Star Blazers 2199 - Space Battleship Yamato

Like the other reviewer said, this is better than the original. It's an appropriate update of the old "classic" anime that had been imported from Japan in the mid late 1970s.

The old show was a little hard to take at times because of all of the dialogue mis steps the English cast took or uttered, and the animation was typical "get it done fast" off shore anime that often had problems with perspectives and budget restraints regarding the number of drawings that could be used.

Thankfully CGI has freed the budget to allow animators to concentrate on the characters and letting the computers render the various machines, vehicles and devices, making for an incredibly good viewing experience.

It had, at one time in my life, been an ambition to take animation that I grew up with that had good stories but poor animation, and bring up the level of quality with improved techniques. "Space Battleship Yamato" (or "Starblazers") was on that list. And I'm glad someone else had the same idea and ran with it.

All the classic characters are there, including a few new ones adding to the story mix. And most of all the characters themselves are less exaggerated than the previous show.

It's still marginally hokey (a flying space battleship, which has some ultra-right political roots in Japan), but it's still an enjoyable watch all the same. If you've seen the original, grew up with it, have a fondness for it, then you should at least try to watch this show's first episode to see what you think.

Enjoy.