Space Battleship Yamato

Early Drafts of Space Battelship Yamato

According to StarBlazers.com, "Space Battleship Yamato" went through several drafts before finally entering production. Here are the key details describing each of pre-production visions of "Space Battleship Yamato".

Pre-Production Draft 1

  • Title: Space Battleship Cosmo
  • Done with: Keisuke Fujikawa
  • Dated: April 1973
  • Time of setting: 2973
  • The protagonal ship (the Cosmo) can split into four ships: a mothership (commanded by the the entire battleship's captain) and three small warships to perform combat and exploration missions with the mothership itself being devoted to navigation, communication, equipment development, and strategy planning
  • After an alien race pollutes Earth's surface with radiation, the humans relocate underground, and while they debate about whether to stay on Earth or migrate to another planet, the crew of the story's protagonal ship choose to leave Earth to find a new home for the human race, realizing that the radiation will reach the Earth's core within a few years and wipe out all who remain there.

Pre-Production Darft 2

  • Title: "Asteroid Ship Icarus"
  • Done with: Aritsune Toyota (who used this draft to exapand his "Asteroid 6" concept)
  • Time of setting: beginning of 21st Century
  • The protagonal spaceship (the Icarus) is a flying asteroid that's hollowed out
  • The crew of the ship consists of members from various nations
  • The crew members of the story's lead ship get into conflicts with each other while fighting for personal gain and self-interest
  • Unlike in Fujiwara's draft, this one involves trying to save Earth from radiation by heading to Iscandar for a cure, an idea kept intact for later drafts
  • The Gamilus Empire in this draft is called "Rajendora"

Pre-Production Draft 3

  • Title: Space Battleship Yamato
  • Done with: Eiichi Yamamoto
  • Dated: Summer of 1973
  • Time of setting: Beginning of 21st Century
  • Episode number plan: 52
  • The protagonal ship (The Yamato) is a spaceship built inside an asteroid, which it uses as its protective shield
  • The Yamato in this draft isn't the Yamato that fought in WWII
  • The ship is commanded by a captain (leading space navigators) and an admiral (leading space soldiers)
  • The space soldiers of the Yamato are groups into five lettered groups (from A to E) while the space navigators of the same ship are split into five named groups (defense, life, equipment, communications, and operations)
  • Like in Toyota's darft, the Gamilus Empire is called "Rajendora"

    Pre-Production Draft 4

  • Title: Space Battleship Yamato
  • Done with: Leiji Matsumoto
  • Dated: May, 1974
  • Episode Count: 51 (split into six story arcs), but Matsumoto later restructured the story count to 39 (split into 8 story arcs)
  • Time of Setting: 2199
  • The Yamato in this draft is a reconstruct of the WWII ship witht ehs ame name
  • Enemy Planet: Zesuras > Zendora > Zesu Desu

    Guide: 03/25/11 | Posted By: stararnold | 3 comments | Star Blazers: The Quest for Iscandar | Tags: leiji matsumoto, retro, sci-fi, seinen, space adventure roman, space battleship yamato, space cruiser yamato, space opera, star blazers, yoshinobu nishizaki