37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
SURPRISINGLY BRILLENT!!!!!!, November 27, 2005
This review is from: Astro Boy Collection Box Set (DVD)
Way to go!!100,000 horse power!!!Here comes the amazing ASTRO BOY!!The orginal ASTRO BOY!! The BEST ASTRO BOY!!
After being terribly disapointed for the previous 2003 released of the new Astro boy, I was surprised to find out this new released of the orginal 1980 series to become a must-have for all those astro fans. This is the real Astro boy, Tetsuwan Atom!!
Above all the best treat from this set was: IT CONTAINS THE ORGINAL SOUNDTRACK!! not only in English, but in JAPANESE also!!!! Not only dose it contain it, and also the sound quality was amazingly well-preserved!! Even though on the cover it says 51 half hour episodes in English. I fell deeply soul-stirring while listening to the orginal theme song, of which was the one song that was never left out from my childhood memory!! The picture quality was excellent too. Followed by the artworks, performances, and the outstanding script all created by Osamu Tezuka himself, have all made this collection to be priceless!! This boxset also contains an exquisite booklet, and with all other special features I have not yet seen, including the delected scenes from the orginal show, story board sequence, Character profiles and the gallery of the orginal manga cover.
When the enthusiastic scientist Doctor Tenma lost his only son Toby in a car crash, the ingenious robot engineer was determined to construct a boy robot in a hope to make up the lost of his only son, only to find out that the robot he created could never replace what he lost. Overcame by despair Astro left Tenma on a cruised, and was later on kidnaped by a evil manager of a robot circus, thus begins our excting adventures of Astro Boy!! In these adventures we discovered the everlasting strugles about human natures, industrial evolutions, environmental crisis and many other things.
Osamu Tezuka is the god of manga. In his life he created over 400 comic books, 60 different titles of animation. Astro was 1 of the earilest charcter he created. His masterpieces also include Jungle Emperor( the orginal Lion King ), Black Jack, Fire-bird the phoenix, Princess knight, Buddha, History of birdman, Ahundred tales, Metropilos and many other amazing creations. He said that the idear through his works is just a simple message, love all creatures, love everything that has life.
If only Osamu Tezuka was still alive today, he will be happy to witness his Astro Boy has been passed on to the younger generations. This DVD collection is a must-have for all people. Highly recomended for all ages, you will be surprised how much you are gonna enjoy this masterpiece!!
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This series is excellent but not for the reasons you might think., October 10, 2006
This review is from: Astro Boy Collection Box Set (DVD)
I suppose that children growing up in the 1980's have a certain nostagia for the English dubbed version, just as I still have a crush 40 years later on the voice talents of Billie Lou Watt and the other members of the cast who brought such comic, touching and manic fun to the 1960's version. So I could argue with someone who grew up on the 1983 series until next Sunday and I would never get them to agree with me about how childish, poor and pathetic the voice talents are in the English dubbed version of the 1980's version. Initially, I was so sorry that I bought this DVD set when I heard an Astro Boy who sounded like my next door neighbor's 6 year old kid. Or Dr. Boynton who sounded like a jock. BUT...it suddenly occurred to me that there must be a reason why Tezuka was so driven to make this update series, and I found out the reason why it is in reality a masterpiece! I did this by going into the language control of the DVD's and changing the settings to Japanese with English Subtitles. What I watched then was nothing short of genius. All of the sentiment, tenderness, depth and nuance came through as well as Astro Boy's brave, spirited, uncompromising and unstoppable fight for justice...all lost in the dubbing into English. Take my word for it. Buy this set and watch it in its original Japanese version with subtitles.
Stephen Borisoff
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
to reduce some confusion, April 26, 2009
This review is from: Astro Boy Collection Box Set (DVD)
to reduce confusion of Astro Boy DVD series, please note that there have been 3 series so far: the Black and White 1963 series, the 1980 First Color version, and the 2003 Color version with different stories.
The black and white 1963 version has 193 episodes.
The 1980 version has 52 episodes for the Japanese version, with the first and second episodes merged and cut into 1 episode as the US version. The birth of the character Atlas is removed in the US version. As a result, the US version only has 51 episodes.
The 2003 version has 50 episodes. This version once again has one more episode in the Japanese version. The US version has 1 episode less, which is replaced by a "clip show episode". (probably meaning frame by frame). Personally, I think the 1980 version is slightly cuter than the 2003 version. The 2003 version is more lavish.
More information can be found on Wikipedia: use the keyword Astro Boy, and then try Astro Boy 1980 and Astro Boy 2003
Now, this "red box" edition is the 1980 series. When you think about it, for 30 something dollars, and you get 51 episodes, which is like 60 cents per episode, it is really a very good deal.
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