The first bit I saw of this was a scene where Wildstar & Venture were trying to open an underground door by inserting some weird rectangles in a comb device. It looked pretty boring. That opinion soon changed when the wave motion engine blasted and the hand drawn masterpiece of guns, engines, & steel smoothly glided away from camera. The animation was more ambitious and realistic than any of the Jetsons, Scoobie Doo, or cat shows of the time, loaded with original cell sequences of very detailed objects which were only used once.
The most rewarding sequences were when the Argo would get more and more damaged as a battle waged. Every detail of the damage from gun turrets flying off the deck to steel plates bursting was meticulously animated and retained in the next shot. The end of the episode would consist of completely new cells of the Argo looking like a disaster. Other cartoons would rarely bother updating for continuity like that but produce the battle sequences with a pristine looking spaceship to save on animation.
Then there was the attention to the physical mechanics of how things work. It's a rare show in which the props actually look like they can do what they do. Engines looked like real engines. Seats & elevators looked like they could really work. Guns looked like real guns.
The obsession with Starblazers lasted 5 years, then Robotech came out, but Starblazers remained the bible of animation.
The most rewarding sequences were when the Argo would get more and more damaged as a battle waged. Every detail of the damage from gun turrets flying off the deck to steel plates bursting was meticulously animated and retained in the next shot. The end of the episode would consist of completely new cells of the Argo looking like a disaster. Other cartoons would rarely bother updating for continuity like that but produce the battle sequences with a pristine looking spaceship to save on animation.
Then there was the attention to the physical mechanics of how things work. It's a rare show in which the props actually look like they can do what they do. Engines looked like real engines. Seats & elevators looked like they could really work. Guns looked like real guns.
The obsession with Starblazers lasted 5 years, then Robotech came out, but Starblazers remained the bible of animation.