Odin: Photon Sailer Starlight
Encyclopedia
, also known as Odin: Starlight Mutiny is a 1985 Japan
ese anime
film produced by Yoshinobu Nishizaki
's West Cape Corporation which was previously known for Space Battleship Yamato
(also known as Star Blazers
). It was directed by Toshio Masuda
with a music score by Hiroshi Miyagawa, both of whom worked on the Yamato series.
sailing space schooner Starlight as they embark on an historic interstellar test flight. They are intercepted by what seems to be a wrecked spaceship only to find that it contains a lone survivor; a young woman named Sara Cyanbaker. Unknown to the crew at this time, a mechanized space fleet approaches Earth and a scout vessel from that fleet was responsible for the destruction of Sara's ship.
Sara begins to have strange dreams about a place called Odin and a series of artifacts discovered on a lonely asteroid point to an ancient Norwegian mariner's folk song which mentioned the Norse god Odin
. The crew decipher these artifacts and deduce that Odin may actually exist as a place, the paradise planet so often spoken of in mythology. The young crew is eager to make the journey but the captain and the ship's senior officers observe the need to follow the orders of Earth Command and return to Earth immediately. The crew mutinies and locks the senior officers in the officer's lounge and warp the ship to the location given in the artifacts. Upon arrival, the Starlight meet a cosmic being who appears before them in space. He identifies himself as Asgard
and declares that he will block the gateway to paradise against corrupt beings of flesh and all other non-believers. As a result, the Starlight faces an almost endless swarm of mechanized attack ships. The Starlight crew successfully fights its way through to land on what appears to be a mechanized world only to face hordes of mechanized soldiers. Surviving the onslaught, Sara and the crew is horrified to learn that these soldiers are actually part living beings. A dying soldier hands a crew member a crystal memory chip and asks him to insert it into a computer display readout. Through it, the crew learn of the soldier's memories of Odin and the entire story of the alien people's exodus.
Odin was once a planet that faced destruction by the radiation of its expanding sun, Canopus
. Its people built giant computerized starships to monitor their exodus to find another world yet many stayed on Odin in the hopes that the fires of Canopus would die out. The computers on the ships ultimately developed sentience and transformed its humanoid refugees into cyborgs leaving those remaining on Odin the only ones who remained as themselves. The machines built larger machines to ensure that the mission succeeds resulting in an eventual corruption of the original purpose. Now these machines sought only to destroy all organic life. The dying soldier, noted that Sara not only looked like the queen of Odin's people, but that Sara was the queen's name. Sara confirms that there might be a connection as she recounts her own memories of The Tree of Life and how she was sheltered by two giants in her childhood. The cyborg soldier's dying words suggest that if Sara has these memories then Odin and its people may still live.
The crew promises to dedicate themselves to finding Odin. However, they must still defeat the master computer of this machine world; a being that calls itself Belgel. The crew finds a way to insert a computer virus which causes Belgel to overload and destroy the world-fortress. The movie ends simply with the Starlight crew pressing on, unhindered, to begin its search for the legendary planet Odin.
This movie came out in the wake of the popularity of Space Battleship Yamato which had two years earlier ended its run with Final Yamato. It has many similar directorial elements but it failed to gain any lasting popularity. This movie was also released in the U.S. by U.S. Manga Corps in both a dubbed format and an uncut subtitled format. This title has the distinction of perhaps being the anime movie which suffered the harshest editing for length in its English release. The original uncut version runs 2 hours 15 minutes, the English dub runs only 90 minutes.
, this movie is widely panned by critics and mainstream fans alike as slow and plodding. Many criticize the movie's unresolved ending, as a trilogy was originally planned but cancelled after underwhelming box office. It is also seen by many as Nishizaki's transparent attempt to recycle the themes in Yamato. The inclusion of music by the Japanese metal
band Loudness
, is both cheered and ridiculed.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
film produced by Yoshinobu Nishizaki
Yoshinobu Nishizaki
Yoshinobu Nishizaki was a Japanese film producer best known as one of the two co-creators of the anime series Space Battleship Yamato. He was sometimes credited as Yoshinori Nishizaki...
's West Cape Corporation which was previously known for Space Battleship Yamato
Space Battleship Yamato
is a Japanese science fiction anime series featuring an eponymous spacecraft. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as Space Cruiser Yamato; an English-dubbed and heavily edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television as Star Blazers...
(also known as Star Blazers
Star Blazers
Star Blazers is an American animated television series adaptation of the Japanese anime series, . Star Blazers was first broadcast in the United States in 1979. Significantly, it was the first popular English-translated anime that had an over-arching plot and storyline that required the episodes to...
). It was directed by Toshio Masuda
Toshio Masuda
is a Japanese film director. He developed a reputation as a consistent box office hit-maker. Over the course of five decades, 16 of his films made the yearly top ten lists at the Japanese box office—a second place record in the industry. Between 1958 and 1968 he directed 52 films for the Nikkatsu...
with a music score by Hiroshi Miyagawa, both of whom worked on the Yamato series.
Plot
Odin centers around the novice crew of the laserLaser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
sailing space schooner Starlight as they embark on an historic interstellar test flight. They are intercepted by what seems to be a wrecked spaceship only to find that it contains a lone survivor; a young woman named Sara Cyanbaker. Unknown to the crew at this time, a mechanized space fleet approaches Earth and a scout vessel from that fleet was responsible for the destruction of Sara's ship.
Sara begins to have strange dreams about a place called Odin and a series of artifacts discovered on a lonely asteroid point to an ancient Norwegian mariner's folk song which mentioned the Norse god Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
. The crew decipher these artifacts and deduce that Odin may actually exist as a place, the paradise planet so often spoken of in mythology. The young crew is eager to make the journey but the captain and the ship's senior officers observe the need to follow the orders of Earth Command and return to Earth immediately. The crew mutinies and locks the senior officers in the officer's lounge and warp the ship to the location given in the artifacts. Upon arrival, the Starlight meet a cosmic being who appears before them in space. He identifies himself as Asgard
Asgard
In Norse religion, Asgard is one of the Nine Worlds and is the country or capital city of the Norse Gods surrounded by an incomplete wall attributed to a Hrimthurs riding the stallion Svadilfari, according to Gylfaginning. Valhalla is located within Asgard...
and declares that he will block the gateway to paradise against corrupt beings of flesh and all other non-believers. As a result, the Starlight faces an almost endless swarm of mechanized attack ships. The Starlight crew successfully fights its way through to land on what appears to be a mechanized world only to face hordes of mechanized soldiers. Surviving the onslaught, Sara and the crew is horrified to learn that these soldiers are actually part living beings. A dying soldier hands a crew member a crystal memory chip and asks him to insert it into a computer display readout. Through it, the crew learn of the soldier's memories of Odin and the entire story of the alien people's exodus.
The legend of Odin
"Legends once told of a paradise destroyed by a kingdom of fire.Odin was once a planet that faced destruction by the radiation of its expanding sun, Canopus
Canopus
Canopus |Alpha]] Carinae) is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Carina and Argo Navis, and the second brightest star in the night-time sky, after Sirius. Canopus's visual magnitude is −0.72, and it has an absolute magnitude of −5.53.Canopus is a supergiant of spectral...
. Its people built giant computerized starships to monitor their exodus to find another world yet many stayed on Odin in the hopes that the fires of Canopus would die out. The computers on the ships ultimately developed sentience and transformed its humanoid refugees into cyborgs leaving those remaining on Odin the only ones who remained as themselves. The machines built larger machines to ensure that the mission succeeds resulting in an eventual corruption of the original purpose. Now these machines sought only to destroy all organic life. The dying soldier, noted that Sara not only looked like the queen of Odin's people, but that Sara was the queen's name. Sara confirms that there might be a connection as she recounts her own memories of The Tree of Life and how she was sheltered by two giants in her childhood. The cyborg soldier's dying words suggest that if Sara has these memories then Odin and its people may still live.
The crew promises to dedicate themselves to finding Odin. However, they must still defeat the master computer of this machine world; a being that calls itself Belgel. The crew finds a way to insert a computer virus which causes Belgel to overload and destroy the world-fortress. The movie ends simply with the Starlight crew pressing on, unhindered, to begin its search for the legendary planet Odin.
This movie came out in the wake of the popularity of Space Battleship Yamato which had two years earlier ended its run with Final Yamato. It has many similar directorial elements but it failed to gain any lasting popularity. This movie was also released in the U.S. by U.S. Manga Corps in both a dubbed format and an uncut subtitled format. This title has the distinction of perhaps being the anime movie which suffered the harshest editing for length in its English release. The original uncut version runs 2 hours 15 minutes, the English dub runs only 90 minutes.
Reception
Despite attractive ship designs (most notably the Starlight) and beautiful animationAnimation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
, this movie is widely panned by critics and mainstream fans alike as slow and plodding. Many criticize the movie's unresolved ending, as a trilogy was originally planned but cancelled after underwhelming box office. It is also seen by many as Nishizaki's transparent attempt to recycle the themes in Yamato. The inclusion of music by the Japanese metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
band Loudness
Loudness (band)
is a Japan-based heavy metal band formed in 1981 by guitarist Akira Takasaki and drummer Munetaka Higuchi. They were the first Japanese heavy metal act signed to a major label in the United States, releasing twenty-three studio albums...
, is both cheered and ridiculed.