Battle of the Planets

Zordon · Post by **Zordon** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 10:31 pm

Came across these too at the weekend. Im realy lucky cuz my Gf's buying the set for me b-day. I'm off too buy the her a P-grade gundam so far trade I say.

Joe Meredith · Post by **Joe Meredith** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 12:36 pm

I loved BOTP as a kid so was pleased to get the box set with all the episodes - of course at the time I had no idea that the 7 zark 7 bits were all added in by Sandy Frank, and how toned down the violence was, not to mention some of the plot points of Gatchaman being incomprehensible in BOTP. I've got 8 of the ADV Gatchaman box sets and its great to see the show in its original form - still a bit difficult to get used to the new voices for the American dub, though; one thing about BOTP was its superior cast.The Box set collections are well worth getting - each consisting of two DVDs of episodes (usually 6 per disc) and a disc of bonus features in a wonderfully painted card box. I just wonder what Alex Ross, the artist, might do with Star Fleet if he got the chance to do some paintings....These are region 1 DVD's, by the way...Joe

FZeroOne · Post by **FZeroOne** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 7:55 pm

I've just completed my ADV Gatchaman collection. I wish all older anime releases could be treated this way (those who released Patlabor on TV, I'm looking at you here!).The DVDs are almost worth it just for the Alex Ross artwork alone, but the content is wonderful. Granted, Gatchaman has aged badly in some areas - the plots can be repetitive (oh, look, another mecha monster! I wonder which organisation could be responsible?!), with story holes even a six year old would have no trouble spotting, but......in its own way, its perfect. The animation might be thirty years old now, but its high quality old animation. Its a classic premise. Berg Katse - aka Zoltar - is surely the archtype of every anime villain theres ever been. Ken is moody and screws up. Joe is moodier still and kicks butt. Jinpei is goofy - and has a real voice! - Ryu sleeps a lot, and Jun is, of course, gorgeous... (and who could forget that skirt... )Theres the episode titles, that do exactly what they say on the tin. None of this modern "Unfamilar Ceiling" rubbish. "Giant Mummy That Causes Storms". What more do you need to know?And Gatchaman is an interesting window on the past, even though its set in the future. It seems the things that concerned the 70s are still haunting us today - pollution, environmental damage, gasping for energy. And theres some surprises, too - Jun may like to show a bit of leg on occasion, but shes probably the most intelligent of the Gatchaman team, often sorting things out while Ken and Joe are posturing in a macho way to each other... not bad for a 70s Japanese woman... The real fun, in this series, though is Galactor. And their wonderful mecha of mass destruction! And, this being the original version, its not robot workers they're blowing up. Or blasting with death rays. Or dumping molten lava on. Or... (and it helps, of course, that everything in the Gatchaman world is made of high explosive. Even the house plants... )And theres a couple of bonuses - the quote at the start of each menu, or the "karaoke" feature - you too can dub your own episode, or pretend you're Ken or Joe. Just like when you were eight...

FZeroOne · Post by **FZeroOne** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 7:57 pm

Quote (Zordon @ 08 June 2004,23:31)Came across these too at the weekend. Im realy lucky cuz my Gf's buying the set for me b-day. I'm off too buy the her a P-grade gundam so far trade I say.You have a mecha-fan girlfriend?! Do you realise how lucky you are?!