Live Action Space Battleship Yamato

[UN Spacy]

CDX reviews SBY at the 29:00 mark.

[derex3592]

I can't wait to actually see this on Blu-Ray someday with 5.1 audio and english subs...PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!

[peter]

CDX reviews SBY at the 29:00 mark.

Haha, at 35 minutes, "......they didn't *uck with it...", so true.....

Edited July 17, 2011 by peter

[Dobber]

Ok, I really need to see this movie!!! Unfortunately, I have no clue what/where I need to go and do to view a fan sub. For the life of me, I can not remember how I was able to watch macross frontier fan subs because my old computer went kuput a few years ago and I can't remember what sites and programs I used. Any help?

Chris

Edited July 17, 2011 by Dobber

[Golden Arms]

Does anyone know if the dvd's for sale on ebay are worth purchasing?

[vt102]

Does anyone know if the dvd's for sale on ebay are worth purchasing?

We shall see......

[vt102]

Does anyone know if the dvd's for sale on ebay are worth purchasing?

OK I just finished watching it. The quality is not the greatest. I was expecting more out of the picture quality, but the image quality is like almost like watching a downloaded version that was taken with a video camera. The subtitles are pretty good. I did notice a few imperfections in the translations, but nothing that bothered me.(I kinda wanted to know what they were saying, that is why I bought this one). I am tempted to buy the blu-ray to see the graphics in high detail, and they are region free. I am glad I got this version, but I should have not opted for the faster shipping. If you do buy this from ebay, take the free shipping.

[peter]

OK I just finished watching it. The quality is not the greatest. I was expecting more out of the picture quality, but the image quality is like almost like watching a downloaded version that was taken with a video camera. The subtitles are pretty good. I did notice a few imperfections in the translations, but nothing that bothered me.(I kinda wanted to know what they were saying, that is why I bought this one). I am tempted to buy the blu-ray to see the graphics in high detail, and they are region free. I am glad I got this version, but I should have not opted for the faster shipping. If you do buy this from ebay, take the free shipping.

I take it the e-bay versions are pirate versions? If that's the case, why not just d/l it? The one I got wasn't a cam/telesync. Anyway, I'll probably pick up a blue-ray version of this movie.

BTW, has anyone here bought any toys/models related to the movie yet?

Edited July 22, 2011 by peter

[vt102]

I take it the e-bay versions are pirate versions? If that's the case, why not just d/l it? The one I got wasn't a cam/telesync. Anyway, I'll probably pick up a blue-ray version of this movie.

BTW, has anyone here bought any toys/models related to the movie yet?

I guess they are? I dont download any form of media. I let my friends do that, then I just borrow. LOL

[peter]

I guess they are? I dont download any form of media. I let my friends do that, then I just borrow. LOL

Uh, sure, haha, that's what I meant....I don't d/l anything either.

But in all seriousness, I think this movie would be worth getting in B/R. The movie wasn't perfect, but I liked it. They could easily have made more movies, sort of like Star Trek.....but maybe they didn't have enought confidence in the franchise so they finished this movie the way they did.

I'm still hoping for more movies.

[Dynaman]

I'm still hoping for more movies.

Space Battleship Andromeda comes to mind...

[peter]

Space Battleship Andromeda comes to mind...

I think Andromeda's got a cameo in this vid:

Would be nice to see some fleet battles.....maybe Yamato gets rebuilt, or was warped to safety....I dunno, CRAP! NEED MORE YAMATO!!! Or I could just wait for the next generation Pachinko game to come out with some awesome cut scenes

[Keith]

The Yamato is freakin' Bebe's kids, that thing will never die. With that said, a sequal also featuring the Andromeda "would" be sweet, if they hadn't edged out Matsumoto, who I'm sure actually does have a firm hold of that design. Anything else would be ugly and wrong, so I'm against it.

[Dynaman]

The Star Blazers website has reported that an official English Sub of the movie will be released, In Australia, in December. There will never be a Dub of this movie either, the actor playing Kodai has a clause in his contract stating that no one else is allowed to dub his voice.

Info is available on the Star Blazers website.

So with the subtitled version already there it would not take a whole heck of a lot of work to release for the US region. Hope it happens sometime soon.

[Keith]

Hell, hopefully the AIU release is region free, It'd be my first AU import.

[pondo]

I bought a dvd at comicon. Not bad quality. Looked good on my 40" but far from blueray definition.

Fun flick. Kinda like the "independence day" of japan. A LOT of it echoed Galactica

[Keith]

Has anyone checked this out yet?

http://www.yesasia.com/global/1024745471-0-0-0-en/info.html

It's a bit pricey, but it's an official HK release, and has English subs. If they're the same subs that were showing in some theatres/airline flights I think we should be cool.

[Keith]

Well, since no one seemed interested in this news, I went and ordered myself a copy to find out what's what. I probably won't watch it until tomorrow, but I checked the disc out. The subs are good, and it's definately RA compatable.

[myk]

I'm definitely interested-post up what you think of this release...

[LA2019]

Does anyone know if the dvd's for sale on ebay are worth purchasing?

I bought one off of Ebay. It is a Malaysian version DVD from Speedy Video studio.

Picture quality is OK but very watchable. I've seen a lot better but I've also seen much worse. I paid $15USD shipped so I'm OK with it. The DVD is anamorphic widescreen but I had to turn on the "full" mode on my Sony 52". Apparently the disc does not have to code to trip the "full" mode on the TV; no big deal. I tried "upsampling" to 1080P on my Classe cd player but it didn't really make a difference.

Audio is good. It has both DolbyDigital and a DTS 5.1 soundtrack.

I thought the English subtitles provided were excellent. Whomever translated the Japanese soundtrack has a good command of the English language.

Overall, I'm happy with the disc. I'd recommend it...until something better comes along!

[Keith]

The Hong Kong bluray release is awesome, & 100% legit. The video is great, the sound is awesome, if not a bit on the extra loud side, and the menu's are in English & Chnese, so they're easy to navigate. The subtitles are perfect, aside from a couple instances of lagging a second or two too long, but most won't even notice that.

As for the film itself, I really liked it. Yeah it feels a lot like SW, ST (movies), Armageddon, & BSG, bu tthere's damn good reason for that. All of the above borrowed a lot from Yamato to begin with, this film almost seems like it's "taking it back." My main gripe is still that Nishizaki obviously had a little too much imput, but I walked in expecting that.

And by too much imput, I mean way too much of the cast being killed off. Sanada? Really? I'm genuinely suprrised Aihara & Sado made it through. Killing off Kodai was completely pointless, Okita died not but one or two scenes earlier, it would have made more sense to give Okita his Final Yamato death by staggering out of his room, kicking Kodai off the bridge, and firing off the final shot. And I actually think that's were things were leaning at some point in production. Giving Yuki Starsha's power and then having her want to stay on the ship with Kodai is a bit too hysterical. Having Yuki knock Kodai out becauase "he" wouldn't leave Okita & the ship flows a lot better. But whatever, that's a moot point now. It just proves Matsumoto right yet again for doing what he did in Yamato 2, as opposed to what Nishizaki pushed through in Arrividerci. There's actually a really interesting interview from last year with Leiji Matsumoto touching on the subject over at starblazers.com

Back to the movie though, I can definately see people mistaking the Cosmo Tigers/Zero fight scenes for SW & BSG irp-offs. Just like I can see people seeing Analyzers as an R2-D2 rip-off, espite pre-dating him by several years. Though even I'll admit, Analyzers combat/death scene was very BSG, as likely was the decision to make Yuki a combat pilot. I can understand why they went the super alien route with Gamilus/Iscandar, but even if it would have come off a bit cheesier, I think they should have kept them humanoid-ey. Making them into totally alien looking CGI just killed the Ominusness of Dessler, and ruled out the possibility of a badass showdown with the Domel fleet. But I can see why considering the circustances they were working with, they they combined Yamato & Yamato 2. It works as a standalone film to go out that way, and I felll for the tear jerker armageddon ending even if I did spot Kodai Junior coming miles away when Kodai & Yuki got together.

As for a sequel, I can totally see them doing one, be it years later when Kodai Junoir & Shima's son are grown up. How the Yamato will fit in is a bit harder, unless they decide to have the ship rebuilt from debris that have crashed back to Earth. That could work though, and we could still have the awesome confrontashion/chase betwen the Yamato & Andromeda, especially if Matsumoto is brought on board for the sequel. Unfortunately, since Sanada is dead, Nambu would probably have to take his place in sabotaging the Andromeda. As for who they'd fight, it'd be a bit redundant to bring in the comet empire. If they don't come up with someone entirely original, I would actually hope for something like the Black Star empire, or perhaps do a mash up of them and the Galman from Yamato 3 (a humanoid off-shoot Gamilus species maybe coming for revenge or somethin'

As an alternate version, I didn't mind stripping out Matsumoto-isms llike Starsha (well, severely reducing her anyway), an dhaving the cosmo cleaner not actually exist, but I did still miss them. In the context of being a shorter film, I can see why they made those changes..

But like I said, good movie, and definately better than all 3 Transformers.

Edited September 7, 2011 by Keith

[Dobber]

Thanks Keith! How was the shipping from yesasia? I think I'll be picking this one up.

Chris

[Keith]

Thanks Keith! How was the shipping from yesasia? I think I'll be picking this one up.

Chris

I actually wound up going with play-asia, and airmail was slow as all hell. Took 6 days from when it said it shipped to actually ship, and then another 4 days to actually travel. Aside from that, it was cool.

[peter]

The Hong Kong bluray release is awesome, & 100% legit. The video is great, the sound is awesome, if not a bit on the extra loud side, and the menu's are in English & Chnese, so they're easy to navigate. The subtitles are perfect, aside from a couple instances of lagging a second or two too long, but most won't even notice that.

As for the film itself, I really liked it. Yeah it feels a lot like SW, ST (movies), Armageddon, & BSG, bu tthere's damn good reason for that. All of the above borrowed a lot from Yamato to begin with, this film almost seems like it's "taking it back." My main gripe is still that Nishizaki obviously had a little too much imput, but I walked in expecting that.

And by too much imput, I mean way too much of the cast being killed off. Sanada? Really? I'm genuinely suprrised Aihara & Sado made it through. Killing off Kodai was completely pointless, Okita died not but one or two scenes earlier, it would have made more sense to give Okita his Final Yamato death by staggering out of his room, kicking Kodai off the bridge, and firing off the final shot. And I actually think that's were things were leaning at some point in production. Giving Yuki Starsha's power and then having her want to stay on the ship with Kodai is a bit too hysterical. Having Yuki knock Kodai out becauase "he" wouldn't leave Okita & the ship flows a lot better. But whatever, that's a moot point now. It just proves Matsumoto right yet again for doing what he did in Yamato 2, as opposed to what Nishizaki pushed through in Arrividerci. There's actually a really interesting interview from last year with Leiji Matsumoto touching on the subject over at starblazers.com

Back to the movie though, I can definately see people mistaking the Cosmo Tigers/Zero fight scenes for SW & BSG irp-offs. Just like I can see people seeing Analyzers as an R2-D2 rip-off, espite pre-dating him by several years. Though even I'll admit, Analyzers combat/death scene was very BSG, as likely was the decision to make Yuki a combat pilot. I can understand why they went the super alien route with Gamilus/Iscandar, but even if it would have come off a bit cheesier, I think they should have kept them humanoid-ey. Making them into totally alien looking CGI just killed the Ominusness of Dessler, and ruled out the possibility of a badass showdown with the Domel fleet. But I can see why considering the circustances they were working with, they they combined Yamato & Yamato 2. It works as a standalone film to go out that way, and I felll for the tear jerker armageddon ending even if I did spot Kodai Junior coming miles away when Kodai & Yuki got together.

As for a sequel, I can totally see them doing one, be it years later when Kodai Junoir & Shima's son are grown up. How the Yamato will fit in is a bit harder, unless they decide to have the ship rebuilt from debris that have crashed back to Earth. That could work though, and we could still have the awesome confrontashion/chase betwen the Yamato & Andromeda, especially if Matsumoto is brought on board for the sequel. Unfortunately, since Sanada is dead, Nambu would probably have to take his place in sabotaging the Andromeda. As for who they'd fight, it'd be a bit redundant to bring in the comet empire. If they don't come up with someone entirely original, I would actually hope for something like the Black Star empire, or perhaps do a mash up of them and the Galman from Yamato 3 (a humanoid off-shoot Gamilus species maybe coming for revenge or somethin'

As an alternate version, I didn't mind stripping out Matsumoto-isms llike Starsha (well, severely reducing her anyway), an dhaving the cosmo cleaner not actually exist, but I did still miss them. In the context of being a shorter film, I can see why they made those changes..

But like I said, good movie, and definately better than all 3 Transformers.

Thanks for the review, I definitely an original BR now....any cool extras to note about?

[eugimon]

...

But like I said, good movie, and definately better than all 3 Transformers.

LOL.

This movie has all the same problems as the Transformers movies. Unless you're just giving it bonus points for being in Japanese.

Edited September 8, 2011 by eugimon

[peter]

LOL.

This movie has all the same problems as the Transformers movies. Unless you're just giving it bonus points for being in Japanese.

There's one major difference...Yamato wasn't put in a blender and re-designed.....only the baddies.

[eugimon]

There's one major difference...Yamato wasn't put in a blender and re-designed.....only the baddies.

If that's the only thing that we're grading on, then yeah. Yamato is better than the TF movies because the ship looks more or less the same as it did in the cartoon.

Unfortunately the majority of the movie is filled with campy, melodramatic overacting, horrible camera work and a plot that makes even less sense than Revenge of the Fallen.

But yeah, the ship looks nice, until it starts to move and then they animate it as if it were an x-wing in star wars.

This movie was a complete POS from beginning to end.

[peter]

If that's the only thing that we're grading on, then yeah. Yamato is better than the TF movies because the ship looks more or less the same as it did in the cartoon.

Unfortunately the majority of the movie is filled with campy, melodramatic overacting, horrible camera work and a plot that makes even less sense than Revenge of the Fallen.

But yeah, the ship looks nice, until it starts to move and then they animate it as if it were an x-wing in star wars.

This movie was a complete POS from beginning to end.

It definitely could have been better, but it's better than nothing, and in ten years, when they're ready to do a remake (not a reboot - Yamato does not need to be redesigned) hopefully that will be better. And, as long as you acknowledge that Bayformers sucked the sweat of a dead man's ballsac, I'm happy =).

Personally, I liked the scenes from the Pachinko games almost as much as the movie.

Edited September 8, 2011 by peter

[eugimon]

It definitely could have been better, but it's better than nothing, and in yen years, when they're ready to do a remake (not a reboot - Yamato does not need to be redesigned) hopefully that will be better. And, as long as you acknowledge that Bayformers sucked the sweat of a dead man's ballsac, I'm happy =).

Personally, I liked the scenes from the Pachinko games almost as much as the movie.

LOL. Enjoy what you want. I'm only here to reject the claims that this movie was somehow better than the TF movies. At best it's right there with Revenge of the Fallen but in no way is it better. It's cut from the same cloth.

And to compare this to BSG? HAHAHA.. no. In no way does this measure up to BSG. Not even the CGI, and that was a weekly TV show.

[peter]

LOL. Enjoy what you want. I'm only here to reject the claims that this movie was somehow better than the TF movies. At best it's right there with Revenge of the Fallen but in no way is it better. It's cut from the same cloth.

And to compare this to BSG? HAHAHA.. no. In no way does this measure up to BSG. Not even the CGI, and that was a weekly TV show.

Well, I think most of the claims that this movie was better than Bayformers is because they didn't butcher the design of Yamato. Most here will agree with you that the acting was overdone and the plot needed work. Yamato didn't look like a porcupine made from J.A. Henckels, that's the main reason it was better.

[eugimon]

Well, I think most of the claims that this movie was better than Bayformers is because they didn't butcher the design of Yamato. Most here will agree with you that the acting was overdone and the plot needed work. Yamato didn't look like a porcupine made from J.A. Henckels, that's the main reason it was better.

Whatever floats your boat. You can tear down the bay-formers movies all you want, it doesn't make this a better movie in comparison.

It does one thing "right" and even that completely falls apart when the ship is animated. The opening sequence when it launches out of it's rock coffin is particularly hilariously awful.

I'd put this movie right there with films like the new Conan movie or Battle:LA and the Transformers movies. They're bad movies, but there's enough there to enjoy yourself, as long as you're willing to just enjoy it for what it is: cheesy B movie fun with an overblown budget.

Any attempt to talk it up above that watermark is pure fanboyism though.

[peter]

Whatever floats your boat. You can tear down the bay-formers movies all you want, it doesn't make this a better movie in comparison.

It does one thing "right" and even that completely falls apart when the ship is animated. The opening sequence when it launches out of it's rock coffin is particularly hilariously awful.

I'd put this movie right there with films like the new Conan movie or Battle:LA and the Transformers movies. They're bad movies, but there's enough there to enjoy yourself, as long as you're willing to just enjoy it for what it is: cheesy B movie fun with an overblown budget.

Any attempt to talk it up above that watermark is pure fanboyism though.

Haha, well, I didn't say it was a good movie, but I guess some people think so. I just like looking images (still or cgi/live action) of the ship. The launch could definitely have been done better. I really didn't like the way they zoomed into the bridge.

For a childhood Starblazers/Yamato fan like myself, it's always nice to see renditions of the ship. I hated the 2009 animated movie overall in terms of story and musical score, but I still go back to watch scenes with the ship. This movie, I wasn't big on the story, or the way it played out in the end, but I'll still go back and just watch scenes with the ship. From a personal perspective, I liked it more than Crapformers, Battle:LA and trailers of the new Conan movie. Your right though, my personal opinion doesn't make it a better movie. I liked the movie because there was an attempt to portray an image of what Space Battleship Yamato would look like in real life (based on the design from the animation). Transformers didn't manage to bring the G1 characters on to the big screen as I hoped, that's why to me, they sucked all together (plot, story, designs....everything). Guess I was reading too many Dreamweave comics and getting my hopes up. So anyways, to me, that's why I liked Yamato more. A better movie? Well, from a financial standpoint, I hate to say it, but I think bayformers did way better at the box office right?

Conan though....wondering if I should even bother watching a cam version. Agent One apparently went and wasted two hours of his life on in, in a theatre...that blew me away.

[eugimon]

Haha, well, I didn't say it was a good movie, but I guess some people think so. I just like looking images (still or cgi/live action) of the ship. The launch could definitely have been done better. I really didn't like the way they zoomed into the bridge.

For a childhood Starblazers/Yamato fan like myself, it's always nice to see renditions of the ship. I hated the 2009 animated movie overall in terms of story and musical score, but I still go back to watch scenes with the ship. This movie, I wasn't big on the story, or the way it played out in the end, but I'll still go back and just watch scenes with the ship. From a personal perspective, I liked it more than Crapformers, Battle:LA and trailers of the new Conan movie. Your right though, my personal opinion doesn't make it a better movie. I liked the movie because there was an attempt to portray an image of what Space Battleship Yamato would look like in real life (based on the design from the animation). Transformers didn't manage to bring the G1 characters on to the big screen as I hoped, that's why to me, they sucked all together (plot, story, designs....everything). Guess I was reading too many Dreamweave comics and getting my hopes up. So anyways, to me, that's why I liked Yamato more. A better movie? Well, from a financial standpoint, I hate to say it, but I think bayformers did way better at the box office right?

Conan though....wondering if I should even bother watching a cam version. Agent One apparently went and wasted two hours of his life on in, in a theatre...that blew me away.

I definitely accept that people like things based on emotional and sentimental appeal. So if it works for you, I'm not trying to say it shouldn't. I like plenty of movies that are "bad" but are still fun to me. I just don't pretend that they're also good movies. And yeah, I get that you're not saying it's a "good" movie but that you liked it.

Yeah, TF3 made a lot of money. Not as much as HP7 but it still made ungodly sums.

I don't know that Yamato got a wide spread international release at all, in any market outside of Japan. Honestly though, I'm not sure how well it would be received... I have a friend in the Japanese film industry and he was telling me the producers wanted silly money for the international release rights that what was holding things up.

[JELEINEN]

Unfortunately the majority of the movie is filled with campy, melodramatic overacting, horrible camera work and a plot that makes even less sense than Revenge of the Fallen.

Yeah, but that pretty much describes almost every movie from Japan.

[Keith]

Wow, that's a lot of irrational hate you got goin' on there, but hell, I'll play along.

Yamato pretty succesfully set's out what it wanted to do, combine the first series & Arrividerci into one cohesive movie, and that it excells at. Meanwhile all 3 TF movies have yet to throw down any plot more complex than "bad robots want something, we gotta stop them, fight, etc. Yamato delivered on recognizble characters, Transformers delivered on bi-polar Optimus Prime. Don't get me wrong, I actually like all of the franchises we're discussiong here despite various problems witha ll of them, but Yamato definately comes out on top o fthis heap. As for BSG, I don't see how you can hammer Yamato for melodrama when BSG was full of episodes of nothing but soap opera-ey melodrama. But that wasn't where my comparison stemmed from in the first place, it was from concept originality. As for the CG, that was pretty much even keel between the two. No matter what you like, fact is Yamato did it first, and BSG payed proper homage complete with doing their version of the countdown at the end of each episode, though theirs was a survivor tally at the beginning. If you weren't big on Yamato, that's fine, I'm not saying the movie was problem free. Just don't act like it was some piece of Asylum trash.

Edited September 8, 2011 by Keith