On October 1, 1972, Tokyo's Fuji Television debuted Gatchaman, a series by Tatsunoko Productions. This was one of the very first anime team shows, featuring five characters with distinct personalities and colored uniforms. They each wore costumes that were modeled after birds including their cool helmets, which often featured a bird's head. Each member of the Gatchaman team had a name that reflected the kind of bird they portrayed, like Joe Condor. While distinctly different, the group had to cooperate to use their secret weapons and beat the dreaded enemy. Gatchaman truly set the pace for shows like Voltron and Power Rangers. Do you hear me? You guys would be nothing without Gatchaman!
The first Gatchaman story had over one hundred episodes; the story around the first series was that the Gallactor, a scientific organization that used terrorism to push its agenda, threatened life on Earth. And of course, for every evil, there is an opposite force that is as heroic and will stop at nothing to defend innocent lives, event if it means their won. So the International Science Organization (ISO) established a secret group of heroes known as the Science Ninja Squad, Gatchaman.
The first season saw the leader of the squad, Ken, discover the whereabouts of his father, who then sacrifices himself to defeat the enemy. Poor Ken must revisit death as the second season ends with the apparent death of his teammate, the reckless Joe Condor.
In 1978, Gatchaman was reborn with a 52 episode series simply known as Gatchaman II. In this show, Condor Joe returns, but as a cyborg that feels he is losing his humanity and decides to take the brunt of attacks to save his teammates and risk a life not worth saving in his own eyes. The main enemy in this series is an evil alien known as Sosai X. He was behind The Gallactors and is now behind the villian named Gel Sadora who tries to destroy the world with what is called a Solar Shift Plan.
This show succeeded in that it used character interactions more than action adventure and put Condor Joe into the spotlight. It failed in the respect that it contained cheesy music and the animation was pretty crappy. But that did not stop them from releasing Gatchaman Fighter; this series only lasted 48 episodes and shifted its focus back on Ken, the leader. This series focused too much on him, as he freaked out due to this new weapon he was using, and the constant losses and stalemates his team was suffering. Gatchaman Fighter was much darker than the others and was not followed up by any more sequels, leaving 1979 as the last year Japan heard of Gatchaman. At least, that was what they thought.
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.
This is a 90's remake of the classic series and everything has been updated to give it a more modern feel. The artwork is even better than before! And I give props to the show producers who while bringing the show into modern times did not compromise the original classic at all.
As I watched the show, memories came back of me chilling in my living room and watching the action unfold in front of me. Nothing has changed. I sat at the edge of my seat, watching those same characters battling the same villains from the past. The look, feel and music of the show have not been touched and I loved every minute of it especially Dr. Nambu, who still looks like a disco porn star. He's the man!
Anyway, the story spans three episodes, each one adding to the layers of the Gatchaman series. I always liked the idea of a select few being able to battle thousands and making it look easy. The Science Ninja Team has to do just that as an enormous dragon-shaped warship decimates the city, targeting the Mantel Plan, a network unifying the world's energy resources. It has been a long time, but the Gatchaman team is needed again and they are called back into action to stop the evil alien Gallactor and its minions.
The first show introduced everything very well and it contained a scene I swear I remember in Battle of the Planets where two of Gatchaman's ninjas are surrounded then a mysterious voice is heard and the rest of the team suddenly appears to kick ass and save the day. As soon as I saw this scene, I swear my childhood came rushing back to me.
The second episode heats up as the Jupiter Death Brigade and the evil Black Bird Battalion batter Gatchaman to the brink of defeat. A mysterious character seems to be helping Gatchaman against these groups. However, this guy doesn't appear to be that good in action, and doesn't seem like a threat at all to these evil creatures. Suddenly, in a cool twist of fate, this same man turns out to be the leader of the Red Spectre, a ninja group that is sabotaging the Gallacter's plans for world domination. The second episode gives you the sense of a strange connection between the leader of the Red Spectre and Ken, the leader of Gatchaman.
This brings us to the ultimate third episode battle where Gatchaman looks as if they are on the losing side. Joe Condor starts to relive forgotten childhood memories that suggest he is the spawn of the evil Gallacter group. Being the hot headed rebel of the group, Joe goes after the Gallacter on his own and ends up "dead." Joe is actually on the inside with the leader of the Red Spectre, as Gatchaman teams with that group in a brutal battle to the death with Gallacter. In the end, not everybody makes it out alive and the connection between the two group's leaders is finally revealed.
I was upset with the ending of this collection, because it was over. I need to see more of the old shows back on DVD, too (hint, hint Urban Vision). And I would also like to see some more new episodes (hint, hint, maybe a Japan/US team up on the series?). The modern version of Gatchaman is cooler, better looking, and contains more action than its older counterpart, but nothing can replace the classic series I love. And that Nambu guy is still pimping and living large. All jokes aside, if you want to relive some childhood memories you may have forgotten you got to have Gatchaman.
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