Space Battleship Yamato - Season 2 - Eps 2: The Comet Appears; Remodeling the Yamato!
Sandor and Wildstar visit the new shipyards, and discuss many of the new tech improvements going into Earth's new fleet. The Andromeda and other ships have skeleton crews, with most of the central systems controlled by computer. Sandor laments this since he believes that "we must keep control of the machines we create. If we don't, we're doomed." (see episode 1-18). There are improvements for the Argo too: New shock cannons that have an increased range (150% of the original); and, a time radar that is capable to detecting past events in space. Sandor demonstrates it for Wildstar by showing Chief Engineer Orion urinating against a ship-yard wall. Must be getting old, that one. But, all the improvements are not welcome. Sandor reveals to Wildstar that Earth Defense Committee wants the Argo to be adapted to the same kind of computer control system a la Andromeda. Derek flies into a rage and storms off to the Commander's office in protest. He urges, "The Argo's heart and blood is the Star Force. It's people, not machinery!" While pleading his case to the Commander, as if in symmetry to the recent power surge, there is a power blackout over most of Earth, which is an attempt by the new enemy to soften up Earth defenses. During the outage, Wildstar spots an alien spy plane (a horseshoe crab-shaped bomber) flying over the darkened city. Sandor notices a huge comet in the distant sky heading towards Earth. He and Wildstar analyse the radio message received during the power surge but can only determine that it must be "in some unknown language."
About Space Battleship Yamato

Title: Space Battleship Yamato
First Air Date: 1974-10-06
Last Air Date: 1981-04-04
Status: Ended
Rating: 8/10 (from 12 votes)
Language: JA
Seasons: 4
Total Episodes: 77
Network: YTV
Genres: Animation, Drama, Action & Adventure
Production Companies: Unknown
Synopsis
Space Battleship Yamato is a Japanese science fiction anime series featuring an eponymous spacecraft. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as Space Cruiser Yamato; an English-dubbed and heavily edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television as Star Blazers. The first two seasons of this version were broadcast in Greece in 1981-82 as Διαστημόπλοιο Αργώ. An Italian-language version was also broadcast under the name Star Blazers in Italy, and a Portuguese-language version was successfully shown in Brazil under the title Patrulha Estelar and Viaje a la Ultima Galaxia or Astronave Intrepido in Spain and Latin America. It is a seminal series in the history of anime, marking a turn towards more complex serious works and influencing works such as Mobile Suit Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion; Hideaki Anno has ranked Yamato his favorite anime and credited it with sparking his interest in anime. Yamato was the first anime series or movie to win the Seiun Award, a feat not repeated until the 1985 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
Cast

Kei Tomiyama
Susumu Kodai

Gorō Naya
Juzo Okita

Shūsei Nakamura
Daisuke Shima

Yoko Asagami
Yuki Mori

Takeshi Aono
Shiro Sanada

Ichiro Nagai
Hikozaemon Tokugawa

Kenichi Ogata
Analyzer

Yoshito Yasuhara
Kenjiro Ota

Taichiro Hirokawa
Mamoru Kodai

Sachiko Chijimatsu
Shima's Mother