Battle of the Planets is an American adaptation of the Japanese anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (1972). 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.
It was the most successful anime series in the United States during the 1970s, airing on 100 network affiliates during after-school hours by 1979. 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.
History In April 1977, TV producer 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 a Western release after seeing how successful the film Star Wars was in May 1977.
Battle of the Planets is the title of the American adaptation of this series created by Frank. New footage was authorized and Frank hired writers to add dialogue to fit the look of the animation, without reference to original scripts. Of the 105 original Gatchaman episodes, the adaptation used 85.
Plot 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. While the Luminous One's origins were not explained on the show, it is clear he is the ruler of Spectra and its invading armies.
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 motorcycle 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 for a brief period by essentially turning itself into pure energy 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 skills, 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 wingsuits, enabling the G-Force members to drift or glide down to safety from heights that 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 from their civilian clothes into their G-Force uniforms, and back again. 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.
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 (i.e. graphic violence, profanity, and a gender changing mutant) 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 the popularity of Star Wars. While the original Gatchaman was earthbound, dark-toned, and environmentally themed, the adaptation morphed it into a less violent 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 certain character fatalities were altered or eliminated by cutting scenes, dubbing, and explanatory voice-overs (for instance, claiming that the city had been evacuated before a battle scene that would show the incidental destruction of buildings and houses, as well as explaining away the destruction of the Earth armies and air forces as being robot tanks and fighter planes).
One of the most notable changes in the BotP adaptation involves the character Keyop (Jinpei in Gatchaman), 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 Jinpei 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 gender changing mutant nature of the original Berg Katse character. In an episode where Katse's female half was featured (BotP title: "The Galaxy Girls"), she was introduced as a separate character, Zoltar's sister, for BotP. (A hint of her actual nature was retained in the name she used when masquerading as a human, Mala Latroz—"Latroz" is an anagram of "Zoltar.")
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 (who could hover from one side of the control room to the other by spinning his tail like a propeller, Muttley-style) and Susan (the early-warning computer whose sultry feminine voice often sent Zark into ecstasy) added to the cartoon's youth appeal. Some additional footage was also animated showing G-Force members Mark and Princess (using their Gatchaman model sheets) 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 (although there is a clear difference in quality between the Zark and the Gatchaman animation).
Character variations Team variations in different versions
Gatchaman Battle of the Planets G-Force Eagle Riders OVA (Harmony Gold dub) Rank Bird Uniform Weapon Mecha Voice actor (Gatchaman) Voice actor (Gatchaman OVA) Voice actor (BotP) Voice actor (G-Force) Voice actor (Harmony Gold OVA dub) Voice actor (Eagle Riders) Voice actor (ADV TV/Sentai OVA dub) Ken Washio Mark Ace Goodheart Hunter Harris Ken the Eagle G1 Eagle Razor boomerang Airplane Katsuji Mori Masaya Onosaka Casey Kasem Sam Fontana Eddie Frierson Richard Cansino Leraldo Anzaldua George "Joe" Asakura Jason Dirk Daring Joe Thax Joe the Condor G2 Condor Pistol Race Car Isao Sasaki Kōji Ishii Ronnie Schell Cam Clarke Richard Cansino Bryan Cranston Brian Jepson Jun Princess Agatha "Aggie" June Kelly Jennar June the Swan G3 Swan Yo-yo Motorcycle Kazuko Sugiyama Michiko Neya Janet Waldo Barbara Goodson Lara Cody Heidi Noelle Lenhart Kim Prause Jinpei Keyop Pee Wee Mickey Dugan Jimmy the Falcon G4 Swallow Bolo Dune Buggy Yoku Shioya Rica Matsumoto Alan Young Barbara Goodson Mona Marshall Mona Marshall Luci Christian Ryu Nakanishi Tiny Harper Hoot "Hooty" Owl Ollie Keeawani Rocky the Owl G5 Owl Pistol God Phoenix Shingo Kanemoto Fumihiko Tachiki Alan Dinehart Jan Rabson/ Gregg Berger Richard Epcar Paul Schrier Victor Carsrud
Character variations across different versions Gatchaman Battle of the Planets G-Force Eagle Riders OVA (Harmony Gold Dub) Voice actor (Gatchaman) Voice actor (Gatchaman OVA) Voice actor (BotP) Voice actor (G-Force) Voice actor (Eagle Riders) Voice actor (Harmony Gold OVA dub) Voice actor (ADV TV/Sentai OVA dub) Dr. Kozaburo Nambu-hakase Chief Anderson Dr. Benjamin Brighthead Dr. Thaddeus Keane Dr. Kozaburo Nambu Tōru Ōhira Jan Rabson/Gregg Berger Alan Dinehart Ikuya Sawaki Michael McConnohie Greg O'Neill Andy McAvin ISO Director Anderson President Kane Anderson / Cmdr. Todd (some episodes) Anderson Director Anderson Teiji Ōmiya Jan Rabson/Gregg Berger Alan Young Yonehiko Kitagawa Michael Forest Marty Fleck Red Impulse / Kentaro Washio Col. Cronos Red Impulse / Kendrick Goodheart Red Impulse / Harley Harris Red Spectre / Kentaro Washio Cam Clarke Bob Papenbrook Keye Luke Unshō Ishizuka John Tyson Berg Katse Zoltar Galactor Lukan Solaris Mikio Terashima Bill Capizzi Keye Luke Kaneto Shiozawa R. Martin Klein Edwin Neal Sosai (Leader) X O Luminous One / The Great Spirit Computor Cybercom Lord Zortek Nobuo Tanaka Jan Rabson/Gregg Berger Keye Luke Nobuo Tanaka Ralph Votrais Peter Spellos Winston Parish Gel Sadra Mallanox Masaru Ikeda R. Martin Klein Sylvie Pandora-hakase Dr. Sylvie Pandora Dr. Francine Aikens Miyuka Ieda Lara Cody Announcer Norm Prescott William Woodson (Main) / Alan Young (Zark) Hideo Kinoshita/Shūsei Nakamura George Manley
Other notable changes