subject: Battle of The Planets (1978 - 1985) [print this page] Battle of The Planets (1978 - 1985) Battle of The Planets (1978 - 1985)
But to a complete generation of youngsters they became the decision-sign of 1 of the foremost celebrated animated Science-Fiction series of the time - therefore much so that the original name of the show, 'Battle of the Planets,' was nearly forgotten in favour of the name of the team of superhero orphans that it targeted on: G-Force. Aided by their robot mentor and guardian 7-Zark-7, the team's mission was to safeguard the Earth from the forces of a hostile planet known as Spectra and its evil leaders, Commander Zoltar and his mysterious master, the Luminous One. An Yank tv adaptation of a creative - and much darker - Japanese anime series known as 'Science Ninja Team Gatchaman' (1972), it remained fairly faithful to its supply materials and aired for a few 85 episodes, becoming for many the animated version of the modern live action cinematic hit 'Star Wars', and simply as popular.
The G-Force team consisted of Small, Keyop, Mark, Princess and Jason, who had extraordinary powers (which were never quiet explained, including the admittedly silly tornado-like 'Whirlwind Pyramid') coupled with high tech vehicles and devices, the most famous of that was their spaceship, the Phoenix, that carried the specific vehicles of the individual squad members. One was a futuristic, weapons-laden race automotive driven by Jason, hidden in the hollow nose cone of the Phoenix. The second was a hi-tech bike belonging to Princess and stored in the left wing capsule of the mother-ship. The third was an all-terrain, tank held in the proper wing storage capsule and which belonging to Keyop whereas the last was a jet fighter piloted by Mark, stored within the prime rear section of the spaceship. The fifth crew member, Little, was the permanent pilot of the Phoenix therefore had no detachable craft of his own.
The team members wore bird-like costumes with wing-like capes that might fan out and perform like parachutes enabling the G-Force members to glide down from heights, whereas they themselves were endowed with martial arts skills, ninja-like weapons, and strange 'cerebonic' powers to defeat their enemies in combat.The Yankee adaption was in some ways terribly totally different from it Japanese original, though kid-viewers at the time (and most of their oldsters) were unaware of this.
The more adult nature of 'Science Ninja Team Gatchaman', with its graphic violence, profanity and transgenderism, was carefully toned down to make a kiddie-friendly show additional suited to Yank tastes, and with cues taken from the 'Star Wars' movies. This created some narrative problems that were sometimes fastened by the simple device of voice-overs or explanations (sometimes by the robot 7-Zark-7) of off-screen events. Nevertheless the show still retained abundant of the narrative drive and characterisation that made its original version so successful in Japan. Added to the present was the very prime quality of the animation, with stand-out options being the Phoenix spaceship and the alien fighters and uniforms of the forces of Spectra. Enormously standard at time, feeding into the desire for additional Sci-Fi themed programs on TV for young audiences, 'Battle of the Planets' has retained a lot of of the love it absolutely was once held in by its now adult viewers.
Though inevitably dated, and dramatically inferior to the original (which was once all as abundant aimed at adults as it absolutely was at children), it has stood the test of your time surprisingly well for what was basically a heavily re-edited Yankee adaptation of an ingenious Japanese anime series.A large (and heftily priced) compendium box-set is out there of the complete series, that includes many extras, and for people who hold significantly fond reminiscences of the show it is a worthy purchase - if you don't expect too much from it.
