Battle of the Planets


Battle of the Planets is an American adaptation of the Japanese anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. Of the 105 original Gatchaman episodes, 85 were used in the Battle of the Planets adaptation, produced by Sandy Frank Entertainment. The adaptation was generally faithful to the plot and character development of the original Gatchaman series, but significant additions and reductions were made in order to increase appeal to the North American television market of the late 1970s, as well as avoid controversy from parents; these included the removal of elements of graphic violence and profanity.
As of June 2013, Sentai Filmworks have licensed the Gatchaman franchise. An oft-delayed CGI film based on the franchise, Gatchaman, last slated for a 2011 release from Warner Bros., was officially canceled in June 2011. However, a live-action Gatchaman feature film was released in Japan in August 2013. As of 2018, the series has been made available for streaming on Hidive.

Origins

In April 1977 Sandy Frank attended the MIP-TV conference in Cannes. It was here Frank first encountered the Japanese animation Gatchaman from producer Tatsunoko Production run by the Yoshida brothers. Frank committed to release the series in the U.S. after he saw the success of Star Wars in May 1977. Battle of the Planets is the title of American adaptation of this series created by Frank. Frank authorized new footage and hired writers to add dialogue to fit the look of the animation, without reference to original scripts. Of the 105 original Gatchaman episodes, 85 were used in the Battle of the Planets adaptation produced by Sandy Frank Entertainment in 1978.

Summary

Battle of the Planets cast five young people as G-Force, consisting of Mark, Jason, Princess, Keyop, and Tiny. G-Force protects Earth from the planet Spectra and other attacks from beyond space. The most prominent field commander of the Spectra forces was a villainous, masked individual known as Zoltar. Zoltar would receive his orders directly from a being he would refer to as the "Luminous One". The Luminous One would appear as a ghost-like, disembodied, floating head. Who, or what, this being actually was, is never explained in any detail throughout the series.
The main ship of the G-Force team was called the Phoenix, which could carry, transport, and deploy four smaller vehicles, each operated by one team member. The four vehicles included a futuristic race car with various hidden weapons driven by Jason; this vehicle was concealed within the Phoenix's nosecone. The "galacti-cycle", a futuristic motor cycle Princess rode, was stored within the left wing capsule of the Phoenix. Keyop's "Space Bubble", an all-terrain, tank-like vehicle capable of VTOL as well as being a submersible craft, was held in the right storage capsule of the Phoenix. And lastly, a futuristic jet fighter Mark pilots was stored in the top rear section of the Phoenix command island structure, and which used its tail fin to make up the center tail fin of the Phoenix. The fifth crew member, Tiny, was assigned to pilot the Phoenix rather than one of the detachable craft.
A regularly featured plot device was the transformation of the Phoenix into a flaming bird-shaped craft able to handle virtually any exceptional situation by functioning as a sort of giant, super blowtorch called the Fiery Phoenix. The Phoenix primary weapon was a supply of rockets called "TBX missiles" in the series. It also occasionally flaunted a powerful solar-powered energy blaster, although the team had the misfortune of choosing very cloudy days to use it.
The G-Force team themselves would use a combination of martial arts skill, ninja-like weapons, and their "cerebonic" powers to dispatch hordes of enemy soldiers and overcome other obstacles. Their bird-like costumes include wing-like capes that could fan out and function nearly identically to parachutes and/or wing suits, enabling the G-Force members to drift or glide down to safety from heights which would otherwise prove fatal.
The G-Force members stay in contact through a wrist-band communicator device which also serves as a way for them to change or "transmute" instantly into their G-Force uniforms or back into their civilian clothes. Other weapons seen displayed by various team members include Mark's sonic boomerang, a bird-shaped boomerang with razor sharp wings; Jason's and Tiny's multi-purpose gadget guns, which can be outfitted with grappling hook and line, drill bits, etc.; and Keyop's and Princess's yo-yo bombs, which could be used as bolas, darts, and explosive devices. Other weapons include feathers with a sharpened steel quill that could be used as deadly throwing darts and mini-grenades shaped like ball bearings with spike studs.

Subsequent versions

In 1986, Gatchaman was re-worked in the US as by Turner, with a good deal of the original content edited out of Battle of the Planets put back into the show. It followed the plot of the original Gatchaman much more faithfully than Battle of the Planets because of this. Missing was Hoyt Curtin's original score. New voice acting was used. This version, however, was criticized by fans of both Gatchaman and Battle of the Planets, and never achieved the same level of popularity.
Two soundtrack albums and several DVDs have been released.
The two Japanese follow-up series, Gatchaman II and Gatchaman Fighter, were combined into 65 episodes and released as the Saban-produced show Eagle Riders. All 65 episodes aired in Australia, but in the United States only 13 episodes were aired.

Key changes in the adaptation

The Battle of the Planets adaptation differs significantly from Gatchaman. The difference is due to heavy editing made to make the show appealing to the audience in the United States by removing controversial elements while adding elements reminiscent of the feature film Star Wars, which was popular at the time. In fact, the name "Battle of the Planets" was an attempt to associate itself with that popularity of Star Wars. While the original Gatchaman was earthbound, dark-toned, and environmentally themed, the adaptation morphed it into a child-friendly outer space show with robot characters, although some environmental themes were kept, and this is also why the other planets to which G-Force traveled on missions looked very much like Earth. Setting, violence, objectionable language, and most character fatalities were altered or eliminated by cutting scenes, dubbing, and explanatory voice-overs.
One of the most notable changes in the BotP adaptation involves the character Keyop, who picked up a bizarre verbal tic of stuttering, chirping, and burbling every time he started to speak. There was a longstanding fan rumor that this was done because the original character spoke using much profanity and that Keyop's excess mouth motion would cover up deleting the words. This was not true, as demonstrated by the existence of an unedited Gatchaman version released by ADV Films in the US, in which Keyop rarely, if ever, used profanity. The in-story explanation for Keyop's unique manner of speech is that he is an artificial life form with a speech impediment because of slightly defective genetic engineering.
The main villain, known as Zoltar in BotP, had an unusual background due to the hermaphroditic nature of the original Berg Katse character. In an episode where Katse's female half was featured, she was introduced as a separate character, Zoltar's sister, for BotP.
To compensate for the other differences, a robot named 7-Zark-7—who watched over G-Force from their base, Center Neptune—performed explanatory voiceovers and light comic relief, which not only padded the time lost from editing but also filled in the gaps in the storyline. This device bears the influence of contemporary Star Wars film, with 7-Zark-7 having a visual appearance not dissimilar from R2-D2, and a somewhat camp personality in the style of C-3PO. Notionally, 7-Zark-7 ran the undersea monitoring station Center Neptune, from where he received information regarding incoming threats to Earth and relayed that information to G-Force. Zark and other added characters, such as 1-Rover-1, Zark's robotic dog and Susan added to the cartoon's youth appeal. Some additional footage was also animated showing G-Force members Mark and Princess interacting with Zark, as well putting an image of Mark on a video screen in the control room, helping his addition blend more smoothly into the existing Gatchaman footage.

Voice cast

Additional voices provided by:

TV movie

A TV movie called Battle of the Planets: The Movie was made by Gallerie International Films and Sandy Frank Film Syndication. David Bret Egen was the voice of 7-Zark-7. The movie was combined from several episodes to form a new story line which contained violence as well as deaths. It was considered for an uncut remake of Battle of The Planets, but was scrapped when plans changed. Sandy Frank began focusing efforts on arranging an uncut dub of Gatchaman instead.

Comic books

Battle of the Planets was also released in comic book form, originally by Gold Key Comics, but later revamped by Top Cow Productions. Among the Top Cow comic books was Battle of the Planets: Princess, written by David Wohl with art by Wilson Tortosa, released in 2002. A Battle of the Planets comic strip ran in the British TV Comic. The TV Comic issues which feature the Battle of the Planets strip run from #1530 to #1671. TV Comic also reprinted some of the Gold Key stories for two Battle of the Planets holiday specials and one TV Comic holiday special. There was also a Battle of the Planets Annual which reprinted some of the Gold Key stories.

Soundtrack

;Battle of the Planets track listing
  1. Main Theme – Title Card
  2. Dramatic Curtain
  3. Ready Room
  4. Alien Trap
  5. BP-Mysterioso 4 – BP-Mysterioso 3 – BP-Mysterioso 2
  6. BP-Teenage Mysterioso
  7. Love In The Afterburner
  8. 7-Zark-7's Song – Zarks Theme Alt – Zark Disco
  9. Keyops 1 – Robot Hijinks
  10. Firefight
  11. BP-Orion Cue #1 – Orion 4 – BP-Orion Runs
  12. Alien Planet
  13. Two Monsters – Star Fight
  14. Alien Trouble – More Alien Trouble
  15. Space On Fire
  16. Phoenix Raising
  17. BP-108
  18. BP-101 Alt – The Robot's Dog
  19. BP-Sneak-Up – BP-Bad Guys
  20. Return To The Alien Planet
  21. BP-600 – BP600 A
  22. BP-101 – BP-106 – BP-107 – BP-2002
  23. Come Out, Come Out
  24. BP-105 – BP-2001
  25. Melting Jets
  26. BP-Dialogue – BP-2025 – BP-Mysterious – BP-2020 – BP-2002
  27. The Chief Alien Shows Up - Victory
  28. Main Title With Voice Over
  29. Emblem G
  30. Spectra Visions
  31. Like The Phoenix
  32. Coral Reef
  33. Crescent Moon
  34. Holding Up A Shad
  35. Zoltar, Fastening The Armor
  36. Fighter G
  37. Red Illusion
  38. The Earth Is Alone!
  39. A Vow To The Sky
  40. Countdown
  41. Fighting Phoenix
  42. Space Chase
  43. BP-1 Zark's Theme
  44. Alien Planet
  45. BP-1000
  46. Space Mummy Trailer
  47. Space Serpent Trailer
  48. The Ghost Ship Of Planet Mir Trailer
  49. The Luminous One
  50. G-Force Vs. Zoltar
  51. 7-Zark-7 And Company
  52. The Luminous One #2
  53. Commander Mark, Jason
  54. Princess, Tiny, Keyop
  55. Battle Of The Planes 04 – Spray
  56. The Ballad Of 7 Zark 7 – Spray

    Character variations

Team variations in different versions

GatchamanBattle of the PlanetsG-ForceEagle RidersOVA RankBird UniformWeaponMechaVoice actor Voice actor Voice actor Voice actor Voice actor Voice actor Voice actor
Ken WashioMarkAce GoodheartHunter HarrisKen the EagleG1EagleRazor boomerangAirplaneKatsuji MoriMasaya OnosakaCasey KasemSam FontanaEddie FriersonRichard CansinoLeraldo Anzaldua
George "Joe" AsakuraJasonDirk DaringJoe ThaxJoe the CondorG2CondorPistolRace CarIsao SasakiKōji IshiiRonnie SchellCam ClarkeRichard CansinoBryan CranstonBrian Jepson
JunPrincessAgatha "Aggie" JuneKelly JennarJune the SwanG3SwanYo-yoMotorcycleKazuko SugiyamaMichiko NeyaJanet WaldoBarbara GoodsonLara CodyHeidi Noelle LenhartKim Prause
JinpeiKeyopPee WeeMickey DuganJimmy the FalconG4SwallowBoloDune BuggyYoku ShioyaRica MatsumotoAlan YoungBarbara GoodsonMona MarshallMona MarshallLuci Christian
Ryu NakanishiTiny HarperHoot "Hooty" OwlOllie KeeawaniRocky the OwlG5OwlPistolGod PhoenixShingo KanemotoFumihiko TachikiAlan DinehartJan Rabson/ Gregg BergerRichard EpcarPaul SchrierVictor Carsrud

Character variations across different versions

Other notable changes

‡The original Japanese-language version of Gatchaman contains a small amount of English.

Reception

In the United Kingdom, the show was voted #42 on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows in 2001.
The show was voted #62 on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Cartoons in 2004.
According to Wizard magazine, Battle of the Planets is considered to be one of the 100 greatest animated shows.
In 2009, IGN ranked BotP as the 44th-greatest animated show of all time in their Top 100 list.

Reboot

Battle of the Planets: Phoenix Ninjas was a planned animated reboot that would have been produced by Nelvana, d-rights and Tatsunoko. Aimed at 6- to 11-year-old boys, the project was conceived when d-rights expressed interest in Nelvana rebooting the franchise after the success the three saw with the second generation of . There has been no new information on the project since 2016 and it appears to be scrapped.

American live-action film

It was announced at the San Diego Comic Con in July 2019 that Joe and Anthony Russo are producing an live-action Battle of the Planets film through their production company, AGBO, with the possibility of directing.