La bataille des planètes

Reading the comments here, I felt so old. A recent marathon on "Boomerang" brought me back to my teen years. I was weird, and old enough to remember the original showings of "Astro Boy", "Gigantor", "Kimba, The White Lion", and other early anime on US TV. It had been awhile, and I found this, (this is before even "Star Blazers" or "Robotech"). I was a freshman, (perhaps a sophomore), and this showed up in syndication, pry out of Kansas City. I caught every episode I could. It had obviously seen some editing, yet suprising moments of violence remained now and then. Over the years, I've found that 7-Zark-7/1-Rover-1, were padding to cover time lost when violence was removed, (Mark and Princess's weapons were quite nasty, especially Princess's yo-yo!). I've wandered into the TBS "G-Force" a time or two, and, while potentially truer to the source, it just doesn't have the class of this. The soundtrack is very good, and probably quite desired by fans. It didn't change my life, but it was a fun program to watch often. I hope that the Boomerang marathon, which must contain the whole damn thing, is a sign of it's renewed availability. Japanese animation in America, without the incessant merchandising! Geez, this is before "Transformers", or "Go-Bots"! Nice to see it again!

The animation? Not too bad, considering it was drawn in 1972 or so. But certainly nothing special. The story? Hit and miss, mainly because BotP was made up of edited episodes of the Japanese show Gatchaman (and was therefore missing some key story elements).

So why do people - including me - love this show so much?

Because for almost anyone born between 1970 and 1976 in the US, BotP was one of the key television programs of our youth. It was exciting, exotic and captured our imaginations like nothing else on the tube.

But I think you really had to be there to appreciate it. Neutral observers would probably say that BotP just doesn't hold up after all these years, and if I had to be objective about it, I'd probably have to agree.

Still, you owe it to yourself to give it a look, just so you know what everyone's talking about.

Those of us who watched this series in the 70's tend to have a deep love of this show. Those who have been able to see the uncut Gatchaman episodes have seen what it could have been. Those who have seen the "G-Force" version have seen how bad it could have been. It was revolutionary in its time, and some of it still holds up well.

Sandy Frank brought Tatsunoko's Science Ninja Team Gatchaman to America as Battle of the Planets. The names were changed to protect the innocent, or because they foolishly thought American kids couldn't identify with Japanese names, like Ken, Joe and June. Oh, well, Whatta ya gonna do? Instead, they became Mark, Jason, Princess, Tiny and Keeyop, with voice work from Casey Kasem, Ronnie Schell, and Janet "Judy Jetson" Waldo. To further the ties to then-popular Star Wars, a robot, 7-Zark-&, was added, with obviously inferior animation. The series was moved from Earth to outer space. People sill died occasionally, but not in as large numbers as in Gatchaman. Exploding planes and ships were always robot controlled and Spectra forces aways ejected, much like in the later GI Joe series. But what still set this apart from other animated fare was the mature storytelling.

The characters had real feelings and motivations. They sought revenge, felt jealousy and fear, had relationships, and got hurt. The battles were spectacular, even after being heavily censored. The villains were unabashedly evil, not misguided. The heroes didn't always win, at least not completely. Plus, there was character development and ongoing sub-plots. Quite a change from the Superfriends and Scooby Doo.

The main flaw with the series is the censorship and the added footage. The new animation was greatly inferior and detracted from the plot. The distributors didn't have enough faith in the viewers and felt an overwhelming need to protect them from violence; however, this audience was in love with Star Wars and wasn't afraid of a little violence. The later G-Force version stuck closer to the storyline and showed that most of the violence could be left in without being too graphic, editing only the most extreme scenes.

The series was highly influential in Japan, inspiring many imitators, including the live action Power Ranger shows. In the US, it inspired a cult following, but did little to pave the way for better animated shows, at least immediately. In later years, fans of the show would end up in the tv world and would import greater numbers of Japanese animated programs. Now, Japanese shows and manga comics account for a large segment of youth entertainment. The dvd revolution has finally brought the uncut Gatchaman, along with the altered BOTP, to American homes, through legal means, rather than bootlegs. There's even talk of a continuation of the show and/or new show. Although somewhat dated, there's still quite a bit of entertainment value here.

Having run madly around the school playground as a member of G-Force, I have fond memories of this series. I was lucky enough to discover some UK re-runs recently and I must say it doesn't disappoint. This had to be one of the most bizarre cartoon series ever. Sub-anime cartoon action, with a core of good Vs evil morality and a strange taste in feathery superhero costumes.

Basically, our five brave orphan heroes spend their day chilling and waiting to be called into action - when they are, it's off in the Phoenix zap about and save our galaxy from another lacklustre take-over attempt by Spectra - embodied be the Evil Zoltar.

Intros from soothing robot narrator 7-Zark-7 (and his robot dog 1-Rover-1) push the plots along, and somehow our heroes save the day by flying about a bit, throwing some banter about and coaxing this weeks traitor back to the good guys before wherever they are explodes. Zoltar then promptly escapes to pester the good peoples of Earth and her colonies another day.

You will not find a better example of 70's haircuts, camp villains, naff plots and creaky cold-war style American morality. It's a winner!

A few things to treasure... One: All the computers still work on ticker-tape in the future... fantastic! Two: Camp bad-guy Zoltar not only had all the best lines, but some of the most fulsome lips in the cartoon universe. Three: Possibly the most melodramatic opening spiel in tevevision history (even beats the A-team!) Four: 7-Zark-7's ongoing romance with 'Susan' the sexy computer voice that delivered the mission at the start of the show.

In the UK, you can catch 'Battle of the Planets' on Bravo, usually in the dead of night. On reflection, perhaps this is a good thing - the children of today might not be able to handle the sheer drama and tension.

And yes, I did have a crush on Princess. And I still do.

This is classic animation at its best. Compared to todays animation its antiquated. But back in 1978 it was classic. Made in the same Japanese Animation style that brought Speed Racer, its classic and one of the best shows. I miss it and hope that its either released on DVD or re released soon. Bless you internet.