The Battle at Pluto

So, here goes Star Blazers.  I'm kind of excited about watching this for the first time.

The Battle at Pluto

Damn, that's a catchy theme song.  There's something about the 70's . . .  I will admit to having a preference for the 70's/early 80's art style over, oh, say 1990 to now.  Blame Tranzor Z (which I definitely drew imitations of far more than Voltron--probably 'cuz it was easier to imitate that Volts or Robotech.  Anyway.

Captain Avatar (I'm gonna primarily use the SB names over SBSY.  'Cuz I'm a lazy American) laments the decay of Earth, and the narrator takes it from there, explaning that the Gamilons are bombarding Earth with radiation bombs, and the Earth population has sought refuge underground.  Now, Captain Avatar is commanding the lone defense force remaining at the orbit of Pluto.

The radar operator picks up the approaching Gamilon fleet: battleships, destroyers, and escorts.  Avatar watches out the bridge windows as the Gamilons close in.  He orders battle stations, and artillery to standby.  The Gamilons transmit an order to surrender.  Avatar responds that they're idiots.  Artillery ranges in . . .

The Gamilon fire a beam barrage the just misses.  Avatar orders his men to fire--it's a direct hit, but damage is negligible.  The return attack from the Gamilons cuts Avatar's fleet to little molten bits. 

An unidentified craft at very high speed zooms in from beyond the solar system and closes on Mars.

On Mars, two soldiers are sent to investigate the craft, which ejects a capsule before crashing.  Derek Wildstar and his companion receive the order to investigate.  They take a kinda neat-looking shuttle or fighter (oh, his companion's name is Venture) and find the wreckage of the unknown ship.  Wildstar's piloting bothers Venture/  They explore the wreck, then Wildstar sees a woman collapsed on the Martian surface.  Wildstar picks up her body, and she drops a red device. 

Back at Pluto's orbit, Avatar's fleet is quickly being reduced to nothing.  A missile ship closes on a Gamilon ship fires and . . . scores a kill.  Alex Wildstar, the CO of missile ship 17 sees the damaged flagship.  Aboard it, Avatar asks after the status of the rest of the fleet.  Just their ship, and the missile ship.  Avatar orders the retreat--better to live to fight another day.  His ship peels off, and he orders Wildstar to follow him.  Wildstar takes his missile ship to hold off the Gamilons against Avatar's orders.

Missile ship 17 is surrounded by Gamilon ships and pounded by beam weapons, launching missiles all the while.  Then it explodes dramatically.

On Mars, Venture and Wildstar are ordered to board Avatar's returning ship and take it back to Mars.  They dock with Venture's ship, bringing the red device with them.  Derek is dismayed that there are no other ships, not even his brothers.

Avatar broods on the Gamilon threat.  His ship returns to an underground landing bay.  Wildstar and Venture debark and take an elevator, discussing the progressive radiation poisoning of Earth.  Venture gives Wildstar his sympathy over his brother's death.  Leaving the elevator, they find Avatar, and Wildstar introduces himself, and then accuses Avatar of leaving Alex behind.  Avatar apologizes, then leaves.

The two take a flying car through a tube and are still discussing Avatar and Alex.  Then they take an escalator to headquarters, and a scientist identifies the device as a message capsule.  Leaving the lab, they walk past a woman who apparently resembles the woman they found on Mars.  They ogle her unabashedly.  Then the doctor runs down the hall trying to wrangle a pig.  The doctor identifies her as Nova, a nurse.  Then a robot appears, tells them that the weirdo is Dr. Zane.

Captain Avatar is recovering in his hospital bed when he gets a call that the message found on Mars has been analyzed.  The robot eavesdrops.

Nova sees Wildstar moping in the rec room.  Venture tells her about his brother, then the robot appears, chases Nova out of the room, and tells them the message has been analyzed.

The message is from Starsha, from the planet Iscandar.  She has sent plans for the wave motion engine, that will enable them to jump to Iscandar, and she can give them the Cosmo DNA that will restore Earth to its pre-radiation self.

Avatar is planning to take a ship using the engine when a Gamilon force approaches the wreckage of the battleship Yamato.  Wildstar and Venture commandeer a fighter to confront the Gamilons/  They also speculate on the importance of the Yamato . . .  They attempt to engage the Gamilon scoutship, but their engines overheat and they crashland.  They see the ruins of the Yamato and wonder why such a rusting hulk is so important.  So does the narrator . . .

Did anyone else think certain aspects of the underground civilization of Earth think it resembled Galveston's underground cities?  Particularly the yellow aircar and the tube highway?