23rd Century Earth: Constant Doom or Miracle Survival?

by

During the late 70s and early 80s, a fantastic spectacle emerged that was highly appealing to enthusiasts of hard science fiction: the series “Star Blazers” made its way onto American television screens.

Back then, I was completely clueless about anime; the only thing I recognized was the cartoon “Speed Racer“, which I adored as a child. What particularly fascinated me was how Japanese animations emphasized technology. For instance, Speed’s car, the Mach 5, had an array of fascinating features on its steering wheel column, such as buttons that triggered special tire grips, jacks for jumping, and buzz saws that popped out from the front grill (although I often wondered how Speed could drive at 100 mph with those saws slicing through trees. I mean, how quickly can those saws cut down trees, and what about the stumps? The saws are supposed to be a foot above the ground!).

A wealth of information is available about the series known as “Star Blazers,” originally titled “Space Battleship Yamato” or “Space Cruiser Yamato” in English. The story revolves around Earth‘s defense forces, who are vastly outmatched by the invading fleets from Gamilon, a planet seeking Earth as their new home. Since 2199, Gamilon has been bombarding Earth with planet bombs that spread radioactivity and are making the planet increasingly uninhabitable.

Fortunately for us, aid arrives from Starsha of the planet Iscandar. Starsha possesses a device capable of neutralizing radioactivity, and she shares blueprints for an engine that exceeds the speed of light with Earth. This extraordinary technology will enable someone to traverse the 148,000-light year journey to Iscandar to retrieve the device.

As a space-faring enthusiast, I’m thrilled to share that our Earth’s Space Taskforce is breathing new life into the World War II-era Japanese battleship, the Yamato, now partially revealed as Earth’s oceans have been transformed. This legendary vessel is being reimagined as a spacecraft, equipped with cutting-edge technology, including the groundbreaking FTL – Wave Motion engine. The Yamato and her crew have a mission of utmost importance: to travel across the cosmos and retrieve the vital device from Iscandar within a single Earth year. If we fail, all life on our planet faces an imminent end. This is our last hope, and the Yamato carries it.

One intriguing aspect of the narrative revolves around the exceptional Wave Motion engine, which elevates the Yamato beyond merely competing with Gamilon forces. This technology fuels the immensely potent Wave Motion Gun, a weapon that instills fear in the hearts of the Gamilons. So intense is their dread that they even attempt a tactical maneuver by firing a “drill missile” into the gun’s barrel, hoping to damage it; however, their efforts prove futile.

The title “Space Battleship Yamato” was changed to “Star Blazers” for political and cultural reasons. This change occurred because the anime was created just 30 years after World War II, in which the United States engaged Japan. The original Yamato was the most powerful battleship ever made, but it was eventually sunk by American aircraft during the war’s conclusion. In “Star Blazers,” the ship was renamed the “Argo,” and any original content related to its history was removed.

It’s troubling that the Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato universe seems to have Earth encountering numerous catastrophic dangers within just a short span of about 20 years. Is it possible for such events to happen so frequently?

Right after the Gamilons were defeated and Earth was restored in the initial series, Prince Zordar and his Comet Empire emerged as a new threat from the Andromeda Galaxy. Their intentions were either to conquer Earth or to annihilate it. When I say “immediately,” I mean it exactly – it was the year 2201, a full 365 days after the Yamato/Argo had returned to Earth with Starsha’s device.

In the movie titled “Be Forever Yamato,” the story unfolds only a year after Zordar’s defeat, and we encounter the Black Nebula Empire (BNE). The BNE has detonated a devastating “hyperon” bomb aimed at Earth, which would unfortunately lead to the extinction of humankind if they don’t yield.

In the sequel titled “Final Yamato”, a year later, an alien race known as Denguilu threatens Earth by hurling the water-rich planet Aquarius towards our home. Their intention is to flood the planet and subsequently make it their own habitat. Notably, Captain Okida (also referred to as Avatar in the English version) is discovered to have been preserved in cryogenic sleep. In this narrative, he reawakens to confront the Denguilu, ultimately sacrificing the Yamato/Argo spaceship in a valiant attempt to save Earth.

Two short years following the Aquarius incident, a vagrant missile from the conflict between two interstellar empires – the Galman Empire (previously known as the Gamilons) and the Bolar Federation – accidentally struck our sun, intensifying its nuclear reactions significantly. Similar to the situation with the Gamilons, Earth faces annihilation within one year if this escalated fusion process isn’t halted promptly.

For approximately 15 years, Earth and its people can breathe a sigh of relief before facing another impending destruction – in “Space Battleship Yamato: Resurrection”, a black hole is heading towards our solar system and will ultimately destroy it. To make matters worse, as Earth dispatches numerous ships filled with emigrants to new planets, they are ambushed by hostile spaceships from no less than four distinct alien races!

Is it plausible that we could face six to seven extinction threats within the next twenty years? This seems improbable, especially considering that during the first 250 years of spacefaring humanity, no such danger was encountered.

You have two options to watch “Star Blazers : Space Battleship Yamato 2199”. You can stream some episodes for free in lower resolution on YouTube, or you can purchase the full series in high definition through Prime Video, Crunchyroll, or Apple TV+.

Read More

2025-02-27 21:45