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Gatchaman in America

     Here in America, Gatchaman was readapted and until now, I thought this version was the best thing going with all the action, adventure and mature themes. In 1978, Sandy Frank Syndication released Gatchaman as Battle of the Planets, but due to America's strict guidelines, a lot of content had to be cut. Some violence was removed and a new character, a stupid robot was added to fill the gaps and narrate the shows. Of course, to stimulate battles with other planets, new animation was added to show battles in space, even though all battles on Gatchaman were done on Earth. It seemed that everything was changed, including the team itself. The team was known as G-Force and were made up of the same characters with different names and voiced by such animated stalwarts as Casey Kasem and Bob Sakuma.

     Battle of the Planets ran into the early 80's before leaving syndication television for good. In the late 80's, the show was butchered again, with more revisions. Running on Turner Broadcasting Station (TBS), G-Force did not have to be edited as much, allowing the show to stay true to the original version. However, the new names sucked and the voice acting was choppy at best. You would think Turner could afford better voice talent? Guess not. The show, however, did last for some time on the Cartoon Network, where it eventually cultivated into a cult phenomenon. Of course, people still remember Battle of the Planets being the better show.

     Gatchaman was resurrected yet again when Gatchaman II and Gatchaman Fighter were brought to American shores in the new Saban show, Eagle Riders. That show only lasted for 13 weeks in the US, but ended up doing well in Europe. Up until now, a majority of Americans could not see Gatchaman the way Japan intended for us to see it. In fact, for a long time, Japan lost touch with the bird-like heroes. Fans, however were surprised and in euphoria when Gatchaman was resurrected with a special three part original animated video in 1994. Over 20 years after the original show aired, Tatsunoko Productions teamed with Nippon Columbia to update the five warriors of Gatchaman for modern times. The show, which paid homage to the original series was recently released in American by Urban Vision and I got my hands on the special DVD, which consisted of three 45-minute episodes that brought me back in time, and had me marveling at what I saw before me. Updated for a new generation, this DVD will have you asking for more.

Continued on the Gatchaman Collection DVD

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