notgivens
I loved this show as a child, coming home from school and diving in front of the boob tube (when it still had a tube) and enjoying the adventures of the big eyed characters (speed racerlike) trying to save the world in the largest ship ever built... turned space ship.In every single episode they battle and battle, and just before the ship is about to be destroyed somebody decides it's time to fire the ultimate weapon, the WAVE MOTION GUN (do listen to the Marcy Playground song sometime) and they win the day.As an adult I just can't help but ask, why not fire the wave motion gun first, but I guess it would have made the show pretty short.I just noticed there seems to be an actual live action version of this, which led me to this review. Fun for kids of all ages, albeit a little silly.
iamvindell
I, too, watched this show when I was 10 or 12 or so. I never missed an episode. I agree that some of the ideas were taken and used in other sci-fi endeavors, such as Star Trek. For example, in the first scene in Star Trek, The Motion Picture, notice how, when the Klingon Battlecruiser gets ready to shoot its torpedoes at the intruder, the area where it fires from starts to glow, and small, lit particles tend to drift towards the same area. This is the same as when the Wave Motion gun first starts to fire. Same thing with Star Trek III, and the chasing of the Enterprise by the Excelsior. Same as the Andromeda and the Argo. But all that aside, this was the best anime ever sent to us. I, too, spent many a day drawing my versions of battleships like the Argo and Andromeda, even, at one time, making my own personal comic books about adventures with the Star Force. (yes, my original ideas, not copying the show) :-) I have seen the full three seasons online for over $100., and if indeed I had the extra money, I would buy them in a heartbeat. his was running around the same time as another great one called Force Five. Those of you who know about Star Blazers, I am sure you know about Force Five. Two of the best to come out of Japan before the Accord!
dave71170
This show was one of my favorites as a young boy. I started watching Star Blazers back in 1980 when I was ten years old and followed it almost like a religion until it was taken off the air in my area in 1983. The characters and storyline was what set this great cartoon series apart from the rest. It was probably the closest thing to a soap opera any animated cartoon has ever achieved.I missed it very much up until about 3 years ago when I bought the DVD sets. After not seeing the show for 20 years it was like a trip back to my childhood. I actually appreciate the show more now than I did back in the early 1980's. The cartoons today don't compare in my opinion, I don't think there will be another show quite like it, at least in my lifetime.
terp_92
...this was my first exposure to a real violent science fiction cartoon series, and I didn't miss it for the world when it aired weekday afternoons 20 years ago (geez it's been that long?!!) and turning on the TV the moment I got home from school.Probably the series that started the whole Japanese anime craze, I spent day and night drawing the different kinds of spacecraft from the series, and in every episode you knew when the good guys were in trouble, that it was time for the wave-motion gun to be fired. I hope the series will be shown on TV again.