Customer Reviews

Yamato Collection [VHS]

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These are all five movies of Space Battleship Yamato. American audiences will know this better as Star Blazers which ran on US TV in 1979. Before I go into each movie I first want to touch on the set over all. Nice packaging comes with a nice 22 page booklet chronicling almost every piece of Yamato merchandise and its production from 1973-2003. My gripe? The quality of the transfers is horrible. I bought the VHS version of this set back in 1995 and that was fine for VHS. This was made 9 years later and on DVD and all they did was use the old VHS masters (shovelware). Yes, this means the English subtitles are hard, you can not turn them off. No effort was made whatsoever to remaster these movies or iron out some of the inconsistencies in the English subtitles. For example, the Yamato's ultimate weapon; "Hado ho" which translates to "wave motion cannon/gun." For movies 1,2, and 5 the name "Wave Motion Gun" is used in the English subtitles. However in the 3rd and 4th movies it was called the "Undulation Gun..." While the literal translation is correct it is NOT consistent with the other movies and US viewers who remember it as the "Wave Motion Gun" from Star Blazers will be disappointed. What made these worth getting at all were the extras. The films' history, alternate endings, gallery art, etc.
I just can't believe the excellent quality animated films such as Be Forever Yamato and Final Yamato were done in mono sound. That's just cheap and lazy on Voyager Entertainment Inc.'s (VEI) part.

1. Space Battleship Yamato: Set in 2199.
This film was released in theaters in Japan back in 1977 and set record box office attendances. It is the condensing of the 26 episode 1st season which aired on Japanese TV in 1974. This was the rebirth of the ancient battleship Yamato as it must make a 296,000 light year round trip in one year to save Earth from extinction thanks to Gamilus radioactive planet bombs. This film is worth watching because despite it being a rushed 2.5 hour version of 26 episodes, you get to see quite a bit of the violence and casualties that were sanitized in the US Star Blazers version. Certain Gamilons didn't leave a floating continent in the nick of time and certain Gamilon generals did not leave a bomb on the Yamato's hull... You'll have to watch to see what I mean. These films are in Japanese with English subtitles so in this first movie you can familiarize yourself with each character's original Japanese name; ex. Derek Wildstar's original name is "Susumu Kodai" and Mark Venture is "Daisuke Shima."
The extras on this movie are great. There is an alternate version of what happens when the Yamato reaches Iscandar. Also included is the original theatrical trailer, and translated pages of the original program book.

2. Farewell Space Battleship Yamato: In the Name of Love. Set in 2201.
This was supposed to be Yamato's finale to end the series run in 1978. The Yamato crew receives a distress call from outside their own galaxy warning of a giant white comet. But it's not just a comet... it's the Comet Empire! Now, if you haven't seen this you may be thinking "OK, this must be a 2 and a half hour version of Star Blazers series 2" right? Not exactly. This version was released first in early 1978 in theaters beating all attendance records to date. Just about all the main characters are killed trying to protect Earth from this evil Comet Empire ruled by Emperor Zordar. After a lot of arguing between co creators Leiji Matsumoto and Yoshinobu Nishizaki about dying for the greater good but killing off too many main characters, a second TV series of 26 episodes was made (and aired in late 1978) where only a handful of key characters were killed off (this also kept the Yamato franchise alive with 2 more TV seasons and 3 more movies). Thus, the 2nd TV series; Yamato 2 (aka. The Comet Empire)replaced this movie in the grand Yamato time-line. So this film should be watched as an alternate time-line. The animation is excellent for its time and unfortunately was not remastered for this DVD release... In the extras you get the original theatrical trailer, translated pages of the original program book, and the making of the movie and cast interviews.

3. Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage. Set in 2201 (months after the demise of the Comet Empire).
This was a 93 minute "made for TV" movie which followed the events and aftermath of Series 2: The Comet Empire. The Yamato crew assembles at Heros Hill (where Captain Avatar's statue is) to honor their lost comrades. It is here where you find out who the handful of key characters from series 2 were killed off since their deaths were edited out of Star Blazers. Earth is threatened by yet another enemy, the Dark Nebula Empire. They first attack planet Gamilus and Iscandar because both twin planets have a rare ore that the alien race needs for fuel. An outraged Desler (known as Leader Desslok in Star Blazers) attacks the Dark Nebulans and makes a stand to protect his former home and Iscandar. We also find out the fates of Queen Starsha and Mamoru Kodai (Alex Wildstar). Yamato is ordered by Earth Defence HQ to aid and assist the Gamilons and Iscandar with a crew of trainees. (This is the film in which you see the Dark Nebulans' Goruba Space Fortress which was wrongfully called the Comet Empire in the flashback sequence in Series 3: The Bolar Wars.) A great movie to find out what happens after the defeat of the Comet Empire and what became of the Gamilons and where they stood with Earth.
Extras include 11 deleted scenes, the making of, and an interactive mission map.

4. Be Forever Yamato. Set in 2202
This was the 3rd movie released in theaters yet the 4th movie in the series. It is set months after the events from the New Voyage as the Dark Nebulans finally reach Earth's solar system and rapidly take over. It is up to Yamato to journey to the Dark Nebulans' home world to foil their hold on Earth. Stellar animation for 1981 but I was disappointed that Earth's war with this formidable enemy was so quickly resolved. I thought their war should have carried on into the 3rd TV series instead of the creators inventing yet another alien race to battle (the Bolar Federation.)
Extras include Theatrical Trailer, translated pages of the original program book, The Yamato Story: A history of the phenomenon, and art galleries, and a musical postlude

5. Final Yamato. Set in 2203(after the events in the 3rd TV series).
Now this is the FINAL installment of this Yamato universe, hence the title. Earth is a very unlucky planet as they are threatened yet again by another alien race. SIX alien races in a four year span!? This time it's the Denguil Empire which plots to warp the mythical water planet Aquarius to Earth to flood out all life. It is up to Yamato and her crew once again to foil the evil plot. Captain Okita (Avatar in Star Blazers) returns from the dead to command Yamato as Kodai (Wildstar) has lost his will to command and fight. Though the movie can tend to be long (at a whopping 163 minutes), the payoff towards the end when Yamato is caught in a jam is incredible and worth the wait!
Extras include Original theatrical trailer, translated pages of the original program, art galleries, an alternate ending, and the making of.

Well, there you have it. I didn't go into too much detail as far as what happens because I didn't want to spoil it for those of you who have not seen these movies. Why? Because that's the best part of being an old Star Blazers fan that is just discovering these movies for the first time. It's filling in those plot gaps between the TV series' and NOT knowing what's going to happen!
Great films but a lackluster effort in picture and sound quality (the VHS masters shovelware instead of new remasters) on this specific DVD release by VEI...

YAMATO is one of the best anime productions ever, but Voyager Entertainment's release of these movies and television DVDs are a disaster! The colors are washed out, grainy and soft, and sound lacks any kind of stereo/surround luster. It appears as if they used some old and cheap copies to produce their DVDs. I only would hope that another company gets hold of the masters and cleans 'em up for true quality DVDs. The original episodes in Japanese language with English subtitles would be nice if digitally remastered properly. Voyager Entertainment is the worse effort for this type of material.

The Series Space Battleship Yamato, and it's u.s. counterpart starblazers deserve to be remastered. Mono sound is not acceptible in this day in age, neither is 1980's style bad video quality transfers from vhs , or laserdisc. Voyager Entertainment needs to talk to Mr. Leiji Matsumoto, or whomever currenttly owns the copywrite and convince them to make new digital source masters. Now all they have to do is track down the original japanese and english dialogue tracks, and music and possible original stills, hand drawn cartoon artboards to do the remastering. The original telecine reels would work nicely, just like Rhino used for transformers remaster. They want to see how remastering is done they should talk to the people who remastered star wars, and Star Trek to dvd with beautiful pristine images and 5.1 digital sound.

While in general I hold Japanese animé in very low esteem, I make a huge exception in the case of the Space Battleship Yamato movies. They reflect all that is great about the Japanese spirit-never give up, be loyal to friends, and be true to duty. The battle scenes are spectacular, especially in Be Forever Yamato, when the Yamato and Captain Yamanami fight to wrench Earth from the colonizers of the Dark Star Empire. The best was saved for last-I have yet to see a movie that has the atmosphere of Final Yamato, which is simultaneously tense, dramatic, and spiritual. The series has a semi-tragic, semi-happy ending that is quite satisfying. The viewer should understand, though, that the second movie, "Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato," was supposed to be the last, but after its release (in 1978) the producers realized that they were too quick to put an end to Yamato, so the animated TV series was rewritten so that the Yamato and many characters survive. Bear that in mind when you watch the third film, "Space Battleship Yamato: the New Voyage." Buy this set, you won't regret it!!!

These DVD presentations of the fantastic YAMATO movies are typically bad, but BE FOREVER YAMATO in particular (the fourth film) is the worst DVD I have ever seen. The colors are washed out, there's no detail, and it looks like it was recorded off a TV with a bad cable reception using a VHS tape that's been used 300 times. What an insult to a great movie. Voyager Entertainment needs to take a cue from the ROBOTECH REMASTERED series and present YAMATO (the series too) in sparkling new digital transfers. BE FOREVER in particular is begging for an anamorphic widescreen presentation (the film switches to a widescreen aspect ratio for dramatic effect when the crew enters the Dark Nebula). Come to think of it, why does ROBOTECH get such grand treatment and YAMATO, the granddaddy of anime, is left to fester on these criminally overpriced DVDs that are completely unwatchable?

if your a real fan of star blazers then you might want to get the five movies first the first two are right from the first two american series. the second one farwell to space battleship yamato has a different ending when kodai rams zordars ship with the yamato just about all of the main characters are killed during the battle with the comet empire. the new voyage takes place after the comet empire with the gamilons and the yamato join forces and go after iscandar which has been blown out of orbit because gamilon was destoryed by the dark nebular empire. Be forever yamato is the best of the five movies it is by far the best of the yamato if you only get one yamato movie make be forever. the last movie deals with the return of captain avatar. the movie is great with plenty of action the best part is when the yamato leaks wave gun energy and passes through and energy barrier and land on the city but during the battle mark venture is shot and later dies in wildstars arms on the brid the ending is sad when the yamato is used as a bomb with the wave gun corked and some extra energy from the water planet the yamato explodes in three sections the last two images are of the bridge with captain avatar dead with his hand still on the wave gun trigger the other is the bow of the ship rising out of the water going ataight up in the air and then slowly sliding beneath the water and then there is silence. this is one of the sadder moments of the tape when the ship is destoryed but it does have a happy ending wildstar and nova finally get married. there is an english dubbed version of farwell yamato the quality is poor and about 30 minutes of footage was cut out of it but if you want to see it the way it was meant to be seen then get the box set you won't be sorry that you did trust me i have seen all five of the movies and they are awesome.

The Yamato movies help to fill in the blanks for Star Blazers fans, but don't expect all of the movies to be first rate. While the animation and sound is certainly 1970's-early 1980's quality, the script is still quite good on some of the movies. Watch out for the first Yamato movie though, everything seems to go by so quickly with exaggerated jumps between each major encounter. Watch the Star Blazers Series One instead. Also, be ready for Japanese language and English subtitles. If you can handle it, then check these out.

This is a must own item if you are a Star Blazers or Yamato fanatic, but it is overpriced for the quality. The series deserves a digital remastering with 5.1 surround sound. Eric "Eric the Dread" wrote a very detailed and accurate review.

The quality varies throughout the five movies. "Final Yamato" is of acceptable video quality with stereo sound where "The New Voyage" is, like K. FitzGerald "sonship3" said; obviously a transfer from a VHS tape, including one section where the tracking slipped. The other four movies are of tolerable quality if you start with the understanding that these are original cartoons from the 70s and early 80s that have not been remastered.

I appreciated the differences in the Japanese and American versions. Yamato is more mature and introspective than Star Blazers. I loved the ending of the second movie, "Farewell Yamato." Like Eric said, it is not the same ending as in the Star Blazers Comet Empire season 2. The series could have ended here with no need for further installments, but I'm glad they continued the saga. The New Voyage and Farewell Yamato (Movies 3 and 4) were entirely new material to me as The Bolar Wars (season 3) was not shown on my TV stations. Final Yamato was excellent! If you were a fan of Star Blazers, this is the ending you were waiting for.

My childhood was heavily influenced by my religious dedication to Star Blazers from second through fourth grade. I waited until now to spend the money for the entire set. I will eventually shell out the bucks for all three seasons on DVD.

This collection, even with its disappointing video and sound quality, is a requirement for a fan like me.

Stan is the best. Awesome customer service -thanks so much for the information. My husband thought these were so cool.

Well I recall the rush home from school to watch every episode, and the thrill of talking about it the next day!

This is a must watch for anyone who loves anime!