Today marks the 41st anniversary of Star Blazers beginning to air in the United States. I cannot overstate the effect that this show has had on my life. This is one of those shows that I discovered very early on, probably before I even started school, and I remember it distinctly. It was on very early on Saturday mornings, before any of the "regular" cartoons, and it was so different! I'm not just talking about the animation style, but like Flash Gordon from Filmation, it was a CONTINUED story. That blew my young mind.
It had some real threat level to it as well. As much as the American version is cleaned up (no bee people being turned into Royal Jelly, for example) it still had a lot of death and destruction. The whole story of Wildstar's family being killed with their whole city was something you just didn't see in kid's programming. This resulted in my liking continued stories from an early age, and is probably why I'm such a continuity nut today.
The show also started me down the long and winding road of Anime fandom, to the point where my daughter is now obsessed with a multitude of cartoons from Japan. Much like comic books, anime is a medium and not a genre. There's all kinds of stuff there, from the Space Opera that started it all (for me) to general slice-of-life shows that are solidly based in reality. Without Star Blazers, and Battle of the Planets, I doubt I would have ever found something that has given me so much joy, and has made me so many friends.
So Happy Anniversary to the crew of the Argo!
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