Hiroshi Miyagawa -- Main Theme of the Bolar Federation（ボラー連邦の大テーマ）

 

I've made my comments known about the history of "Uchuu Senkan Yamato"（宇宙戦艦ヤマト）, aka "Star Blazers" here in North America and how we as kids swooned and cheered over the exploits of the fine crew of the Yamato. In my area, it was first broadcast on the independent Buffalo affiliate WUTV Channel 29 in the afternoons which put a swift kick into our keesters to get home ASAP from school to catch episodes lest the captain fire the Wave Motion Gun without us.

But then for years afterwards, the first two seasons of the show: the Iscandar odyssey and then the war against the Comet Empire would recycle over and over again going deep into the 1980s as "Yamato" then got shown on our local multicultural channel here in Toronto in the mornings. During that time, I went from junior high school to university just to show how much of a staple it became.

While at University of Toronto, I discovered all of those comic book stores on Queen West, about a 10 to 15-minute walk down from the campus, and one of them was the grand Silver Snail. It was there that a whole bunch of examples of Japanese pop culture was sold and that included the so-called "Perfect Manual" series of Yamato guides. I pretty much bought them all which is where I realized that there had been a third season of "Uchuu Senkan Yamato".

So I was able to get a first look at what that third season looked like with additions of new characters to the crew including those who replaced original crew members who had ended up KIA. I had to say that some of the stills showing scenes from "Uchuu Senkan Yamato III" rather mystified me because the characters looked rather odd. That was back in the mid-1980s and miraculously after several years of rotational broadcasting of Seasons I and II, "Yamato III" finally came to our shores as third installment of "Star Blazers" almost half a decade following its original airing in Japan in 1980. 

To be honest, I don't remember that much or hold in all that high regard that third and final televised season of the original iteration of "Yamato". The animation was wonky and the dubbed voice acting wasn't quite as polished as that in the first two seasons. It's then perhaps not that surprising that "Star Blazers III" was perhaps shown just twice here instead of the near-eternal rotation that the first two seasons got. Basically, the producers may have gone one too many times to the well.

Having said that, it was great to hear the legendary theme song by Isao Sasaki（ささきいさお）again along with the familiar soundtrack by Hiroshi Miyagawa（宮川泰）. And I have to add that as much as Miyagawa provided the Yamato with one of the most famous and epic theme songs in anime history, he was also more than generous to provide the bad guys from each season with their own epic themes. Gamilas' Desslar got his imperialistic song and the Comet Empire received its musical accolades in the form of something that could have come from an old Vincent Price horror flick. And they were both given disco versions, to boot.

For "Uchuuu Senkan Yamato III", the enemies here were the Bolar Federation. Poor Captain Kodai must have wondered how his solar system ended up in such a rough neighbourhood. But in any case, the Federation also got its own magnificent theme in the form of something rather Russian and romantic. Miyagawa wove something that was only missing a Soviet soldiers' chorus group as backup. I distinctly remember perking my ears up for one episode in which the entire theme was played. 

Well, it isn't a disco version but it sure is an amped up take on the theme!