"We're off to outer space.
We're leaving mother Earth.
To save the human race.
Our Star Blazers!
Searching for a distant star.
Heading off to Iscandar.
Leaving all we love behind.
Who knows what dangers we will find?
We must be strong and brave.
Our home we've got to save.
If we don't in just one year,
mother Earth will disappear.
Fighting with the Gamilons.
We won't stop until we've won.
Then we'll return, and when we arrive,
the Earth will survive.
With our Star Blazers!"
U.S. children's television's answer to Star Wars, Star Blazers is the American adaptation of a popular series of Japanese science fiction/fantasy films, titled Space Cruiser Yamato. Dubbed into English, of course, and packaged in episodic instalments, the Space Cruiser Yamato saga became known to Generation X in North America as Star Blazers, shown usually at times after school by American television stations in 1979-80. WVII-TV, in Bangor, Maine, aired Star Blazers at 5:30 P.M. Atlantic Time on weekdays during that time period, and all cable television companies in Canada's eastern Maritimes received it. Though its dialogue is juvenile in places, the concepts in Star Blazers are interesting. The television programme is not strictly accurate scientifically, but what work of the science fiction/fantasy genre is? Three series of twenty-six episodes each were made, but only the first two of them were widely distributed for broadcast. WVII-TV showed only the first two series.
Star Blazers is essentially the epic story of the maturing of hero Derek Wildstar, who suffers the loss of his parents, overcomes his resentment of the Captain for whom his only brother is for a time believed to have died to protect, and rises from space battleship gunner and spaceship fighter leader to be Captain's deputy and eventually succeed the deceased Captain as commander of the Earth-defending Star Force, which, after sparing Earth from irradiated extinction by the planet-bombing aggressors of Gamilon, combats a galaxy-marauding empire with a fortress-headquarters situated in the nucleus of a seeming comet, then seeks a new beginning for the population of Earth when the Sun becomes unstable.
Precision animation and backgrounds, strikingly deep visuals with variable use of colour, a curious blending of seafaring imagery with space, fanciful yet realistic landings on known planets of the Solar System, soul-stirring music, and, above all, likable characters on a continuing mission to preserve, to secure, humanity's future account for the enduring North American appeal of this Japanese opus.
Below is an episode guide to the first two series of Star Blazers.
Series I- The Quest For IscandarIn the late 2100s, the planet Gamilon, a world far beyond Earth's Solar System, declares war on all of Earth. The nations of Earth unite to fight against the Gamilons, but one by one, Earth's space battleship fleets are defeated. When the nations of Earth refuse to surrender, Gamilon begins bombarding Earth with Planet Bombs, radioactive missiles that look like meteors, which gradually spread deadly radiation all over Earth, killing plant and animal life and forcing what remains of humanity to retreat to underground cities. Earth is contaminated beyond any human repair, and Planet Bombing continues to spread radiation deeper and deeper into the planetary crust. By the year 2199, human life on Earth is entirely underground, plagued by radiation sickness, and gradually losing hope.
"The Battle at Pluto" The last of the Earth forces, led by Captain Avatar, battle with alien Gamilons near planet Pluto, but the only surviving Earth space vessel is forced to withdraw from the combat and return to Earth. Alex Wildstar's space battleship, the Paladin, is lost and presumed destroyed. While on duty at a Mars surface-station, Derek Wildstar, Alex's younger brother, and Mark Venture discover a spaceship of extra-galactic origin that has crash-landed on the Red Planet. Thrown from it is a beautiful, dead woman grasping a message capsule. The message is later analysed and determined to be an offer from Queen Starsha of planet Iscandar, to spare Earth from radiation poisoning by Gamilon, and the dead woman is revealed to be Astra, the sister of Starsha. Having returned to Earth with Mark and descended to one of the underground cities, Derek learns of his brother's fate from Captain Avatar, now back on Earth after the Battle of Pluto. Mournful Wildstar and Venture meet an eccentric doctor, Sane, a funny robot, IQ-9, and a beautiful nurse, Nova, who resembles the dead sister of Starsha. Within little more than a year, life on Earth will be extinct, even underground. The message sent from Iscandar by Queen Starsha offering Cosmo DNA to Earth to remove the radiation contamination, is the only hope for the survival of Earth. Wildstar and Venture embark upon an unauthorised mission to investigate a report of a Gamilon reconnaissance aeroplane flying over the Great Eastern Sea. A faulty engine forces them to crash-land, and they discover the rusting hull of an ancient battleship, the Yamato, jutting halfway from out of the ground. "Carrier Attacks the Sleeping Yamato" On the next day, Wildstar and Venture, together with Dr. Sane and IQ-9, are summoned to what they believe is another of Earth's underground defence bases. They arrive there to see the keel of the ancient Yamato stuck in the roof of the base excavated beneath it, and they ascend in an elevator to find Captain Avatar standing on the bridge of a space cruiser. They are inside of the Yamato, which is being modified with design plans from Queen Starsha to change it into an intergalactic space battleship. Also on said bridge is Nova, who has the additional talent of reading radar. Before Wildstar and Venture can tour the wonders of the newly restored ship, they learn that the Gamilons have mistaken the site for an underground city. As a Gamilon fighter aeroplane carrier approaches and bombs the area, Avatar orders Wildstar and Venture to man the defence systems of the unprepared Yamato. Fortunately, they are able to channel power to the gun turrets. Its rusting outer skin falling away, the new Yamato partially wrests itself from its 250-year-old seabed. Two gunshots from the Yamato's main laser cannons destroy the Gamilon fighter aeroplane carrier. Gamilon Leader Desslok chastises his Generals for having underestimated the power of the Earth spaceship. "Ultra-Menace Missile" Wildstar and Venture, along with the lovely technician Nova, the eccentric Dr. Sane, and the quirky IQ-9, are recruited by Captain Avatar as members of the Star Force, a group that will fight Gamilons and obtain from planet Iscandar the Cosmo DNA which will remove the radiation from Earth. The Yamato is renamed the Argo. While the Argo is still being fitted for space, it is attacked by a Gamilon Ultra Menace Missile. The Star Force starts the Wave Motion Engine installed according to the design plans sent by Queen Starsha, the Argo launches before the missile reaches target, and Wildstar lasers the missile before it can strike. Now free from Earth and ready to travel, the Argo begins its heroic journey. "Test Warp to Mars" Chief Mechanic Sandor readies the Argo for a space warp, a teleporting through hyperspace from one point in normal space to another, by way of the Wave Motion Engine. After a skirmish with Gamilons in space, Fighter Leader Conroy finds himself adrift, and Wildstar successfully guides Conroy's fighter spaceship into the Argo's hangar. The Argo attains a space warp that moves it through hyperspace to planet Mars, but it sustains damage to its hull in the process. The Star Force lands the Argo in a snowfall on Mars to effect the necessary repairs. "Jupiter's Floating Continent" The Argo is pulled by Jupiter's immense gravitational field into the dense and poisonous atmosphere of the Jovian planet. The Star Force lands the Argo on a floating continent in Jupiter's atmosphere on which the Gamilons have a base. Wildstar engages in combat with a Gamilon scout fighter aeroplane, but the Gamilon escapes Wildstar, to inform the base of the Argo's position. Captain Avatar decides to destroy the Gamilon base on the floating continent by utilising the Star Force's ultimate weapon, the Wave Motion Gun. But the gun is more powerful than Avatar or anyone in the Star Force anticipated, and the entire floating continent is annihilated. Enough power is generated in the Argo's engines to free the space vessel from Jupiter's gravisphere, and the Star Force continues the journey to Iscandar. "Paladin" The Argo's supply of essential titanite is exhausted, the result of which is a reduction in artificial gravity aboard the spacecraft. Conveniently, titanite can be found on Titan, a satellite of Saturn, near to the Argo's present position. Wildstar, Nova, and IQ-9 go to Titan's icy surface to prospect for titanite, but the Gamilons send Space Tanks to stop the trio from obtaining the needed element. Despite resistance by Wildstar and IQ-9, the three Star Blazers are captured as prisoners by a Gamilon. Wildstar sees a laser gun frozen in the ice, retrieves it, and fires it at the ice above the trio's captor, who is covered by the resulting ice slide. Looking closely at the gun, Wildstar discovers that it belonged to his brother, Alex. He recognises Alex's space battleship, the Paladin, buried in the ice on Titan and ponders the fate of his brother. "The Reflex Gun: Pt. 1" Space warping past the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, the Argo arrives in the space near Pluto, which is the location of the Gamilon base that has been bombarding Earth with Planet Bombs. Colonel Gantz at the Gamilon base plans to destroy the Star Force with the use of Gamilon's ultimate weapon, the Reflex Gun. The Reflex Gun has orbital reflector plates so that its energy beam can be sent anywhere that the Argo tries to shelter itself. With one strike by the Reflex Gun, the Star Force is forced to anchor the Argo to Pluto's moon in order for the Argo crew to effect repairs to the space battleship. But another hit by the gun sends the Argo careening toward Pluto, where it plunges into an equatorial sea of watery methane. The Gamilon weapon's energy hits the Argo again, causing it to sink to the sea bottom. "The Reflex Gun: Pt. 2" At the sea bottom on Pluto, the Star Force hopes for refuge from the Reflex Gun long enough to repair the Argo, while Wildstar and a small attack group is granted permission by Avatar to find and destroy the Reflex Gun and Gamilon base. Wildstar and company encounter some Pluto Protozoans that look like blobs of jelly with eyes. Then, Wildstar and the others hurry through a series of tunnels to the Reflex Gun generators, where they prime explosives to neutralise the gun. Gantz and his Gamilon soldiers are forced to abandon their Pluto base as the Argo rises into space, still under repair with its crew determined to continue the voyage to Iscandar. Gantz is told by his leader, Desslok, to again fight the Star Force. "The Asteroid Ring" Led by Gantz, who is determined to redeem himself for Desslok, the Gamilon space battleship fleet in the outer Solar System attacks the Argo. The Star Force flies into an asteroid field and initiate polarity reactors to attract surrounding asteroids to the hull of the Argo, creating a camouflage to allow time for repairs. The Gamilons eventually find the Argo, but the Star Force uses the asteroids to create a ring of rocks that protect the Argo from the enemy fire. As the Gamilon fleet advances upon the Argo, the Star Force reverses the polarity of the asteroids, which bombard and destroy the Gamilon spaceships and send Gantz's space battleship on a collision course with the Argo. Wildstar manipulates the Argo's rocket- anchor to divert Gantz's space vessel into an asteroid, where it explodes. "We Will Return!" The Argo leaves the Solar System, and each member of the Star Force is permitted to access the Argo's Communications Room to talk to his or her family on Earth one last time before the Argo space warps out of communication range. The only people without relatives to contact are Wildstar and Avatar, who quietly drink Earth water together in the Captain's quarters. "Desslok Mines" The Argo encounters a cluster of Gamilon Space Mines which move to surround the Earth vessel. Venture is unable to navigate the Argo through the mines. So, Avatar dispatches Chief Mechanic Sandor and a hiccoughing IQ-9 to defuse the mine that controls all of the others. The Star Force fighter pilots then move the other mines out of the Argo's path by their "bare hands". "What kind of men are these?" asks Desslok as he watches the spectacle on his video monitor. Desslok transmits a congratulations to the Star Force. "The Sea of Fire" Desslok captures the Argo in a space net and launches missiles at the Earth space vessel. In the desperate heat of the moment, Venture and Chief Engineer Orion quarrel, with insults exchanged. Avatar orders the pair to make amends and then lambastes Wildstar for launching counterattack missiles without authorisation to destroy the incoming Gamilon missiles. When Wildstar argues with Avatar, Avatar slaps Wildstar and collapses. Dr. Sane examines Avatar and diagnoses radiation poisoning. In private, Sane urges Avatar to be hospitalised, but Avatar is determined to retain his commanding place on the Argo bridge. The Argo is still caught in the space net, and Desslok next releases an ecto gas, which feeds on energy and consumes matter. The gas forces the Star Force to fly through the only hole in the net, directly into a red star, where the cloud is destroyed. Escaping the searing heat of the red star, the Star Force has 308 days left to complete the mission to preserve the life-giving qualities of planet Earth. "The Gamilon Pilot" Desslok appoints General Lysis to command the Gamilon space battleship fleet. Meanwhile, Wildstar and Conroy disable a Gamilon scout fighter spaceship and capture its pilot. Dr. Sane removes the Gamilon's uniform, and persons watching have their first glimpse of their mortal enemy. Wildstar has flashbacks to when his parents were killed by Gamilon Planet Bombs. The Gamilon is released from Star Force custody because the Star Force learns that the Gamilons' minds are erased before launching on their missions, so that they will not reveal any information if captured. There are now 305 days left. "Octopus Star Storm" A stormy region of space in the midst of an "Octopus Star Field" traps the Argo for three weeks. Wildstar attempts an unauthorised take-off in his fighter spaceship to find a channel through the storm, but is pushed back toward the Argo. Avatar punishes Wildstar by ordering him to clean the floor of the Argo hangar deck. Morale on the Argo is very low, and tempers reach a boiling point between Wildstar and Venture, who begin fist-fighting. Nova sees them and scolds them for their childishness. The storm subsides, and a channel is found through the "Octopus Stars". Venture and Wildstar team to move the Argo through the channel. "Galactic Whirlpool" While the Argo is trapped in a galactic whirlpool, Lysis, after arriving at battle front to command the Gamilon fleet and demoting the former Commander, Volgar, seizes the opportunity to attack the Star Force. Starsha contacts the Star Force and provides the needed coordinates for the Argo to escape the whirlpool and the attacking Gamilons. "Stop at Beeland" IQ-9 and Nova crash-land on the planet Beeland while searching for edible plants, and IQ asks an incredulous Nova to marry him. The two become hostage of dissident bee people, who think that IQ and Nova are Gamilons. The dissidents want to incite a revolt against their Queen, who is under Gamilon control and forced to produce Royal Bee Jelly, one of Desslok's favourite foods. IQ talks about how he has feelings while he and Nova are in a prison cell. At the point of time of the bee people's revolt, a Star Force rescue party lands on the bee planet to return IQ and Nova to the Argo. There are now 267 days left. "Balanosaurus" Volgar acts without Lysis' approval and creates a monster out of a newly forming, organic planet to battle the Star Force. Meanwhile, Avatar must undergo an operation, and the monster attacks at the time of a critical phase in Avatar's surgery. The Star Force blasts the monster to dust with the Wave Motion Gun. Wildstar's admiration of Avatar grows. There are now 263 days left. "Magnetron Wave" Sandor discovers a Gamilon space fortress that emits a magnetron wave which vibrates spaceships to pieces. Sandor and Wildstar fly a fighter spaceship that can survive the wave, to the fortress. The two enter the fortress and find that it is guarded by robots in weird-looking caves. Sandor tells Wildstar of how he was good friends with Alex, Wildstar's brother, in the Space Fighter Academy, and of when he, as a child, was in a rocket-car wreck. Sandor and Wildstar reach the brain of the computer, but it traps Sandor by his arms and legs. Because of his accident as a child, Sandor's limbs are removable and explosive, and, on Sandor's instructions, Wildstar removes the limbs and carries Sandor to safety. The exploding limbs neutralise the fortress, and Wildstar and Sandor rejoin the Argo, where Sandor replaces his mechanical limbs. There are now 260 days left. "Communication Satellite" Homer becomes homesick and secretly communicates with his family on Earth. Unbeknown to him, the communication is being aided by the Gamilons, who have positioned a communication relay satellite in space in a scheme to decrease the Star Force's morale. Homer hears his sick father tell him to return to Earth and tries to persuade Venture to reverse the Argo for home. When Venture refuses, a desperate Homer jumps off of the Argo in a spacesuit and hallucinates about finding Earth. Actually, he has inadvertently found the satellite, and, after being rescued by Wildstar, he helps Wildstar to destroy the satellite. "The Artificial Sun" The Star Force finds a Gamilon base on the planet Balan. Lysis plans to crush the Argo between an artificial sun and Balan. Volgar informs Desslok of Lysis' plan, and Desslok orders Lysis not to sacrifice the base. Then, the Argo obliterates the sun with the Wave Motion Gun, and the base is destroyed anyway when debris from the sun descends onto Balan. Avatar appoints Wildstar as Deputy Captain. There are now 253 days left. "Challenge of the Rainbow Galaxy" Lysis is sentenced to death for his "loose cannon" tactics which resulted in the destruction of the Gamilon base on Balan, but Desslok pardons him. Lysis issues a challenge to the Argo to battle the whole Gamilon space battleship fleet at the Rainbow Galaxy. The Star Force accepts the challenge, and both the Star Force and the Gamilons prepare for battle. There are now 215 days left. "The Battle of the Rainbow Galaxy" The battle begins, and the Argo is heavily damaged. At one time-point in battle, a drill missile is fired into the Wave Motion Gun. The missile is set into reverse by Sandor and IQ-9 toward the Gamilon space battleship fleet. Except for Lysis' space battleship, all the Gamilon space vessels are destroyed. However, Lysis is able to place a bomb on the underside of the Argo and causes major damage to the Argo's hull. But Lysis is too close to the explosion, and his space battleship receives the full force of the blast. Unable to pursue the Star Force, which still continues on, Lysis must finally concede defeat. "Dragged to Gamilon" The Star Force is contacted by Starsha and reaches what is expected to be Iscandar. However, there are two planets at the coordinates, and missiles are fired at the Argo. The second planet is Gamilon, though Starsha neglected to mention this to the Star Force because she was worried that the Star Force might have refused to make the difficult journey if it knew that Gamilon was the twin planet of Iscandar. The Argo is dragged by a magnetic ray into the Gamilon Sea composed of sulphuric acid. "The Battle of Gamilon" Having been forced into the sulphuric acid sea on Gamilon, the Argo's attempts to ascend into flight are thwarted by the dropping of explosive charges by Gamilon fighter aeroplanes. The Argo submerges into the lethal sea, and Wildstar fires the Wave Motion Gun at some underwater volcanoes. A chain-reaction is started, and Gamilon is practically consumed with fire. The Star Force escapes for Iscandar, Desslok becomes unbalanced and laughs hysterically at the devastation of his planet, and a bedridden Avatar congratulates his crew, who are about to fly the short distance to Iscandar. There are now 161 days left. "Iscandar" The Argo lands on Iscandar and is greeted by Starsha. She mistakes Nova for her younger sister, Astra, and Wildstar tells her of her sister's death. Starsha is the only citizen of Iscandar left alive after a mysterious virus ravaged the planet's population. While the crew of the Argo is loading the Cosmo DNA into the space battleship, Starsha brings Derek and Nova to an Earthling who is living on Iscandar. The Earthling is Derek's older brother, Alex, who was captured by the Gamilons when his space battleship, the Paladin, crashed on Titan. As the brothers have a tearful reunion, Starsha tells to Nova that while the Gamilons were going to back to their home planet, a space storm forced them to crash-land in the sea of Iscandar. Alex drifted ashore, and Starsha nursed him back to health. Nova has the intuition to see that Starsha is in love with Alex. Derek tries to convince Starsha to go to Earth with them. She declines but informs him that some of the crew have deserted the Argo and are attempting to settle on Diamond Island, which is doomed to sink into Iscandar's sea. The dissident leader, Sparks, has kidnapped Nova. Just before a tidal wave destroys the island, Conroy is able to rescue Nova, but Sparks and the others die. Before the Argo launches, Starsha proclaims her love to Alex, and he decides to stay on Iscandar with her. There are now 131 days left. "The Journey Home" The Argo has been doing continual space warps and has finally returned to the Milky Way. Little does the Star Force know that Desslok has been hunting the Argo. He accidentally space warps his spaceship into the hull of the Argo and exploits the opportunity to board the Star Force's space vessel and release a radioactive sleeping gas. Wildstar and Desslok meet, while Nova manages to activate the Cosmo DNA, causing the gas to disappear. The Gamilons are forced to retreat to their spaceship. Wildstar finds that Nova is in a coma because of exposure to the radioactive gas which caused her to fall from the Cosmo DNA platform. He carries her to the Argo's bridge, and just as the Argo reaches Earth, she awakens. Avatar sees Earth one, last time, cries a tear while looking at a picture of his family, and dies peacefully. With his laser cannon, Desslok attempts to obliterate the Argo, but Sandor activates a newly installed reflector device that repels Desslok's laser fire, returning it to its sender and destroying the Gamilon space vessel. The Star Force's mission ends with the Argo crew looking out the Argo's direct-vision ports at the brown, desolate Earth soon to be restored to health by the Cosmo DNA.
Series II- The Comet Empire
The Star Force has returned to Earth with the Cosmo DNA from Iscandar in sufficient time to negate the radioactive pollution spread by Gamilon's Planet Bombs, and in 2201, one year after the return of the Star Force to Earth, man's natal planet is being re-cultivated, new, surface-level cities have been built, and a statue of the late Captain Avatar has been unveiled. However, peace for Earth is brief, because Desslok of Gamilon still lives, intent on avenging himself upon Earth and the Star Force, of which most personnel are resuming normal lives in Earth's new metropolises. And another menace looms. Interplanetary marauders based inside the nucleus of a seeming comet have targeted Earth for invasion and plunder. This Comet Empire is ruled by the wicked Prince Zordar, who resides in palatial splendour within a towering city constructed out of the rock of the nucleus of the ersatz comet, and who has formed an offensive alliance with Desslok.
"Ambush at Jupiter" En route for Earth from patrol duty in the Solar System, the Argo, under the command of Captain Derek Wildstar, receives an encoded message concurrent with a huge electromagnetic power surge. The Argo crew do not yet know if the power surge was used to send the message, or if it was meant to jam it. Stricken by the power surge, the Argo sustains damage to its radar, is attacked by an unidentified squadron of space fighter-planes, and nearly collides with the new Earth Defence Flagship, Andromeda. The two space vessels narrowly pass each other, and the Argo lands on Earth. "Blackout" Returning from a mission to Jupiter, Sandor joins Wildstar on Earth, and the two visit the hangar where Earth's new space battleship fleet is being fitted with the latest in computer technologies, requiring only a skeleton human crew. The Argo is also upgraded, with shock cannons that have a 150-percent increased range and a time-radar capable of detecting past events in space. Sandor informs Wildstar that the Earth Defence Committee wants the Argo adapted with the computer system being installed in the other space battleships. An enraged Wildstar hastens to the E.D.C. Commander's office to protest: "The Argo's heart and blood is the Star Force. It's people, not machinery!" Suddenly, an inexplicable power loss occurs, affecting most of Earth. It is an attempt by the Comet Empire to weaken Earth defences. During the power outage, Wildstar sees a tendrilled alien spy aeroplane flying over one darkened city, and Sandor notices in the distant sky a huge comet moving Earthward. He and Wildstar analyse the radio message received by the Argo during the power surge but can only determine that it must be in some unknown language. "Underground City" Wildstar and Nova visit the remains of one of the underground cities used when Earth had been irradiated by Gamilon Planet Bombs, and Wildstar fears that a new menace could make the underworld shelters necessary again. Sandor analyses the encoded message received by the Argo and determines it to be a jammed distress call from outside the Solar System, originating from the same area as the approaching comet. Because the E.D.C. refuses to consider the possibility of a new extraterrestrial threat, Wildstar suggests to his Star Blazer compatriots, including Venture, IQ-9, Conroy, and Dr. Sane, in a meeting near Captain Avatar's statue that the Argo be launched on an unofficial reconnaissance to the spatial region of the advancing comet. "Battle Satellite" The reassembled Star Force launches the Argo from undersea dock contrary to the wishes of the E.D.C., whose Commander, though somewhat sympathetic to the Star Force's ongoing cause of protecting mother Earth, reluctantly authorises a firing of magnetic missiles to stop the ascending Argo. Venture manoeuvres the Argo to dodge the missiles, and the Argo's cannons destroy an IQ-9-designed battle satellite. "Crossing the Andromeda" Captain Gideon, commander of the Earth Defence Flagship Andromeda, is ordered by the E.D.C. to pursue the Star Force, which moves the Argo into the dense asteroid field between Mars and Jupiter to evade the Andromeda by concealing the Argo in the ubiquitous flotsam of rock. Gideon, like the E.D.C. Commander, is impressed by the Star Force's ingenuity and resolve. He decides that the Star Force's mission is honourable and cancels the Andromeda's pursuit of the Argo, reporting to the E.D.C. that he could not locate the renegades. "At Planet Brumas" Though no mention was made during the Star Force's mission to Iscandar of an eleventh planet in the Solar System, such a planet exists. It is called Brumas, and Space Marines are now stationed there to guard the Solar System against invasion. Brumas is attacked by the forces of the Comet Empire, the Star Force responds to Brumas' call for assistance, and the Argo's new long-range shock-cannons destroy a number of the Comet Empire's space vessels and repel the others. The surviving Space Marines, led by an obnoxious Sergeant Knox, are rescued from the battered planet by the Star Force, which surveys the damage to Brumas which confirms the existence of a new alien aggressor. Thus, the E.D.C. Commander repudiates the renegade status of the Star Force and orders Wildstar's team to probe space for information on the threat. "Sub-Space Marines" Reconnoitring beyond Brumas in the outer Solar System, the Argo now has the attention of the Comet Empire, which declares the Star Force belligerent and attacks the Argo with a fleet of stealth spacecraft. Despite friction between Wildstar and Sergeant Knox, the Argo crew successfully fights the Comet Empire's spaceships. Knox's jealousy of Wildstar's command is evident, and dissent stairs among the Space Marines against Wildstar's authority. "Time Trap" The source of the encoded distress signal is revealed to be a mysterious woman named Treleina of Telezart, a planet on the extreme edge of the Milky Way, some 40,000 light years from Earth. General Torbuck, military leader of the Comet Empire, lures the Star Force into a space cyclone that accelerates time on the Argo. Objects on the space battleship age rapidly and begin to fall to pieces, including Nova's uniform. Psionic intervention by Treleina spares the Star Force from premature decay and death. She projects a telepathic message across vast interstellar space, identifying herself to the Argo bridge crew, and manipulates the Argo's astrocompass to guide the Star Force through the only path out of the cyclone. "Mazor" The Star Force captures a Comet Empire pilot named Mazor. Dr. Sane examines Mazor, who, despite green skin and hyperactive eyebrows, has a humanoid biology. Mazor resists interrogation by Wildstar and Sane, and when Sane is left alone with Mazor, the wily Comet Empire soldier dupes the somewhat witless Sane into becoming drunk on soy bean milk and sake wine, and escapes the Argo. However, the Comet Empire's fleet refuses to allow Mazor to rejoin his comrades in that capture by the enemy is considered a disgrace. In an effort to redeem himself posthumously with Zordar, Mazor rams his space fighter- aeroplane into the Argo, and the damage is isolated and contained by Sandor's technicians. "Asteroid Ring Defence Revisited" Zordar assigns Gamilon Leader Desslok to the task of defeating the Star Force, but Zordar's daughter, Princess Invidia, does not trust Desslok and is jealous of the Gamilon Leader's influence with her father. She convinces Zordar to send Torbuck to assist and observe Desslok, and Torbuck acts on his own initiative in a vain effort to vanquish the Star Force and thereby thwart Desslok. He plans to ambush the Argo while the Earth space vessel passes through a conglomeration of meteors. Magnetic fields in the meteor cluster subvert the Argo's power system, leaving it vulnerable to Torbuck's waiting fleet; so, Treleina attempts to warn the Star Force of Torbuck's scheme. Desslok prevents Torbuck from jamming Treleina's transmission, arguing that it is expedient to allow Treleina to lure the Argo to Telezart, far from Earth base, thereby facilitating the Star Force's destruction. Sandor utilises the ring-of-rock defence system that was used on the mission to Iscandar. This time, he has provided the polarity reactors fired into the meteors with a force field that absorbs energy from the incoming fire that it deflects, and channels the energy to the Argo for the Star Force's use. The resultant energy boost enables the Star Force to fire the Argo's Wave Motion Gun at the anti-matter missiles targeted by Torbuck for the Argo. The missiles and Torbuck's fleet are obliterated, to the amusement of Desslok. Here begins a long-distance affection of Venture with the mysterious Treleina. "Starflies" One of Desslok's Gamilon officers, General Garrot, devises a plan to infest the Argo with Starflies, space-borne, firefly- like organisms which Garrot injects with a bacteria corrosive to metal. The Starflies penetrate the Argo's hull and cripple the Star Force's space vessel with a thorough electric systems failure. Gamilon forces then attack the Argo, with Desslok contacting the Star Force to reveal to Wildstar his survival of the near-Earth, post-Iscandar encounter and proclaim his vengeance. However, Sandor and Space Marine Roister manage to repair the Argo's power supply and repel the Starfly swarm, which descend upon the Gamilon spaceships, rendering them defenceless and forcing Desslok to retreat. "The Tunnel Satellite" Continuing on its voyage to Telezart, the Star Force comes upon an obviously hollow asteroid, and Wildstar and Sandor opt to "park" the Argo inside the asteroid for suitable "cover" while Sandor's technicians complete repairs to damage caused by the Starflies. But the asteroid, with intertwining electromagnetic fields, is really a Gamilon trap, as the Star Force too late realises when the Argo has already entered and become caught in the paralytic planetoid. Desslok's battle fleet moves to destroy the Argo with the infamous Desslok Cannon, but Desslok must delay firing to receive a communique from Princess Invidia ordering him back to Comet Empire base, and the Star Force has enough time to propel the Argo out of the electromagnetic trap by using the recoil force of the Wave Motion gun- and Desslok, honour-bound to obey Invidia's summons, cannot pursue the escaping Argo. Invidia intends to arrest Desslok on a false charge of voluntary retreat from battle because she suspects him of designs upon the Comet Empire throne. "The Conspirators Meet" The Argo arrives at its destination, the devastated planet Telezart, and an apparition of Treleina greets the Star Force. Wildstar leads a landing party to the Telezart surface, where the landing party is attacked by Comet Empire tanks commanded by General Scorch. Meanwhile, Princess Invidia and another Comet Empire General, Dire, conspire, in fear of future treachery by Desslok, to undermine Desslok's favour with Zordar. "Second Day at Telezart" In a fierce battle on the surface of Telezart, the Star Force landing party defeats General Scorch's squadron of tanks, and Wildstar, Sandor, Knox, and IQ-9 are telepathically guided underground by Treleina. Telezart is hollow, and Treleina communes with the Argo landing party beneath the ruined surface of her planet. Princess Invidia blames the Telezart debacle of Scorch's forces on Desslok's prior alleged voluntary retreat. "Third Day at Telezart" Venture visits the surface of Telezart, where he finally meets Treleina. Treleina describes to Venture and the other Star Force members the dangerous ambitions of the Comet Empire and tells of the disastrous consequences of her own psionic power. Previously unrestrained, it destroyed all other life on Telezart. She has vowed never again to use that power to terminate anyone's life, even in self-defence. Mark begs Treleina to help Earth to combat the menacing Comet Empire, but she insists that she cannot leave the planet out of responsibility for what she had done to it, even though she faces death because the Comet Empire is on a collision course with Telezart. Meanwhile, Desslok has been imprisoned at the Comet Empire headquarters due to Invidia's allegations. "Leaving Telezart" As the Star Force prepares to leave Telezart, Venture pledges to remain on the planet with Treleina, but she cannot permit him to sacrifice himself in this way. So, to placate Venture, she agrees to come to Earth with the Star Force, only to jump off of the ship while it is airborne and literally float back to ground on Telezart. She has left a message for Venture, explaining her deception, confessing her love for him, and consenting to use her powers to fight the Comet Empire. "A Show of Force" The Argo is nearly clear of the Telezart solar system when the Comet Empire reaches Telezart's space. Treleina contacts Prince Zordar, challenging his philosophy of subjugation. He responds that people are irresponsible and lazy by nature and want to be absolutely governed. Treleina rejects this rationale and converts her entire planet into anti-matter, triggering a tremendous explosion into which the Comet Empire plunges at full speed. The Comet Empire eventually emerges from the explosion severely damaged and unable for some time to continue its course to Earth. No trace can be found of Treleina or Telezart, Treleina is presumed dead, to the grief of Venture. "Desslok's Escape" Desslok demands an audience with Prince Zordar so that he can refute Invidia's false charge of cowardly retreat from battle, and Invidia determines that Desslok must be killed before he can talk with Zordar. Zordar orders his battleship fleet, now commanded by General Bleak, to mass for a combined assault upon the Argo and Earth. The Argo contacts the Andromeda's Captain Gideon, informing him of the size of the Comet Empire's surviving fleet, and Gideon overrides E.D.C. directives and summons all Earth defence forces to rendezvous at Titan. At Comet Empire headquarters, Invidia schemes to eliminate Desslok by freeing him from his cell, then ordering her personal guards to kill him on an escape attempt pretence. However, Desslok has anticipated this, and immediately after his release from his cell, with Invidia as a hostage, he hastens to an air-car provided by an awaiting General Talan of Gamilon. Once inside the air-car, the two Gamilons release Invidia from hostage-captivity and skillfully pilot the air-car out of the Comet Empire's heavily guarded fortress. Zordar realises that Invidia deceived him regarding Desslok and grants the Gamilon leader his Gamilon space flagship. "Memorial" Space warping into the Solar System to join the Earth fleet at Titan, the Argo materialises on top of a Comet Empire reconnaissance spaceship and sustains no damage. Sergeant Knox agitates for Wildstar to permit his Space Marines to stop at outer planet Brumas for a proper funeral for the friends whom he and his men lost on Brumas when it fell to the Comet Empire. While on Brumas, Wildstar and IQ-9 discover that Brumas has been turned into an enemy ordinance base with a substantial number of missiles. A Comet Empire advance space battle fleet attacks the Star Force, which destroys the Brumas base and the space battle fleet with the Wave Motion Gun. "The Carrier Fleet Battle" The Argo joins its fellow Earth space battleships in the Saturn area, and Sandor reconnoitres Saturn's moon, Phoebus, to locate the Comet Empire's advance attack squadron, which is ambushed and defeated by a company of Earth space battleships led by the Argo. "The Main Fleet Battle" The Earth space battle fleet engages the primary forces of the Comet Empire in the Saturn gravisphere, and a Magna Flame Gun is used by the Comet Empire's General Bleak to eradicate a large fraction of the Earth space battleship contingent. Captain Gideon orders Earth's remaining space vessels into Saturn's rings of ice for camouflage to facilitate an ambush and rout of pursuing Comet Empire spacecraft. The Star Force combines the power of the Argo's Wave Motion Gun with identical devices installed in other surviving Earth space battleships to disable the protective plasma vortex enshrouding the Comet Empire's nucleus-headquarters, but an auxiliary vortex shield remains operational, preventing Earth's forces from administering a coup de grace. With enough time to strategise, Zordar commands the Comet Empire headquarters' main turret guns to fire, and all Earth spaceships but the Argo are annihilated. "Stop-Over at Ganymede" The Argo sustained damage in battle and must retreat to the Saturn moon, Ganymede, for repairs. Meanwhile, the Comet Empire, accelerating toward Earth, asserts its supremacy over Earth by blasting Earth's moon, converting it to a sea of molten lava. "Desslok's Victory" Fully repaired, the Argo departs Ganymede in hope of defending Earth from the Comet Empire's onslaught, but Desslok reuses his space mines, which were first employed during the Star Force's Iscandar mission, to surround and immobilise the Argo. In desperation, Wildstar orders Venture to pilot the Argo through the weakest area in the conglomeration of space mines and to ram the Argo into Desslok's spaceship, so that Wildstar can lead an invasion force there-into. While boarding Desslok's space vessel, Wildstar's party is caught in the midst of an explosion that injures Wildstar and sends Venture careening into the void of space. The explosion also cripples the mechanisms of both spacecraft, and Desslok is confronted on the bridge of his own spaceship by Wildstar. The Comet Empire comes to a landing on Earth in the Great Eastern Sea. "Desslok's Turning" Wildstar succumbs to his injuries and faints during a laser-pistol duel with Desslok, and Nova rushes to aid her collapsed love, risking her own life by putting herself into range of Desslok's laser gun. In a surprise turn of events, Desslok rethinks his animosity toward Earth and the Star Force when he witnesses Nova's act of selfless devotion and the love that Derek and Nova have for one another. Perceiving that Earthlings are capable of nobility shared to some extent by Gamilon's honourable military code, Desslok concedes that his battle against Earth is senseless and futile and bids farewell to Derek and Nova, after advising them to try an assault upon the Comet Empire by firing cannons at the underside of the Comet Empire's nucleus as had been done by the Argo to Gamilon headquarters during the Star Force's voyage to Iscandar. Treleina retrieves the lifeless body of Venture from space and Nova attends to Wildstar's wounds while the Argo pulls itself free from Desslok's spaceship to prepare for underwater battle on Earth against the Comet Empire. "The Final Battle" The E.D.C. complies with Zordar's demand of complete surrender, and an Earth delegation prepares to meet with Zordar at the Comet Empire's fortress. The Argo arrives in the Great Eastern Sea to commence its surprise attack on the submerged underside of the Comet Empire's centre of power. Using shock-cannon and torpedoes, the Star Force reduces the lower part of the Comet Empire nucleus to rubble and forces the remainder of the nucleus, including Zordar's palace, to ascend space- ward. Comet Empire space fighter-planes launch into desperate combat with those of the Argo, and Wildstar is joined by Sandor, Conroy, Knox, and others in a penetration of the nucleus-headquarters of the Comet Empire through openings in the demolished bottom section, and the intrepid group encounters opposition as Comet Empire soldiers initiate laser fire, blasting away Sandor's bionic leg and forcing Knox to separate from the others, after which he reaches the energy centre of the Comet Empire. Knox calls to Wildstar and Sandor and tells them and the others to return to the Argo. Not intending to follow his Argo comrades but giving them time to leave from whence they came, Knox manually triggers small hydrogen bombs that destroy the Comet Empire energy centre. With Zordar's fortress divested of power, the Star Force easily flambes it with shock-cannon fire, but emerging from the ruins is Zordar's personal space battlecruiser with its own supply of immense destructive energy. "Argo, Make Us Proud!" The Argo is struck point-blank by the potent laser blasts of Prince Zordar's fearsome war machine, with most Star Force members dying in the devastating assault. The Argo is so severely damaged that Wildstar must order evacuation of surviving crew into space to await rescue, but despite pleas from Dr. Sane that he accompany the evacuees, Wildstar is intent on remaining aboard the Argo to kamikaze Zordar's vessel. Nova elects to join Wildstar on what seems a certain-death action, and Wildstar states his love for her. Then, the pair witness the miraculous materialisation of Treleina, who holds the prone, exposed to space yet still alive body of Venture. She has saved his life with her metaphysical power and informs Derek and Nova that she intends to fulfil the destiny of her god-like race by fostering the evolution of Earth into a profound force for universal goodness by vanquishing Zordar and the evil that he represents. Giving the unconscious Venture to Wildstar and Nova, Treleina moves ghost-like out of the Argo and generates an anti-matter explosion that obliterates Zordar's dreadnought and thence the Comet Empire. The remains of the Argo are returned to Earth for extensive repair, and all evacuating Star Force members, including Sandor and Dr. Sane, are rescued from space.While this television series is currently not in distribution for broadcast, all seventy-eight episodes are available on home videotape through Voyager Entertainment, and digital videodiscs (DVDs) also are gradually being released, though the quality of digital transfer leaves much to be desired.
