The state of Star Blazers as it stands...
This conversation started a year or so back in another thread, which I promised to continue when I knew more, but I can't find the original thread, so I'll just start a new one for anyone still interested.
The subject was the sorry state of the only available Star Blazers DVDs. So here's the unfortunate news: It looks like there won't be a remastered version or blu-ray release. There could have been, because I was working on it myself, and with Tim Eldred, webmaster of Starblazers.com, we were trying to sell the US rights holder on contracting me to produce a cleaned-up, restored version with missing scenes re-integrated, and such. I was confident I could offer this service at a fair price, because I was already doing it for my own pleasure, and didn't really care what I got paid for it, but the company didn't want to invest. Earlier in 2012, the Japanese rights holders re-acquired the US office and the idea was pitched to them. They initially seemed receptive, but then something happened. A few weeks back, they locked down the official website, after having previously praised it, and decided to wipe it clean, ultimately, no doubt, to be replaced with a boring corporate site. Tim Eldred was never contacted in regards to why he'd essentially been fired, and after he began a new, fan-oriented SB site, the official site added a threatening disclaimer to their "under construction" page saying that no other sites were licensed and would be prosecuted-apparently, "fair use" and "freedom of the press" are alien concepts to them over there.
This means that the likelihood of a restored Star Blazers ever appearing in an official capacity is essentially finished; with Tim out of the loop, they certainly won't be hiring me to basically hand over the finished restoration I did on spec, and they seem to have no interest in pursuing it elsewise. I wish it was better news, but if you want to know who to blame, it's the bean counters. It always is.
-There is no such word as "alot."