STAR BLAZERS was one of the first Japanese anime science fiction shows that made it’s way to American soil during the post-STAR WARS boom of the late 1970s. Shows like BATTLE OF THE PLANETS, ROBOTECH, and STAR BLAZERS were responsible for ingraining anime upon the impressionable minds of young Americans everywhere, and therefore sparking the massive Anime boom which rules fandom today. STAR BLAZERS was really a progressive Asian TV show called SPACE CRUISER YAMATO that was Japan’s answer to STAR TREK. The series was based on the Manga by Leiji Matsumoto. SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO was a giant hit in Japan and lasted three seasons and spawned 5 theatrical features. After STAR WARS, Claster Productions re-christened the show STAR BLAZERS for its North American debut; but not before toning down the content which was considered too risqué for American kids of the time. Voyager Entertainment eventually ended up with the U.S. home video rights. Nostalgia hungry fans eagerly purchased the TV series and movies of this epic franchise, which at one time was rumored to be transformed into a Hollywood blockbuster movie (imagine Johnny Depp as Derek Wildstar!). Well, those same fans will be plucking down their hard earned dollars again, for Voyager’s groovy DVD treatment. Each disc comes with four different episodes, and extra features that are sure to make fans drool. Unfortunately, the episodes themselves are the same old watered down rendition, and Voyager doesn’t even bother to include the original Japanese language version. This review covers the DVD called STAR BLAZERS: THE COMET EMPIRE VOLUME 2. Here are the episodes (in order) contained on this disc:

HEAVY FIGHTING! THE SPACE MARINES

A mysterious alien space fleet attacks the outpost on planet Brumas, inhabited by a platoon of highly trained Space Marines. The Space Marines fight back valiantly against the aliens’ plane and tank forces, but they are clearly outmatched. The Star Force picks up an SOS from planet Brumas and rushes there to save the Space Marines. But first they must fight their way past General Naska’s space fleet.

COUNTER ATTACK! THE INVISIBLE SPACE SUBMARINE

After saving the surviving Space Marines, the soldiers and the crew of the Argo have a hard time co-existing. The Argo comes under attack from a fleet of Space Submarines. The crew attempts to stave off their attackers but the Space Marines keep getting in the way. A mysterious woman named Trelaina tries to warn the Argo of the impending danger around them.

SPACE STORM! ESCAPE IS IMPOSSIBLE

Star Force Navigator Marc Venture establishes contact with Trelaina in order to lock onto her signal so he can set course for her planet. The Argo warps toward her coordinates, and when the warp is over, the crew finds themselves stuck in a Space Cyclone—sitting targets for the Comet Empire General Torbak and his fleet of destruction.

CHARGE! DESTROY THE ARGO

The crew of the Argo capture a fighter plane belonging to the Comet Empire. Though the pilot won’t talk, the Star Force learn a lot about their mysterious opponents, the Comet Empire. They analyze the prisoner’s ship and send the data back to Earth for study. The Space Marines don’t appreciate the alien prisoner and go about making life miserable for Captain Wildstar and his crew. Eventually, the prisoner escapes and Wildstar must make a decision whether to pursue him or not.

STAR BLAZERS is presented full frame (1.331) as originally shown on TV. Voyager’s DVD presentation is very well done, but it’s not without a few flaws attributable to the age of the video elements. The biggest problem is that they are using the same old worn video elements from the VHS release. This would be the prefect opportunity for remastering, but Voyager fails to go that route. That’s probably why they didn’t include the Japanese version, which is so much cleaner. The color is faded and the picture is often grainy. But STAR BLAZERS was created with such craftsmanship that even this lackluster presentation can’t hold it back the genius of Leiji Matsumoto. The ship designs, space battles, and explosions are impressive and fluidly animated, and are clearly superior to any American animation of the same period. The sound is Dolby Digital Mono 2.0. Even worse than the video quality, the soundtrack for each episode is non-linear. You’ll find yourself lowering or raising the volume, because none of the episodes are synchronized. Once you adjust the volume yourself, you can appreciate the show’s perennial soundtrack. STAR BLAZERS is a conglomeration of sonic fluency, whether it’s the sound of epic battles or glorious music. STARBLAZERS also features one of the best English dubbed anime of all time, and today’s anime voice talent can’t hold a candle to this old crew. From the Special Features menu, you can step through a photo gallery of the planes and armaments of the Argo. There is also another gallery of artwork of Desslok and his Gamelan battleships. There is also an episode trailer for the next volume of STAR BLAZERS: THE COMET EMPIRE VOLUME 3. The highlight of the extras section is a video interview with voice actors Ken Messerol and Eddie Allen, who gave voice to Derek Wildstar and Desslok, respectively. The two actors are interviewed at the same time and reflect upon the memories that they had of the show. Most of the questions are about the voice recording process. Eddie Allen admits he used a Boris Karloff inflection in his performance as Desslok.

Voyager missed the boat here by not remastering this classic show. Case in point, Rhino’s BATTLE OF THE PLANETS DVDs contains both the English and the uncut Japanese versions, totally remastered and even with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Had Voyager gone this route, they could have charged $50.00 dollars a disc, and fans would have gladly trashed their VHS collections to get the ultimate SPACE CRUISER YAMATO DVDs. However, these discs do contains some fine menus, music, and extras from the series. Of all the supplements on Voyager’s DVD so far (which differ with every release), the interview with Ken Messerol and Eddie Allen is the best, and surely worth the purchase for fans of STAR BLAZERS. As for the show itself, both STARBLAZERS and SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO have their faults. But I feel sorry for today’s youth—we had BATTLE OF THE PLANETS, SPEED RACER, STARBLAZERS, etc. They have POKEMON, DIGIMON, and DRAGONBALL. It’s no secret that despite the dated animation techniques of the older shows, they had better stories, more imagination, and were just plain fun.

STAR BLAZERS: THE COMET EMPIRE Vol 2 is available from DVDEmpire.com

-  Luther Manning