Battle of the Planets - whats all the fuss?

gargoyle

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I'v just seen the ad for the forthcoming dvd boxset of Battle of the Planets and what I have to say may be heresy in the eyes of some of the forum members but I'v got to ask it - whats the big deal with this series?
From what I can see, it has a cult worldwide following and mere mention of this cartoon series leaves many a mature adult dewie eyed and nostalgic.
I watched it when I used to come home from school and thought it was okay, certainly nothing special, the animation was well jerky, the characters did nothing for me, and the dialogue, nothing to shout about.
I watched an episode some months back on cable and to this day, still don't see what the fuss is about - can anyone enlighten me? :confused:
 
Calling it a cartoon is not a good start!! ;) The original Japanese series is one of the most popular anime productions ever and aired in the early 70s.

Forget the Battle of the Planets - it's a butchering of the original - called Gatchaman, and introduced the most annoying character this side of Jar Jar binks, 7-Zark-7. This was done following the popularity of R2-D2 in Star Wars and the aim was to piece the story together since the original was seriously edited and sanitised. Notice how 7-Zark-7 fills in a lot of the plot/action for you. It's also terribly dubbed with Casey Kasem of all people doing the lead role.

The originals had more violence in them, albeit pretty tame by today's standards. I loved it personally, but I grew up watching it either Chinese or Japanese and not knowing what anyone was saying.

That said, I agree it's popularity is very much tied in with nostalgia - it's a reminder of when we were younger.
 
I remember loving it then... Whether I'd love it now is another matter...
 
I used to really dig the explosions. They had the best explosions on TV at one point, and soooooooo many of them.

haven't seen it in years and I'm happy to keep it a memory. Nostalgia has the habit of causing your DVD collection to fly off at the crappest of tangents, so sometimes memories are best kept just that - memories. :zonked:
 
I used to watch it too and wouldn't miss an episode but shall give the dvd a miss though. I much prefered Star Fleet which came out some years later iirc. Does anyone know if this series is available on dvd or is it ever likely to see the light of day?
 
Battle Of The Planets is one of those things that people are nostalgic about because of the age they were when they first saw it. As it's not really been on TV since, one tends to remember it through rose-tinted glasses.

Traaaaaans-Mute! :cool:
 
Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiize of an elephant :suicide:
 
Yours might be the size of a donkey, but mines definately an elephant..! ;)
 
SimonO said:
Yours might be the size of a donkey, but mines definately an elephant..! ;)

:rotfl:
What was is it part of? The Banana Splits?
 
Markmw said:
Calling it a cartoon is not a good start!! ;)

why not thats what the japs call them ;)
MANGA
a Japanese genre of cartoons, comic books,typically with a science-fiction or fantasy theme
 
SILVERBACK said:
why not thats what the japs call them ;)
MANGA
a Japanese genre of cartoons, comic books,typically with a science-fiction or fantasy theme

Actually they don't. Manga are japanese comic books or novels. Anime is a japanese animation. When (non-Asian) people talk about manga videos or dvd, they are incorrect - it's a misnomer mainly due to anime being associated with the company Manga Entertainment.
 

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