Star Blazers began in Japan in 1974 as a serialized weekly under the title Space Battleship Yamato (Uchuu Senkan Yamato), the titular vehicle named for the legendary World War II Japanese warship. Leiji Matsumoto, later the guiding force behind the animated Captain Harlock, created the half-hour series and the manga series upon which it was based; both were set in the year 2199. Earth is being radiation bombed by the planet Gamilon, led by the despotic Dessler. The faraway planet Iscandar, headed by good Queen Stasha, offers help to our beleaguered globe in teh form of a cosmic "cleanser"; which can protect Earth from the radiation, but she has no way to deliver it. Earth has to send an expedition to Iscandar to get it, but Iscandar is on the far side of the galaxy, wigh the entire Gamilon Empire in the way. Gamilon space cruisers have Earth under surveillance, so any attempt to build a starship will be detected. Howerver, Gamilon attacks have also dried up Earth's oceans, exposing the wreck of the giant WWII battleship Yamato. So the Earth government secretly tunnels up from below and builds a state-of-the-art spaceship within the Yamato's hull. In the American version, the Yamato is rechristened the Argo. Earth's Star Force, led by Admiral Juzo Okita and his aide Susumu Kodai, set out for Iscandar in the Yamato. The Star Force also includes Daisuke Shima, chief of operations; ship's doctor Sado; and Kodai's lady freind, radar operator Yuki Mori. The crew also includes a comic-relief robot, Analyzer, and a cybory mechanic, Sandor (these characters, incidentally, were created long before the Star wars films, so Matsumoto cannot be accused of rip-off, unlike many of his contemporary animators). The first 26 episodes of Space Battleship Yamato, subtitled for U.S. release as "The Quest for Iscandar," chronicled the battle to save Earth. This Yamato package performed admirably on Japanese TV, despite general pessimism among japanese TV producers that sci-fi animation (as compared to the more prevalent giant robot or costumed hero shows of the time) could never attract the generally juvenile viewers who were thought to make up most of Japan's cartoon-viewing audience in those days. In otherwords, Yamato changed the way people thought about animation--especially relatively serious sci-fi animation--in Japan. In 1978, Space battleship Yamato was revived with a new group of 26 half hours, subtitled "The Comet Empire" for the U.S. release, wherein the evil Dessler aligns with Prince Zodar, ruler of Empire City, a cometlike metropolis which draws its strength from devouring other planets for fuel. This time it's the Earth Defense Fleet which sends out the Yamnato rescue team, prompted by a cry for help from the planet Telazart (one of whose residents, the beauteous Trelaina, later becomes Daisuke Shima's sweetheart). It was the above-mentioned 52 episodes which Claster Studios, envisioning marketing tie-ins on behalf of its Hasbro Toys division, bundled together in 1979 and syndicated to selected big cities in the U.S. as a Monday-through-Friday strip. The title Star Blazers was not the first choice: Claster dallied brefly with Star Force, which was vetoed as sounding a shade too much like Star Wars. Claster toned down the more violent passages of Space Battleship Yamato and redid the character names. Admiral Okita was now "Captain Avatar"; Susumu Kodai was "Derek Wildstar" (prophetic in that Wildstar would later be the name of Claster's music division); Daisuke Shima was "Mark Venture"; Dr. Sado was "Dr. Sane"; Yuki Mori was "Nova"; Leader Dessler was "Leader Desslock"; and Queen Stasha became the more stellar-sounding "Queen Starsha." The planet Gamilas became "Gamilon," and the robot Analyzer was redubbed "IQ-9," an obvious derivative of Star Wars' comic-relief robot C-3PO. Wisely, Claster avoided some of the less judicious cuts that producer Sandy Frank made in adapting Gatchaman into the Americanized Battle of the Planets. Star Blazers retained the plot and character complexities that were trademarks of Space Battleship Yamato, and as such was welcomed enthusiastically by the anime fans who'd been so sorely disappointed by Planets. Unfortunately, the decision to limit syndication to only the most important markets resulted in a lukewarm ratings showing for Star Blazers. The series didn't really pick up steam until it went out in the 1980s to medium-sized cities with substantial Asian populations. At that time, Claster included 25 more episodes to the Star Blazers manifest, comprised of the final Space Battleship Yamato story arc of 1980, called "The Bolar Wars" in the U.S. release. Originally telecast in Japan during 1980-'81 as Uchuu Senkan Yamato III, "Bolar Wars" was named after the Bolar Federation, whose war with the Gamilons over the conquest of the Milky Way threatened to annihilate the Earth and all other "peaceful" planets.