Customer Reviews

Space Battleship Yamato: New Voyage [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This OAV continues the Yamato saga after the second series (Comet Empire saga). The animation is up to their usual standards, which is very good, and the script is, for the most part, well-written. We continue to see the character development of Kodai (Wildstar), Yuki (Nova) and Desslar (Desslok), as well as a little more of the Yamato universe. This video introduces 2 new characters, trainees Kitano, Tokugawa (Engineer Tokugawa's [Orion] son - in the Japanese version, the engineer was killed during the final Comet Empire conflict) and Sakamoto (who looks suspiciously like Sato [or Conroy] from the first 2 series). We also get to see Kodai Mamoru (Alex Wildstar) and good ol' Queen Staasha (Starsha) or Isacandar and....well, you'll just have to watch it, won't you... <g>

All kidding aside, this is a good video and very enjoyable to watch, and the soundtrack (if you can find it) isn't bad, either.

One thing I like in Yamato [Star Blazers] is its mechanic designs. In this feature film, there are a lot of scenes in which my favorite Gamilon fleet appears (so 5 stars). The Gamilons face a strong enemy and Yamato [the Argo] comes to their rescue.
"The New Voyage" and "Be Forever Yamato" (in this order) fit between the Series Two and the Series Three of Star Blazers. The development of the relationship between Desslar [Desslok] and Kodai [Wildstar] which turned from enmity to subtle sympathy in the Series Two is the underline of this story.

Remasters of mono soundtracks into 5.1 sound can often cause serious problems. Sure, if you have the resources of Paramont at your disposal, you can come up with something like the Star Trek original series DVD's, but for a small outfit like Voyager a 5.1 remaster would wind up sounding horrible.

Secondly, the original theatrical ratio of the Yamato movies was in fact, 4:3 (aside from "Be Forever," which switches to a widescreen aspect ratio mid-feature, something which VEI preserved). Add to this fact that "New Voyage" was a TV special. I would much rather see the entire picture, as upposed to someone cropping it into false widscreen.

That said, this is a great movie marred by Voyager's lackluster presentation, and (non)preservation of their masters. Between the release of the VHS version and the DVD, the masters have actually disintegrated so that the main feature has TAPE FLAWS!! At one point it looks like you're watching a tape that's being eaten by your VCR.

If you have the VHS version and it's not disintegrating, don't bother with this disk because your tape is actually a better presentation. The extras do not make up for the damage to the main feature.

1.Voyager Entertainment did not digitally re-master this in 5.1 dolby digital sound.
2. There is no second dialogue track for English.
3. And worst of all, just like all the voyager releases of the yamato films it is not presented in it's original theatrical widescreen aspect ratio. With all that said, It's still one of the great modern space operas. If only Voyager Entertainment will sometime remaster these films in widescreen, and offer the series (starblazers) and these films in superior 5.1 sound and digital cleaned up versions. And maybe someday they will offer westerners the option to buy the original uncut japanese star blazers films, and t.v. shows. Not the kiddieized censored versions people get here in the u.s. .

Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage is a made-for-TV movie that comes between the second Space Battleship Yamato television series and Be Forever Yamato (the third Space Battleship Yamato theatrical film). This story features a brand new enemy, the Black Nebula Empire.

Desler returns to Gamilus and discovers the Black Nebula Empire mining the planet for a mineral they need to continue their conquests. Desler attacks the mining operation, and during the battle, Gamilus suddenly explodes. Then, its twin planet Iscandar begins experiencing volcanic eruptions, and the planet leaves its orbit. Desler calls Earth and the Yamato for help, and the crew of the Yamato must team up with Desler to try to save the remaining inhabitants of Iscandar.

The DVD contains several bonus features. There are deleted scenes included as a feature. However, no soundtrack survived for these scenes, so the dialogue only appears as subtitles on the screen, and new music has been added. You can watch the film with these deleted scenes included, but personally, I think watching the entire film this way would take away from the viewing experience. There are also art galleries, an interactive mission map, and some text-only features of behind-the-scenes information about this film.

I'm actually rather impressed with the effort that went into compiling the extras for this DVD, since Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage was originally not a theatrical release. If you're a Yamato fan, you need to see this film in order to understand what's going on in the next theatrical film, Be Forever Yamato. This DVD should really be in the collection of anyone who considers themselves a fan of Space Battleship Yamato.