Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years (partially lost Harmony Gold English dub and cut of "Captain Harlock" and "Queen Millennia" anime series; 1985-1986)

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HarlockTitleCard.jpg

Title card for the series.

Status: Lost

Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years is an animated science fiction television series produced by Harmony Gold USA. The series was created by Carl Macek by combining footage from Leiji Matsumoto’s Captain Harlock and Queen Millennia anime series.[1] Despite the inclusion of the two series, they are not meant to correlate with each other and do not fit with the loose continuity of the Leijiverse.

Plot

Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years takes place in an undisclosed point in the future (the only reference to its date being a single reference to “the eruption of Krakatoa 700 years ago,” placing its approximate date at 2583), after humankind has colonized the distant stars. But prosperity has corrupted the people of Earth, who have become corrupt and decadent.

The Mazone, a race of sentient plants, hatch a plot to seize Earth after their own planet is destroyed. A lone scientist attempts to warn the people of Earth, but at the cost of his reputation and life. The titular Harlock is blamed for the various instances of the Mazones’ attacks upon the Earth, and, despite being an outcast amongst his own people, plans to stop the Mazone and save humanity from the alien threat with aid from Princess Olivia, next in line to throne of Millennia, the Mazones’ supposed allies in the invasion.

Production

After the success of Robotech, Harmony Gold sought to expand their syndicated television production in other animation series originating in Japan. The account according to Carl Macek, producer of Robotech, was that he was subsequently asked what other Japanese animated series he was interested in dubbing, and he expressed an interest in Leiji Matsumoto’s Captain Harlock.

After the rights were obtained, Macek was informed that Harmony Gold had allocated airtime for 65 episodes. Captain Harlock, however, was only 42 episodes long, prompting Harmony Gold to buy another Matsumoto series, Queen Millennia, when they were unable to get another Captain Harlock series to extend the run. It then fell to Macek and his team to combine the two shows into one series.[2]

Unlike Robotech, it was decided to combine the two series simultaneously instead of simply running them one after the other with some “connecting” episodes. At the same time, it was also decided to change the timing of episodes, thus creating a situation where clips from episodes at various points in the original series would appear in a single episode in the American series. This resulted in a wildly different plot from both of the original sources. The Queen Millennia television series also ran 42 episodes, with the result that many episodes were dropped from both series (including the final episodes of the Millennia series, which therefore ended in a cliffhanger) in order to create the 65 American episodes. Additionally, despite the title of the series, the two title characters never appeared together on-screen as the original shows took place in different continuities.

Status

Unlike with Robotech, Harmony Gold was unable to secure a national syndication deal for the series. As such, the series only aired in a handful of markets during the 1985-1986 television season. After the initial airing, the series was pulled from syndication and Harmony Gold ultimately allowed their license for both shows that made up the series to lapse. No home video releases were produced for the series, causing the series to be unavailable for viewing to the general public.

A blog post from 2009 by a man known as "Fer" received 63 of the 65 episodes of the series in a trade. It is unknown if these episodes have been or will be publicly shared.[3]

As of 2016, the series remains the only attempt at a release for Queen Millennia in the United States.

Episode List

Episode Status
1. Genesis Lost
2. The Inferno Lost
3. Mystery of the Observatory Lost
4. Simple Diversions Lost
5. Origins Lost
6. Deadly Games Lost
7. Firefight Lost
8. Clash of Will Lost
9. The Knockout Punch Lost
10. The Hidden Land Lost
11. Life Sentence Lost
12. Zero Hour Lost
13. Revelations Lost
14. Boot Camp Lost
15. Battle Stations Lost
16. Survival Time Lost
17. Undersea Encounter Lost
18. Desert Sands Lost
19. Healing Ways Lost
20. The Abduction Lost
21. World for Ransom Lost
22. Journey Into Darkness Lost
23. Hot Seat Lost
24. Knights Without Honor Lost
25. Firing Line Lost
26. Royal Treatment Lost
27. Lone Justice Lost
28. Passion Play Lost
29. Cat and Mouse Lost
30. The Last Laugh Lost
31. The Raiding Party Lost
32. The Dark Dimensions Lost
33. Fire and Brimstone Lost
34. The White Ship Lost
35. Command Performance Lost
36. Glory Days Lost
37. The Price of Failure Lost
38. The Days of My Youth Lost
39. Chain Gang Lost
40. The Master Builder Lost
41. Return Engagement Lost
42. To Catch a Captain Lost
43. Double Jeopardy Lost
44. Danger Below Lost
45. The Deadly Duel Lost
46. Lightning Strikes Twice Lost
47. Queen’s Gambit Lost
48. Mutual Destruction Lost
49. The Shocking Truth Lost
50. The Set Up Lost
51. The Sound of Laughter Lost
52. Treason Is in the Eye of the Beholder Lost
53. Date With Destiny Lost
54. Balance of Power Lost
55. The Gauntlet Lost
56. Ray of Hope Lost
57. Phoenix Rising Lost
58. Manifest Destiny Lost
59. Friend or Foe Lost
60. Walking Wounded Lost
61. White Water Lost
62. Coast Guard Lost
63. Vengeance Lost
64. Anchors Away Lost
65. A New Beginning Lost

Gallery

Corn Pone Flicks' video on Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years.

A clip from a panel at Anime Banzai 2008 talking about Creating Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years, featuring the opening of the series.

External Links

Reference

  1. [Patten, Fred (2004). "Japan + Animation = Japanimation! Part 2". Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews. Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press. p. 256. ISBN 1-880656-92-2.]
  2. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/anncast/2010-01-14 An episode of Anime News Network's ANNCast titled "Macek Training".
  3. Fer's blog post regarding the series.