StarBlazers!

[Muz]

Okay, so who grew up in the late 70s/early 80s and (fondly) remembers a show called StarBlazers? :) I'd watch it every morning before school, and again when I got home. Later in college, a friend and I rediscovered it and did a marathon in the dorms. I was amused by how insanely CHEESY it was! What was cool through a 7-year-old's eyes is a lot different when you're 19. But that almost made it even better. It was BAD, but it was so entertainingly bad that it was like it improved with age.

So I know at least one other person on these boards remembers them...Anyone else? Mars being light-years away from Earth? Captain Avatar's "spring water?" The drill missle? (Possibly the most phallic weapon ever devised in children's programming!) So...discuss! :)

I leave you with Muz's Five Rules of StarBlazers:
1) The Argo cannot be destroyed. Period. (Any other Earth ship is lucky to survive more than a single shot, however.)
2) Sandor kicks ass.
3) The Desslok Gun (or anything else named after Desslok) NEVER works--often as a direct result of rule #2.
4) Lysis kicks ass.
5) In the event that Lysis does not kick ass, refer also to rule #2.

(And yes I know it was called Space Battleship Yamato in Japan, but the edits for American TV add a whole new level of insane fun.) ;)

[Hungerdog]

Ah, memories.

You're absolutley right. Argo=invulnerable; every other ship=toast in seconds.

And how about the cheesy theme song, possibly one of the worst ever. Yup-every weekday monring, before school.

Cheese, but good cheese.

:)

[Muz]

Oh, I've had the song stuck in my head for the past week, ever since I pulled the tapes out and had another look. It's catchy. ;)

[Roland St. Jude]

Starblazers! I remember liking it, but I'm less clear on the details. Although, I do distinctly remember running around with some toy singing "our starblazers!" or whatever the song was.

[Gorbash Kazdar]

I actually never caught StarBlazers. I'm somewhat familiar with the series directly from watching some subbed episodes of Space Battleship Yamato. I got twigged into the English dub and how it differs when I mentioned the show to friends, and we eventually realized it and StarBlazers were one and the same.

[Tom_Violence]

The only contact I've ever had with the show is via the Marcy Playground song Wave Motion Gun. Good song, and from the sounds of things the show is at least a weird and trippy. :P

[Democratus]

The thing I remember most about the series is that the bad guy, Deslok, would often hang out in a hot tub drinking and chatting with his generals.

Now there's a bad guy who knows how to live in style. You gotta respect that.

[Hungerdog]

Deslok WAS cool.

And OMG!-The Wave Motion Gun. I'd forgotten about that! Holy crap was that one monster of a Spinal Mount armageddon weapon!

;D

[Logic]

Anybody got any links to it? I am rather lazy, and I think I know what you are talking about, but I am unwilling to assume, nor do the proper google/wiki search.

EDIT: Definatly not the show I was thinking. I was thinking of some kind of crazy cartoon that was on the air about the same time TMNT was on (I think there was a crossover between the 2 at one point) with a bunny as the captain (with an eyepatch maybe?), some duck (I think he was green and had 4 arms)
that was a total bad@$$.

[Muz]

Anybody got any links to it? I am rather lazy, and I think I know what you are talking about, but I am unwilling to assume, nor do the proper google/wiki search.

Sure. :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starblazers

And Desslok was cool, but Lysis was cooler. ;) Lysis never lounged around in a hot tub chatting on the phone- He was out there WORKING for a living! (Until he screwed it all up, of course.) Hmm. Desslok alive, Lysis dead. You might have a point there. ;D

Seriously, though, the Desslok Gun NEVER worked. I was watching an ep at the very end of the 2nd season a bit ago: The Argo's badly damaged, surrounded by mines, unable to move, and the wave-motion gun's blocked by a giant mine and unfireable. Gamilon ships surround them- they can pulverize them with a bunch of concentrated fire. And then:

Desslok: "Cease firing. I want to finish the Star Force off myself! Get the Desslok Gun!"

Entire Gamilon Fleet: "...Dammit."

It didn't work, of course. (Oh, it FIRED, but...) :D

[BrvSirRobin]

I just wish the Anime Network would show this one. I remember catching random episodes on trips to my cousin's house when I was a kid.

[Fishybugs]

We're off to outerspace....We're leaving Mother Earth....

Oh yes. Every morning before school. And their robot, the goofy IQ9.

[Akiosama]

The only thing I remember about StarBlazers, is that they couldn't wipe out all of the sounds they needed to get rid of to keep death out of the show.

I remember at least one instance of a 'drone tank' screaming in pain as one of the main characters emptied a gun into into the open hatch of a turret... given that the original source animation Cosmoship Yamato didn't have any qualms about people dying on either side... I thought it was pretty funny in reminiscing - I didn't know about it until long after the series had aired.

Oh, the things the censors did to protect us kids...

My 2 yen,

Game on!

Akio

[Muz]

Not to mention characters who by all rights should have died (and originally had), but were saved by a throwaway line about them surviving...despite never being seen or heard from again from that point on. ;D

"Knox's plane got out right behind you!" (That line delivered by Dash, the auxillary backup Wildstar...) ;)

[Akiosama]

At least that didn't happen in all shows. It would have been awkward to explain what happened to Roy Fokker in Robotech/Macross if you had to say he actually survived... with a huge patch of blood seeping though his clothing on his back, after he passed out on Claudia's floor...

Stretches the imagination a bit, don't ya think?

My 2 yen,

Game on!

Akio

[Ted_Stryker]

I have the complete original series and the Comet Empire series on DVD. Good times. I think I was 7 when the original was first shown in the US. Watching as a grown-up I find the series is chock full of unintentional comedy. I keep expecting Desslok to utter a line to the effect that his tastes include both oysters and snails, but it never happens...