DJariya

Anyone remember this cartoon?

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/acOnskcyrtA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Back in the 80's, I watched this after school and was hooked on it.

Mark, Jason, Tiny, Keyop and Princess were like my favorite anime characters.


Only reason why I'm bringing this up is because I was at a local Science Fiction-Comic convention in LA yesterday and saw a vendor selling a bootleg DVD of the entire series for $40. Didn't sound expensive, but since it was a bootleg, I hesitated and passed.

Has this show been released on DVD as a complete series? Or is it out of print? Or is it only available in bootleg form now?

I know there isn't any legal streaming sources for it. But, I would love to re-visit it.

I remember one of the biggest mysteries of the show was whether or not the main villain (Zotar) was a girl, she-male etc. I don't think I watched long enough to find out.

Hard to believe the voice talent of this series are mostly passed away now or are in their late 80's. I didn't realize they were that old back then.

I don't know the complete history of this cartoon, but were there other incarnations of it? I know the original Japanese version was G-Force. Was it ever brought back again after the American dubbed version from the late 70's/80's ended?

bahgee

I used to watch this as well! Amazon has a bunch of listings. I assume they are legit. I recently picked up a video game for the gamecube with g-force characters.

LorenzoL

There's no official release for Battle of the Planets and G-Force. What you see are bootlegs... However the original Japanese series Gatchaman where Battle of the Planets and G-Force were taken from has been released by Sentai on a Bluray box set.

WTK

It's definitely out of print. Sentai Filmworks has yet to issue a DVD release. They did release Gatchaman on DVD and Blu-ray (http://www.sentaifilmworks.com/catalog).

It's currently streaming @ HIDIVE (https://www.hidive.com/tv/battle-of-the-planets) and subscription is required. It used to stream @ Hulu (https://www.hulu.com/battle-of-the-planets).

There is a R4 DVD release in Australia via Madman Entertainment: https://www.madman.com.au/catalogue/...ete-collection

Cardsfan111

I enjoyed the show as a kid. Came across this disc in a Half Price Bookstore a couple of years ago. Think it might have been $1. Brought back all kinds of memories. Held up pretty well, in my opinion.

PhantomStranger

This is like superstar comic book artist Alex Ross' favorite show of all time. He painted the cover to the Gatchaman release for free.

mrhan

I still have the old DVD boxsets with Ross' artwork.

Traxan

Maybe some day I might visit the originals. They bowlderized the shit out of the American release. I mean it was nuts. You'd see a massive explosion, bodies flying, and then they are getting their briefing from the guy with the 70s porn 'stache who insisted every single time that everyone got out alive. Even as a kid I knew this was ridiculous. When I got older I learned just how butchered they really were.

fujishig

I mean they went so far as to add scenes with their own ripoff of R2-D2.

DJariya

https://www.amazon.com/Gatchaman-Com...=ATVPDKIKX0DER




Can someone clarify the difference (if any) between this show "Gatchaman" vs. Battle of the Planets? Is it a newer updated version? or is it the same thing?

fujishig

Battle of the Planets is the English dubbed version of the show, which they cut to remove death/blood and added in scenes of an R2-d2 ripoff 7-Zark-7 (they changed other things like putting them in space and having the little guy speak in chirps). It's similar to what Macross is to Robotech.

wishbone

$57 is a good deal for a great series.

Daiapolon

TRIVIA about the name:

"Gatchaman" is the official commander codename for Ken The Eagle.

The team is called "Science Ninja Team", and each member (outside Ken) is thus considered as being "Science Ninja Team Member".

Only when Ken The Eagle is together with all 4 of them, they are properly named "Science Ninja Team Gatchamen", because "Gatchaman" is Ken's codename as commander of the team.