The Star Force test fires the wave motion gun on the floating continent content is owned or licensed by Starz Media LLC. I Own nothing. Video is for Review and discussion as in the comments.
It's the build up for them to use the Wave Motion Gun, that makes this truly unique. And . . . the fact that they didn't overuse it. You basically had to watch every episode to see when they're going to use it next.
I remember watching this as a kid. (The American dubbed version.) It is a show with great characters, pathos, story arc and messages. Truly a masterpiece. It is also a show that does not "talk down" to an audience like some shows aimed at kids. Growing up I absolutely loved it and seeing it again, it is good to see it holds up very well.
Me too! I'm fifty, and I still love Star Blazers. Space Battleship Yamato the Japanese version was just too different for me. I love most Japanese anime sub but Star Blazers was my favorite.
spot on.. the first cartoon I had to take seriously. it also set the pace for Robotech both shows really blew the doors off anything the U.S.TV had to offer...
I was in Jr high when i discovered this wonderful adventure story and the characters especially Captain Avatar and the insanity of Leader Deslock. The wave motion gun what a concept. I'm 57 yo and I still love this show. Some things you never grow out of like the love between Derek and Nova.
I remember seeing this episode when I was about 10 yrs old. Funny how you can remember the dialogue from a cartoon from 35 yrs ago. But can't remember a conversation from last night. Lol
Some things are just more memorable - I can still remember when everybody is saying their last goodbyes as Yamato leaves the solar system, and Kodai is staring at an empty screen because he doesn't have anyone.
The new remake is definitely something you can called a successor, literally they did it at making everything better without missing the nostalgia feeling
This show was on Mon thru Fri when I was in high school.i got out in 1979. I haven't seen this scene since 1978. KTNT , channel 11, Tacoma , WA. 7:30 A.M. Star Blazers.
@@johnbockelie3899 I graduated in ‘79 also. ☺️ I had a cousin that was CRAZY about this show. Where we lived (PA) it came on in the mornings, and he’d end up late for school at times trying to catch the very end I don’t remember seeing all the episodes until after I graduated……my cousin really got me in to watching it, and now I have it on DVD. 👌🏾
The sound of the wave-motion gun initially powering up sent me back in time. Back then, I thought that was the coolest thing going. The show used to come on channel 46 out of Atlanta at around 4 O'clock in the afternoon on weekdays. I would get home from school, turn this show on, and I wouldn't move until the show was over.
@@Halpin2006 sorry I didn't mean it that way. I was referring to what the captain said about not using full power of the weapon when it's not necessary. I was saying that every episode I seen it still destroyed any and everything. 😁
This cutting edge cartoon has always been one of my favs! My brother & I used to stop whatever we were doing and run home to watch this! I may be dating myself here but that's back in the day when TV actually went OFF at night!!!!
I got up everyweekday at 6am to watch this show before jr. high. That was long ago. Probably my favorite show back then! Great first and second season!
That "KERRANG!", followed by that blood-curdling scream. Still gives me chills to this day. And of course, Col. Gantz' words: "WHERE COULD THEY GET SUCH POWER!?"
you must have lived in N ew England in the 80s, we are a group of people who lives have changed because of this cartoon, and force five, we may not be rich but we are good
***** And you couldn't beat the music in this show. 4:19 to the end is simply fantastic. I loved the Gamilon commander's reaction of total shock at the end. He realized that they had a major adversary on their hands.
And yet, all of those super weapons came from the wave motion gun as Space Battleship Yamato was released in 1974, 3 years before Star Wars even existed, 5 before the first Gundam series and manga existed, and 11 years before Robotech
When I first watched this cartoon, and I saw the characters putting on safety goggles, I was like ‘what in the world are they firing?’ Then that happened and I was thinking ‘holy crap’. That was one thing I remembered from the series and the ending of each episode when they were counting down how many days humanity had left. Needless to say, it left an impression on me
That countdown made the cartoon seem like a news report from space and felt so real I'm sure those who watched it learned to think about their mortality earlier. A very sobering and maturing effect!
I watched this on local TV in the late 70s as a 10-year-old while eating breakfast. This blew my face off. I would be thinking about the wave motion gun and the screeching sound the entire commute, looking out the window, while my mom drove me to school. And then I would think about the wave motion gun all day at school. Fucking etched in my brain to this day. There was no rewind, of course, in those days. You would watch it "live" that particular morning, one time only, but it was so powerful, so unique, the image and audio, how could one forget? Thank you for posting.
I remember me and my friends talking about it in the 5th grade, "They have this giant thing called the Wave Motion Gun. You have to watch this show when you get home today!"
every now and then I come back here to watch this scene. And every time, I'm in goosebumped awe. The pace of the build-up, the sound of the blast, the effects, the crew's reaction, and the realization of just what power magnitude is in their hands... The animators really let you know in the build-up that you're about to witness something incredible and then they actually pay it off (with the stones to show the crew reacting basically the same way as my 5-year-old self back then lol). Perfection in scene tone and tension. A lot of shows/movies swing and miss in similar situations. What an amazing kids' cartoon. It was definitely my first sci-fi obsession and will stay with me as long as I live.
now let all of us who were fans of the show be honest, watching them fire the wave motion gun is why we watched in the first place..... preparing to fire took the last 1/3 of the show and it was AWESOME!!! thank for posting......
@3:45 The militaries of this world should listen to what avatar has to say here So underrated in this show was the music and sound effects. Chilling, powerful and emotional. My first impactful and favorite cartoon as a kid. The sound of the Wavemotion gun here is just so insane.
@@kirkstinson7316 rather, an accurate translation of what was said was this: We destroyed the floating continent, why do I feel so terrible? It was just an enemy base. Captain: the wave motion gun is a powerful weapon, we must remember this and not use it carelessly.
This is still great. That first season of Star Blazers is one of the most dramatic and serious shows I watched at 12-13 years old. I remember being moved to tears by several episodes. The pacing of the story and the journey of the ship allows for a lot of character development. I remember one episode particularly. The Argo is about to go beyond the solar system, outside of communication range with earth. Everyone on the ship is allotted a minute to say goodbye to their families. The one when the head engineer, who is older, is talking to his grown children and his little granddaughter, telling them not to lose hope while his voice is breaking down with emotion - had me openly weeping... This show wasn’t just a ‘cartoon’... If you watched from the beginning, you really cared about the characters by the time they got back home.
I remember that episode.....around 1979-1980. I was 19 years old and out of school and cried like a baby! Particularly when Nova was speaking to her Mom before comms went out and she started crying, I was crying too! What was best about this show is that while it was a “cartoon”, it didn’t have the silly music like American cartoons can have. Actually, the music is quite good which adds to the emotions. I have the second season on DVD....I think I’ll start watching that again. ☺️
So, our anime club director brought this in for us to watch. We laughed at the first few episodes (come on, space bell-bottom pants?), but he told us we were going to keep watching, and we'd get super into it. And sure enough, we did. It's pretty good TV, subbed or dubbed. Those of you wondering: the 2014 remake (Space Battleship Yamato 2199) is pretty good, keeping the show's spirit with some small modern updates. Check it out if you're interested.
I remember thinking, " with this countdown and goggles and stuff, this Wave Motion Gun better be awesome." As soon as it fired I sat there with my mouth hung open for about a full minute. The Wave Motion Gun was like Japan's equivalent to the Death Star's main weapon, only this time it was in the hands of the good guys. This show and Speed Racer were my gateway drugs to Anime.
This show was on TV when my dad was a kid. Sometime in my early childhood I remember he got the collection of the Quest for Iscandar on DVD when I was a little kid. Back then, we didn't have the greatest relationship--I don't think he knew how to relate to a young kid; he had temper issues and we just had different interests; I liked fantasy RPGs, anime, and superhero cartoons from an early age while dad liked cars and trucks and stereotypical 'guy' stuff. But after Dad got the DVD collection (I think I was like, 5 or 6 years old when he got it), I have fond memories of sitting with him and watching it together after school and on weekends when he wasn't at work (I think I was in Kindergarten or first grade when we started watching it together). It was the one shared thing that we both really bonded over long before I became a teenager and our general relationship improved. To this day, whenever I sort through any complicated negative feelings about my dad, I think about stuff like our shared love of Star Blazers, sci-fi anime, and action movies, and it gives me some comfort.
This was one of my favorite cartoons growing up. Watching this particular scene was just jaw-dropping to a pre-teen such as myself. That whining & squealing sound of the Wave Motion Gun when it was fired, holy crap! It still gives me goosebumps even in my 50s. It also gave me tears of joy knowing that my childhood was awesome because of cartoons like this!
The howl of the wave motion gun, it sends goosebumps down my body. I just love every time they use it. I have this on VHS and I watch it all the time. Hadohou HASHA!!!
The Tabletop Nerd You still have a a VHS?! Lol! But seriously I remember this cartoon growing up and the wave motion gun was the best “kick ass” weapon! It actually destroyed a planet! Not just a floating continent.
I remember watching this when I was a kid. Late 70s early 80s. I would run home from school to watch Battle of the Planets and then after that Star Blazers. Brings back memories.
2024 and the sound production of this cartoon still holds up. Just an amazing cartoon. Glad I got to witness this type of animation compared to what kids have today. Hits different knowing what they were talking about at the end.
Perfect clip, also kept the best part, the aliens in the end completely floored by the backwards humans displaying a power beyond their comprehension seemly coming out of nowhere, and also a bit of fear in that voice.
Forget "firin mah lazer," THIS is how it's done! Sweet nostalgia! Even though the 2199 and 2202 reboots bring so much more to the story, the original series will still have a place in my memories.
Full credit to the sound design for this show AND this episode in particular. you can HEAR that they over charged the wave motion gun. The pitch is never this high or held this long ever again. THAT is attention to detail
I'm still amazed that they decided to censor the name, I mean, I get the reason. But Japanese Battleships have a VERY distinctive profile, and anyone of thouse old vets who would have known about Yamato would be able to recognize her, or at least correctly identify her as a Japanese battleship.
Interesting little side point. In the Japanese version, the big charge up was not to fire the gun. They could fire the gun almost instantly. The big charge up was to store power to restart the engine. (Also the bass guitar strum and 'whinny' sound are not present in the original) In the 2199 version they have auto-flare shielding on the windows. But they STILL NEED THE GLASSES. Also the target is specifically identified as 'the size of Australia' and it looks blown to atoms with power to spare.
The Argo has to concentrate ALL its power into the wave motion gun, carefully build up all the energy, get ready to fire, then blasts all the power it has until the energy strike is fully exhausted! After the firing, the Argo has to relax and regenerate it nominal power. Sounds exactly the same as a man building up all his sexual charge, orgasm, cumming all that he has, then having to rest afterward! Well, the comparison is indeed quite similar!
52 Im reading the comments and laughing how we all drop our age. And its so perfect. Im smiling as im writing this. I would hurry home from the bus to catch it! The sound is amazing
Wave Motion Gun... When you need to take out the entire Enemy with ONE SHOT. The recoil literally pushed the entire ship back into Jupiter and its gravitational pull eventhough it was not in Jupiter's orbit. To put this weapon's power in a human being perspective ... Imagine shooting all 12 rounds from a sawed off 12 Gauge Shotgun at one time or unloading every one of the 30 rounds from a M1 Tank at one time
I loved the Argo when I was a kid. That ship was too cool. Star Blazers was my favorite space cartoon at that time. I watched the entire series. A lot of memories here.
@@Mr_Meatbox yes, also like every cartoon series they were hoping to make it into a toyline, and japanese names are harder to memorize for children so they made it simpler and ""cooler""(wildstar? Really?). So yeah I get why, but that's still the Yamato. And Space Battleship Yamato sounds way cooler than 420 starblaze it fite me
This is a clip of a major piece of Science Fiction history! The very first firing of Space Battleship Yamato's incredible Wave Motion Gun. One of the most iconic weapons ever seen in any kind of Science Fiction universe.
agreed, while it doesn't look as epic as the one from the reboot, or the live action movie without this, we wouldn't have any of the other massive super weapons like it
And that's why in Starcraft. Terran Battlecruiser gets this similar supergun. the weapon is named Yamato Cannon after the very ship itself. (Through Terrans used Collossus Reactor and never discoverd Wave Motion Engine).
No other sci fi superweapon sounds as cool as the wave motion gun does in this scene. That guitar-sounding buzz followed by that whistling freight train of death sound, and the brilliant nuclear blast-like flash of light.
The best sci-fi series ever. What I remembered was that the narrator always had something to say but at the end of this episode he was silent that’s the power of the wave motion gun.
Argos wave motion gun, awesome. I always wondered about those sparks in the barrel floating round, right before she shot, I figured it the enenergy building up. This and G-force was the snitzle for us youngins before the nightmare known as school.
One of my top ten all time greatest sci fi sound effects. along with lightsaber ignition, Millennium Falcon hyperdrive (working and failing), R2-D2, the Alien Queen hiss-scream, the Nostromo self destruct countdown, Star Trek transporters, the Buck Rogers/Battlestar Galactic fighter launch, a transformer transforming, and the lightcycles from Tron.
Yeah, I remember this! What a great cartoon! When I was 10-11, I made sure that I would see every episode when it aired. The Comet Empire episodes were the bomb... no pun intended!
Always loved the sound of the electric guitar just as it fires. I don't think they ever used it again and I don't know why...its just sounded so freaking awesome.
There was a similar sound used in Star Trek The Motion Picture whenever V'ger did one of its crazy powerful technology tricks. A lot of people dump on that movie but I saw it in theater as a kid and that sound scared the crap out of me.
Helium Road They used this instrument called the Blaster Beam. It was this foot metal monstrosity stringed up like a guitar. Next to the waterphone it maybe the eeriest sounding instruments out there.
I can remember watching this show after racing home from school at 3:30. I was always on the "edge of my seat" waiting for them to use the Wave Motion gun.
Not lost in translation, as much as trying to precisely match lip-sync. When translating, you don't just do word-for-word, you need to keep the meaning. A better translation would have been "good" or "thank you", as that would have kept the meaning more. However, both of those would have failed to lip-sync. You see, Japanese has different words than English for the same meaning, and different words mean different mouth motions. As a result, it's often VERY difficult to find words that have close lip-syncing AND also a good approximation of the original meaning. Different dubbing companies handle translation differently. Some care most about keeping the original meaning, but this results in terrible lip-syncing. However, some care more about precise lip-syncing, which produces dialog that doesn't sound like it makes any sense (sort of like the output of Google Translate, or a product instruction manual that was written originally in Chinese, and translated poorly to English by translators who didn't have a firm grasp of the English language). It appears that this was the latter though, they cared only about BARELY getting the same meaning ("that's ok" and "thank you" both have a positive meaning, and both are a reply you might give to something somebody said), however "that's ok" more closely matches the lip movements present in the drawn character's mouth, than "thank you" would have.
As an Audio/Video person, there are just some things that affect you. Watching the Enterprise go into warp in Star Trek:TMP for the first time was a powerful thing. Just as this was. I actually felt it. That screaming sound as the beam exploded from the bow of the Argo went right through me. As pacetti07 said, this is a piece of Sci-Fi history. It still sends chills down my spine.
It was, for anime the Yamato's Wave Motion Gun is the first protagonist operated Super Weapon, many a "final move" and "ultimate attack" can be traced back to this. (Note, it's the Yamato, Argo was a name given to censor the show because (in a probably accurate prediction) the importing company didn't want every republican and veteran sending them angry calls demanding to know why the Flagship of the Imperial Japanese navy is being portrayed heroicly.)
@@themanformerlyknownascomme777 You are correct. However, as an American, that was the name I heard them use. It was not too many years later that I saw the original one and found out. One thing that I have to give the writers credit for was their making sure that the Wave Motion Gun was not something that could just start shooting whenever they wanted. It required a decision and there were risks to using it. Cautionary tales that some feel have been lost since this came out.
If you are interested, there's a technical explanation for the Wave Motion Gun (official explanation) Space battleship Yamato's main engine, wave motion engine, is an alien technology which can yield nearly infinite energy, and the ship uses the energy for warp drive and ship's weapon systems. Wave motion gun is the mechanism which connects to the wave motion engine and discharge all of the (nearly infinite) energy stored in the wave motion engine in one huge blast. However, it empties the wave motion engine and the engine must be restarted and begin storing the energy into the engine, which leaves the engine powerless for a short period after firing, which in turn lenders the ship powerless as well, incapable of using any weapon nor maneuvering. In short, Yamato becomes a shitting duck for a brief period after firing the Wave Motion Gun.
In the new version, yamato 2199, they say they use the warp engine to create mini black hole in the chamber, those black hole violently evaporate because of hawking radiations, creating the blast. This explaination is in fact quite realistic, as black holes are dense regions of warped space, and that hawking radiation is really something that scientists believe exist.
Kind of like the Romulan cloaking device in Star Trek. It eats up all the ship's power. While the device is on, the ship is invisible, but they cannot run at warp speed, raise their shields, or fire their weapons. A sitting duck.
I always wondered if this was the inspiration for the main gun on the Excalibur and Victory in the B5 movie "Call to Arms", given that firing the main guns on that class of ship has the same weakness of rendering the ship powerless for 2 minutes after firing, unable to maneuver or fire weapons.
It took me 30 years that the Yamato was actually a real vessel. Now that I'm a WW2 buff I know all about it. That ship would have been a bigger problem if it were used more.
When it was on in the US, they called the ship the Argo. It wasn't until later that US fans found out it was supposed to be the actual Yamato from WWII.
As a kid watching this I was in awe at the sound of the wave motion gun and how powerful it sounded. The sound effects plus many other things in American cartoons just couldn’t compare to Japanese.
The ultimate trump card. If I'm the enemy and I saw them charging that massive gun, I'd call for an immediate surrender. Catching the business end of that gun meant that your role in the show was no longer required... in other words, you weren't coming back for the Comet Empire series...
For me, I really remember that besides Star Trek and Star Wars being my main gateway to science fiction yes I will include the incredible Hulk as a favorite too, I remember watching Star Blazers both in the early morning while eating breakfast before school in 1979 and in the afternoons after school before Emergency! I loved how each episode left you in anticipation of will they make it back to earth and be able to save our home planet. With that being said the second season was even driven to higher stakes because what could they do against two big enemies! The Wave motion Gun will/was save you when you are backed into any connor it will always be my second reminder of with great power must also come great responsibility, the first is always to Spider-Man with that saying being said in caption boxes from Amazing Fanstany #15, 1962. Have a peaceful remaining year of 2020.
I'm part of Gen-Z. My dad got me into this show when I was seven. And it's been in my top favorites ever since. Just the detail and the effort. Not to mention the soundtrack. Top quality stuff.
