Customer Reviews

Battle of the Planets, Vol. 1 - Attack of the Space Terrapin / Rescue of the Astronauts [VHS]

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I first saw this for sale I was absolutely giddy with excitement. One of the greatest shows of my childhood was now available on DVD! I got it home and popped it in and..."I don't remember it being this lame?" For what it's worth, there were some nostalgic moments. One, was finally seeing my heroes in their colorful costumes saving the day and another was hearing Key-op talk in his very funny way, "Brrrrrr-toot-toot!" But after that I thought everything else was fairly second-rate. It's amazing what glorious images I can conjure in my memory of this show, and how the reality of my adult perspective shatters all the charm it once held. However, there are the "Gatchaman" episodes, which is the only feature of this DVD that saves it from being a complete failure. While "Battle of the Planets" is broken up with freeze-framing and the intensely annoying 7-Zark-7 filling in plot holes with voice-over narration, not to mention his equally annoying companion 1-Rover-1 doing his side-show antics, the "Gatchaman" episodes flow more fluidly with more action and acceptable violence. If I had known better I would have bought only the "Gatchaman" episodes. It just fits the ideas better that they speak in Japanese. I've seen enough Japanese animation to know that more things are possible in the hyper-reality of their highly creative shows than in the saccharin-based shows of America where the violence is tempered, if shown at all. Something that I recently noticed about world-wide animation is that virtualy all the characters are caucasian. Being white, I guess I just never noticed. Most Japanese animation, in particular, has a tendency toward white Americanized heroes. It might be because we are the largest consumer nation in the world, but this is not a new trend. Just like the cutting-edge animation from Japan like "Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within," the show "Battle of the Planets" has an all-white cast. It's just an interesting, cultural note, one that makes more sense these days than in days past. Anyway, get the "Gatchaman" series on DVD if you must insist on purchasing anything for nostalgia's sake. I got this out of a deep-seeded feeling of nostalgia, and I was disappointed overall. Be careful.

It's about time someone put out this great cartoon series on DVD! It sure beats shelling out the several thousand dollars that the Japanese Laserdiscs are demanding. THANK YOU, Rhino!!!

I think it was a stroke of brilliance on the part of Rhino to team up episodes of Battle of the Planets with the corresponding G-Force (Turnerized version of the show) and Gatchaman (orignal Japanese version) episodes. This gives the viewer the ability to see how the show was ORIGINALLY envisioned as Gatchaman (THANK YOU for the subtitles, Rhino!), how it was pathetically watered down as Battle of the Planets (I hope 7-Zark-7 rusts!!) and how G-Force tried to strike a balance by leaving in more of the violence and action (yet still missing the consistency and flow evidenced in the Japanese version).

The only problem I encountered on the DVDs dealt with the audio tracks for both Gatchaman episodes -- the one on Volume 1 and the one on Volume 2. The English audio track was VERY low and sounded like people were speaking underwater. It was unintelligible. Does anyone else out there have this problem with these disks? ...For the record, the Spanish and Portuguese audio tracks work just fine on the G-Force episodes (in case you speak Spanish or Portuguese!)

All in all, a great product, well worth the money. Like several who posted before me, I hope for a full run to be released!

I ordered Vol. 1 of the "Battle of the Planets" DVD wanting to re-live some childhood memories of watching this show after school. It was nice to see the "G-Force" team in action after some 20 years. The episodes are great, that is until you watch the original "Gatchaman" episodes on which they were based. Then you realize just how much your childhood viewing experience was shortchanged.
Put simply, the American version pales in comparison. As a viewer, you will get to see just how how much drama, action and pathos were excised from these cartoons because of violence concerns by U.S. broadcasters. Many of those edited scenes were replaced with narration by "7-Zark-7", an "R2D2" rip-off created to capitalize on "Star Wars" which had been released a year or so earlier. Watching some two decades later, you realize just how jarring this proved to the show's pacing. "Gatchaman," however, moves at a more rapid clip.
I almost forgot to mention, that "Gatchaman" was set on Earth and there were no 'battles' with other planets. That said, you also realize just how awkward the premise of "Battle of the Planets," was. I gave the DVD 5 stars, but only for the "Gatchaman" episodes.

Lots of other reviews here do an excellent job covering the content of this DVD. I just wanted to mention that there is a slight technical problem with this DVD (and the rest of vols. 1-4). The English language track on the G-Force episode is virtually inaudible, which is a real disappointment and knocked the DVD down a star. I tried on two different players (Pioneer DV-626D and Playstation 2), and they both have the same trouble. I even wrote in to Rhino's technical support and they kindly exchanged the discs for me, but sadly, the replacement discs are the same way. I just wanted to put out the warning here. The rest of the disc is fine and has great content - it's just that one problematic audio track.

Having fond childhood memories of "Battle of the Planets", I eagerly purchased the DVD. I never had a problem with 7-Zark-7 when I was a kid, but now he makes me cringe. However, I still prefer "BOTP" over the "Gatchaman" episodes that are also on the DVD. I found the "Gatachman" characters extremely unlikable, especially "Ken" (Mark on "BOTP") who was particularly abrasive. My dream version of "Gatchman"/"BOTP" would be if Sandy Frank productions reassembled the original "BOTP" voice cast and dubbed the "Gatachman" series into English WITHOUT changing the plot or adding an innane robot to annoy us. As far as the "G-Force" episode included goes, well... the voice talent had none, the character names were [bad], and the music sounded like it had been dubbed from a bad porno. You may be wondering why I gave this DVD five stars and an "Excellent!" title - well, "BOTP" made me feel nostalgic and it's really nice to see what Sandy Frank cut out ("Gatchman"). Now if only they'd make my "dream version"...

After years of waiting, "Battle of the Planets" has finally reached DVD! Now, you can re-live those weekday afternoons from the late 70's, when you raced home from school to catch the daring exploits of Ken, Joe, Jun....er....Mark, Jason, Princess, Keyop, and Tiny! (Yay!)

As you surely know, "Battle of the Planets" was the title given to Sandy Frank's re-working of the Japanese "Gatchaman" series. The violence of the original series was toned (way) down and new animation was made to compensate for the edits. In order to capitalize on the then-current Star Wars boom, "7-Zark-7 (an R2-D2 clone) was created and appears in most of the new footage. "Zark" served as the team's coordinator, the show's narrator, and he would explain away plot holes that occurred due to the large amount of film that was trimmed away by the producers.

The picture quality of the Battle of the Planets episodes is very good! For a show that must have been mastered from 16mm prints, the images are fairly sharp and the colors are good. (In the 70's, syndicated TV shows were all 16mm - only networks used 35mm). Episodes that originally had teasers before the opening credits are complete with the teasers!

The production values of BOTP are quite high. Obviously, the producers spent a lot of money getting this show made.

The voice actors used in the making of BOTP were the best in their field at the time. Casey Kasem, Janet Waldo, Keye Luke, and Alan Young are all professionals and must not have come cheap. They handle the (sometimes silly) scripts very well and really enhance the series. Compare the voice work on this series to other shows of the same era (like Force Five) to see how good it is!

Another thing BOTP has going for it is the music. In addition to the original music composed for Gatchaman (by Bob Sakuma), Sandy Frank employed the services of Hoyt Curtin. Mr. Curtin, mostly known for his classic Hanna Barbera scores (like Jonny Quest & The Flintstones), composed BOTP's theme music and other incidental music cues used throughout the series. The fully-orchestrated scores are stirring and memorable.

Overall, this DVD set is a great value! In addition to two classic Battle of the Planets episodes, you get the original Gatchaman episodes the BOTP episodes were based on. You also get one episode of the mid-80's "G-Force" series. You can now see Gatchaman in all of its various forms!

The Gatchaman episodes are a nice addition to the set and really enhance the collection. As you obviously know, Zark is nowhere to be seen, and the stories tend to be more intense than the cleaned-up BOTP episodes. For someone who doesn't have warm and fuzzy memories of Battle of the Planets, you'll probably prefer Gatchaman.

Generally, the Gatchaman episodes look great, but there are a couple of problems with the presentation of them...

First of all, the mastering is a bit suspect in places. Some scenes appear dark and murky. While I expect less than 100% print quality for the 16mm BOTP episodes, Gatchaman was originally mastered in 35mm for Japanese network television, so the picture quality should be better. When Gatchaman was released in Japan on LD and DVD the transfers were excellent. I only wish Rhino employed the same quality control here.

The other weak aspect of the Gatchaman episodes is the English translation. While it does allow the viewer to follow the action fairly well, it seems more like a fan-produced work than that of a professional. The person who prepared the translation obviously had a good Japanese-to-English dictionary, but not a very good understanding of the Japanese language itself. As a result, the translation is stiff and unnatural. It lacks nuance and style. (There are also a few places throughout the episodes that weren't translated at all...)

The second "bonus" on each disk is one episode of the mid-80's version of Gatchaman, "G-Force". Unless this is the version you grew up with, I doubt you will watch it much. While the episodes themselves are less edited than BOTP, the production values are extremely poor. The voice "actors" used here are laughably bad and they seem genetically incapable of showing any kind of emotion at all. The "music" employed in this series sounds like it was composed by someone on a cheap Casio keyboard. And if you can't get enough of the show's monotonous electronic theme, you're really in for a treat - the same theme music is used throughout each episode...! Watching an episode of "G-Force" is like a stamina contest. Congratulations if you succeed!

... decry the Sandy Frank version of Gatchaman. This is unfair as Battle of the Planets and Gatchaman should be treated as different series. You will not enjoy BOTP if you keep comparing it to Gatchaman. Sure, lots of it was edited out. The new animation is crummy compared to the animation used in the original. The stories seem sometimes childish. But that's not the point. Battle of the Planets is a nostalgia treat for most of us who grew up during the 70's. Watching these DVDs is a real blast from the past and if you liked the show then, you will still like it now!

This dvd release from Rhino has made me happier than I had imagined I could be. From childhood, I had kept the G-Force flame alive, and told so many people about it, based on my experience of BOTP. Now I got the package, and also another dvd on similarly themed material, I cannot stand BOTP, 7 Zark 7 or the robot dog, except for a wry laugh.

This is probably still great to show young children (I fell in love in the first run, around 8 years old), but the difference in story, and the quality of the the character development are all too apparent in the Gatchaman episodes (and the now embarrasing cover-ups of anybody actually getting hurt, or exactly which planet the action is taking place on =).

Rhino; if you fail to provide the Gatchaman counterparts to your future releases, I will not buy them. Included, they are an adult fan's delight, and ensure my solid support forevermore. Thanks for starting this...

Is the Japanese Gatchaman versions better? Sure to an adult they are. But when I was 10 getting up on a Saturday morning to watch it the American version is what I saw and I couldn't get enough of it. I didn't buy this DVD to get the Japanese version although they are very interesting and I do like them more. But I bought it as something from my youth. A show that I just couldn't get enough of and something to share with my kids. Sure 7-Zark-7 is campy beyond belief. But I don't mind. For now I will show kids the American version with it's more family ideals and when they are a little older they can watch whichever version they want. I was just happy that the Americans did a version. Because if they didn't then I probobly would not have seen it as a kid and found a love for anime.

I threw on this DVD and watched it for about 10 minutes before realizing how poorly 7-Zark-7 had aged :). Then I watched the original Japanese "Gatchman" episodes and the magic was back - so THIS was the reason I would wake up at 6 am when I was 5 years old! Can't wait for the rest of the series (hopefully they'll keep it coming); if only they'd put out 4 Japanese episodes on a DVD and toss the American versions... oh well.

Personally, if you're really interested in BOTP, then check out the BOTP episodes, but don't do yourself a disservice and skip watching the original, UNCUT, Gatchaman episodes. Don't expect to find any trace of the abominable 7-Zark-7 or his robot dog. And sorry, no Casy Casem either. Just pure Gatchaman in it's unbutchered form. This disc is a great example of what American companies will do to "mainstream" a foreign show for broadcast in the states. Check it out, these are a must have! Lets hope Rhino keeps up the great work.