• 1Jul 07

  End of Battle of the Planets

  I just watched the final episode of Battle of the Planet, but it was somewhat disappointing, as it wasn't actually a series finale, just the last episode that Sandy Frank entertainment choose to edit and dub in English for the American version. There was no conclusvie end to Spectra or Zoltar. I still have half a dozen episode of Gatchaman to watch, and I am hoping that that series will present some resolution to the conflict between Galactor (Spectra) and Gatchaman (G-Force).

  Battle of the Planets is a fine series, as it was based on the already excellent Gatchaman. Also the voice acting was excellent, in that the voice actors all had approreate voices for their characters, and gave excellent performances. Still, since they only used six actors, all the additional characters just sounded like the main cast doing voices. Some voice actors are able to do multiple voices that you cannot identify as the same person (Billy West comes to mind).

  Also, while some people disliked the character of 7-Zark-7, I think thanks to the wonderful tone of Alan Young's voice the character was likable and appealing to the target audience of children.

  When I first watched the series as a child, I was didn't comprehend all the naration that explained about how all the vehicles destroyed were robot controled, and that no people were harmed. I really think the producers attempts at limited children's exposure to violence went over the heads of children who watched the show. Then again, I realize that at that time, network excutives expected that cartoons be free of violence, and it was necessary to make those changes to allow the show to be aired.

  It's too bad that there still hasn't been an American release of the full series on DVD. It seems that Britian get more and better releases of American TV shows on DVD than America does.

  • Posted Jul 1, 2007 10:58 pm PT
  • Category: TV
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• 2Jun 07

  End of Gatchaman

  Now I am getting close to the end of watching the full Gatchaman series. It's been a long time since I started watching the series, watching a single episode a week, working my through the entire series. I cannot thank ADV enough for releasing the series with the original Japanese voice work. Too bad Rhino gave up releasing Battle of the Planets on DVD (which included some episodes of the original Gatchaman in Japanese)

  I am not quite sure what I will do next. I may try watching Gatchaman II, which is only available in Japanese, but I would have to track down a copy of it, and I expect it might be expensive. I might just go on to another series, perhaps even Speed Racer. While I loved Speed Racer as a kid, I haven't enjoyed the episodes as much when I watched them as an adult. I would love to watch the series in Japanese, but the DVDs that have currently been released only have the English dubbing (I've even bought a few that I haven't even opened yet). I would also love to watch Voltron, but the same situation exists, though I have heard of rumors that a new set of the series will be released on DVD with the original Japanese audio tracks.

  • Posted Jun 2, 2007 5:33 pm PT
  • Category: TV
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• 25Feb 06

  Skipped Level 10

  I was hard at work on one of the guides and ended up getting so many points that I skipped right over level 10 and went directly to level 11.
  
  I kind of wanted to be at level 10, since it's Evil Bert. I (like nearly everyone) enjoyed Sesame Street as a kid.
  
  But Evil Bert seems a bit odd as a ranking as he is a concept that was created on the internet, not on TV.
  
  Now my rank is Red Shirted Lt. As a Star Trek fan, I can appreciate this rank. The emblem looks like it was created specifially for this site. (That's not any actor who ever appeared on Star Trek, is it?)
  • Posted Feb 25, 2006 4:57 pm PT
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