Captain Harlock (1978) 1.28

The Ulysses Nebula

The Arcadia travels to the Ulysses Nebula. The nebula contains seven planets (Ice Planet, Insect Planet, Goat Planet, Wind Planet, Rainbow Planet, Twin Planets, Human Planet). The Arcadia goes to the Human Planet. There the crew meets a friend of Captain Harlock, Dr. Ayn. He lives there with Romeo (his son), Maria (Romeo's wife), plus Vena (his granddaughter) and Ikaru (his grandson), and several more people.

It is beautiful on the Human Planet. The crew members of the Arcadia enjoy their first 24 hours planet-side but then they get to work looking for Mayu. Captain Harlock and Daiba head out in an ATV. Kei and Yattaran float high above in the Arcadia. Both vehicles are attacked. The ATV is buried by a landslide while it is traveling through a mountainous area. The Arcadia is pulled down by magnetic beams that emanate from a few small islands.

Daiba and Captain Harlock escape from the landslide and make their way back to the Arcadia. A tsunami comes up and the Arcadia is submerged. They spot the source of the ugly weather, an underwater tectonic controller. They blow it up and head back to the shore. There they discover that the village has been wiped out. It seems at first the Vana and Ikaru are the only survivors but the two kids lead them to an underground layer where Dr. Ayn greets them. There is another person there, Miyu, a Mazone.

Miyu kills Dr. Ayn. He dies protecting his grandson. He reveals with his dying breath that it was he who built the seismic controller to protect himself and the other humans from outsiders. Miyu forced him to use it against the Arcadia.

Daiba shoots and kills Miyu. Captain Harlock decides to leave Ikaru and Vena there to fend for themselves. He has confidence that they will prosper. The Arcadia leaves the Human Planet still searching for Mayu.

Thoughts

This one has some weird developments. There is no explanation given for how Dr. Ayn and the other humans arrived on the Human Planet, or why it is called that. What happened to Dr. Ayn's wife? Was she still alive at the time that the Arcadia arrived?

How did the ATV escape from the landslide? The vehicle might have protected Captain Harlock and Daiba from the falling rock but it did seem at one point as if the vehicle was buried. Moments later they were out on the water without any explanation for how they got from buried under tons of rock to on a boat heading for the Arcadia.

Miyu looked suspicious from the moment I first saw her. I was pretty sure was going to turn out to be a Mazone.

I was stunned by Captain Harlock's decision to leave the two kids behind to fend for themselves. He tells them that they will have to rebuild the planet themselves. He seems to think the two siblings will do just fine.

This isn't an awful episode but it didn't impress me as much as the previous two. The inconsistencies in this episode keep me from holding it in quite as high a regard as I would like to.