The Galaxy Express is an old steam train that flies through space.
We’re told the train is actually a spaceship designed to look this way and remind people of earlier and simpler times.
Ironically, the movie itself was made in earlier and simpler times- the 1970s.
Fifty years later, I got to watch what’s probably a cinematic premiere (the organisers are not 100%) at Scotland Loves Anime.
The in-plot conceit for why The Galaxy Express 999 looks like a steam train does not work and is not necessary. If you can’t just roll with the fact our young hero is travelling through space on a train, then space pirates standing on the deck of their ship while the space wind rattles their hair will finish you off. Furthermore, there are gunfights in which windows on the train are broken so that passing space airships can be shot at. This is a space future without a vacuum.
The Galaxy Express 999 plot
A young boy’s mother is shot for sport by Count Mecha and his fellow mechanised-bodied cronies, who have taken to hunting humans.
When we see the kid next, he’s a bit older, running a young gang and determined to steal a ticket on board the Galaxy Express 999 so that he can go to the planet at the end of the train’s journey, get a free mechanised body for himself and thus be able to confront and kill Count Mecha.
It’s a bad plan that goes wrong within the first three seconds.
Fortunately, Tetsuro ends up on the Galaxy Express 999 anyway after being rescued by a mysterious woman who looks a lot like his mum and is called Maetel.
Perhaps audiences in 70s were easier to fool, but you’ve no doubt noticed the baddies are people with robot bodies (who look like robot men in blonde wigs – just to reinforce that they’re European noble twats) and that the mystery woman’s name is a lot like Metal. Maybe it’s harder to notice in the original Japanese.
Fear not! The manga author Leiji Matsumoto and anime director Hobutaka Nishizawa are no fools. The whole movie is a guessing game of whether this is a bluff, a double bluff or a catch they had been hoping you hadn’t noticed.
You’ll have plenty of time to make your mind up. The film lasts 130 minutes as Tetsuro, Mateal and various pirates – not limited to the infamous Harlock – travel to various planets, make friends and have adventures. Unless you’re watching the clock, there will be, I suspect, several times when you think the plot might have reached its conclusion, the secret out, the final showdown done. However, it’s not over until the credits roll.
In summary, the plot could do with fewer cameos and more trimming.
Galaxy Express 999 look and feel
That this dystopia is retro-sci-fi by design helps protect Galaxy Express 999 from looking weirdly dated. Today, it just looks like a bold stylist choice.
Women are terribly thin, men are not much chunkier, and robots are generally metal versions of their fleshy originals except with d6 random eyes.
It feels more like a road movie than a grand adventure. It’s not Lord of the Rings in space despite the half-pint hero setting out on a long journey to do right and meeting mysterious warriors on the way. Lord of the Rings was more consistent with fewer gimmicks.
Galaxy Express 999 looks, by today’s standard, for a younger audience than the plot fits. It’s a bit darker than it looks; women lose their clothes, and people die.
Overall
Nostalgia for anime fans or, if you’re of the right age, of those French-made sci-fi cartoons that aired on European TV on weekend mornings.
Galaxy Express 999 passes the time, although the clock slows down significantly towards the end when you realise there’s more story to come.
It helps to know who some of the characters are, especially if you watch anything with Captain Harlock, but it only helps a little.
Unlike most trains today, Galaxy Express 999 is a safe ‘run on schedule’ style pass of an adventure. Not remarkable, but safe enough.
Quick Links
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