La bataille des planètes

This was the best cartoon I saw as a child. Alas, with no videos or reruns the chances of anyone seeing it now are rare to say the least. It was edited down from the Japanese anime "Gatchaman" for US kids. While it lost a lot of the storyline and violence it was gifted with one the best theme tunes. While the 1990's remake of Gatchaman is available to buy, it is of nowhere near the quality of the original Gatchaman or Battle of the Planets, lacking the character and incidental score that graced the originals. Looks like Battle of the Planets will just have to live in the fond memories of the millions of school kids that it touched.

Wow, what happened to cartoons like this one?? This certainly wasn't the best in anime-ish art, nor did it have a particularly great plot. So why did we love it? Somehow, it tapped perfectly into the mind of a 6-12 year old! As someone who still watches cartoons (shhh..don't tell!) I look back at these types of cartoons and wish they still made them in America. It seems sad to me that kids today do not have these kinds of fun entertainment to wake up to on Saturday morning. Just about everyone I know who is my age remembers this cartoon and others like it with fond memories! Just say to anyone in their late 20's.."Hey do you remember G-Force? The cartoon with the guys in spacesuits that look like birds?" and you will surely get: "Oh yeah!!..." and probably a story of how when THEY were a kid, cartoons were good! Maybe it's just nostalgia, or maybe I'm just getting old and cranky, I don't know. I just wish they still had cartoons like this.

I agree with the previous commentor. At 9 years old I would get up at 6AM to watch G-Force. A few weeks ago, on a whim, I did an internet search on G-Force. I found that the show is soon to be distributed in the US in DVD format come August 2001! Enjoy!

To all of those who were not even born during its debut in the United States(1978): This cartoon first went on the air in Japan in 1974 under the title "Gatchaman." It was the first cartoon to depict a super powered team. As a matter of fact, it inspired many super team action shows animated or live in Japan. "battle of the planets is the imported version for the American audience in 1978. Although not as violent as the Japanese version, the musical score is fabulous, the continuing storyline is decent, and the voice over acting is good. The animation additions of seven zark seven and one rover one are the only weak points in the scripts.

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!