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!

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.

Battle of the Planets surely is the best cartoon series ever made. With it's hauntingly brilliant theme tune, terrific animation and superb story lines, this cartoon had it all. Originally taken from a 70's Japanese cartoon called Gatchaman, Battle of the Planets ran for an incredible 85 episodes. Who remembers these immortal words "Battle of the Planets, G-Force, 5 incredible young people with superpowers. And watching over them from Center Neptune, 7-Zark-7. Watching, warning against surprise attacks by alien galaxies from beyond space. G-Force, fearless young orphans, protecting Earth's entire galaxy, always by acting as one. Dedicated, inseparable, Invincible!" Great stuff. UK Sky Digital viewers check out the Bravo channel for regular repeats of this great show.

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!

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.