| Space Carrier Blue Noah | |
 Space Carrier Blue Noah OP theme single | |
| 宇宙空母ブルーノア (Uchū Kūbo Burū Noa) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama, Science fiction |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Kazunori Tanahashi |
| Studio | Academy Productions |
| Original network | NNS (YTV) |
| English network | |
| Original run | October 13, 1979 – March 30, 1980 |
| Episodes | 24 |
Space Carrier Blue Noah (Japanese: 宇宙空母ブルーノア, Hepburn: Uchū Kūbo Burū Noa) is a Japanese science fiction anime series produced by Office Academy, which aired from October 13, 1979, to March 30, 1980. It was later dubbed in English as Thundersub and released in Spanish-speaking countries as Nave Anti-Espacial.
Set in 2052, the series follows Earth's battle for survival after an alien force known as the Death Force begins terraforming the planet. A group of students and survivors discover Blue Noah, a secret warship capable of space and underwater combat, and lead the fight to repel the invasion.
 | The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with the Canadian dub, which has Westernized character names, and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (March 2021) |
In the year 2052, the planet Gotham faced annihilation as a roving black hole threatened to consume its sun and solar system. When all efforts to avert the disaster failed, a brilliant but authoritarian scientist, Leader Zytel (General Zee), revealed the Terror Star—a colossal spacefaring satellite capable of sustaining 200 million Gothamites. Granted absolute power to carry out the evacuation, Zytel led the survivors on a desperate search for a new home across deep space.
After thirty years of wandering, the Terror Star encountered Earth. Though not ideal for Gothamite physiology, the planet could be terraformed. Zytel dispatched disguised probes to assess its suitability. Earth's scientists, upon examining the unusual meteorites, uncovered evidence of intelligent alien surveillance. The nine global research centers, N1 to N9, coordinated to respond, gathering their top minds. Dr. Cromwell Collins, head of an oceanographic center affiliated with N1, warned his son Colin of the looming danger. Before being killed in a surprise Gothamite attack, he entrusted Colin with a glowing pendant and the word "Thundersub," urging him to reach N1.
As Earth's research centers and cities were devastated—only N1 and N9 surviving—Colin and his high school friends fled toward N1. Along the way, they found a mute girl, Anna, in shock from the invasion. At N1, while swimming near the bay, the group was pulled into a whirlpool that led to a hidden cave beneath the facility. There, Colin's pendant revealed a sealed chamber containing Blue Noah (Thundersub), a powerful, secret warship. When Colin spoke its name, the ship activated and surfaced.
Soon after, the returning test sub Tempest Jr.—piloted by Captain Noah and his crew—found Blue Noah. The Captain recognized the teens and learned Colin's father had designed the ship. He was also shocked to find Anna, his estranged daughter, aboard. She had believed he had abandoned her and her mother for duty. Despite tensions, the youths were welcomed aboard and assigned to the Tempest Jr..
As Terror Star entered Earth's orbit, its tidal effects triggered massive quakes, volcanic eruptions, and storms—killing 90% of the human population in a single day. Gothamite forces established sea fortresses to extract heavy water from the oceans, their primary energy source. Blue Noah began counterattacking and rescuing survivors, earning the attention and enmity of the Gothamite military arm, the Death Force, led by Col. Jrgens (Lupus).
The crew rescued Lt. Domingo from a downed fighter; he revealed that Blue Noah could be converted for space flight at N9 with an Aero Conversion Engine. En route to Bermuda, the team discovered that the Gothamites were building Gravity Control bases at both poles to make Earth hospitable for themselves—and deadly for humans. Blue Noah successfully destroyed the South Pole base, but Tempest Jr. failed to destroy the North Pole site and was nearly lost, with Skipper Bergen sacrificing himself to save his crew.
After regrouping, the fleet reached N9, where Blue Noah was upgraded and joined by three companion ships. With space combat capability, they launched simultaneous strikes, destroying the Gravity Control base in the North Pole and the Death Force's Earth headquarters in the Sahara, the latter by Lt. Domingo, who gave his life in the mission.
In space, Blue Noah confronted Terror Star. Hegeler, a Gothamite officer, discovered that most of the satellite's population had already perished due to a design flaw in its life support systems. Zytel planned to hide this truth by terraforming Earth and repopulating it with digital backups of Gothamite minds. When Hegeler confronted him, Zytel denied everything; a struggle ensued and Hegeler fatally stabbed him.
Meanwhile, Col. Jrgens engaged Blue Noah in a final duel and was killed. Captain Noah was mortally wounded during the battle and passed command to Colin before dying. When Terror Star's engines failed and sent it on a collision course with Earth, Hegeler forced a last-ditch engine restart. The satellite veered away just in time, realigning Earth's axis, but the stress caused Terror Star's systems to overheat and explode, sending it into the Sun.
With the Gothamite threat extinguished, Earth began to recover. Captain Noah was buried with honor, his epitaph reading "The man who saved Earth." Colin and Anna later married and founded an organization dedicated to preventing future extraterrestrial invasions.
Following is a list of all 24 episode titles, with an English translation first, followed by the original Japanese (and a rōmaji transliteration in parentheses).
The first episode was originally broadcast as a feature-length "TV special" to introduce the series, later split into four 30-minute episodes for rebroadcast by Japanese local TV stations:
Closing the starboard and port flight decks makes it possible for the Blue Noah to submerge for underwater cruising. It is equipped with a lightwave booster, making both atmospheric and extra-atmospheric operation possible. The Tempest Junior mini-submersible is housed in the bow of the ship, large Bison attack helicopter known as "Rocketcopter" is stowed in the stern and the lower decks serve as a hangar for numerous fighter jets. The Tempest Junior features an anti-gravity drive allowing the crew to detach from the main ship for "away missions."
Blue Noah's most powerful weapon is the Anti-Proton Gun. When initiated, the prow of the ship separates into upper and lower halves, revealing a massive energy generator. Electrical power from all of the ship's onboard systems is diverted to power this generator, creating a massive burst of energy powerful enough to annihilate a target completely. This enormous energy requirement renders Blue Noah's systems temporarily offline after a single burst of the Anti-Proton Gun, and as such the weapon is used only as a last resort during Earth sorties. Extensive modifications are made to the Blue Noah prior to the final assault on the alien invaders, enabling the ship to use the Anti-Proton Gun repeatedly in space without the resulting system downtime.
The 2009 anime film Space Battleship Yamato: Resurrection has an appearance by a ship called the Blue Noah, the flagship of Earth's immigration fleet. There are no indications that the events of both anime are connected.
