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Space Battleship Yamato
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is a Japanese science fiction anime series and the name of its eponymous space craft. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as Space Cruiser Yamato or Star Blazers; an English-dubbed and partly edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television under the latter title. An Italian-language version was also broadcast under the name Star Blazers in Italy.
eived in 1973 by producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki, the project underwent heavy revisions.
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is a Japanese science fiction anime series and the name of its eponymous space craft. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as Space Cruiser Yamato or Star Blazers; an English-dubbed and partly edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television under the latter title. An Italian-language version was also broadcast under the name Star Blazers in Italy.
Development
Conceived in 1973 by producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki, the project underwent heavy revisions. Originally intended to be an outer-space variation on Lord of the Flies, the project at first was titled "Asteroid Ship Icarus" and had a multinational teenage crew journeying through space in a hollowed-out asteroid in search of the planet Iscandar. There was to be much discord among the crew; many of them acting purely out of self-interest and for personal gain. The enemy aliens were originally called Rajendora.
When Leiji Matsumoto was brought onto the project, many of these concepts were discarded. It is his art direction, ship designs and unique style that accredit him in fans' eyes as the true creator of Space Battleship Yamato, even though Nishizaki retains legal rights to the work.
Production run
Space Battleship Yamato
The first season began airing in Japan in October 1974. Set in the year 2199, an alien race known as the "Gamilas" ("Gamilons" in the English Star Blazers dub) are raining radioactive bombs on Earth, rendering the planet's surface dead and uninhabitable. Humanity lives in refuges built deep underground, but the radioactivity is slowly infiltrating the underground cities too. Earth's space fleet is hopelessly outclassed by the Gamilas and all seems lost until a mysterious space probe is retrieved on Mars. Blueprints for a faster-than-light engine are discovered, and a message from Queen Starsha of the planet Iscandar in the Large Magellanic Cloud says that she has a device, the Cosmo-Cleaner D (Cosmo DNA), which can cleanse Earth of its radiation damage.
The inhabitants of Earth secretly convert the ruins of the Japanese battleship Yamato into a massive spaceship, the Space Battleship Yamato for which the story is titled. Using Starsha's blueprints, they equip their new ship with a space warp drive, called the "wave motion engine", and a new, incredibly powerful weapon called the "wave motion gun" which fires from the bow.
In the English Star Blazers dub, the ship is noted as being the historical Yamato, but is then renamed the Argo (after the ship of Jason and the Argonauts). A small but intrepid crew of 114 departs for Iscandar in the Yamato to retrieve the radiation-removing device. Along the way, they discover the motives of their blue-skinned adversaries: the planet Gamilas, sister planet to Iscandar, is dying; and its leader, Lord Desslar ("Desslok" in the Star Blazers dub), is trying to irradiate Earth enough for his people to move there, at the expense of the "barbarians" he considers humanity to be.
The first season contained twenty-six episodes, following the Yamato's year-long voyage out of the Milky Way Galaxy and back again. A continuing story, it features the declining health of the determined captain Okita (Avatar in the Star Blazers dub), and the transformation of the brash young orphan Susumu Kodai (Derek Wildstar) into a mature and capable-acting captain, as well as his budding romance with female crewmember Yuki Mori (Nova). The foreign edits tend to play up the individual characters, while the Japanese original is often more focused on the ship itself.
The series was condensed into a ninety-minute theatrical movie by selecting a few key episodes, editing them heavily, and sticking them together; as a result, the first-season movie leaves large gaps and doesn't flow very well. Additional animation was created for the movie (such as the scenes on Iscandar) or recycled from the series' test footage (such as the opening sequence). The movie was edited down further and dubbed into English in 1978; entitled Space Cruiser Yamato or simply Space Cruiser, it was only given a limited theatrical release in Europe & Latin America (where it was called "Patrulha Estelar" [Star Patrol] or "Astronave Intrepido" [Starship Intrepid]), though it was later released on video in most countries.
The 90-minute movie version of Yamato outperformed another space opera, Star Wars, at the Japanese box office, leading to the production of a second movie that would end the story. In Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato (also rendered as Arrivederci Yamato), the Yamato and her crew face the onslaught of the Comet Empire, a civilization from the Andromeda Galaxy who seek to conquer Earth, led by Zohdah the Great. The Yamato is aided by a telekinetic woman composed of anti-matter, Teresa of Telezart, while the Comet Empire has restored to life Earth's old enemy, the Gamilas' leader Desslar, who is eager for revenge. After a massive battle which destroys both Earth and Comet Empire fleets, the Yamato crew defeat Zohdah's fortress, but at the cost of the ship and their lives.
As the popularity of this franchise became clear (due largely to an enraged fan outcry from those who saw the movie, Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato), a second season of the television series was produced, retconning the movie and presenting a different plot against Zohdah (Prince Zordar in the Star Blazers dub) and his Comet Empire without killing off the Yamato or its primary characters. Expanding the story to 26 episodes, the second season featured additional plots such as a love story between Teresa (Trelaina) and Yamato crew member Daisuke Shima (Mark Venture), and an onboard antagonism between Kodai and Saito (Knox), leader of a group of space marines. This season is considered the best by many of the series's American fans -- no doubt due in large part to the wildly imaginative spaceship designs created by Studio Nue.
Footage from Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato was reused in the second season, particularly in the opening titles. The sequence of the Yamato launching from water was also reused in two of the subsequent movies.
The television movie, Yamato: The New Voyage, came next, featuring a new enemy, the Black Nebula Empire. In the film, later modified into a theatrical movie, Desslar sees his homeworld, Gamilas, destroyed by the grey-skinned aliens, and its twin planet Iscandar next in line for invasion. He finds an eventual ally in the Yamato, then on a training mission under deputy captain Kodai.
The theatrical movie Be Forever Yamato sees the Black Nebula launch a powerful weapon at Earth, a hyperon bomb which will annihilate humanity if they resist a full-scale invasion. The Yamato, under new captain, Yamanami, travels to the aliens' home galaxy only to discover what appears to be a future Earth -- defeated and ruled by the enemy.
Following these movies, a third season of the TV series was produced, broadcast on Japanese television in 1980. In this, the Sun is hit by a stray proton missile from a nearby battle between forces of the Galman Empire and Bolar Federation. This missile greatly accelerates nuclear fusion in the Sun, and humanity must either evacuate to a new home or find a means of preventing a supernova. During the course of the story, we learn that the people of the Galman Empire are actually the forebears of Desslar and the Gamilas race. Desslok and the remnants of his space fleet have liberated Galman from the Bolar Federation. Originally conceived as a 52-episode story, funding cuts meant the season had to be reduced to 25 episodes, with a corresponding loss of overall story development. This third season was adapted into English several years after the original Star Blazers run.
The saga ended in 1983 with the fifth theatrical movie, Final Yamato. In this feature, the planet Galman is destroyed by a chance collision of galaxies, while the Yamato encounters the planet Deingil too late to save its humanoid civilisation from being flooded by the water planet Aquarius. The surviving Deingili, a warrior race who believe only the strong should survive, plan to use Aquarius to flood Earth and destroy humanity in order to create a new home for their race. To fight this new enemy, the Yamato is placed under the command of a resuscitated Captain Okita who, unbeknownst to everyone, had been cryogenically frozen after his apparent death in the first season.
When all seems lost, the Deingili are destroyed by Desslar and the remains of his forces (in gratitude for the Yamato crew's having honored the Galman dead earlier in the film). The Yamato is then filled with tritiated water and detonated like a giant hydrogen bomb by Okita to divert the water stream. A great deal of time is taken at the end of the film showing the fragments of the Yamato repeatedly "sinking" beneath the waves in space, and Okita going down with his ship. The unedited version also shows Kodai finally marrying his long-time sweetheart Yuki (and subsequently "consummating" their marriage).
Timeline
With the retelling of Arrivederci Yamato as the open ended Yamato II television series, Arrivederci Yamato was redesignated as an alternate timeline. The film Final Yamato is set in the year 2203, ignoring the commonly held belief that the preceding Yamato III season was set in 2205. It is not known for certain if this was due to the lackluster response to Yamato III, the production staff's widespread dissatisfaction with the truncated series (additionally, Nishizaki and Matsumoto had limited involvement with it), or a mere oversight. However, the opening narration for Final Yamato makes mention of the Bolar and Galman conflict, indicating an additional timeline in which the Yamato III storyline simply took place earlier rather than eliminating it.
Characters
- The Space Battleship Yamato series generally involves themes of brave sacrifice, noble enemies, and respect for heroes lost in the line of duty. This can be seen as early as the second episode of the first season, which recounts the defeat of the original battleship Yamato while sailors and pilots from both sides salute her as she sinks (this scene was cut from the English dub, but later included on the Star Blazers DVD release). The movies spend much time showing the crew visiting monuments to previous missions and recalling the bravery of their fallen comrades. Desslar, the enemy defeated in the first season and left without a home or a people, recognizes that his foes are fighting for the same things he fought for and, eventually, becomes Earth's most important ally. In this — the Japanese concept of "the honorable enemy" — and many other respects, Star Blazers is almost certainly the most "Japanese" anime to survive the editing process and be widely syndicated in the United States.
Sequels
In the mid 1990s, Nishizaki attempted to create a sequel to Yamato, set hundreds of years after the original. Yamato 2520 was to chronicle the adventures of the eighteenth starship to bear the name, and its battle against the Seiren Federation. Much of the continuity established in the original series (including the destruction of Earth's moon) is ignored in this sequel.
In place of Leiji Matsumoto, American artist Syd Mead (? Gundam), (Blade Runner, Tron and Star Trek: The Motion Picture) provided the conceptual art.
Due to the bankruptcy of Nishizaki's company Office Academy, and legal disputes with Matsumoto over the ownership of the Yamato copyrights, the series was never finished and only four episodes were produced. Most Yamato fans were generally underwhelmed by the series' first episodes and were not disappointed by its cancellation.
In March 2002, a Tokyo court ruled that Nishizaki legally owned the Yamato copyrights. The two parties eventually settled, and Nishizaki began work on a new movie titled Yamato Rebirth (set after the original series), while Matsumoto planned a new Yamato series. However, additional legal conflicts have since stalled both projects.
NEW DEVELOPMENT 2008
FRIDAY AUGUST 1st, 2008 (Japan)
Press Release of Yoshinobu Nishizaki
In the year 2220 of the Western Era … A crisis is approaching Earth -- the expansion of a moving black hole. An operation of immigration is undertaken to move over 300-million people from Earth … The latest transportation fleet is attacked, but is defended by Space Battleship Yamato, now commanded by Susumu Kodai (38). Aboard is daughter Miyuki … child of Susumu and Yuki.
The animated masterpiece “Space Battleship Yamato”, was last seen in theaters 25 years ago. 73-year-old producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki-- who worked on that film and the original anime series -- declared that he wants his last work to be a new "Yamato" film. He said he hopes to surpass Hayao Miyazaki's latest effort, "Gake no Ue no Ponyo." To achieve that, Nishizaki has founded Yamato Studio, based in Nerima, Tokyo.
Studio Open general superintendent, Toshio Masuda, gave toast to the revival project (now that the copyright litigation is over) which was originally announced in July 2004. According to Mr. Nishizaki, “This time it’s a fresh start, all is clear.”
In 1999, Mr. Nishizaki was arrested for violating sword and gun laws, served time, and was released December 19 2007. Meanwhile, reconciliation between Leiji Matsumoto concerning each others' work has gave way to allowing each to pursue their own works.
The movie is currently titled “Fukkatu-hen", which Nishizaki has been planning since the mid 1990s.
Toshio Masuda (81), superintendent of Studio Open, is Chief Director of the Rival Movie. Toshio Masuda (81) has been directing films and TV since 1958, including “Life at the Showa Era” (1968), “Tora! Tora! Tora!” (1970), “Space Battleship Yamato” (1977) and “Arrivederci Yamato” (1978).
Tomonori Kogawa (58) will be Chief animator for the Revival movie. Tomonori Kogawa has animated such works as; “Space Runaway Ideon” (1980), “Aura Battler Dunbine” (1983), “Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross” (1984) and “Heavy Metal L-Gaim” (1984).
Announced for 2009 release.
English title
For many years, English-language releases of the anime bore the title Space Cruiser Yamato. This romanization has appeared in Japanese publications because Nishizaki, a sailing enthusiast who owned a cruiser yacht, ordered that this translation be used out of love for his boat. However, it is inaccurate, as ?? senkan means "battleship" and not "cruiser" (which in Japanese would be ??? junyokan). Today, Yamato releases, including the Voyager Entertainment DVD, are marketed either as Star Blazers or Space Battleship Yamato.
The name of one character, Yamamoto, is similar in sound to the name of ship "Yamato". Both names reference Japanese history. "Yamato" is a complex word with several meanings. It is the mythical homeland of the Japanese people, the ancient name for a region of Japan near the city of Kyoto, and an alternate name for the Japanese people as well as the whole nation. "Yamamoto" is the family name of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, architect of Japan's naval war against the Allies during World War II. He was dead by the time Yamato was sunk.
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