Space Battleship Yamato (1977 film)

Space Battleship Yamato

Japanese film poster for Space Battleship Yamato
Directed by Leiji Matsumoto
Produced by Yoshinobu Nishizaki
Written by Eiichi Yamamoto
Story by Yoshinobu Nishizaki
Starring Kei Tomiyama
Yoko Asagami
Shusei Nakamura
Music by Hiroshi Miyagawa
Production
company
Academy Productions
Group TAC
Distributed by Toei Company
Release dates
  • March 19, 1977 (1977-03-19)
Running time
 145 minutes
Country Japan
Language Japanese
Box office ¥ 2,100,000,000

Space Battleship Yamato (宇宙戦艦ヤマト Uchū Senkan Yamato), also known as Cosmoship Yamato and Space Cruiser Yamato, is the first theatrical movie based on the classic anime series (known as Star Blazers in the United States). Unlike the later films that would follow it, this is a compilation film consisting of various television episodes edited from the "Iscandar" arc of the television series. It originally had a new ending created for the theatrical release in which Starsha had died before the Yamato reaching Iscandar. This ending was removed for the television broadcast and was lost until the DVD release. In English speaking countries, it was known by the title Space Cruiser.[1]

Plot

In the distant future, the war between the human race and the aliens known as the Gamilons has destroyed the Earth. Radioactive asteroids have devastated the planet making its atmosphere uninhabitable. In an effort to assist the Earth, Queen Starsha of the planet Iscandar offers the Earth Forces a device that can completely neutralize the radiation.

In order to get this device, the space battleship Yamato is launched from the remains of its World War II ancestor on a 148,000 light-year journey. The crew of the Space Battleship Yamato has only one Earth year to travel to Iscandar and back, or the human race will become extinct.[2]

Japanese cast

Reception

In contemporary reviews, Variety declared the film as "with a few exceptions, strictly Saturday morning tv fare." that "should bore adults silly and, owing to jargon saturated dialog, confuse the six-to-12-year-old audience that might have appreciated it."[3] The review commented on the animation, describing it as "flat, static, often poorly- synched and dvided into segments for easy commercial insertion."[3] The Monthly Film Bulletin stated that despite being "executed with considerable flair for piling disaster on ever more improbable disaster [the film] is mainly of interest as a cartoon that succeeds in capitalising on both Jaws and Star Wars, as well as conjuring memories of both Japanese glory and defeat in the Second War."[4] The review concluded that the film "is so perfunctorily cobbled together and, on the whole, so indifferently animated [...] that expectations are almost immediately dashed."[4]

Revivals

In 2010, a live-action remake of Space Battleship Yamato opened in Japan, followed by several sequels. Also resulting from this franchise is Space Battleship Yamato 2199, an anime reimagining of the classic story. A live-action revival of Space Battleship Yamato is set to reach theaters in 2017 under the tentative title of Star Blazers. It will be produced by Skydance Productions with Shoji Nishizaki as the executive producer and Christopher McQuarrie as the director.[5]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Flying off to Iscandare for the Cosmo DNX! Can we defeat the Gorgons?". StarBlazers.com. Archived from the original on March 19, 2012. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
  2. ↑ "Space Battleship Yamato: The Movie". mania.com. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  3. 1 2 Willis 1985, p. 327: "Review is of a 107 minute version viewed in London on December 13, 1977"
  4. 1 2 Pym, John (1978). "Space Cruiser "(Uchusenkan Yamato)"". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 45 no. 528. London: British Film Institute. pp. 31–32.
  5. ↑ "Newspaper: Space Battleship Yamato Gets Hollywood Film". Anime News Network. Anime News Network. Retrieved 30 October 2014.

References

  • Willis, Donald, ed. (1985). Variety's Complete Science Fiction Reviews. Garland Publishing Inc. ISBN 978-0-8240-6263-7. 
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