Gatchaman, le combat des galaxies

In 1978, I was seven years old when "Battle of the Planets" hit the networks. On the heel of "Star Wars", and along my favorite TV show at the time, "Battlestar Galactica," it was a show that was right up my alley! Five super-teens in an awesome spacecraft flying around and battling Zoltar from Planet Spectra.

It would be years later that I would realize how much I'd missed. 7-Zark-7 is cool when you're seven. Not so much when you're 47. When I delved into Gatchaman, I was immediately enamored all over again, and frankly, I don't care if I never see another episode of "Battle of the Planets."

For 1972, Gatchaman was cutting-edge. In the uncut Japanese version, you had fist-fights (non-existent in 1972 American cartoons unless it was re-runs of Popeye), and civilians being slaughtered by Galactor's newest terror! You also had some mild language.

There is no planet Spectra. Instead, you have a terrorist organization hell-bent on destroying the world and taking over. Ironically, most of these attacks are against the environment, and the Science Ninja Team, spear-headed by the brilliant Dr. Nambu, and led by Ken, are sent to deal with the latest attack.

Things aren't all sunshine and rainbows on the team either. They frequently argue and fight with each other. Joe (Jason) frequently disagrees with Ken's (Mark) decisions, especially when they don't involve taking direct action. Jun (Princess) only has eyes for Ken, but he does not reciprocate her feelings, as he's more wrapped up in the mission and working as a pilot. Jinpei (Keyop) is funny and annoying, as any young boy would be. And no, there is no speech impediment either!

There is a lot of scientific knowledge that is put into the show, and why it is important to preserve the environment...messages that are still very relative even today.

Every Gatchaman episode is full of action, and each delves much deeper into the characters of the team than BOTP did.

The animation for the time period is still extraordinary, with so much attention to detail. I highly recommend watching Alex Ross's youtube video (an American artist) regarding this.

I only wish that more than the first series was available. I purchased the first 48 episodes on itunes, and I'm already anxious for more! You can't go wrong whether you're my age and re-living some great memories or even as a kid getting into it for the first time! Go! Go! Go! Gatchaman!!!

Like many people in the 20-30 yr old range, I grew up watching Battle of the Planets. The show had incredible action sequences and realistic portrayls of the main characters. Years later I learned the show had been dubbed and judiciously eddited from the Japanese show Gatchaman. In the last few years I have been able to see most of the original episode of Gatchaman and have a much greater appreciation of the show. From Power Rangers to Voltron...this show started the team genre.

I'm old enough to remember Battle of the Planets -liked the show, hated the robot. Only recently have I begun watching all the Gatchaman episodes from ADV films (only volume 18 left to see) and I am loving them. I watch them with my 10 year old nephew, and he thinks they're great too, which goes to show that the limitations of 35 year old animation don't matter if the characters and stories are good. There's humour, over-the-top zaniness (WHO created the uniforms of the Galactor commanders?), LOTS of action, and lots of angst. Joe is my favourite character (swoon), but my nephew likes Jinpei, the kid. Now, if only Gatchaman II, the second series, were available subbed or dubbed...

I remember being 10 and seeing the first episode of "Battle of the Planets" on TV. The very next day at school it was all kids could talk about. This was something new and exciting and never before seen. We accepted the fact that nobody ever died. That all the explosions and people getting blown up were just robots. And that the bad guys were polite enough to warn of their attack so everybody could evacuate the city. And nobody really minded the shoddy animation that had been added to the show to pad out the run time after all the cuts. We were kids. It happens.

And then, years later, I discovered it had been cobbled together from this show "Gatchaman" and I was interested in seeing how the show differed. And let me tell you it was like night and day. Here there were consequences. People died. Bad guys were killed as well as innocent civilians. And best of all, no 7-Zark-7 and forcing a space opera theme on it. And yes while I loved Keyop when I was 10, I seriously have a problem with him now. What were they thinking?

This is a much more mature story. Instead of them being five orphans raised from birth to fight baddies with their "cerebonic implants", they're five highly trained and capable individuals who fight for freedom against a group of terrorists. These people have actual lives outside of being the Science Ninja Team and don't just chill in their underwater base while waiting for the next attack. They have real lives and real issues.

There are several English versions of this out there from the original "Battle of the Planets" which is a decent dub even with the inclusion of Keyop to the bad G-Force which added a lot of unnecessary dialogue and focused on them being able to fly for some reason. There was another one called "Eagle Riders" out there but I've never actually seen it but I've heard it's the worst of the bunch.

If you can find it I would recommend the ADV dub which is the closest to the original Japanese in terms of dialogue. Or just stick the Japanese audio in and watch the subtitles.

Gatchaman a.k.a. Battle of the Planets (1972) was one of my favorite childhood cartoons. I recently bought the D.V.D. that featured the original un-edited version of Gatchaman. That show's awesome. The writing, voice acting and violence is way better than the "Battle of the Planets" version. Unlike the re-edited and re-dubbed version, Gatchaman is real dark and realistic. The "re-edit" is too hokey and not as fun. When I was younger I was a huge "Battle of the Planets" mark. But Gatchaman is something else. Long life the Space Ninja team Gatchaman!

Fun stuff. Miles difference between the Japanese version and the prepared American version. Not only is the storyline and mood of the cartoon different but the violence is over the top in the original. Great stuff!

A

"Gatchaman! Gatchaman! Gatchaman!"