Star Blazers initial broadcasts received high ratings, and subsequent rebroadcasts contributed to build anime fandom in northern California.īeing marketed to a school-age audience, this animated space opera was bowdlerized by the American editors in order to satisfy the broadcast standards and practices offices of American television stations. The series premiered in the San Francisco Bay Area on Septemas part of the weekday show Captain Cosmic on KTVU 2. New opening credit rolls were created featuring the "Star Blazers" logo. The Japanese language elements such as series title and scene captions were replaced or removed. Dubbing and editing were done by Griffin-Bacal Advertising and production and syndication was handled by Claster Television. The American release was extremely limited, and eventually ended up airing on television in the Los Angeles area in 1978.įollowing this, the Westchester Corporation identified the first Space Battleship Yamato anime series from 1974 as a potential "kids' property" and bought the rights to the first two seasons (season three had not been made yet). This film was sold and released in several countries, including the United States, Britain and France. In 1977, before the debut of the American Star Blazers series, the Japanese anime film Space Battleship Yamato (or Space Cruiser Yamato as it was known at the time) was dubbed into English and retitled Space Cruiser. Major characters appearing in Season Three are as follows: Major characters appearing in Seasons One and Two are listed below by their canonical (Westchester) names:Ĭaptain of the Argo and Star Force Commanderĭeputy Captain, Argo (season 1) Acting Captain and Star Force Commander (season 2) Now officially in command of the Argo, Derek Wildstar is charged to help find a new home for Earth's population.Ĭharacters First and second seasons Unless it can be stopped, the sun will destroy the Earth in one year and the entire solar system in three. A stray missile fired during the war causes the sun's thermonuclear reactions to go out of control. In the third season, the Argo is caught in the middle of a war between the Galmans (the reformed Gamilon Empire) and the Bolar Federation. The series revolves around the Argo, now commanded by Deputy Captain Derek Wildstar, working with the Earth Defense Force to face Zordar. Desslok, the Gamilon leader, also joins forces with Zordar, mainly because he wants revenge on the Argo for having destroyed Gamilon. Unlike Gamilon, which was seeking to capture and colonize Earth, Zordar simply wants to conquer and annex Earth to his Empire. It now faces a new, dangerous enemy, the Comet Empire, led by Prince Zordar. The second season takes place one year after the Argo returns to Earth with the Cosmo DNA and Earth's ecosystem is restored. On Earth, a crew is recruited, headed by Captain Avatar, and an old sunken battleship (the World War II–era Japanese battleship Yamato) is transformed into a spaceship-renamed the Argo-outfitted with the Wave Motion Engine, and sent to Iscandar. However, since Iscandar is 148,000 light years away, Starsha also sends plans for the experimental Wave Motion Engine that, when constructed, will help whoever can travel to Iscandar by letting them travel at 27,569,736,000 miles per second (about 150,000 times the speed of light, permitting the journey to be made in 1 year). The Earth then receives unexpected help from Queen Starsha of the planet Iscandar, who offers a device called "Cosmo DNA" which will remove the radiation. With no way to remove the radiation, all life on Earth will be wiped out in one year. The radiation from Gamilon's planet bombs forces everyone on Earth underground. In the first season, Earth is attacked by Gamilon, a distant planet. However, the Japanese saga entails more than just these three television seasons, and part of this missing portion of the saga occurs between Seasons Two and Three, in the movies Yamato: The New Voyage and Be Forever Yamato. Each is an English-language adaption of its Japanese counterpart Space Battleship Yamato. Star Blazers consists of three television seasons. It also dealt with somewhat more mature themes than other productions aimed at the same target audience at the time. It was the first popular English-translated anime that had an overarching plot and storyline that required the episodes to be viewed in order, which paved the way for future arc-based, plot-driven anime translations. Star Blazers was first broadcast in the United States in 1979. Star Blazers is an American animated television series adaptation of the Japanese anime series Space Battleship Yamato I (1974), II (1978), and III (1980) ( 宇宙戦艦ヤマト, Uchū Senkan Yamato).
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