{"id":27431,"date":"2019-09-18T21:49:27","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T04:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=27431"},"modified":"2019-10-14T17:50:20","modified_gmt":"2019-10-15T00:50:20","slug":"422a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/422a\/","title":{"rendered":"1994 magazine articles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1910icon\"<\/p>\n

The extraordinarily rare August 1994 issue of the locally-based LB Nakasu Communication<\/em> magazine carried a Yamato<\/em> cover story shortly before the saga was revived the first time with Yamato 2520<\/em> and the promise of Yamato Resurrection<\/em>. Here we present two of the articles from that issue.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

The extraordinarily rare August 1994 issue of the locally-based LB Nakasu Communication<\/em> magazine carried a Yamato<\/em> cover story shortly before the saga was revived the first time with Yamato 2520<\/em> and the promise of Yamato Resurrection<\/em>. The magazine\u2019s fifteen pages of articles included a Yoshinobu Nishizaki interview<\/a> and a saga retrospective<\/a> which can both be found at their respective links. Here we present the last two articles of the bunch.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Welcome, Syd Mead\u2019s 1994<\/h2>\n

By Pango Soma<\/em><\/p>\n

Syd Mead is creating a new <\/em>Yamato as the designer for Space Battleship Yamato 2520<\/em>. Let\u2019s look forward to Syd Mead\u2019s new \u201cpractical future\u201d <\/em>Yamato!<\/p>\n

In 1982, Disney released the classic CG movie Tron<\/em>, which became a hot topic. The design of its light cycle at the time was by visual futurist Syd Mead.<\/p>\n

The shape of the light cycle was like a snail-type tape cutter that rolls across a desk. It was like a metamorphosis. I want to say that because it is built to enter and run around inside a computer, someone can smoothly accept it as a stationary image. It can be said that this demonstrates a smart design sense.<\/p>\n

Syd Mead\u2019s name became widely known for Blade Runner<\/em>, the 1982 film version of Phillip K. Dick\u2019s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Blade Runner<\/em>\u2019s tempting dead-tech (a sense of ruin) made it a cult favorite.<\/p>\n

Syd Mead designed Harrison Ford\u2019s spinner that pursued the \u201csad angel\u201d replicants. You\u2019ll remember it like, \u201cAh, that!\u201d Some in America were dissatisfied with the movie, but in our country the world of Blade Runner<\/em> was praised by high-culture people like architects. The buildings they were able to create in that city were very realistic, and even disco has increased its dead-tech design.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

In terms of its pattern, it\u2019s the magic of movies that can deliver a product of the 21st century, and the line that often comes up is, \u201cIt looks like a movie!\u201d In particular, the city details, architecture, residential spaces, costumes, tools, transportation, etc. are subliminally imprinted upon the brain, which is fascinated by the nostalgia of something you saw somewhere. That seems to hit on the \u201cpractical future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Syd Mead is also an industrial designer who makes \u201cfuture objects\u201d for practical use. Not only him, but modelmaker Mark Stetson (who worked on the miniatures of Los Angeles and the spinner for Blade Runner)<\/em>. It is no longer unusual for such people to take part in moviemaking. In Japan, SFX (special visual effects) were once a fad but have become common now. In fact, they seem to have been replaced by the term \u201cvirtual reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m interested in the practical future objects of Syd Mead, such as the jumpsuits of the Leonov crew in the movie 2010<\/em>. Because they\u2019re work clothes, it is natural that there was no gender difference, and along with the appearance of macho women with short hair, it blurs the border between men and women, which is praise for Syd Mead\u2019s achievement. Unfortunately, when we observe NASA\u2019s current progress, it was too ambitious as a movie.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very exciting that Syd Mead is now doing mechanic designs for the Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> anime. He was previously on the staff of an [unproduced] American version of Mobile Suit Gundam<\/em>, and I regret that I\u2019ve only seen a few of his image boards. I\u2019m seized by the desire to see more.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also interested to see how his Yamato<\/em> mechanic design is evaluated by Shigeru Komatsuzaki, the famous painter who dominated the field of battleship paintings.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the past, I wonder about other talented craftsmen such as SFX matte painter Matthew Yuricich<\/a>, CG pioneer Richard Taylor<\/a>, and high-end cinematographer Richard Edlund<\/a>. How are they doing?<\/p>\n

(Read more about Syd Mead\u2019s Yamato 2520<\/em> here<\/a> and farther down this page.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

From Battleship Yamato<\/em> to Space Battleship Yamato<\/em><\/h2>\n

The 70,000 ton sea fortress that sank without fighting<\/h3>\n

By Mamoru Higashiyama<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis can only go one way. If you don\u2019t immediately build a new battleship, it will get difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forced to disarm for the Nepal Holiday, the Japanese Navy had stopped building battleships. In the middle of exercises, battleships had lost their balance and flooded. As a result of heavy weapons being stacked on top of each other, their center of gravity was higher and it became easier for them to capsize. The time limit of the Nepal Holiday was about 15 years, and when it expired in 1934, the Japanese Navy immediately began building battleships again. What\u2019s more, their ultimate proposal was to build the largest battleship in the world.<\/p>\n

Thus, the Battleship Yamato<\/em> appeared and was completed on December 16, 1941.<\/p>\n

In those days, the Japanese Navy gave priority to the power of the main gun batteries, based on the achievement of defeating the enemy with superior firepower in the Russo-Japanese War. Of course, Yamato<\/em> had the world\u2019s largest guns at the time, nine barrels with a diameter of 46cm (18\u201d); two 3-barrel turrets at the front and one at the stern. Each turret was 21m (68\u2019) long with a maximum range of 42,000m (26 miles). Once fired, the shells would rotate 60 times a second and reach their target in about 90 seconds.<\/p>\n

Usually it is the design of a battleship that determines the size of its main guns, and a ship must be able to withstand the destructive power of its own guns. Therefore, Yamato<\/em> could be no smaller than 70,000 tons and measure out at 263m (862\u2019) long by 38.9m (127\u2019) wide. In other words, it meant that a width of 38.9m was necessary to withstand the destructive power of a 46cm cannon.<\/p>\n

Within the Japanese Navy, it was speculated that America could not build a battleship with 46cm guns. At the time, the American Navy had to travel through the Panama Canal to cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Since the width of the canal was only 33m (108\u2019), it could not accommodate a 38.9m wide battleship. In fact, America did complete its own Yamato<\/em> 14 months later by building the state-of-the-art Battleship Iowa<\/em>, which had 40cm (16\u201d) guns.<\/p>\n

In order to prevent its width from slowing down its cruising speed, Yamato<\/em> was given a bulbous bow instead the of the conventional vertically-inclined bow. The deck used nickel-chrome armor, which could not be penetrated even by an 8,000kg (9t) bomb dropped from 3900m (2.5 miles). The maximum thickness of the deck was 40cm (16\u201d).<\/p>\n

It was certain that Yamato<\/em> would not lose to Iowa<\/em> if they engaged in a shooting war. However, it sank to the bottom of the sea without such a cannon fight.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On April 7, 1945, Yamato<\/em> made for the Battle of Okinawa as the flagship of the second fleet. That same day, the American army began its onslaught at 2:23pm, destroying the ship with 10 torpedoes, six bombs, and countless other types of ordnance.<\/p>\n

If it had been an engagement like the Battle of the Sea of Japan, Yamato<\/em> would have shown its mettle, but the nature of the war had completely changed and the Japanese Navy had missed the trends. As solidly as Yamato<\/em> was built, it still had the soft spots of strategy and usage.<\/p>\n

Battleship Yamato<\/em> sleeps about 300km southwest of Kagoshima Prefecture at a depth of 340m (1,120\u2019), at 30\u02da\/22 min N latitude by 128\u02da\/4 min E longitude.<\/p>\n

Battleship Yamato<\/em> woke from that sleep and now flies in space. Speaking of which, the sea is also a world of weightlessness in which a huge warship passes through the dark like an aurora.<\/p>\n

(Read more about Battleship Yamato<\/em> at Wikipedia here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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Footnotes: Communications from Dr. Yamato<\/em><\/h3>\n

Yamato<\/em> is equipped with two types of aircraft, the Cosmo Zero and Cosmo Tiger. The first is Susumu Kodai\u2019s favorite machine and launches from the top deck. The Cosmo Tiger (which has been redesigned many times) has a launch port in the \u201cbutt\u201d section.<\/p>\n

There is a character named Yasuo Nanbu, who is the deputy head of the combat group and is in charge of gunnery (he\u2019s the only one on the ship who wears glasses). In fact, the concept is that he\u2019s the son of the president of Nanbu Heavy Industries, which rebuilt the Battleship Yamato<\/em> into the Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> in the first series.<\/p>\n

The setting for the first story begins in the year 2199. (Kodai, Yuki, and Shima are all 18 years old). Farewell<\/em> is set in 2200, The New Voyage<\/em> in 2201, Be Forever<\/em> in 2202, and Final Yamato<\/em> in 2203. It was a wonderful five years\u2026<\/p>\n

The naval image of Daisuke Shima saying lines like \u201cSteady as she goes\u201d and Captain Okita\u2019s general comportment are impressive. A military spirit was also seen in the first work, when Captain Okita and Gamilas\u2019 capable enemy general Domel exchanged messages praising each others\u2019 tactics.<\/p>\n

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Bonus item<\/h2>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Movie Art of Syd Mead, Visual Futurist<\/em><\/h3>\n

Titan Books, September 19 2017<\/em><\/p>\n

This amazing 256-page collection spans Syd Mead\u2019s cinematic work from Star Trek the Motion Picture<\/em> all the way to Blade Runner 2049<\/em>, which is reason enough for it to land on any SF fan\u2019s bookshelf. But there\u2019s another reason for it to land on a Yamato<\/em> fan\u2019s bookshelf: 8 pages devoted to Yamato 2520.<\/em><\/p>\n

Order it from Amazon here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here is the text from this section of the book:<\/p>\n

Yamato 2520<\/em>: Masters of Anime<\/span><\/h3>\n

The passionate, mythic images created by Mead for the revival of the legendary Japanese anime series reflect his fascination with the culture of anime and the all-encompassing world of the fabled battleship. Here was an opportunity to work closely with the masters of the medium, who Mead came to admire, and to forge a true creative partnership with the storytellers, animators, and voices that were to bring the story to life.<\/p>\n

Mead, already a near-deity in Japan, was invited to give form to a successor ship to the venerable Yamato<\/em> which, much like the starship Enterprise<\/em>, had become an icon of the series with fetish-finished models, interpretive text, and posters depicting it in constant demand.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As Mead explains, he was both honored and somewhat awed by the challenge. He explains. \u201cThe design had to embody the mystique of the original story ship destined by venerable animation guru [Leiji] Matsumoto. Design for the new Yamato 2520<\/em> went way beyond any movie project I have worked on\u2026 [it] was an elaborately-funded and elaborately-staged design tour de force stretching over many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The medium of anime, unlike live film, is a graphic artist\u2019s medium, revealing in image after lingering image the precision of Mead\u2019s designs, unadulterated for the most part by the vageries of motion and lighting that so often consign intricately-designed props to fleeting impressions.<\/p>\n

The cosmic sweep of the compositions for Yamato 2520<\/em> permeates space, time, and even tranquil, Earth-bound environments, endowing each image with an epic stature fitting the legacy of the original series.<\/p>\n

They are among the most compelling of Mead\u2019s long career, imbued with the gravitas of pure geometry as pure energy arches into the infinite reaches of outer space, as well as in the green-edged pools of Earth\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1984-present-legacy-years","category-articles-1984-now"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27431"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27434,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27431\/revisions\/27434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}