Star Blazers: Live Action - Space Battleship Yamato

In 5th grade, when I came home from school (at about 3:30 - yeah, home soon, I had no idea about girls back then) I would turn the TV on a UHF station 36 in San Jose to catch the latest episode of "Starblazers", a syndicated Japanese animation about a group of space soldiers who had to travel a long distance in order to save the earth. The most visually stunning object at the time was their spaceship, which looked like a huge battleship.

This ship was named "The Yamato" and had a slew of weapons, the most powerful being the wave motion gun. I saw this live action clip "The Yamato", posted here, and became a fifth grader again. Very nice! Not sure about matching the hairstyles of the original animation guys, c'mon, very "Heat Miser". Here is the official Yamato Space Battleship Movie Site.

We've come a long way folks in animation and visual effects. Way to go. And of course, for a little nostalgia, here is the original opening sequence that aired when I was a fifth grader. Feel free to sing along....

We're off to outer space...
To save the human race...