In 2976, human civilization has colonized the solar system, but become lazy and decadent. One of the few men willing to protest this decadence is Harlock, who, after being ignored and even threatened, becomes a space-going pirate to shock civilization out of its sloth. The only space cargoes he actually destroys are useless luxury goods and vices such as alcohol and drugs. Unbeknownst even to Harlock, the Solar civilization was being spied upon by an interstellar conquering empire of beautiful but deadly plant-women, the Mazone (read Amazons), led by Queen Lafresia. They begin their conquest ninja-style, by destroying the few leaders and organizations who might be capable of organizing a defense when they invade openly, and they use Harlock as a scapegoat for their terrorism. Much of the plot is revealed by following a teenager, Tadashi Daiba (\"Christopher\" in the English version), whose scientist father is killed by the Mazone. He initially blames Harlock and goes after him for revenge, but after learning the truth, becomes one of Harlock\'s crew on his ship the Arcadia. Far from becoming the underground hero and iconoclast one might expect, Harlock finds himself constantly being framed as a terrorist. His rebellious shaggy-haired, eyepatched charisma isn\'t wasted on the all-female Maxone, at least one of who throws herself at his booted feet in a vain quest to earn his affection (he ends up shooting her at her own request). The two original Harlock series were the 42-episode Space Pirate Captain Harlock (Uchu Kaizoku Captain Harlock; Toei Animation Co., 1978-\'79), and the 41-episode The Queen of a Thousand Years (Shin Taketori Monogatari Sennen Jo\'o; 1981-\'82). When Harlock was released by Harmony Gold and Ziv International to non-Japanese markets, the two packages were meshed into one in order to fill up a daily syndicated strip. 65 color half-hour episodes were made. As with Robotech, Carl Macek was assigned to find a way to tie the two series (not even from the same studio) into something resembling a coherent storyline. It was edited so that scenes from both programs are juxtaposed and connected by dialogue, even though the major characters do not appear together. The serial becomes, in effect, the story of a vast war, with the scene switching constantly between the two fronts. The American title was Captian Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years. Fans of the original Harlock bemoaned the editing process as damaging the integrity of the project. General audiences, confused by the murky continuity of the abridged version, tuned out in droves, and Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years was a failure in the U.S., killing a multitude of tie-in merchandising deals that had been in the planning stages. But as in the case of other cult animated favorites like Robotech, Captain Harlock\'s true disciples kept the torch lit in the form of comic books and extensive background articles in the anime fanzines catering to Japanese animation devotees.