Battle of the Planets (Vol. 6)

Rating:
Summary: Good Show, Bad Layout
Review: "Kaguta Ninja Tai Gatchaman" ("Science Ninja Team Gatchaman") is an anime series that debuted in Japan in 1972. It was about a team of 5 kids (4 teenagers and a preteen) that fought the evil Galactor organization, which was bent on world conquest. Sandy Frank brought the series over to the U.S. in 1978. Due to Standards and Practices restrictions at the time, a lot of violence had to be cut before the series could be dubbed into English. To fill in the time and gaps left in the story, new footage was animated of an American-made character, 7-Zark-7, a robot (which looked a lot like R2D2 to capitalize on the "Star Wars" craze at the time) that watched over the team from Center Neptune (an underwater base; don't ask), and his robotic canine companion, 1-Rover-1. Zark's job was, through voice-overs, to assure the audience that nobody died, or, if a plane got blown up, a robot was at the controls. Oddly, for a character that was created to censor things, Zark had a lot of sezual conversations with Susan, his robotic love interest on Pluto, over space radio. (...). Whereas Gatchaman was entirely Earth-based, BotP often had the kids going to another planet that looked exactly like Earth. I think you can see where this is going. In addition, the kids got name changes - even those that already had English names! Ken, Joe, Jun, Jimpei, and Ryu became Mark (as in Hammill), Jason, Princess (as in Leia), Keyop (WTF?), and Tiny Harper. The voice casting wasn't that great. Casey Kasem (Mark) sounded nothing like a teenager. In total, 85 of the 105 episodes got "the BotP treatment" (though not exactly the first 85 episodes). Personally, I think that this dub is so bad, it's unintentionally funny. Later, Turner did their own dub of Gatchaman, called "G-Force". The voices were better, more violence was retained, and there was no Zark. However, the characters were renamed again. This time, the names were extremely stupid: Ace Goodheart, Dirk Daring, Agatha Jun (Aggie to her friends; the only sensible name), PeeWee, and Hoot Owl (Hootie). Again, 85 of the 105 episodes were dubbed, but they weren't exactly the same 85 episodes that made it into BotP. One annoying (or hilarious, depending on the person) thing about "G-Force" is that they often added a repetitive, pulsing techno beat in the background. I crack up whenever it comes on, and it comes on multiple times per episode. It's so totally out of place, yet I enjoy it. Anyway, this DVD contains 2 episodes of "Battle of the Planets" as the main feature and the 2 corresponding episodes of "Kaguta Ninja Tai Gatchaman" and 1 episode of "G-Force" as special features. The BotP episodes have the original 2.0 mono track and a 5.1 remixed track. The Gatchaman episodes have the 2.0 mono track only and the option of English subtitles. The "G-Force" episode has the original English track as well as Spanish and Brazilian dialect Portuguese tracks. I think that Rhino was trying to offer a way for us to view all 3 versions of the show, but, by including only 1 episode of "G-Force", they totally messed it up. The format is 2, 2, and 1. So, Volume 1 contains Gatchaman and BotP episodes 1 & 2 and "G-Force" episode 1, Volume 2 contains Gatchaman and BotP episodes 3 & 4 and "G-Force" episode 2, etc. It makes no sense. We didn't need the Spanish and Portuguese tracks. This is America! They should have put those tracks on the foreign DVD releases. Without those extra tracks, there would be enough room for a second "G-Force" episode, and that would keep the right episodes paired together. Overall, I recommend this disc and the others in the series. For those of you that have never seen "Battle of the Planets", this will give you an idea of the censorship on American television in the late 1970s. For those of you that are buying this to relive your childhood, be warned: your love of "Battle of the Planets" is probably based on nostalgia only; you might find the series to be completely retarded now.

Rating:
Summary: Anime fan-but this series disappointment
Review: I loved the G force episodes and would love to see the Gatchaman series (without subtitles) but I know why now I did not watch BOTP as a child, cause of goofy 7 Zark 7, 1 rover 1...that by no means disrespect to Casey Kasem as Eagle 1 and Alan Young from Mr. ED (Wilbur) but sound quality and animation quality could definately get an upgrade. I collected the first few volumes but I would rather get Dubbed titles of G force or Gatchaman.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent , keep them coming Rhino.
Review: i've really enjoy the series out on DVD & was hoping for Vol.7 & others to come out i just can't get enough 7 zark 7...i on the other hand i have great mermories of these shows on this disc please keep them coming...more of jason , mark , princess & kehop . i want whole series of battle of the planets on DVD I have 1 through 6 i recommend all of the battle of the planets Volumes on DVD they're great .

Rating:
Summary: Good quality, great memories!
Review: The picture quality on the BOTP episodes are fair -- but I remember as a child it was only fair when it originally aired, so no surprises there! The corresponding Japanese Gatchaman episodes are much better, with uncut story lines that make much more sense than the sanitized, BOTP version (and no 7-Zark-7, thank goodness!). The bonus G-Force episode is let down only by a mind-numbing, disco-thumping sountrack that fills every "hole" left by the original Gatchaman soundtrack.

Otherwise, this is a great trip down memory lane with good packaging. It's a good testament to how unique this cartoon really was, and how it's still good enough to hold the interest of children and adults alike (especially the Gatchaman episodes, once you get used to the subtitles). As much as I was a superhero-holic -- and to a small extent, I still am -- G-Force was and is my absolute favorite good guy team. "Transmute" and enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Good quality, great memories!
Review: The picture quality on the BOTP episodes are fair -- but I remember as a child it was only fair when it originally aired, so no surprises there! The corresponding Japanese Gatchaman episodes are much better, with uncut story lines that make much more sense than the sanitized, BOTP version (and no 7-Zark-7, thank goodness!). The bonus G-Force episode is let down only by a mind-numbing, disco-thumping sountrack that fills every "hole" left by the original Gatchaman soundtrack.

Otherwise, this is a great trip down memory lane with good packaging. It's a good testament to how unique this cartoon really was, and how it's still good enough to hold the interest of children and adults alike (especially the Gatchaman episodes, once you get used to the subtitles). As much as I was a superhero-holic -- and to a small extent, I still am -- G-Force was and is my absolute favorite good guy team. "Transmute" and enjoy!