The Shows Of 1982 In that year Howard Stern and Star Blazers made a big impact on me, both shows had an ability to do one thing and thats keep it real. In this series the Starforce is reunited to save earth from the eveil Prince Zordar who cant wait to get there and destroy it like the many worlds that were destroyed along the way. This was a great follow up to series 1,in some way Wild Star reminds me of Stern when he takes on the Earth Defense Headquarters and how a group of people are willing to back him when he beleives that earth is in great danger.
If you are a fan I urge you to buy this second series, the only problem I had was the audio in some shows but other than that what great memories.
Deeper Plot lines then I remember I remember this series as a student in fifth grade. I loved the space ships, loved the action, loved the wave motion gun. I bought it purely for nostalgia and recently watched it. I was impressed by the deep plot lines and sub-text that runs through out the show. The messages of duty, sacrifice and honor where all there, and as a child I was introduced to these concepts and I am sure it made an impression.
You can grip about the transfer, and the American cuts (the parts that were cut out are floating around somewhere.) But you can't quibble with the story.
Forewarned...Forearmed The Star Blazers/Comet Empire Saga is a classic, epic, dramatic anime masterpiece. A follow-up to the Star Blazers/Iscandar Quest storyline, it is a sequel of great merit (in terms of plot, characterization, art, and musical score). Voyager Entertainment transferred the Iscandar Quest onto DVD and produced a winner in terms of video and audio quality, DVD extras, as well as packaging. Is it reasonable to expect the same production values in this Comet Empire DVD release? Yes, but you won't get it in a most crucial respect. I specifically refer to (and condemn) the audio "quality," which is abysmal and worse-than-mediocre; in fact, I was shocked to encounter such poor, smothered sound. And if you ever find that you are too, Yamato fan, try contacting Voyager politely, but firmly about this surprising and significant flaw; I did. And maybe you'll get an explanation; I didn't. Moral: Think twice before you invest in this expensive set from Voyager--your dividends will never be maximized with the product in its current, disgraceful form (released November 5, 2002).
5 star blazin just what i thought it would be i thought i was back in jr high
The memories remain Ah, "Star Blazers", the show that introduced me to the wonderful medium of Japanese anime. Sure, things would get a bit sappy at times. And even though the English dialogue was cheesy at times, and the voice-acting wasn't always great, "Star Blazers" was still a good sight better than most of the other weekday-afternoon kiddie fare I used to tune into way back when. Speaking of voice-acting: whoever voiced Capt. Gideon in the "Comet Empire" series didn't even try hard! Dolph Lundgren woulda done a better job!
Speakin' of dialogue: you can finally gaze upon the countenances of the show's primary voice actors with the help of a couple of interview featurettes on four of the platters. Although I'm not usually big on interview segments, I found this a welcome addition to the set, seeing as how none of the voice actors were ever named in the show's credits. It's about freakin' time those guys got some credit. Eddie Allen, the voice of Gamilon Leader Desslok, was on hand to throw his two cents in. I was hoping they were gonna ask him why he made the show's main baddie sound like, shall we say, a fluffy version of the guy who sang the "Monster Mash" song. He does state that he based the voice on that of Boris Karloff, so the whole "Monster Mash" thing is covered. As for him getting into why he made the leader of the original blue man group sound like the Liberace of the space nazi set: don't hold yer breath...
Anyhoo: the "Comet Empire" saga had its moments of action, adventure... and oh-so-sappy melodramatic romance. The romance novels Fabio used to pose for are hard-pressed to have as high a level of over-the-top mushy melodrama as the brief yet tragic "thing" between helmsman Mark Venture and the enigmatic Trelaina. Oh, John! Oh, Marsha! Oh, barf me OUT! (Speakin' of Trelaina: what is with the Argo heroes always needin' to get bailed out in the end by some super-powerful benevolent force and/or some "fix-it machine" built by the benevolent force? It's a good thing Earth has friends in high places...)
Other special features include technical specs of various equipment, vehicles, and weapons seen in the "Comet Empire" show, as well as character profiles, and a map and episode-by-episode synopsis of the Comet Empire mission. Also included is a booklet that details the making of the series, which was based on Japan's most popular theatrical release at the time. Also thrown in are reflections and memories about the making of the series by the show's various directors, designers, and writers. You can tell from their words that they really put their pride into their work. All in all, the booklet makes for fairly interesting reading, if you're into the technical/production end of the medium of animation.
One special feature I wish they'd consider is putting this series out with reasonably cleaned-up and clearer picture quality, and a higher quality soundtrack. While the picture and sound on the DVD release is a fair sight better than my old VHS set, it still could use a fair deal of help. Personally, I'm hoping that one day Voyager Entertainment will consider doing something similar with the entire "Star Blazers/Yamato" show that AimEigo and Harmony Gold did with the original "Macross" series: do an extensive restoration and clean-up of the film and soundtrack for a future video release.
And while they're at it, howzabout releasing the original, uncut Japanese version of "Star Blazers"? I'd love to see the stuff they had to take out to get the show past the American standards and practices folks... like some freaky death scenes and such. Sure I saw a small glimpse of that extra stuff in the first "Space Battleship Yamato"... but, dammit, I wanna see ALL of it! In fact, why not put both the original Japanese AND the Americanized eppies together into an "all-in-one" DVD collection, like what they did a decade or so back with the Robotech Perfect Collection VHS series? Come on, Voyager, get with the program already!
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Not Available Comics
Trevor
