Space Battleship Yamato Live action?
#26
Moderator
Re: Space Battleship Yamato Live action?
Copied from my posting in the Movies board.
I finally got around to watching it. Some interesting changes and some strangeness, too. They modernized it. After all, the original series was basically Japan fighting WWII all over again and winning. Foreign invader dropping radiation weapons on Japan, Yamato riding out to defeat them, etc. So there are a few nice twists, especially when they get to Iskandar.
* Susumu (Wildstar) is a bitter ex-military man for reasons explained. His brother sacrifices his life and ship so Captain Okita (Avatar) can escape. But Susumo spends the whole movie furious at Okita, thinking he let his brother die and Okita never tells him the truth.
* Okita is taken out relatively early due to an unnamed illness, which means it's cancer. The Japanese are real funny about that disease.
* Dr. Sado (Sane) was turned into a woman but is still a drunk. She spends a lot of time clutching a fat orange cat in one hand and a giant bottle of sake in the other, which wrecks the character IMO.
* Yuki (Nova) has been transformed into BSG's Starbuck, basically.
* The engineer, Orion, was downright genius casting.
* The strong friendship between Susumo and Shima (Wildstar & Venture) in the anime is non-existent here.
* It has a fair amount of BSG grit and camera style. The crew is remarkably undisciplined for a military ship.
* The biggest change is Gamilas/Gamelons. Their ships are organic-looking, kinda Borg-like. That's only the beginning of it.
* Remember the BSG episode where the ship belly flopped right onto a planet? You aint seen nothing.
* There's actually very few fights. Much of it is melodrama among the crew, including a real clumsy romance between Yuki and Susumu.
* There's no IQ9 to sexually harass Yuki but Susumu has this computer he wears on his belt about the size of a large smartphone, that routinely talks to him in a computer voice. And IQ9 isn't totally forgotten. That's all I'll say.
* The ending is handled terribly.
I finally got around to watching it. Some interesting changes and some strangeness, too. They modernized it. After all, the original series was basically Japan fighting WWII all over again and winning. Foreign invader dropping radiation weapons on Japan, Yamato riding out to defeat them, etc. So there are a few nice twists, especially when they get to Iskandar.
* Susumu (Wildstar) is a bitter ex-military man for reasons explained. His brother sacrifices his life and ship so Captain Okita (Avatar) can escape. But Susumo spends the whole movie furious at Okita, thinking he let his brother die and Okita never tells him the truth.
* Okita is taken out relatively early due to an unnamed illness, which means it's cancer. The Japanese are real funny about that disease.
* Dr. Sado (Sane) was turned into a woman but is still a drunk. She spends a lot of time clutching a fat orange cat in one hand and a giant bottle of sake in the other, which wrecks the character IMO.
* Yuki (Nova) has been transformed into BSG's Starbuck, basically.
* The engineer, Orion, was downright genius casting.
* The strong friendship between Susumo and Shima (Wildstar & Venture) in the anime is non-existent here.
* It has a fair amount of BSG grit and camera style. The crew is remarkably undisciplined for a military ship.
* The biggest change is Gamilas/Gamelons. Their ships are organic-looking, kinda Borg-like. That's only the beginning of it.
Spoiler:
* Remember the BSG episode where the ship belly flopped right onto a planet? You aint seen nothing.
* There's actually very few fights. Much of it is melodrama among the crew, including a real clumsy romance between Yuki and Susumu.
* There's no IQ9 to sexually harass Yuki but Susumu has this computer he wears on his belt about the size of a large smartphone, that routinely talks to him in a computer voice. And IQ9 isn't totally forgotten. That's all I'll say.
* The ending is handled terribly.
maybe I fell asleep on it, but what? ... there's no Queen Starsha ??
some of the acting is just over the top and hysterical - whenever something triumph happens - everyone reacts as if someone just made a goal at a soccer game.
in terms of the ending:
Spoiler:
the movie tone was way too morose. The show's title theme should have been more prominent instead of being buried way into the soundmix. unfortunately, the mix is just all over the place - even when two characters are a foot away from each other - they sound like they are in a tunnel - I had to check my Yamaha receiver that it wasn't decoding in one of the weird acoustic soundfields. This live action version should have been as entertaining as J.J. Abrams 'Star Trek' - however... it aint (by a long shot)