Product Details

• Actors: Eddie Allen, Michael Bertolini, Amy Howard Wilson, Lydia Leeds, Kenneth Meseroll
• Directors: Leiji Matsumoto
• Producers: Yoshinobu Nishizaki
• Format: Animated, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Voyager
• DVD Release Date: December 19, 2000
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000055ZL7
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #72,971 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Animation > Characters & Series > Star Blazers

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover
Relentless planet bombing from outer space forces Earth's survivors to live underground-if they want to live at all. When the deadly radiation starts penetrating their subterranean cities, Space Cruiser Argo is launched on a 148,000 light years quest for the planet Iscandar. The legendary ship's mission is to return with technology that will neutralize the contamination. An elite force of Star Blazers has only one earth year to do it. During this intergalactic race against time, they engage in spectacular space battles with Gamilon fleets from another galaxy, now based on Pluto. In addition to the overwhelming odds and superior destructive power of the invaders, the Argo's other enemy is deep space itself. In this classic adventure, the ship's doctor is able to keep the captain alive, although he grows weak from radiation poisoning. The Star Blazers discover that one of their force is a cyborg. They are also surprised to learn that their robot has a sense of humor. Two friends resolve a bitter feud. One falls in love. And the biggest surprise is sprung when the surviving crew members see who greets them when they get to Iscandar.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Menus and extras! A big improvement over the first DVD..., January 4, 2001

By	iansomniak (USA, Planet Earth) - See all my reviews

I just got this second Star Blazers disc and I must say the presentation is far superior to the crude production of disc 1. Disc 2 features nicely rendered menu screens, character bios, a trailer, and even a clip from the original Japanese version of Star Blazers (Yamato). However, the picture quality of the program itself is comprable to the first disc -- somewhat grainy, but probably slightly better than a VHS tape. Also note that this disc contains only four episodes of the series (eps. 6 - 9), while Part 1 contained five. Still, if you were reasonably satisfied with The Quest for Iscandar Part 1, don't hesitate to purchase Part 2.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much Better Than the First Disc, May 28, 2001

By	Mr. JKW "jkw" (Honolulu, Hawai'i) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Star Blazers: The Quest for Iscandar Part II, contains episodes 6-9 (out of 26) of the first season of the cult-favorite Americanized Japanese Anime series from the early 1980's.

For the uninitiated, here's a rundown of the plot. In 2199 Earth was under attack by an "evil" alien race called the Gamilons. The Gamilons bombed earth with "planet bombs" which destroyed the planet and emitted high levels of radiation, thus driving mankind into underground cities. In one Earth year the planet would become uninhabitable. Queen Starsha of Iscandar offers mankind hope in the form of the Cosmic DNA which would cure all mankind from the radiation sickness. She sends Earth a message along with powerful technology that will allow mankind to travel to Iscandar to get the Cosmic DNA. The Star Force is formed to travel to Iscandar to fetch the Cosmic DNA. Their faithful battleship is the Argo, a renovated WWII era navy battleship remade into a Starship. There is just one minor problem though, Iscandar is 148,000 Light Years away. No one has ever traveled that far before. More importantly, the Star Force only has one year to travel there and back for a total of 296,000 Light Years.

Here is a summary of the four episodes included on this DVD:

Episode 6: The Argo lands on Titan to search for the rare element Titanite for repairs. Wildstar, Nova and IQ-9 battle off the Gamilons. Plus, Wildstar learns the final fate of his brother's ship and crew.

Episode 7: The 2nd Battle of Pluto. The Argo sets out to destroy the Gamilon base on Pluto to put a stop to the Planet Bombing but meets up with the menace of the Reflection Gun.

Episode 8: It's undersea warfare on Pluto after the Reflection Gun sinks the Argo. The Star Force must take out the Reflection Gun to have a fighting chance.

Episode 9: Heavily damaged, the Argo seeks refuge in the Asteroid belt of Minerva to make repairs and a final stand against Colonel Ganz and the remaining Gamilon forces from Pluto.

Besides the 4 episodes on this DVD apparently Voyager is seeking atonement for the horrible work they did on Part I. Part II includes improved (impressive, in fact) navigation and the following DVD special features:

1. Character bios. GREAT work here, we get a complete listing of the Star Force characters, their biographies and even their Japanese counterpart names from the Yamato series.

2. A scene (complete in Japanese with English subtitles) from the Yamato series which was edited out from the English translation. The scene shows the Yamato (Argo) from the WWII era when it was sunk by American bombers. This is a DEFINITE winner for DVD extras. 3. Trailer (shameless plug) featuring scenes from Part III.

Here's my rundown:

Great: The Yamato scene in DVD extras.

Good: The episodes and the character bios.

Bad: The shameless plug for Part III (can't blame them though, it is a good marketing tool...)

Summed up, if you were ever a Star Blazers fan, give this (and Part I) a watch. It's great for a trip down memory lane. If you've NEVER seen Star Blazers, give it a try, it's a cult classic from the 80's (along with other Americanized anime greats like Robotech, Voltron, Transor Z, etc). The animation may look a little dated, but the storyline still holds its own very well against anything out there today. This series has stood the test of time. Due to limited distribution this show may have slipped by the radar of a lot of people but it caught on like a fire with those who did catch it. Give it a watch and see what the fuss was all about.

Highly Recommended

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars After 20 years finally get to see it in broadcast quality, January 29, 2001

By	"rcon1" (Redmond, Wa United States) - See all my reviews

I remember getting up early before school and watching Star Blazers. It was the and still is one of the best "cartoons" that has ever been released on american television. It was one of the first shows that showed that in war people do actually die, which they should still have. If kids know that war and violance actually does kill instead of causing them to do funny sounds "warner brothers cartoons" then there might be less of it. Anyways that's it for my speal, if you want an show with an excelent story, go get this, you will really enjoy it, even if the animation is 20 years old.