony characters we do. (Hence the "the eyes are weird" critiques you often hear.) So their comedy relief characters had a tendency to go VERY cartoony. (And their serious charactrs would often go all cartoony for effect.) It was a long standing tradition (until the dawning of the 'gekiga' comics of the 60's) to have a cartoony comedy character in each team. For Starblazers/Yamato, I think they used the Doc 'cos they didn't want to make this character a main one.

Don C.

[jds1911a1]

Hec give Mike a break here it's a new show for him and he is enjoying not knowing what will happen next.

Dr sane is a representation of Japenese self loathing. It's hard to know that until you watch the films where he is a drunk alwats with Sake. Also Capt harlock (the other great cartoon from the same creator) points this out. harlock's engineer Tochiro has the same "potato" face to harlock's german roots, he is brilliant but short and fat (actually there are different men as engineer in different runs of the show and both are short and fat with potato faces).

The sound effects and music are from the original Japanese show and the dialog while kidied up a bit isn't that far from the original Japanese. The very anti american shot of the sinking of the Yamato in ww2 was excised from Starblazers.

Also once you know military harware you can see many analogs to ww2 US designs of aircraft in the gamillon forces (especially hellcats and corsairs)

The one thing even as a kid I couldn't get - if Desslock (Dessler in japan) wants the Starforce crushed why send piddling attacks against it. I think the creative team behind Macross (robotech in the US) had the same question as they put a reason in ep 2 why the Macross can't be destroyed hence the kid golves approach from a vastly superior force on a lone ship

[Hector]

Iis all the music and sound effect in the American production taken from the Japanese version ?

Haven't you been checking out my Isao Sasaki youtube videos?

[unsung hero]

Music and Sound Effects were taken from the Japanese Version.

My guess on the Doctor is that he's supposed to symbolize 'Comedic Relief'...any of the classic Anime's that had a serious story line always had that one character that was drawn in a non-realistic (Non-American) way and they were always short and round.

Yeah and in the Japanese version Dr. Sane had his own private Sake collection. In the US version they called it "Spring Water".

[WannabeMego]

Music and Sound Effects were taken from the Japanese Version.

My guess on the Doctor is that he's supposed to symbolize 'Comedic Relief'...any of the classic Anime's that had a serious story line always had that one character that was drawn in a non-realistic (Non-American) way and they were always short and round.

[Mikey]

I'm up to episode 18 and there's a few things I don't understand ...

In one of the remembering sequences they constantantly refer to Japan as (I think) The Big Island ... Was this an attempt by the American production team to disguise the settings in Japan ? ... Or, was The Big Island refered to by name in the Japanese production ?

The Doctor is the only character that doesn't look human ... He actually looks more like a cross between groundhog and a potato ... This seems strange considering the animators attempt to do everything and everybody realistic.

Was only the dialog replaced on the American production ? ... Meaning, is all the music and sound effect in the American production taken from the Japanese version ?

[ctc]

>Star Blazers is a great show !!!

Yes. Yes it is; and it's an IMPORTANT one. (I did an essay on it when I was at the U.) Comparing it to Trek is a good analysis; since both brought high-concept sci-fi to the masses, without dumbing things down. (TOO much....) Starblazers/Yamato set the trend for high drama, epic Japanese cartoons and (along with "Tomorrow's Joe") legitimized animation. (Kinda wish WE had something like that here. The 90's Batman came close.) AND it's entertaining: you watch 'cos you don't know what's going to happen. (I think that's what was missing from Batman: you KNOW Bats 'aint gonna die. Or lose.)

One thing that I always found kinda funny: when Yamato was originally released there was a number of protests. Concerned citizens were worried the show would lead to a rise in militarism amongst Japanese youth.

Don C.