It seems that Hollywood is traveling backward in time once again. No, I’m not talking about another Back to the Future–although you never know, given the sequel climate these days–but about another obvious attempt to get us Gen-Xers into theaters with a revival of one of our beloved early-80s teenage geekfests.
That’s right, baybee! Starblazers is getting the feature film treatment!
Yes, I know–it’s Space Cruiser Yamato to all you purists out there. A number of anime features were released in Japan years back, but I must admit that the idea of a live-action flick with our old buddies Derek Wildstar, Mark Venture and Captain Avatar has a certain intrigue. I guess the question becomes: who will the filmmakers cast to play these iconic characters, and who would have the vision to do justice to all those fanboy expectations?
Who knows? If it all works out, we may see other adaptations of our animated favorites from that totally tubular decade. I can picture it now: Thundar the Barbarian: Reloaded,, or maybe even Force Five: Flying Fists of Fury. The fast food tie-ins alone would generate a fortune.
As for me, I’d put my money on Battle of the Planets. Talk about a series that rocked my world when I was a kid!  7-Zark-7 could kick R2-D2’s ass in a heartbeat, and the Phoenix–well, let’s just say that I had an entire room plastered with drawings I did of that fantastic ship. Sure, Keyop could be a little annoying, and I still have no idea how you could engineer a ship that was shaped like an octopus to operate in the atmosphere–but who among us didn’t want to fly Commander Mark’s ultra-kool jet, or have a secret crush on Princess? Bring it on, Hollywood!
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2006