Retro Sci Fi TV: A look at shows from the past that may not have stood the test of time and/or that are relegated to their era, but many of us still have fond memories of them.
What Is It? This series focuses on the elite squad known as G-Force which has been tasked with protecting Earth from the planet Spectra as well as other extraterrestrial threats. The five young people in the squad most often fight against the villainous Zoltar who is commander of Spectra’s forces.
Aired: Syndication, 1978-80, 1 Season Totaling 85 Episodes
Starring: Casey Kasem, Keye Luke, Alan Young, Janet Waldo, Alan Dinehart
Developed By: Sandy Frank Entertainment
Is It Must Watch Sci Fi TV?: No. It might be worth catching a few episodes to get an idea of what the show is about (and a few is enough because this one was very repetitive), but it is probably better to catch the original Japanese version with English subtitles.
The Skinny: This series appeared in syndication in the late-70’s, often in the afternoon timeslots and acted as the introduction to Anime for many American viewers. It rode in on the Star Wars wave of popularity that found television networks scrambling to get any sort of sci fi entry on their schedule. It combined superhero elements with action-adventure as well as sci fi and seemed like the perfect series to appeal to the throngs of new genre fans. But this was also one of the Anime shows that suffered from heavy edits in order to tone down the violence and language and also to excise certain elements such as the transgender villain Zoltar. It also added the robot character 7-Zark-7 (a C3PO / R2-D2 mash-up) which was used as comic relief and to pad out the episodes due to the edits. So what American audiences received was a heavily “kiddified” version of the original series (known as Science Ninja Gatchaman in Japan).
That doesn’t make it a bad show, and many who watched this one when it first aired still have fond memories of the adventures of G-Force as they attempted to protect Earth from Spectra. And the U.S. version had quite an impressive voice cast which included Casey Kasem, Keye Luke, Alan Young, Janet Waldo, and Ronnie Schell. I have watched some of the original Anime with subtitles and I can tell you that Battle of the Planets did not completely change the story of the source material, it just delivered a more kid-friendly version. Better options for Anime sci fi epics from that time, though, include Starblazers (aka Space Battleship Yamato), Captain Harlock, and Mobile Suite Gundam. But Battle of the Planets at least introduced a wider audience to Japanese animation and likely started many on their way to becoming fans of the Anime genre. And like Speed Racer and Ultraman, this Japanese import may have been beloved by viewers when they were younger, but it does not quite hold up as the classic you expect when you go back and view it today.
Cancelled Too Soon?: No. Eighty-five installments of the original series were adapted which gave this show more than enough episodes for a healthy syndication run. Since it proved popular, they probably could have adapted some of the other episodes to pad out the syndication package, but the original episode order proved to be sufficient.
Revival: In the 80’s, Sandy Frank Entertainment worked with Turner Broadcasting on a new adaptation of Gatchaman which they called G-Force: Guardians of Space. This had less of the edits to the original Anime because of the relaxed standards for children’s television in that decade and it jettisoned the additions to Battle of the Planets like 7-Zark-7. It only received a test run on TBS in 1986 before disappearing from the U.S. airwaves (though it was syndicated internationally). It did later get a full run on Cartoon Network, but it was never well-received by fans of Battle of the Planets or the original Anime. In 1996, Saban Entertainment adapted Gatchaman II and Gatchaman Fighter into the series titled Eagle Riders. Only thirteen of the 65 episodes aired in the U.S. and this one was not well-received either. In comics, Top Cow issued a series of Battle of the Planets comics in the 00’s.
Should It Be Rebooted?: Whether or not it should, it looks like it might be. The same production companies that had success with Beyblade in the U.S. announced plans to do a Battle of the Planets reboot targeted at the six to eleven year old crowd. Not much has been heard about this since the original announcement in 2015, though.
Interesting Facts: The original Gatchaman series was earthbound and introduced environmental themes. But Sandy Frank wanted to capitalize on the popularity of Star Wars and edited the show to make it seem like G-Force was fighting against aliens from space, and they also took out many of the environmental themes. The character Keyop, who is described as “manufactured” from an embryo, was completely re-written from the original series. In Gatchaman, his name was Jinpei and he was a boy who talked normally.
Where Can You Watch It? The series has been released on DVD, but those are apparently out of print and fetch a pretty high price. It is currently available online at the HighDive streaming service which you can subscribe to separately or as part of the VRV bundle.
