Product: Star Blazers: The Quest for Iscandar - Series One, Part 1 (Episodes 1-5) (1974)
Rating: 4.0
Starblazers for the uninitiated...
The Starblazers series (originally Space Cruiser Yamato) was translated and aired on low end TV channels in the latest seventies and early eighties in America. UHF channels would continually rotate this unique Japanese space opera for kids to enjoy, and we did. Amid a flourish of horribly derivitaveand sadly animated Hanna-Barbera garbage was an odd perpendicular to American kids animation. Starblazers did everything that the rest of children's TV didn't and the ones who were able to enjoy this show always remember it fondly twenty years later.In the year 2199 the earth is being decimated externally by a series of constant bombardments by odd radioactive 'planet bombs' sent by a faceless enemy from beyond Jupiter. The remaining population of earth has moved underground into cities away from the surface radiation which has left earth a red desert devoid of life, water or proper atmosphere. In one year the population will die of radiation due to the contamination slowly seeping lower into the cities. As the last of earth's battle fleet rages against the enemy ships near Pluto, a mysterious guided capsule slashes into the solarsystem and crashes on Mars where the two prominent heros, Derek Wildstar and Mark Venture, are posted in the military. On research they find a dead lady in the crash clutching a vial containing information from beyond the solar system. On earth, the information is deciphered to be an invitation to cross the galaxy using the plans of an alien warp drive in order to pick up and return with a radiation nulling device called the Cosmo DNA. Utilizing all remaining resouces, the government and military build a space ship using the remains of the WWII destroyer Yamato buried in the Marianas trench. Led by the ancient, battle weary captain Avatar, a group of young enthusiatic military personel go out into uncharted space to find the planet Iscandar, and return with the Cosmo DNA. However, the enemy (Gamalons) have fleets everywhere in the galaxy waiting to destroy the Starforce and posess a lifeless earth in order to restore it and colinate it with Gamalons as their new capitol to an ever expanding empire.Granted this series was made in Japan around 1974, yet it still was well made enough, and well written enough to carry modern audiences quite well. Leiji Matsumotos comics and animation works always tend to have a very fantastic side to its sci-fi, howeever this series always seemed slightly more grounded in the science of science fiction rather then farfetched style accomodation. The wide cast of characters are extremely well draughted and the absolute determination extant in both sides of the conflict makes the story absolutely plausible as everyone lays down their lives for their hopes and beliefs against insurmountable odds. Although the first five episodes presented in this DVD are some of the less memorable because they build the series, they are brilliant because all the energy of the remaining episodes reflect from the expositional storytelling of the earlier episodes. 'Starblazers' is one of the few anime classics which should always be in print, and I am surte it will always have a hardcore fanbase because of all the emotion and cunning crafted into it. I gave the DVD 4 stars instead of 5 because of the slack menu and packaging of the material. None of the shows have the original opening or closing credits, and the revised ones bookend the etire run of episodes on every DVD. WHY? The nostalgia of this series dictates that it be presented in original form! Shame on the releasing company for such schlock presentation, but I love the series so much I couldn't eliminate more then one star. If you have never heard of Starblazers and love anime, please get this DVD- you will never regret it, despite the age of the animation and story it is still a heavy hitter. And like it's allusions, it is the Illiad and Odessy of anime.