Watching this as a kid in 1980 was such an amazing transformational experience to me. It aired on our local station weekdays at 6am and I would set my alarm to wake up to watch it. It took animation and storytelling to a whole new level for me, and really showed me, even as a child, the power of animation as a medium.
I'm 51 years old and in the Summer of 1979 I used to run, not walk, home after school let out at 1500 to make sure I was home at 1530 to listen to this song and watch what was to follow. This show inspired me to join the military; and now, I can watch it again and again and again while remembering those mad dashes home. What a great show. Be well each of you.
It is September 2, 2019 as I write this. It is Labor Day. 40 Years ago, Labor Day, 1979, I saw this show with that opening for the very first time. I was 13 Yrs old. This was my childhood. This was THE show I rushed home from school to see. I would brook no arguments about the TV. For 30 minutes between 3:30-4:00 PM if anyone so much as approached the channel dial, I would growl at them. I demanded this of no other time period of the day, so quickly my family let me have it. It was also a fantastic time to be alive and a Sci-Fi geek. A couple of years previous, I'd seen Star Wars in the theater a couple of times. Battlestar Galactica was on TV. In a couple months time, both Disney's The Black Hole and Star Trek: The Motion picture would premiere. And the following year - 1980, would see the wonderfully cheesy, but highly entertaining Battle Beyond the Stars, the classic The Empire Strikes Back (which I saw 14 times over the course of the summer, riding my bike down to the mall theater in one of the worst heat waves ever to scorch Texas - that theater air-conditioning was HEAVEN), The Final Countdown (splash those Zeros!), the fantastically campy, yet classic Flash Gordon (Oh well! Who wants to live forever? DIIIIIIVE!!!), Galaxina (which was supposed to be racey, but was actually pretty tame, but funnier than it had any right being. RIP Dorothy R Stratten), and of course, Superman II, ("Kneel before Zod!"). And - though I didn't know it until a couple of years later, Be Forever Yamato had premiered in Japan and Space Battleship Yamato was at the peak of its popularity. And Osamu Tezeku's classic Phoenix 2772 was also in Japanese theaters at the time. Not to even mention what a smorgasbord of classic and not so classic movie were to come in the 1980s. There's a list on both IMDB and Wikipedia. Simply amazing the amount of sheer creativity coming from the movie and TV industry at the time. Most crucially, studios weren't afraid to FAIL. Which a lot of these movies did at the time, but later gained followings through VHS, DVD and later Blu-Ray sales and collectors/fans. And though the industry is not what it once was - you can still find a few gems each year. And for us Star Blazers/Yamato fans, the recent additions of Yamato 2199 and Yamato 2200 are most worthy re-tellings of the original series - with KILLER animation and design detail! What a time to be alive still!
I was the same. This was the show that made me an anime fan in later life, cemented my love of sci-fi (along with Star Wars) and first introduced me to "adult" storytelling concepts where heroes died and not everything turned out okay. Also, two of my most vivid young childhood memories was crying when Avatar died and dancing with my mother to the end credits every episode of this show. :)
My dad brought these home from a blockbuster in 2007, I remember watching this while in kindergarten and I adore both the original and the remakes. Thank you dad for introducing me to anime.
Yes mine too I must have been around 7 or 8 at the time and I never wanted to miss an episode. Such great memories back then miss them more than ever before 🤔
Watched this as a kid decades ago but for many years all i could remember of the show was the Wave motion gun, then finally one day i googled it and rediscovered it.
Watched this and Force 5 as "my" TV hour as a kid in central MA. Everyone knew not to interrupt this, as it was important stuff :) I always got a bit of a shiver when they said how many days are left for the earth.
When I was a little whipper snapper a local TV station from the Philadelphia area would show Marine Boy, Star Blazers and Speed Racer. They came on weekdays starting, if I remember correctly, 3:30 and ended just in time for dinner at 5:00. Star Blazers was my favorite of the 3.
This show had epic story telling that no American cartoon ever had. I wish we could stop thinking cartoons equal kids and come up with a Game of Thrones level story for the cartoon genre
@EpicZantetsuken They CAN, but the problem is that in America the concept of animation being for adults isn't a thing. It was tried in the mid-1970s with movies like "Fritz the Cat", Ralph Bakshi's "Lord of the Rings", and "Heavy Metal", but they all flopped at the box office. In America, animation - "cartoons" - are first and foremost for children. In Japan there is a huge market for adult-themed anime, so they have animated films with deeper themes and more mature sensibilities - eg, more violence, more sexual themes, more cursing and the like. You'll probably never see that in America. I remember when "Lord of the Rings" came out. I went to see it and watched as at least two families came in with a group of small children under the age of 10 with them. None of them stayed past the first twenty minutes, I don't think. They didn't pay attention to the rating and had NO idea it was a movie meant for adults. For them animated = kiddie cartoon. They weren't counting on characters getting stabbed and blood spurting out at the camera.
@@SarahB1863 Agreed. animation for adults has been tried in the US before with only very limited success, Anime has filled that niche. It is far too ingrained in the minds of Americans that cartoons are kids stuff, Anime is able to do an end run around that due to it foreign origins and differing name.
for the early 1970's this has some of the best English voice acting I have ever heard (For the first two seasons...) I mean damn! I was expecting a really shitty dub, but boy was I wrong.
This comes from a time when American dubbing companies were trying to "Westernize" the anime they showed, so it wasn't so obviously Japanese. While that did mean changing all the character and place names, it also meant the English dialogue flowed more smoothly, and the actors could create a wider variety of voice styles and accents.
In my opinion, this is one of the few English translation openings that actually improves upon the Japanese version, in both the footage (which admittedly is largely due to having more scenes to work with) and the song itself. Japanese or English version, though, this show will always have a special place to me. One of the best. Period.
Very true. It is better than the Japanese version because of the chorus, which emphasizes the importance of teamwork over the individual. For the Japanese, the term "Yamato" literally means "god of japan", so the focus was more on the ship. In Star Blazers, the focus is on the Star Force.
Massimiliano Chiaruzzi Uh, sure it can. If the original can be better than the localization, why can't the localization be better than the original? This version both has more content to work with AND fits the show better (based on the style and lyrical meaning), at least in my opinion.
Massimiliano Chiaruzzi Of course it can!! A different opening does not a different show make. Heck, there are localizations of shows that have COMPLETELY DIFFERENT openings from the original. It's even possible for the English dub to be better than the original Japanese version overall (though it hardly ever happens), provided that the jokes they use are funnier, its edited for better pacing, and/or they use a better voice cast!!
Robotech is the one I always think of for that. Macross is arguably superior but I *still* prefer the the music from the Robotech edit/dub by far, to the point that I kind of struggle watching the original Macross without it.
we're off to outer space we're leaving mother earth to save the human race our Star Blazers searching for a distant star headed off to iscandar leaving all we love behind who knows what dangers we'll find we must be strong and brave our home we've got to save if we don't in just one year mother earth will disappear fighting with the gamalons we won't stop until we've won then we'll return and when we arrive the earth will survive with our Star Blazers
Such nostalgia. I never missed this show on Saturday mornings, lol. Fans of the old 70's series should definitely seek out the 2012 remake. Though, I think you'll have to read it, as I believe no dub exists for the new one.
I was 7 years old when I first watched this show. Channell 56 WLVI Boston. 1978 first thing in the morning like 6:30 before school everyday. Was the best. That and Force-Five, another anime show about robots.
I am able to watch season 1 and season 2 but i admit i watched season 3 *once* but i am BURYING season three in my house *somewhere* I don't care where as long as I can't find it *ever again*
I'm old enough my Japanese cartoon fix goes all the way back to 8 Man and the original Speed Racer. Right before they started airing Starblazers, we had Battle of the Planets. I was hooked before I ever saw Robotech.
It wasn't until well into adulthood that I realized the Yamato was based on a real battleship in Japan. The 2 ships look remarkably similar, sans the wave motion gun.
Sadly, they didn't air this show in my TV market. Nothing good ever happens in Flint, Michigan. I did have the graphic novel, though. I think it was called "Space Cruise Yamato" or something like that.
@@allenharper2928 It's true that the actual Japanese title translates more literally to "Space Battleship Yamato". But for some reason Nishizaki Yoshinobu (the producer/creator of the original Yamato) just liked how "Cruiser" sounded in his estimation of what sounded good in English. So if there were any English language references to the title on official materials produced, they always said "Space Cruiser Yamato". So - you are both correct. But with better context to see why, now, I hope! 😀
Arabic:-op كلمات الشارة:- op/En❤ ☆☆☆☆☆ يا رفاق ذاهبون للفضاء الخارجي إننا مغادرون أرضنا الحبيبة. ندفع الشر نرد ظلم كل المعتدين نملأ الدنيا بحب من قلوب الآمنين. اجعلوا قلوبكم أقوى من الحديد وانظروا لأرضكم من أعالي السماءءءءءءء. سندفع الشر نرد ظلم كل المعتدين بسلام كل الآمنين. نحن مغادرون أرضنا الحبيبة. ☆☆☆☆.
I like how they had the decency to use the original composition by Hiroshi Miyagawa even while changing the lyrics, after a certain point the US adaptations just stopped doing it and embraced replacing the original music wholesale like morons.
Great theme. Juvenile lyrics (leaving all we love behind who knows what dangers we'll find. We must be strong and brave... in just one year mother earth will disappear). So Toyota. I used to wonder about them. Anyway, enjoyed this show in Zimbabwe 1983-84.
Arguable. Though the fine folks at Westchester who did the transliteration work (not direct translation) obviously CARED a great deal and paid attention to the myths being tapped into. I mean - if you MUST change the name of the ship (And believe me - in 1979 - you HAD TO) then *Argo* is a surprisingly appropriate choice! Because overall the first series journey to Iskandar in broad strokes can definitely be seen as a sci-fi version of the ancient tale of Jason and the Argonauts! (Surprising that they resisted the urge to name the main character "Jason" instead of "Derek". Heh)
