Ask John: What Would a Japanese Remake of Battlestar Galactica Be Like?

Question:
Do you think, if they were doing a re-imaging of Battlestar Galactica in Japan, would they do it live action or animate it? That would be something I think!

Answer:
It’s a fascinating (or, at least I find it interesting) fact that Japanese viewers seem to enjoy live action outer space sci-fi adventure films, but don’t make them themselves. Franchises including Star Wars, Star Trek, and Alien are particularly popular in Japan, but I can’t think of a single Japanese live action ensemble cast space adventure film or television series. I’m not doubting that they exist. I’m only stating that I can’t recall any. America has produced many live action space operas including the aforementioned franchises, Battlestar Galactica, Andromeda, Farscape, Firefly, Event Horizon, The Black Hole, Silent Running, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and countless others. But America doesn’t produce very many original giant monster movies or costumed sci-fi hero movies (as opposed to comic book style heroes). Japan, on the other hand, seems to focus its effects heavy live action film work to giant monsters like Godzilla, Gamera, Daimajin, and the recent Shinkaiju Reigo, and also sentai and tokusatsu entries like Kamen Rider & Garo, various “ranger” hero team shows, and giant robots like Tekkoki Mikazuki.

When Japan produces original space operas, it typically uses animation. There are dozens of anime space operas like Starship Operators, Ginga Sengoku Gunyuden Rai, Space Cruiser Yamato, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Geneshaft, and Macross. But oddly even Gundam, Japan’s most famous space opera, has no Japanese live action version that I can think of. The G-Savior live action television movie was filmed in Canada, and all of the other Gundam that resembles live action is Japanese-produced CG animation. I honestly don’t know why Japan’s film industry seems hesitant to produce live action space sagas. During the 70s and 80s Japan may have avoided these sort of productions for cost concerns. But these days, especially with digital special effects, Japan has proven with films like Returner and Avalon that its film industry is easily capable of producing convincing and impressive sci-fi.

Evidence suggests that if Japan’s film industry was to produce something like Battlestar Galactica, it would probably be made with animation. I honestly don’t know if there’s a precise reason why original live action space operas are rare in Japan. The explanation may be equivalent to the vague lack of interest that explains why America produces very few original hero-in-powered-armor films or giant robot shows.