Garaga

I wrote this review years ago, yet it was never published. I figure I mine as well put it out today. If the review seems a little different than my ordinary stuff, that’s because it was originally written for another site. I finally have some free time in my personal life, and I feel like bringing this blog back to life. And why not start with a Planet of the Apes reject?

Central Park Media released this on DVD in 2001 in a regular DVD case. The cover looks alright, with the main characters and the ape-man in the center surrounded by space. Perhaps it’s a little corny, but there’s not much you can do with these character designs. I really like the back cover art, with the way the main character and the apes are placed all on one side, and the synopsis on the other side. The menu is animated and easy to use. Plus as a bonus it looks kind of cool. It’s better then a boring still image being used anyway.

The movie starts off introducing us to the crew of a cargo space ship on a not-so-standard delivery mission. Along with their normal cargo, they are carrying two  cryogenically frozen people. The entire crew is on the ship, waiting for the captain to arrive, who turns out to be a real dimwit. The ship takes off and all is well for awhile, until all of a sudden a part of the ship blows up. This happens at the worst possible time as they are about to go through hyperspace. The ship goes through hyperspace incorrectly, and ends up in a less explored portion of the galaxy. And then of course another part of the ship explodes. Things went from bad to worse. This leads the crew to believe there can only be one cause, sabotage. Since the ship is damaged and needs to land, they find the first hospitable planet they can, and make an emergency landing. Little do they know this planet is inhabited by a race of psychics, and of course ape-man. There is a war going on for control of this planet, and someone is pulling the strings here from a distance. This crew must stick together and find a way off the planet, but it seems almost every person on board has ulterior motives, and are working to achieve some unknown goal. The show is filled with double crossers, spies, and saboteurs. And you’re never quite sure who is working for who, and what side they are on. Who reports to who, and what faction are they working for exactly is the big mystery here, and it’s handled well.

While watching this film you get the sense that they want to tell a much grander (and much longer) story then the one we end up with. Despite its relatively long running time for a feature length film, most of the movie seems rushed. The pacing is quite terrible at times here. We have barely come to terms with a plot twist, before the writers throw another one at us. Not to mention people die left and right, and before we can care the writers are already working on the next major plot point. Still there is real intelligence here, although I admit you have to look pretty hard for it. It’s quite smart how we’re never quite sure who is loyal to who and what character is planning what. As the audience we are always a little unsure of what these characters main objectives are, until the end of the film where most of this is revealed. The Captain of the ship, much like us, is left in the dark and just taken aback by what is happening around him. It’s funny how he’s so confused, because you’d expect him to be the one who knows what is going on and act as leader, but he is only a pawn in all this. And it’s pretty interesting that we relate to him most of all. Too bad he didn’t get more screen time. He’s one of the best parts of this film. Other parts of the movie are just plain dumb and there is no excuse for that. For example many characters are just plain illogical, and their reactions to certain events that occur on the planet are moronic.

The best aspects of the film is its great political intrigue, along with the original concept of the ape men. The technology used is another positive attribute of the movie. There’s plenty of cool space ships, neat cryogenics, and interesting robots here. It’s all very reminiscent of Ridley Scott’s Alien, only a little less grimy. Some of it is pretty imaginative too. Jay’s (the main character) weapon system is cool, and his robot sidekick is pretty funny.

The video quality on this DVD isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. While it’s not perfect,  it’s more then acceptable considering how old it is. Some of the colors like orange, pink, and red are fuzzy at times. And the movie as a whole is just not as crisp as it could be. However there’s no real bleeding or major problems that I can see. The art in Garaga is pretty plain and not very well detailed. Character designs are boring and uninspired. The color palette looks washed out and sort of ugly. The animation is incredibly poor at times, especially when spaceships are moving. Some fight scenes on the ground look nice. But there’s way too many awkward character movements here for me. And there’s a lot of stills and panning for a movie. This is just very unsatisfactory. There’s plenty of other stuff from the 80’s that looks much nicer then this.

The audio quality here is pretty good. There were no dropouts or other major problems. Background music is generic fluff. Forgettable and boring to hear, but at least it’s fitting and none of it is corny. The ending theme on the other hand is a nice piece of 80’s J-Pop well worth listening to over and over again. I really love this song.

The dub for Garaga was produced in New York City, and directed by Kip Kaplan. And let’s just say I am not a fan of Mr. Kaplan’s dubs, and this is another one he’s directed that I really hate. Kip Kaplan has made some of the absolute worst dubs in the history of anime. The dub here is just all around bad. While I’ve heard worse, this is really only for the most forgiving dub fans out there. I cannot in good conscience recommend this dub to anyone really. Surprisingly the dub starts off decent for the first few minutes, but by the time they crash land on the planet, the dub begins to fall apart. I swear by the end of the movie it’s like the actor’s aren’t even trying anymore.

There are no real extras on this DVD. The only feature here just re-plays certain scenes from the movie that introduced the characters. This is nice if you’ve forgotten who’s who but don’t want to re-watch the entire movie. But it’s not much of an extra.

The film has many problems, but there’s plenty here worth seeing if you are willing to overlook them (and you’re going to have to overlook quite a bit). This is definitely not for everyone. With the poor art and animation, generic music, and rushed story, most will probably hate this. But I found the political intrigue quite interesting, and some of the surprise twists really work well. Plus the Captain is just a lovable idiot who makes the whole film better. And apes are cool.

Prede’s Rating

2.5/5

 

Positives: Interesting politics, a lovable idiot for a Captain, cool future tech, and who doesn’t like Planet of the Apes?

Negatives: Everything else.