Monday’s Guilty Pleasure: Star Blazers

June 7th, 2004

Filed under: General, TV

Star Blazers posterYes, I know it’s a bastardization of several superior Japanese anime series, but this was the one of first cartoons that caught my fancy and inspired my imagination (the other being Battle of the Planets). The local TV station in Virginia showed it every day, and my friends and I would run home after school to watch it. Even 20+ years later, I can still sing the theme song (much to my wife’s dismay).
I have the first season on DVD, and cringe at some of the plot points and characterizations that I loved as a kid. The animation is dated and the stories are cliche (but this series originated some of those cliches), and the science laughable (Mars is light years away from Earth?). Still, it’s engrossing to watch, and I’ll sit through the series at least once a year.

We’re off to Outer Space,
We’re leaving Mother Earth
To save the Human Race
Our Star Blazers!

5 Responses to “ Monday’s Guilty Pleasure: Star Blazers ”

  1. Shawn Fumo
    June 8th, 2004 at 6:24 am

    While I’m not totally sure on this (never got to see Star Blazers as a kid), when you say it is made up of multiple Japanese shows, are you sure you aren’t thinking of Robotech or Voltron? I thought Star Blazers got through translation relatively unscathed..?

  2. Scott
    June 8th, 2004 at 9:03 am

    My understanding is that while Star Blazers what not as redone as Robotech and Battle of the Planets, the story was significantly altered from the original series and that some mixing of differant seasons and OVAs occurred.

    Still was fun though.

  3. Matt Rossi
    June 8th, 2004 at 5:54 pm

    I’m pretty sure you’re correct, Scott. I watched Star Blazers back in the day on Boston’s Channel 25, and it was basically a show made up out of four or so seasons of the Starship Yamato series, including movies. I liked it, actually, although I always knew when they were going to break out the Wave Motion Gun.

  4. Chris Galdieri
    June 8th, 2004 at 10:18 pm

    Didn’t the use of the wave-motion gun become less and less momentous as the series progressed? The first time they used it, it was built up as if using it were The Most Important Thing That Ever Happened, but by the end it was more like “Take out the trash, pay the cable bill, fire the wave-motion gun, mow the lawn…”

  5. Rick
    October 18th, 2004 at 11:27 pm

    I can remember watching Starblazers, as a kid, day after day. It was a social event in the afternoon for
    my compadres and me. I also grew up in Virgina, Virginia Beach exactly, and watched it on channel 27, or wa it 33,
    and watched it at 4:00 P.M. We were all stunned to silence when it was taken off the air. Just as well, we discovered girls.

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