Be Forever Yamato REBEL 3199

[Christopher]

Back when the library carried the old Star Blazers DVDs, one of the extra features was interviews with the actors who voiced Wildstar, Nova and Desslok. I don't remember what they had to say about the scripts they were voicing, but I do remember that they were non union actors and their work was done "off the books" and they were paid "under the table" as it were, with vocal sessions held in a Manhattan recording studio usually late at night/early in the morning after the staff had gone home, so they wouldn't get in trouble.

Yeah -- my recollection is that the credits didn't even list the voice cast, so I never knew who they were.

One of the things that stuck out to me was that the actor who voiced Deadlock modeled his speech patterns after Boris Karloff.

Hmm. The timbre of Eddie Allen's voice doesn't sound at all like Karloff's to me, but I guess I can see what he meant about the speech patterns.

For years, I convinced myself that Desslok was voiced by Douglas Rain, 2001's HAL, because their voices sounded very similar to me.

IIRC, Avatar was voiced by Casey Kasem. He was the only “A-lister” on the cast.

No, Gordon Ramsey played Captain Avatar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Space_Battleship_Yamato_characters

 

[137th Gebirg]

Where the hell did I see that it was Kasem? I was surprised when I saw it, and the voice does sound like him, but very gravelly. Maybe I was getting him mixed up with Mark from Battle of the Planets/Gotchamen. I need to do some digging on that one...

 

[Christopher]

Where the hell did I see that it was Kasem? I was surprised when I saw it, and the voice does sound like him, but very gravelly. Maybe I was getting him mixed up with Mark from Battle of the Planets/Gotchamen. I need to do some digging on that one...

Sounds plausible. Hey, Alan Young and Keye Luke were in that too.

I have to admit, I prefer Gordon Ramsey's Captain Avatar voice and Eddie Allen's Desslok voice to Takayuki Sugou's Okita and Koichi Yamadera's Dessler in 2199/2202. It's largely just what I'm used to, no doubt, but I think they had more character than the generically deep, booming voices they have in the anime (I don't know how the original Japanese voices sounded, but I assume they went for similar types). Although I did have a moment where I went, "Whoa, Spike Spiegel is Dessler?"

 

[Noname Given]

I find it interesting that the Japanese logos for the series also say 'Star Blazers' on it.

I guess to catch the eye of those who grew up with the English dub of the original?

Well, the SBY 2199 remake integrated some of the 'changes' Star Blazers had to make because it was considered a 'children's show'.

For example in the Japanese version of the original SBY - on Saturn, Kodai is outright killing the Gamilas tank operators with great ferocity as revenge for what happened to his brother. In that version there's no doubt that the Tank operators are living beings.

In Star Blazers, the sequence was edited a bit and it was said the tanks were piloted by autonomous androids.

In SBY 2199 the Japanese version now had the Gamilas using androids for some duties, including Tank piloting and even added a Android A.I. subplot involving a captured Gamilas military android and IO9.

So yeah, in the remake the Japanese did actually borrow and incorporate a Star Blazers element into the SBY 2199 remake of SBY.

---

Apart from the above, just a few hours ago, the Emotion YouTube channel posted a video on SBY 3199 and the 50th anniversary of the original airing of the first episode of SBY in Japan.

If you set closed captioning auto translation to English, it actually gives you a fair idea of what is being said for the most part:

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[Christopher]

Well, the SBY 2199 remake integrated some of the 'changes' Star Blazers had to make because it was considered a 'children's show'.

For example in the Japanese version of the original SBY - on Saturn, Kodai is outright killing the Gamilas tank operators with great ferocity as revenge for what happened to his brother. In that version there's no doubt that the Tank operators are living beings.

In Star Blazers, the sequence was edited a bit and it was said the tanks were piloted by autonomous androids.

In SBY 2199 the Japanese version now had the Gamilas using androids for some duties, including Tank piloting and even added a Android A.I. subplot involving a captured Gamilas military android and IO9.

So yeah, in the remake the Japanese did actually borrow and incorporate a Star Blazers element into the SBY 2199 remake of SBY.

I read that Star Blazers changed it so that Mamoru Kodai/Alex Wildstar stayed behind at Pluto to cover Okita/Avatar's retreat, rather than being unable to live with the shame of defeat or whatever it was in the original, and both the 2010 live-action movie and SBY2199 went with the changed version.

Just in general, it does seem to me that the Yamato crew in the remake are much more reticent about using the Wave Motion Gun than they were in the original. There is a stronger sense of regard for life and struggling with the ethics of violence, at least compared to my memories of Blazers, though those could be colored by it being a more violent show than I was used to in American cartoons. But I may have said already, I definitely remember the ship blowing up at least a couple of whole planets, which was very memorable because the animation thereof was impressively done.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Just in general, it does seem to me that the Yamato crew in the remake are much more reticent about using the Wave Motion Gun than they were in the original. There is a stronger sense of regard for life and struggling with the ethics of violence, at least compared to my memories of Blazers, though those could be colored by it being a more violent show than I was used to in American cartoons. But I may have said already, I definitely remember the ship blowing up at least a couple of whole planets, which was very memorable because the animation thereof was impressively done.

So, I went ahead and checked the Star Blazers website and the Yamato fired the Wave Motion Gun a total of five times in the first series - In Episode 5, to escape the floating continent, Episode 12, to cause a solar flare in order to destroy the ecto-gas, Episode 17, to destroy the Balanodon [Balanosaurus], Episode 20, to blast a hole through planet Balan's artificial sun before the Yamato is sandwiched between the sun and planet and Episode 24, to activate a dormant volcano on the planet Gamalon, which in turn destroys Desslar's castle/headquarters.

In the second series, the Wave Motion Gun is only used three times - in Episode 10, to destroy the anti-matter missiles and General Torbuk [aka Goland] fleet, Episode 12, to escape the hollow planetoid when Royster disengages the anti-recoil mechanism in order to push the Yamato out of the planetoid and Episode 19 to destroy the advance Comet Empire fleet and base on the planet Brumus. If you count the EDF using their wave motion guns to disperse the White Comet effect around the Comet Empire in Episode 21, then the count rises to four. The Wave Motion Gun is almost used in Episode 23 but Desslar puts a halt to that by placing Desslar mines around the muzzle and the gun is subsequently damaged when the Yamato rams Desslar's flagship.

Since I never saw Series Three when it aired, I don't know what the count might be.

Edit to add.
As a ratio, the Yamato fired the Wave Motion Gun fewer times in the first series than the second if we were to take into account the length of time the two series encompasses.
In the first series the Wave Motion Gun is fired five times over the course of a year; while in the second series the Wave Motion Gun is used three times over the course of the series which lasts about 100 days.

 

[Ithekro]

For Series Three: Yamato fires its wave motion gun a total of three times. Episode 9 on a Galman Base that has launched a planet destroying torpedo at Yamato. Episode 11 to break out of the event horizon of a black hole while being caught in a Galman tractor beam. And Episode 17 defending Planet Galman from a Bolar planet killing interstellar missile. Yamato planned on using the wave motion gun in Episode 15 and Episode 23, but were unable to do so (In 15 they are captured in a mobile space station and realize that the interior is covered in reflective material that would just bounce the shot back and destroy Yamato. In 23, they are out numbered by Bolar ships and their cover keeps getting blown up, so they don't have time to charge up the wave motion gun, so they use alternative means of fleet devistation) .

Note: Post-Be Forever, Yamato Yamato is overpowered.

 

[Christopher]

Hmm, okay, so those animations of planets blowing up that I remember must've been caused by the Gamilons or something instead of the WMG.

One thing I remember pretty clearly is that the WMG in the original had a very distinctive firing sound, a sort of high oscillating whine vaguely similar to the Martian heat ray sound effect from George Pal's The War of the Worlds. (Although I just watched a clip on YouTube, and that part of the sound was briefer and different than I remembered.) I was disappointed that the remake didn't use that sound effect, even though it did reuse plenty of other authentic sound effects from the original, including the buildup to the WMG's firing. Or if they did use it, they buried it under so much deep bass that I couldn't hear it through the mix.

As for the third season, I think I only saw part of it. IIRC, the local station changed the schedule and it wasn't always on when I could see it, or maybe my school schedule changed. Also, season 3 was dubbed by a different team (Peter Fernandez's team which had done Speed Racer), and all the voices were different, which was off-putting.

 

[Ithekro]

Oh the kind of horse whinny? That was added to Star Blazers by the English dubbing group because they thought the original wave motion gun didn't sound powerful enough. I kind of miss that sound not being in the Japanese versions at all.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

I read that Star Blazers changed it so that Mamoru Kodai/Alex Wildstar stayed behind at Pluto to cover Okita/Avatar's retreat, rather than being unable to live with the shame of defeat or whatever it was in the original, and both the 2010 live-action movie and SBY2199 went with the changed version.

i meant to respond to this yesterday - I've been watching a YouTube Podcast called 'The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War' and the number of Japanese lives lost in service of the God Emperor astounds me.
Being unable to face the shame of defeat and sacrificing yourself, rather than living to fight another day and possibly gain some small measure of payback/revenge against your enemy and contribute to the war effort; there's no real precedent in Western civilization.
A perfect example would be Vice Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi, commander of Carrier Division 2 at the Battle of Midway.
After the carrier Hiryu was badly damaged and being prepared to be scuttled, Yamaguchi and Tomeo Kaku, Captain of the Hiryu, chose to go down with the ship.
In doing so, he deprived the Japanese navy of a Flag Officer and one who was considered amongst some to be either Vice-Admiral Nagumo or Admiral Yamamoto's heir to the IJN
Those Japanese who chose to live vs those who chose to go down with their ships is few and far between.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

One thing I remember pretty clearly is that the WMG in the original had a very distinctive firing sound, a sort of high oscillating whine vaguely similar to the Martian heat ray sound effect from George Pal's The War of the Worlds. (Although I just watched a clip on YouTube, and that part of the sound was briefer and different than I remembered.) I was disappointed that the remake didn't use that sound effect, even though it did reuse plenty of other authentic sound effects from the original, including the buildup to the WMG's firing. Or if they did use it, they buried it under so much deep bass that I couldn't hear it through the mix.

Oh the kind of horse whinny? That was added to Star Blazers by the English dubbing group because they thought the original wave motion gun didn't sound powerful enough. I kind of miss that sound not being in the Japanese versions at all.

1974 - Star Blazers Version

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2199 - Space Cruiser Yamato Version

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[Christopher]

Oh the kind of horse whinny? That was added to Star Blazers by the English dubbing group because they thought the original wave motion gun didn't sound powerful enough. I kind of miss that sound not being in the Japanese versions at all.

That would explain it, then. Wow, that sound's been burned into my memory (approximately) since I was eleven -- startling that it wasn't there in the original.

And yeah, "horse whinny" is a good analogy for it.

Being unable to face the shame of defeat and sacrificing yourself, rather than living to fight another day and possibly gain some small measure of payback/revenge against your enemy and contribute to the war effort; there's no real precedent in Western civilization.

Of course there is. There's the whole "with your shield or on it" mentality of ancient Sparta -- either win the battle or die in the effort. In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and the real history it's based on, when Cassius's army lost a battle with Marc Antony's forces, Cassius (unaware that his ally Brutus had been victorious in his part of the battle) ordered his servant Pindarus to help him commit suicide rather than face capture.

 

[Ithekro]

Chapter One comes to theaters in three weeks. So sometime in I think the next two weeks we should be getting a preview of the first act of episode one (9 to 15 minutes long depending on how they break the episode).

 

[Starscream2112]

Oh the kind of horse whinny? That was added to Star Blazers by the English dubbing group because they thought the original wave motion gun didn't sound powerful enough. I kind of miss that sound not being in the Japanese versions at all.

Does that mean the 3rd season does not have "Horse Whinny" sound since a different company dubbed it?

 

[Ithekro]

Does that mean the 3rd season does not have "Horse Whinny" sound since a different company dubbed it?

This is correct. 3rd season uses the Japanese sound effects only.

 

[Skipper]

There were some residual craters here and there in SBY2202 -- on the side of Mt. Fuji, for one -- but I have a hard time buying the oceans coming back to their original coastlines in just 3 years, unless the Cosmo Reverse was basically magical,

Yep!

 

[Skipper]

I read that Star Blazers changed it so that Mamoru Kodai/Alex Wildstar stayed behind at Pluto to cover Okita/Avatar's retreat, rather than being unable to live with the shame of defeat or whatever it was in the original, and both the 2010 live-action movie and SBY2199 went with the changed version.

I think the Japanese mentality on the whole "honorable death" thing has also changed. An interesting example on this topic is Godzilla Minus One.

 

[Christopher]

I think the Japanese mentality on the whole "honorable death" thing has also changed. An interesting example on this topic is Godzilla Minus One.

Yeah, it's interesting that the Yamato live-action movie and Minus One are from the same director 13 years apart, and they have completely opposite views on the nobility of dying for your mission.

 

[Ithekro]

In case you needed a recap of everything that happened in the Yamato 2199 universe, they release a 20 or so minute long recap to prepare people for Rebel 3199

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[DarrenTR1970]

Coming July 15 to the Cosmo DNA/Our Star Blazers webpage is the mecha guide for Gatlantis.