Captain Harlock

Space Pirate Captain Harlock (宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック Uchu Kaizoku Kyaputain Harurokku) is an anime television series directed by Rintaro and produced by Toei Animation, based on the manga series written and illustrated by Leiji Matsumoto.

Dubbing History
An English dubbed version of a handful of the series saw limited release in the United States, mostly on cable and produced by ZIV International. In all, only four episodes of the series are known to have been dubbed, with the initial two episodes produced (Episodes 1 & 9) being faithful to the original story, with the second (episodes 2 & 3) retooling the approach to a more farcical one.

The first dub kept the original storylines and music score, beside the opening theme composed by Mark Mercury, though many character names were changed, such as the Mazones becoming Zetons and Yattaran becoming Youngblood. Information about this dub is unknown, with the voice cast noticeably not being ZIV's typical talent pool. The two episodes most likely represent all that was dubbed for this adaptation. It seems that this dub was likely an international dub commissioned by Toei, and most likely dubbed in Tokyo based on an English-language LP released in Japan in March of 1979.

The two further episodes were given a far less serious dub by ZIV, and one of the most highly joked elements in this adaptation was the change of Tadashi Daiba's name to Tommy Hairball. This version featured ZIV's usual cast, directed by Jim Terry and contained a completely original music score. It seems that more episodes of this adaptation were produced based on an interview with Mona Marshall where she mentions being cast as the little girl character (Maya/Mayu), though her voice is not heard in the dub.

The dubbed episodes were released on VHS by Family Home Entertainment in 1980. They were subsequently acquired and redistributed in the early 1990s by Malibu Graphics, who advertised the episodes as "never-before-seen," and "completely unedited" when in reality the videos were badly mastered, with music drowning out dialogue and the audio and video falling out of sync on numerous occasions.

The series would later be dubbed again in 1985, this time by Harmony Gold and known as Captain Harlock & the Queen of a Thousand Years. Using the same style as Robotech to meet TV syndication's 65+ episode requirement, the Harlock series was connected with another Leiji Matsumoto series, Queen Millennia, to tell an intertwining story

Cast
🇯🇵 Japan Episodes 1 & 9
 * Joan P. Dreisker
 * Tom Killough
 * Barbara Knode
 * Don Knode
 * Fritz M. Schmitz

🇺🇸 United States Episodes 2 & 3

Additional Voices
 * Marla Scott