From a Harlock's fan point of view, GE the movie is incredible! Much insight is given about the Matsumoto universe, and how it works. It does have its share of coincidences and preachyness, but overall it's Anime at its best.
This time around, it appears to be set in between Arcadia of My Youth and Space Pirate Captain Harlock. It's about concurrent with Endless Orbit SSX, and we see the death of Tochiro in a way a bit different from his other two deaths (the guy just keeps a-dying! if he were on Star Trek, he'd probably be wearing a red shirt). But if in Space Pirate we saw him die through Harlock's eyes and in SSX we saw it from his own view, in this one we see it through the eyes of young Tetsuro Hoshino.
Joey Hannakannabobbakananna Smith/Tetsuro is the real protagonist of this story. That name, Joey, is the name they gave Tetsuro Hoshino in the terribly dubbed GALAXY EXPRESS 999 movie, HBO version. And you thought Tommy Hairball had it tough! (Please, please, PLEASE rent the original available throughout the US from Viz Video, subbed or moderately well dubbed). His mother was slain as sport by a Count Mecha of the Machine People. I never could see just from the movie what the deal was with the Machine People. I didn't know for sure if they had invaded Earth or if they co-existed with humans non-politically. I'd say the latter is probably it. The Machine People were once human, but had their humanity compromised by trading in their bodies for eternal, mechanical ones. The human minds locked in these bodies eventually snapped because...well, for one, they couldn't feel anything the way humans do. Shadow, a Machine Lady who roamed the icy grounds of Jupiter (where the Machine People kept their former bodies under the ice for possible re-use), was fascinated by Testuro's normal human body warmth. She yearned to feel it, and clung to him....
I'd say that after the Illumidas were defeated, the Earth was not entirely free, but at least the Illumidas were gone. But then a different kind of threat arose...the Machine People grew in numbers, as humans gladly discarded their bodies in exchange for immortality...and before anyone knew it, they were everywhere. So once again humanity screws up. One grows to feel sorry for the evil Machine People. The worst punishment they could receive for being cruel killers is being themselves...never regaining that which was once a part of them...
Harlock's involvement here is strictly incidental. He does play a role in the story, but is carefully underused so as not to detract from Tetsuro's own worth. The Arcadia's crew is an interesting ensemble with members from both series and the movie. Must have been a pain for the french, since to them, both Yattaran and Tochiro are named "Alfred".
Emeraldas' character is more vital to moving the plot along. It is revealed that she is really Maetel's sister, which everyone basically already knew, so i don't feel like i'm spoiling it for y'all. She is still good (bad?) o' Emeraldas, the Pirate Queen, but this time around we see more of the mean mamma jamma she is than in Arcadia of My Youth. I guess the fact that at this point she was pregnant with Mayu accounts for her PMSy mood :)
So, i hope you enjoy what my small Galaxy Express page has to offer. All pictures are from the original GALAXY EXPRESS 999 movie, which, like i said, you can buy fromViz video in America. Viz is also planning to release ADIEU GALAXY EXPRESS 999 in April ( i hope they don't subtitle it "In the Name of Love"). I'll discuss that one some other day. All you need to know is that we get to see Tetsuro's father, a man by the name of Faust who hides behind a Darth Vader type get-up. "Tetsuro....i'm your father..".
May the Arcadia be with you.
Note: You will notice the URL on some pictures. Basically, it's a lot of work scanning and putting these pages together. I'm tired of seeing art that i scanned at home, myself, showing up in sites belonging to other people and not a word of credit. Sometimes the whole site is made of pictures found here. So from now on i'll have to invade my scans with my URL, because like i said, my site is my copyrighted 1996, 1997 and if anything i appreciate some respect. Want something? Just ask.
Joey Hannakannabobbakananna Smith contemplates Piratedom
Joey Hannakannabobbakananna Smith is captured
The Galaxy Express 999 Signature Edition Video Box by Viz Video!
Harlock enjoys his cameo: 1, 2, 3, 4
Maetel
Goodbye Sequence 1 and 2
Tochiro gives his soul to the Arcadia
Shadow longs for her lost humanity
Emeraldas observes
Emeraldas in an emotional moment
The Arcadia's crew. The doctor, Kei, Harlock, Yattaran and Maji.
Maetel and Evil Queen Promethium
Dr. Ban. Not the same as the Arcadia's Doctor, but the name is the same. I've heard he has his own manga series in Japan.
There's more coming very soon.
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