Baldios and its companion movie are probably the greatest story I have ever seen. I myself own the movie in its original VHS form and watch it several times a year, it's easily one of my most treasured possessions. The movie usually gets a bad rap compared to the series, but if you look beyond the fact that the clips were thrown together rather sloppily, you can see a true masterpiece.
The movie is basically a recap of the entire series plus the true ending we didn't get, where justice triumphs at the end, but at a horrible price. You can't really note anything spectacular about the story of the movie as it's rushed and a majority of great scenes are cut out to make it fit the timeframe of 97 minutes. We lose many battle scenes with the great Baldios, and those that are included are spliced in rather randomly, with cuts happening without warning.
I must admit, Baldios comes off as rather cheesy, but inside, the themes run deep.
We constantly find a struggle between two people who are very similar, but different at the same time, and at one point, the line between who is good and who is bad can be blurred. As we see that the people of S-1 are human like the Earthmen, it's really hard to want any side to win as they both have the right to live on the Earth as humans.
The art is on par with the standards of 80s mecha, with the broad line strokes and the underdetailed, but seemingly detailed character designs. Once again, the art itself can seem rather cheesy, and it's very Super Robot-esque, but I guess that's what makes it so enjoyable.
The sound is quite horrible in a good way as well. The English dub is laughably cheesy and seems over dramatic at bad times. An especially good example would have to be when soldiers as shot or blown up, where they make these hilarious grunts. It really adds to the whole experience in my opinion.
Arguably the deepest part of Baldios itself is the characters and how they develop over the period of the movie. Marin is the best example of this. You can very well say he is a tragic hero and has a pure heart. He constantly stares out to the ocean and admires the clean atmosphere of the Earth, which is what he had always dreamed of and what his father would have wished for. I like to call him the original Captain Planet because he fights to protect the Earth from pollution and to keep it the blue planet it is, unlike S-1 which was polluted beyond reason. However, in the end, he still loses what he loves most.
Aphroditia (and the lighthouse as well) is an important character for the development of Marin. Their constant meetings bring them closer to one another, and Aphroditia begins to doubt what she originally believed. In addition, the lighthouse is an important theme which stems their relation.
E.x. "You remember the day at the lighthouse, Aphroditia?" "Let's go back to the lighthouse, Aphroditia."
Lastly is Gatter, who is one of the most important characters due to his standing as the primary antagonist. However, as evil as he seems, he still has a just cause. All he wished to do was give the people of S-1 a clean and safe world to inhabit, however, he was blinded by the power he had and made the one fatal mistake where we find that Earth and S-1 aren't as different as we originally thought; and thus, his seemingly noble cause ended up being nothing but a waste.
Baldios is an interesting show, where it's many themes run deep, waiting to be discovered. It is a very enjoyable movie and I hope people can give it a chance to see how great it actually is.
Overall it gets a 7 through averaging.
