Battle of the Planets
It was one of the greatest TV shows of my childhood and I couldn’t remember what it was - until now.
Thirty years later and here I am, up until yesterday, trying to solve the mystery. My memory kept telling me it was Voltron, but that didn’t make it to the U.S. until the 80’s. The only thing I could really remember from the show was the five heroes and their various sizes, colors and shapes. I guess if I had just kept searching or asked a crowd at Comic-Con, I would’ve had my answer years ago.
It wasn’t until I got an email about Gatchaman, that I was able to narrow my search criteria and start my search again. Gatchaman was a Japanese anime from the 70’s and it was edited/sanitized for American TV as Battle of the Planets in the late 70’s! I checked it out and realized that it was the mystery show I was looking for!
Back in the days, when I’d watch the show, I’d be hanging out with my childhood chum (her name is also a mystery to me) and our favorite afternoon activity was hopping off the top, side of the stairs onto the beanbags way below. Her mom would tell us to stop, but we were crazy, energetic kids and it was fun. We’d continue with our breakneck beanbag behavior until the show started; then we’d race over to the TV. We’d then dance to the music at the start of the show. It was a good time, but my young brain unfortunately didn’t retain many details from the show.
It’s now nice to know that I wasn’t just imagining it or blurring old memories together. Mark, Jason, the sultry Princess, Tiny and the always chirping Keyop in their colorful bird costumes, will forever have a special place in my memory. Sure the show didn’t have a whole lot of continuity, but all those cool space battles really rocked as the fought Zoltar in their fiery ship the Phoenix. Plus all their fights ended with no one getting seriously hurt. Yeah! Thankfully the annoying robot narrator, 7-Zark-7 is not part of my memories. So, I guess I successfully repressed him from my memory along with who knows what else.
Update: If you’re interested in BotP, I’m told that the G-Force: Animated book is a wonderful compendium to Battle of the Planets. Not only is the book a wealth of information with plenty of the original artwork, it is also packed full with pictures of BotP merchandise like comics, lunch-boxes, View-Masters reels, boardgames and more!
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:21 pm
i went through this last year. then while goofing off on youtube, i saw the opening and all the memories flooded back. the sad part was it was always on on a sunday. we would get home and the end credits would be playing and i’d miss the whole show. but the music stuck in my mind for ever. heck, i got the theme on my mp3 player on my phone and i had it on my myspace page for my music. too bad i can’t (not yet anyway) have it for a ringtone. this show was my first experience in anime, second being the best ever - STARBLAZERS!
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:35 am
I also remember this, the show was broadcasted in Poland in the early 80’s. Thanksfully I remembered the title — “G team” (as it was called here). I remembered almost no details — except birdie helmets, the Phoenix and some torned scenes.
I decided to digg in the Net for more information last year and foud out, what you are writing here. But more: I get both the BotP and original Gatchaman. The Gatchaman series is really great, fabulous, competing with modern series. It’s not a fairy-tale (as BotP is), this show is bloody, brutal, naturalistic. People are dying (in thousands, or even millions). What is really interesting — Gatchaman has strong focus on ecology — evil Berg Katse (Zoltar’s real name) wants to destroy Earth’s natural environment. BTW: Berg Katse is a hermaphrodite… The five heros are strong characters, indyviduals, wounded by the life. Most of them are orphans, one of them finds his lost father but losts him again immediatelly, other one’s parents were killed by Katse for betrayal, one of heros sacrifices his life at the end of series. I really enjoyed it, watching it as an adult. The show is more and more intriguing from one episode to another.
Everything what decided that the Gatchaman was such a great show has been sterilized in the BotP. The re-makers was afraid to show the smallest amount of blood or brutality on the screen. The Tiny was turned into a gibbering idiot (in Gatchaman he is the most talkative one and always has a comment). The action was moved from the Earth into Space and other planets. That all caused massive illogicals and holes in the plot. The 7-zork-7 has been added to fix it, but it wa? impossible, the amount of nonsense in the re-made story is enormous. I may write a chapter about illogicals in each one episode of BotP.
So, while I may recommend BotP (only) for view for nostalgic reasons, I recommend Gatchaman for everyone, who likes good story and intrique in the action anime package.
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:05 am
What’s more show the difference: in Gatchaman Jun is just a bartender, in BotP she is the “Princess” to cut some popularity from Star Wars (see the SW-like title “Battle of the Planets”).
One thing is superior in BotP: title music. After hearing Gatchaman song 106 times it’s enough to hear BotP title music and original song is vanished from the memory…
Sorry for my nor-very-good English, but it’s not my native language.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:01 am
This show was also my first experience in anime and I’ve been hooked ever since! As an adult I do appreciate Gatchaman more than BotP, as a story. But you know the U.S. only sees cartoons as a kid’s thing and usually edits them as such.
Nowadays I try to watch the original subbed anime (or movie). I don’t mind reading the subtitles. Plus I appreciate the original inflections and feelings that come through from the original Japanese (voice) actors. They usually put on a better performance than their U.S. counterparts.
And yes, the BotP music rocks!