1984 · sci-fi · space · adventure
Lensman
Directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Kazuyuki Hirokawa1h 47m1984
In this animated adaptation of E. E. Doc Smith's groundbreaking science fiction serial "Grey Lensman" from the 1930s-1950s, Kimball Kinnison, a young man from the agricultural planet Mquie and his Valerian companion, Buscirk find a dying man with a legendary crystal lens embedded in his hand. As the man was dying, he mysteriously passed on the Lens to Kim. With more companions to come by, Kim must find out the purpose of the Lens before the Boskone dynasty does.
Our read: Lensman (1984) reads as a neutral, breathless, inventive sci-fi · space · adventure entry — measured in intensity, epic-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook.
Neutral, breathless, measured sci-fi / space, inventive in texture. Ambivalent, epic, measured.
- kinetic
- epic-stakes
Watching Lensman tonight? Spin for your lens.
Everyone on the couch spins once and gets one craft to watch for. After the credits, compare what you caught.
Your lens for tonight
?
Everyone on the couch gets one craft to watch for. Spin the wheel to get yours. Sound on: the narrator reads your mission.
More info & search links
How Lensman feels to watch.
Each axis is scored by hand, not from votes or genre averages. The bar uses the film's own colours.
What watching it is actually like.
“You want classic 1980s Japanese space opera anime with young heroes and cosmic stakes.”
Skip it tonight — You dislike older animation or want grounded live-action sci-fi.
Eight films that feel like this one.
Closest in the twelve-axis space, not “people also liked”. All films like Lensman, with why →
Discussion
Make it a movie night.
Pick a mood, get a film the whole couch will enjoy, and give everyone something to watch for.
Pick tonight's film →