Space Battleship Yamato 2202

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Lynn Minmay, Mar 28, 2016.

  1. Hartzilla2007

    Hartzilla2007 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I’ve seen some people say Starsha‘s last scene in 2199 implies she was pregnant.
     
  2. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    Did anyone do a space going version of Bismarck?
     
  3. Skipper

    Skipper Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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  4. Skipper

    Skipper Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    A litte off topic question. I was reading about the old (and aborted) american planned remake of Star Blazers and the ship they chose was the Arizona.
    http://legacy.aintitcool.com/node/8734
    So, the question for my American fellows: for you the Arizona has a significance similar to the Yamato for the Japanese people, it story-wise was the only ship suitable? (A sunken American WWII battleship).
     
  5. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    Well... If you ask an American WWII vet who remembers the attack on Pearl Harbor (there are still a few around out there), who enlisted because of it, the two are not even remotely similar aside from being two massive battleships. They will tell you that Arizona was destroyed, in dock, unable to defend herself and her sister ships, by cowards who couldn't face her in proper battle. The Japanese will tell you that the Yamato (named for the ancient name of Japan, embodying the very living spirit of that country and, by proxy, her emperor) died a glorious and heroic death in battle against western invaders (forgetting they were the ones who actually fired the first shot).

    I am a self-admitted Yamatophile - have been since '77. I've studied both Yamato and Arizona, as well as many aspects of WWII, both Pacific and European theaters, and no, the Arizona should never have been used as a potential replacement for Yamato, even if it was an Americanized production of Japanese anime. It's just wrong on so many levels - really horrible tone-deaf decision-making. Add to it the present-day disdain for "whitewashing" things from other cultures, it would not have aged well even if it was made.
     
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  6. Skipper

    Skipper Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Thank you for your detailed answer :). I have to say, while I'm not absolutely an expert on the subject, it seemed to me (from what I read) that it was more a "target practice" than a "heroic death"...
     
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  7. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    [Kenobi] What I said was true... from a certain point of view. [/Kenobi] ;)

    But yes, "target practice" is actually an excellent phrase for it. I think I mentioned way earlier up-thread that, before he died, Ed Hawkins (a major state-side Yamato luminary during the 90's & early 00's) was actively lobbying the DOD, Pentagon and Department of the Navy to declassify wing camera footage of the Navy bombers that sunk Yamato, as they would have been long past any standard 25- or 50- year classification restrictions and fully accessible through standard FOI channels. There have been long-standing rumors that US pilots were doing low strafing runs - potentially bordering on excessive - on Yamato deck personnel during the final attack on April 7, 1945. No doubt, rationalized as legitimate justice served for the atrocity that was Pearl Harbor. Ed was never successful.

    I suspect that the revelation of such footage would invariably open up old wounds and possibly cause international war crimes proceedings, as well as cut a brand new international diplomatic schism between the US and Japan, which neither side needs right now, with China on the rise as a major threat for all Pacific nations. As sad as the whole affair was, at this point, I think I'd be in favor of leaving sleeping dogs lie on this one.
     
  8. Skipper

    Skipper Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Interesting, thank you! Did you watch the Yamato movie? If yes, would you recommend it? :)

     
  9. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    I did indeed! It’s been a very long time, but it was an excellent movie that quite effectively showed what life was on those ships back then. Despite the fact that Yamato was one of, if not the largest maritime vessels of its age, living conditions of the sailors was quite hard. They, of course, had a bit of lionization going on there, with many scenes of heroic self-sacrifice, which is fine. It’s their movie and they’re entitled to some artistic license. The deck-side scenes were amazing, using massive 1:1 scale sets, and the wide-shot CG scenes of the old girl were positively stunning.

    I also saw the Japanese live action SBY, which was also quite good, while giving a slightly different take on the Iscanadar/Gamilas dynamic. Yuki Mori was a straight-up Starbuck clone, and the whole movie definitely felt influenced by NuBSG, which was still very much of a thing back then. IIRC, it was more of an introductory vehicle for their main star who played Kodai, but I don’t feel it detracted from the story. I highly recommend it - it’s a worthy addition to the greater Yamato story.
     
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  10. DarrenTR1970

    DarrenTR1970 Commodore Commodore

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    I can't really expand on what 137th Gebirg has said - I will say that my initial reaction when I read the news that they were attempting an American version of 'Space Battleship Yamato' and that the Arizona was the potential ship involved was, "Really?!"
    The use of the Arizona just felt wrong, add to that the dread that the producers, director, screenwriters, would miss the point of what 'Space Battleship Yamato'/'Star Blazers' was about and try and turn it into a sci-fi action movie.
    As much as I would like to see an adaptation on the big screen, it needs the episodic format to flesh out the characters and give them and chance to breathe. You would almost need a duology or trilogy just on the first series alone.
     
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  11. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    A miniseries might work, but if they were to preserve the titular ship for a western audience, they would be fighting an uphill battle with most people having no clue what the Yamato even was. A large chunk of time would need to be worked in just to show a short history lesson of WWII’s Pacific theatre. Sadly, the same might likely be said these days about any references to the Arizona as well. :(
     
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  12. Ithekro

    Ithekro Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Having an Arizona in the fleet as a main ship wouldn't be too much of a problem. But it would not be the resurrected ship sunk in 1941, but a new ship that happens to have that name (one of those already existing in Space Battleship Yamato, and was suppose to be one of the important hero ships in the third series, but that series got cut in half so we only see it three times in passing).

    I hope to see it again in the Yamato 2199 timeline, because its a good looking ship.
     
  13. Noname Given

    Noname Given Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    If you were to pick an American World War II battleship class that was as near as the US could get to something like the Yamato; The ship for an American version should either have been the Iowa; or a fictional battleship (as this class ship was designed but never built) of the Montana class.

    The above said, I'm an agreement with everyone else that when I heard there were plans for an Americanized version of Space Battleship Yamato, but that the ship was going to be the Arizona; I too felt that the people behind the project really didn't get what the point of the Space Battleship Yamato series was about.
     
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  14. Skipper

    Skipper Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well, I have to say that the 2010's movie did an excellent word to tell a coherent story in a couple of hours :)
     
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  15. Skipper

    Skipper Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Obviously such an americanized adaptation today would be unthinkable (just think of the controversy that happened with the American remake of Ghost in The Shell). But in half defense of this script it must be said that it was written in 1997 and if absurdly they had made the film I do not think there would have been the accusations of whitewashing that would have occurred nowadays.

    By the way, if someone wants to make their own opinion of the screenplay, they can read it here (I must say that it was not easy to find...)
     
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2021
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  16. Skipper

    Skipper Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I mean, look at the american version of Dragonball, Dragonball Evolution. The movie was made in the 2009 (so, relatively recent), but I don't remember any outcry about "whitewashing" (just people saying it was a bad movie).
     
  17. DarrenTR1970

    DarrenTR1970 Commodore Commodore

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    I was re-reading Tim Eldred's commentary on the Cosmos DNA website for 'The New Voyage' and 'Be Forever Yamato' in order to refamiliarize (sp) myself with the upcoming Yamato 2205 and the Dark Nebula since the last time I watched either one was on VHS back in either the late 90s/early 00s, and something I hope the expand upon (if they even do it), is the invasion of Earth in 'Be Forever Yamato'.

    We (the audience) is not shown the entirety of the invasion.

    We're only shown the ambush and destruction of the automated EDF fleet, the invasion of Megalopolis City and the destruction of the airfield.

    The only resistance we see is being led by Commander Singleton from the old underground city/EDF headquarters.

    What about the rest of Earth and its defense forces?

    A shot or two of other cities under attack would help drive home that the invasion was worldwide; otherwise you're left thinking only the Great Island (Japan) had been invaded and the rest of the world sat by and did nothing.
     
  18. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    ^^^ Yamato has always been relatively Japan-centric. One of its initial creators, Leiji Matsumoto, was quite a Japan nationalist. In fact, when we see the Gamilas, we see Space Nazis. However, in the original SBY, we see Japan getting nuked. Matsumoto saw the Gamilas as the Americans - the destroyers of his world. Born in 1938, he was alive and remembered the attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima and what happened to the surviving civilian population in the aftermath. He made the original quite politically charged, and was said to have strongly disliked the subservient role Japan took under American occupation in the post-war years.

    Getting back to your original question, Yamato always generally focused on Japan, but in the reboot, there definitely has been a larger role in the greater Earth Defense Forces and the involvement of other nations. I’m confident we’ll see more of that in 2205.
     
  19. Ithekro

    Ithekro Vice Admiral Admiral

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    With a few years to rebuild after the end of the war with Gatlantis, and at least a year post-Time Fault, the Earth fleet should have build up a few new ship types to go with their heavily automated fleet of Dreadnoughts and Andromeda BBB types. While I don't know if they will have the newer type ships seem in the Bolar Wars or Final Yamato, (nor the more specialized automated ships seen in 'Be Forever, Yamato'), it be nice to see more of the Earth fleet in action with or without Yamato present...and not getting horridly crush in a single engagement. Yamato 2202 did a lot of things some people object to, but they did allow the Earth fleet and the Andromeda to shine from time to time, and be useful to the story.
     
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  20. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    So I loved the Star Blazers 2199 remake, epic stuff. 2202? I just finished the first half and am kinda "eh?" Does it get better? I own the second half (own all four of the Blu-ray sets) and am getting ready to watch it, but... it just feels disjointed.