I saw this trailer last year, and had wished I could have gone to Japan to see said film on opening day;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBu1cZm4Gqg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBu1cZm4Gqg
Space Battleship Yamato ... the movie ... live action
- Thread starter Blue Ghost
- Start date
With luck, it might make its way to North America. When I saw the trailer they were promising April 2011 with voiceovers for the NA market but checking IMDB the other day...there was no mention of a NA release...so maybe it will be another straight to DVD.
There are so many good Japanese films and it is such a pity that at least here in Toronto, they only get arthouse (read: no publicity but word of mouth) releases.
The reasoning behind resurrecting the Yamato - which is in reality in several pieces, too - lies in the reason behind the name of the ship and the mythology attached to the ship in original Yamato film. It doesn't have to make sense to you it only has to makes sense within the framework of the story behind the ship and the overall arc of the film.
I am quite aware of the mythology and history of the name Yamato. But it still has to make sense to me for me to watch a move, or tv show, or read books about it.
And, really, the battle history of that ship was far from glorious. It fired at its' own airplanes in the Philippine Sea, and only managed to damaged a portion of Taffy3. It did not ever sink an Allied warship. The most important event Yamato was in was its own sinking.
I would be embarrassed to resurrect that old failure of a ship.
Another trailer 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EtAlB0D-WA&feature=related
The official website;
http://yamato-movie.net/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EtAlB0D-WA&feature=related
The official website;
http://yamato-movie.net/index.html
Yes, in reality it was a failure. But the way the ship is portrayed in the Space Battleship Yamato explains what I'm talking about. The POV is from the Japanese side, not the American one, and the the loss of the ship is portrayed differently in the anime. A US dive bomber pilot even salutes the battleship as it goes down with the captain tying himself to the bridge.
But the point I was trying to make was that it doesn't have to make sense to you - it only has to make sense to the ones who made and appreciate another layer within the movie. It has nothing to do with the real ship's battle record other than the mythology of the name and the spirit of its "last stand". And the Japanese see the event as a last stand in the same way the French feel about Dien Bien Phu or Americans about Little Big Horn. Debacles all, but the stuff of heroic myth when viewed within the context of the culture it belonged to.
Its like reading Moby Dick in a way: at one level it is a mythic story with philosophy, spirituality, and deep truths revealed about the human condition....on another level its just a cracking good tale of going a-whaling.
I thought opening day was on the 10th of December... but in either case oh well... got really excited when I saw the trailer a few months back.
As for an english dub? I don't know that I would like it, but I'm sure a sub would be out before to much time... pirate copy or otherwise.
As for an english dub? I don't know that I would like it, but I'm sure a sub would be out before to much time... pirate copy or otherwise.
iron warrior
SOC-12
I can't help wondering if some people have a problem with the idea of the earth and humanity being saved by a ship that wasn't AMERICAN or BRITISH.
(BTW, if any mod gives me noise over using the holy red text, I will mock you back to the stone age.)
I remember starblazers from many years back and wouldn't pass on the live action movie. It looks better than a lot of japanese live movies I've seen and the CGI was at least up to battlestar galacitca standards.
Oh, does anyone else remember the live action TV series version of starblazers they did years ago as "Babylon 5: Crusade"?
(BTW, if any mod gives me noise over using the holy red text, I will mock you back to the stone age.)
I remember starblazers from many years back and wouldn't pass on the live action movie. It looks better than a lot of japanese live movies I've seen and the CGI was at least up to battlestar galacitca standards.
Oh, does anyone else remember the live action TV series version of starblazers they did years ago as "Babylon 5: Crusade"?
One might say that the whole point of the series was a rather positive one: the Yamato was a symbol for the disgrace of the lost war, resurrecting it within the story was a metaphor for the second chance it's nation got after the war. (just like the Yamato got the chance to actually do something useful for a change)
I don't think people have a problem with the nationality of the ship/cast, etc., I just think some people don't understand why the Yamato was used. And the anime has been so chopped up and re-edited that it can be a pain just to track down the whole story so you can understand what the heck is going on.
And..they get it confused with Robotech sometimes, especially because of Starblazers. I ask people if they've seen Yamato or Starblazers and most of the time I get "Wasn't that the show with the giant robots?"
And..they get it confused with Robotech sometimes, especially because of Starblazers. I ask people if they've seen Yamato or Starblazers and most of the time I get "Wasn't that the show with the giant robots?"
Yes! Finally someone gets it!
The name was chosen foe the real ship because it was the original and ancient name of Japan and as such had powerful significance to the Japanese people - all their ship classes had a different kind of significance than it would for Westerners. When she sailed off to be beached and used as a gun platform to stave off the Allied forces it was a moving moment to the Japanese.
It represented a noble sacrifice, not just some single kamikaze. Her loss was devastating especially because the ship wasn't able to even come near to completing her mission. Now this is portrayed in the original Space Cruiser Yamato (and in various iterations), but most people can't figure out the whole "second chance" and "last hope of the entire Earth" angle.
And its still a cracking good adventure.
Yeah, but it wasn't very good IMHO. I still prefer the original Starblazers and want badly to see a live action Robotech.
Well the subtext of the original show was a revisit of the second world war; i.e. devastation of Earth much like Tokyo had suffered from the fire bombing, or Nagasaki or Hiroshima with the atomic bombs. The adversaries are "decadent" blondes or non-Asiatics (as was the propaganda circulated about the US to the Japanese before the war), Earth is under siege, and the people of Earth are searching for a final hope in the form of "Yamato", the indomitable and legendary swordsman, just as Japan had sought with Yamato and Musashi.
I got the whole Japanese nationalist/jingoism thing when I was a kid because I had lots of books on battleships and understood the history, but I didn't pay it too much mind. I think largely because I'm not Japanese, and also because I thought it was just a cool show.
I mean, if you're a Japanese kid, and you're taking in a coded message about Japanese nationalism via a sci-fi cartoon, then maybe you need to get out more.
In any event, I've read some reviews of the film already, and it falls into the "this is kind of what we expected" category. Still, I'd love to fly to Japan right now to take in a show.
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I'll give them that, though I don't think ... no, make that I would be surprised if, any Americans saluted the Yamato as it sank.
My problem with the concept is this: why would they try to make a wet-navy ship into a starship? How would they seal it up vs. vacuum, and haven't they realized that the guns can't cover all the firing arcs - i.e. below?
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by_the_sword
SOC-9
I wonder if Space Battleship Bismarck would have gone over any better?
I never thought any pilot did, but it is portrayed as happening in the movie. Besides, that, the ship's magazine blew up, broke her int several pieces and she sank like a rock. So there wasn't any noble captain tying himself to the wheel, either. But that's how the ship's myth is established in the film.
'cuz it follows the Rule of Cool.
You could ask the same thing of giant morphing robot/starfighters in Robotech.
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