Space Cruiser Yamato (film)

Space Battleship Yamato (宇宙戦艦ヤマト Uchū Senkan Yamato), released in English speaking countries as Space Cruiser Yamato (also as Space Cruiser), is a 1977 Japanese anime film directed by Leiji Matsumoto. The film consists of various television episodes edited from the "Iscander" arc of the Space Battleship Yamato television series.

Dubbing History
The film was simultaneously sold for overseas distribution during production, with the film trimmed to 101 minutes (from 145 minutes) to increase profitability. The dub of the film predates the more famous Star Blazers adaptation of the Yamato series. Producer Bernard Tabakin hired director Gino Tanasescu (who would later go onto to direct such films as Red Serpent) to write the English script. Despite changing many character names (Susumu Kodai became Jason Kodai, Daisuke Shima became Bernard O'Toole, and Shiro Sanada became Stephenson), the script stayed relatively close to the original Japanese.

A group of nine actors were assembled to record their parts in October 1976, including veteran character actor Marvin Miller, who was best known as the voice of Robby the Robot in Forbidden Planet. Space Cruiser Yamato was screened at the Cannes film festival in May of 1977 (3 months before its Japanese release) accompanied by an English promotional flyer and deals were made with several different distributors in the United States, Mexico, Canada, England, and France. The film, however, received a lukewarm reception from the critics during its short theatrical run, with many believing it to be simply a rip-off of Star Wars, despite predating it by 3 years.

The films dub would only be released on VHS in the United Kingdom twice, once in 1980 and again in 1986.

Cast
Additional / Unidentified Voices
 * Larry Burrell
 * Dudley Coleman
 * Jerry Harland
 * Rex Knowles
 * Marvin Miller
 * Paul Shively