City Satellite Uruku or Uruk is the signature mothership and primary base of operations of the ruthless warmongering Denguil. It appears in the 1983 movie Final Yamato.
Overview and Specifications[]
An enormous behemoth of a space fortress with an overall length of 20.8 kilometres, built from a continental landmass from the Denguil homeworld that rose up from the drowned planet after Aquarius has passed through. As the simultaneous capital, flagship, and last physical remnant of what was left of their homeworld, it can be said that Uruku represents the last survivors of the Denguil civilisation.
The front part of the spaceship is a modern city with many skyscrapers, command towers (including a large island superstructure on the starboard side), and other manmade structures, with dominant highways running down the middle. The prow of the vessel is forked into two prongs that serve as takeoff and landing strips for other spacecraft. Towards the rear half however, it becomes less like an urban landscape and more thicker, rockier, and mountainous in appearance. It can be said at this point that the majority of the mobile fortress is made of planet crust and solid rock, almost like an asteroid. Closer to the extreme rear and scattered around the slopes, temples called "ziggurats" exist on mountainous rock formations and are manned by combat robots in a horse-like form. The mountain's "caldera" features a small observation deck. The stern terminates in two enormous-but-narrow rectangular thrusters, and two tiny fins down the middle.
The rock formations are also a source of energy for the inhabitants themselves. Mineral energy is drawn from the mountainous underside and taken to the ship's central area.
Deep in the middle of all that stone, one section is comprised of a powerful, sophisticated warp mechanism, capable of transporting the water planet Aquarius through space along with the ship itself. Uruku's main defences are based on neutrinos, in the form of both shields and deadly beams. The vessel's four neutrino beam defense curtain radiators are present on the sides, with the aft pair being larger. It also carries numerous fleets of warships and fighters, as well as a control unit for the drive system to tether and warp Aquarius, which can all be commanded from a central temple or command tower. There are also a number of stone-shaped rockets and escape ships hidden inside, ready to break away, should the massive space fortress meet an unfortunate end.
Interior[]
Bridge and Command Center[]
This serves as the massive vessel’s main bridge and command center, as well as having a great view from where they can guide and navigate their numerous operations from.
Throne Room[]
The throne room itself serves as Emperor Lugal’s seat of power.
Temple[]
Easily largest and most impressive part of the entire ship, the temple itself serves as the primary place of worship, with a giant, demonic, winged statue, of what could very well being one of their many gods. Their are many large flights of stairs, as well as turbo lifts nearby that also connect to the throne room itself.
Hanger Bays[]
The massive vessel has a large enough hanger bay and docking bays to incorporate a large number of warships and various fighters.
History[]
The surviving Denguil, a warrior race who believe only the strong should survive, plan to use Aquarius to flood Earth and destroy humanity, in order to create a new home for their race. They and their spiritual zealot leader, Emperor Lugal escape their dying homeworld via using a massive space fortress-like mothership called Uruku to escape, leaving a great majority of their civilian population behind, including the Emperor's own wife and youngest son to perish.
Near the end, the Yamato and her crew are forced to crash-land on the massive vessel and a great battle takes place on the surface and interior of Uruku, but the Uruku is eventually self-destructed by Emperor Lugal himself in order to prevent Aquarius from warping away, killing all still living within the city, from which the Pre-Noah, Emperor Lugal's second flagship, emerges from the wreckage leading a fleet of Denguil Stone Rocket warships.
The Pre-Noah and the fleet of Stone Rocket warships are eventually hunted down and destroyed by Emperor Dessler of Gamilas, who brought in his surviving forces to help save his human allies and his best friend Susumu Kodai at the last moment, distracting the enemy long enough for the Yamato to warp safely, while enabling Dessler to successfully kill the vile evil Emperor Lugal and wiping out his fleet remnants in the ensuing final battle, thus rendering the Denguil species entirely extinct.
Notes and trivia[]
An early concept sketch of Uruku
- The vessel is named after the ancient Sumerian city of Uruk.
- The vessel's mountain was meant to visually evoke Mount Fuji in both size and silhouette.
- As of the conclusion of the original series with Final Yamato, Uruku holds the record for the biggest vessel ever encountered in the original Yamato series, surpassing Gatlantis in length and Zwordar's Giant Battleship in sheer bulk and dimensions. For a time, the Denguil mothership was one of the biggest vehicles ever depicted in Japanese science fiction.
- According to a setting book released with the first screening version (35mm) of Final Yamato, Uruku was initially concepted with a length of around 40 kilometres.
- According to assistant director Yasuhito Yamaki, over 100 concept designs of Uruku were sketched before the current design was adopted.
Japanese language information[]
都市衛星ウルク Toshi Eisei Uruku