"The Quest is the Quest!"
Gall Force: Eternal Story
Theaterical release: July 26 1986
Studios: AIC, Artmic, Director: Katsuhito Akiyama
Writer: Sukehiro Tomita
Well once again back to the 1980s. I
have only glanced at this era twice before-looked at 1984's Birth: A
War of Two Worlds, a rather stock standard sci-fi action movie last
June and then last Halloween I looked at 1988's Vampire Princess
Miyu, a 4 episode OVA involving vampires and the supernatural. So,
where does Gall Force: Eternal Story fall? Well, let's see.
Gall Force: Eternal Story is the first
movie in a science fiction film series done in late 1980s to mid
1990s. It was done by AIC, or Anime International Company, a studio
which around the time this film came out, had only done Megazone 23
the previous year. Nowadays, they are a powerhouse studio, having
done series like Tenchi, El Hazard, Burn Up, Ah My Goddess, etc. Now,
down to the story.
Well, the story of GF: Eternal Story
is essentially a science fiction epic. In the far future, there is a
war waging between two groups: the Solnoids (all female race) and the
Paranoids (race of amorphous aliens who reside in bio-mechanical
suits, bit like the Daleks). The first part of the movie deals with a
Solnoid ship Star Leaf as they journey to a planet open for
colonization. Now, there are some members of the Star Leaf crew, but
most are one note characters all who die by end of the movie, so no
more word on them. Well except for Lufy, a starfighter pilot that
they pick along the way, who does try to add some life to this dull
proceedings. Seriously, it is a 'pick off the cast one by one' plot
at the core of the movie.
Well, except a Paranoid comes abroad
and infects one of the crew members who is close to the Captain but
I'm sure it won't factor much in later. Spoiler-it does, but more on
that later.
It sure says something about a movie
when it has not one but two music videos embedded inside it, where
there are long stretches of nothing happening. In addition, while
stuff happens, one simply can't give much care since the characters
haven't had much development. For instance, one of the Star Leaf crew
is revealed to be a secret android who sacrified itself/herself in
order for the rest of the crew to escape from the ship once it self
destructs. What should be a deeply moving scene is empty because the
characters and moral dilemmas haven't been fully developed, therefore
I can't really care. Contrast that with the scene where Lufy ends up
drifting out into space, without any way out. The audience has spent
some time with Lufy and she has some sort of personality so her death
has more emotional punch.
Of course, the remainder of the crew
makes it to the new planet. However, it turns out, the infected crew
member is now pregnant with child. She gives birth, which is one of
the most unintentionally funny moment of all times. The child is
revealed as male, which confounds the remaining crew most profoundly.
Then the movie does the plot of TNG's The Child' as the kid grows up
to full maturity in a matter of minutes. No explanation whatsoever,
which miffs me a bit as this being science fiction some kind of
explanation is expected, but the filmmakers said no.
The ending act is a confusing mess. It
is revealed that both the Solnoids and Paranoids have planned this
out from some point prior to the movie, in order to bring about peace
to the galaxy or whatever. The rest of it doesn't make much sense and
the movie ends on a non-ending and another fecking music video to
close out.
Now, onto other stuff on this movie.
The music is your standard 80s synth with the music video segments
being stock 80s j-pop ballads. It is OK, not great but definitely
ages the movie. The animation is well better then Birth: A War of Two
Worlds. Kenichi Sonoda (creator of Gunsmith Cats) did the character
designs though they mostly look like stock 80s anime character
designs. The rest of the animation is very solid, even if it amounts
to being an animation artifact.
The same praise can't be said of the
english dub. Like Shamanic Princess, it is very dry and stiff and
nearly literal to the Japanese. The only noteworthy voice actor in
this is Lisa Ortiz, who one might remember as voice of Lina Inverse
from the Slayers franchise. The voice acting is fairly average,
though that is due in part to the material being dry and stiff and
ultimately uninteresting.
On a final note: If you get this on
DVD, don't watch it with the 'alternate english track'. It is not
worth it. Seriously, I switched it off after a few minutes-its even
worse then the original dub track, which astounds me greatly. What
amazes me the most is that this enabled a film series. If I get the
chance to look at the other films I might, but it is not a high
priority.
If your are into science fiction
and/or 80s anime, then I recommend you check it out. Otherwise, you
can just skip this.
The only interest it has to me is 80s kitsch, not much else.
Next time is over CyberCity Oedo 808.
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