No miniatures this time around, although I have posted several WIP pictures over on the Facebook page. I'm in the process of completing my Cubans for the Cassinga game and I'll probably post them next.
Today I want to set the wayback machine to 1979. In the last post I mentioned that Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato) was my first Anime love. But how do I explain why? Well at the time I was in Middle School and my parents were separated and I was getting teased and bullied at school. I tell people I hid in Star Blazers. But after seeing a video today about Star Blazers, I realized it doesn't matter. I still would have loved Star Blazers even if my childhood was perfect. It explains why Star Blazers mattered in context with what else was going on in the entertainment world at the time
Like Stan Lee and Marvel comics, Star Blazers didn't talk down to me. It wasn't repetitive and stupid like all the other kids shows and cartoons on television. There is a reason so many of the shows from that era are unwatchable as an adult, even in a nostalgic or ironic way. They were absolute crap.
Sure Battle of the Planets was pretty cool, but as Matt Murray points out in "Remember a Day"-A Star Blazers Retrospective it was a heavily edited and cutesy version of the original (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman). Star Blazers for all it's editorial changes (which Matt goes into during the last half of the video) was mostly unchanged from the original.
Like the comics I grew up reading, this was a serial, something unheard of in many TV shows of the day. It featured well thought out characters, good and evil, with real motivations. Both the main hero Derek Wildstar and villain Desslok can be favorably compared to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Our hero even goes on a "Hero's Journey", an epic journey through space to save the earth from destruction from an evil empire. While this might sound derivative, keep in mind that the Japanese original was created in 1974, 3 years before "Star Wars."
The video over on Vimeo is about 30 minutes long, but as I said, the last half is mostly about the differences between the original Japanese version and the one seen in the English speaking world, if you're not already a Star Blazers fan you can safely skip that bit.
There is a recent animated remake I've been watching with my 9 year old son called, "Space Battleship Yamato 2199" and we've enjoyed it a great deal. The 7th and final chapter will be released in late-October and Evan can find out if the United Nations Cosmo Force makes it back home with the Cosmo DNA to save the earth. This remake is so good, there really is no reason to watch the original. I never thought I'd say that about a remake of something I love. It's wonderful how they've kept the sound effects and music while updating the look to make this fantastic story more accessible to a whole new generation. It sticks to the plot of the original while changing just enough to keep it fresh and exciting to old(er) fans. We've been watching it with subtitles, but Evan is a great reader so he manages to keep up.
We've also been watching both new and old episodes of Doctor Who and he really enjoys watching old Tom Baker episodes with me. While I'm always trying to get him to understand how it felt to watch Star Blazers and Dr. Who in the 70's it's an impossible task I really should give up on. He grew up on the Harry Potter films and saw Star Wars at age 5.
There will be an English language version (by Voyager Entertainment) coming up next year, but from what I've seen, it looks like they'll mess up the translation. There is no reason why in 2013 we still need to have Yamato changed to Argo, especially when the word Yamato is plastered in English all over the ship.
Here is a set of trailers for the Voyager Entertainment subtitled versions of several earlier episodes, just so you can get a feel for how dynamic the new show is.
I think I'll sign up for a Star Blazers game at my next convention.
Today I want to set the wayback machine to 1979. In the last post I mentioned that Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato) was my first Anime love. But how do I explain why? Well at the time I was in Middle School and my parents were separated and I was getting teased and bullied at school. I tell people I hid in Star Blazers. But after seeing a video today about Star Blazers, I realized it doesn't matter. I still would have loved Star Blazers even if my childhood was perfect. It explains why Star Blazers mattered in context with what else was going on in the entertainment world at the time
Like Stan Lee and Marvel comics, Star Blazers didn't talk down to me. It wasn't repetitive and stupid like all the other kids shows and cartoons on television. There is a reason so many of the shows from that era are unwatchable as an adult, even in a nostalgic or ironic way. They were absolute crap.
Sure Battle of the Planets was pretty cool, but as Matt Murray points out in "Remember a Day"-A Star Blazers Retrospective it was a heavily edited and cutesy version of the original (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman). Star Blazers for all it's editorial changes (which Matt goes into during the last half of the video) was mostly unchanged from the original.
Like the comics I grew up reading, this was a serial, something unheard of in many TV shows of the day. It featured well thought out characters, good and evil, with real motivations. Both the main hero Derek Wildstar and villain Desslok can be favorably compared to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Our hero even goes on a "Hero's Journey", an epic journey through space to save the earth from destruction from an evil empire. While this might sound derivative, keep in mind that the Japanese original was created in 1974, 3 years before "Star Wars."
The video over on Vimeo is about 30 minutes long, but as I said, the last half is mostly about the differences between the original Japanese version and the one seen in the English speaking world, if you're not already a Star Blazers fan you can safely skip that bit.
There is a recent animated remake I've been watching with my 9 year old son called, "Space Battleship Yamato 2199" and we've enjoyed it a great deal. The 7th and final chapter will be released in late-October and Evan can find out if the United Nations Cosmo Force makes it back home with the Cosmo DNA to save the earth. This remake is so good, there really is no reason to watch the original. I never thought I'd say that about a remake of something I love. It's wonderful how they've kept the sound effects and music while updating the look to make this fantastic story more accessible to a whole new generation. It sticks to the plot of the original while changing just enough to keep it fresh and exciting to old(er) fans. We've been watching it with subtitles, but Evan is a great reader so he manages to keep up.
We've also been watching both new and old episodes of Doctor Who and he really enjoys watching old Tom Baker episodes with me. While I'm always trying to get him to understand how it felt to watch Star Blazers and Dr. Who in the 70's it's an impossible task I really should give up on. He grew up on the Harry Potter films and saw Star Wars at age 5.
There will be an English language version (by Voyager Entertainment) coming up next year, but from what I've seen, it looks like they'll mess up the translation. There is no reason why in 2013 we still need to have Yamato changed to Argo, especially when the word Yamato is plastered in English all over the ship.
Here is a set of trailers for the Voyager Entertainment subtitled versions of several earlier episodes, just so you can get a feel for how dynamic the new show is.
I think I'll sign up for a Star Blazers game at my next convention.
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