Product Details

• Actors: Alan Young, Keye Luke, Ronnie Schell, Janet Waldo, Casey Kasem
• Directors: David E. Hanson
• Format: Animated, Color, Original recording remastered, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Rhino / Wea
• VHS Release Date: October 23, 2001
• Run Time: 48 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005OOPX
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #69,535 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

• This is item 2 in The Battle of the Planets Series.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The early anime series that began in Japan as Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (1972-74) aired in the U.S. in two very different versions. For Battle of the Planets (syndication, 1978), much of the violence was excised and the R2-D2-esque robot 7-Zark-7 was added; G-Force (Turner Broadcasting, 1986) was darker in tone and closer to the original Gatchaman. All three series focus on the adventures of five teenagers in bird suits. In Battle they tackle the evil Spectra in "outer space," although the backgrounds are clearly Earth, where G-Force and Gatchaman are set. Episode 3 illustrates the difference between the series: In Battle, when a whiny little boy gets in the way of a giant mummy attacking an airport, the evil Zoltar warns him away; in Gatchaman, villainous Berg Katse tells the mummy to step on the child. Unrated; suitable for ages 10 up. --Charles Solomon

From the Back Cover
Before Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles or Pokemon... there was Battle of the Planets.
The Space Mummy - 7-Zark-7 discovers a new planet, much like Earth, hiding behind Venus and it is named Zarkadia after himself. Lately, mysterious plane crashes have been occurring there and G-Force is sent to investigate. But when mark reaches the crash site, he's attacked by a colossal space mummy powered by Plutonium X. A new synthetic mineral, Anti-Pluton, is the only defense against it. Mark meets a young boy, Buddy, a mission pilot's son, whose uncle is the inventor of Anti-Pluton, and he agrees to help. But Zoltar himself, disguised as the boy's father, returns to wreak havoc and launch an all out assault on Zarkadia with help from the invincible space mummy.

The Space Serpent: Something is out there and it's approaching Earth: something massive enough to affect the movement of the stars is passes. Could it be another Spectra attack? It is, and this time Zoltar has outdone himself. He's commissioned a huge space serpent with an insatiable appetite for crude oil. It attacks Earth's oil refineries from underground, causing major earthquakes and upheavals. Mark's old friend, a famous seismologist, is lost in a quake and the doctor's daughter, Debbie, blames Mark. Now Mark takes it on himself to avenge his friend's death, but the battle won't be easy: blow the serpent apart and it quickly reassembles. Has Zoltar finally won? Will G-Force have to use their ultimate secret weapon?

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars So will the annoying kid get squashed? Tune in to find out!, March 4, 2002

By	Archibald Stephen Ignatius Nicholson (Københavns Universitet er Copenhagen) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Battle of the Planets, Vol. 2 - The Space Mummy / The Space Serpent (DVD)

OK, I'll admit it -- when I picked up volume 2 of Battle of the Planets, I was hoping that the annoying brat in "The Space Mummy" suffered a less kind fate in "The Giant Mummy That Calls Storms".

Seriously though, it wasn't an old-fashioned Godzilla-style stomping that I was looking for; I was looking forward to watching the sanitized U.S. versions of the show and then comparing those episodes to their corresponding stories in the original Japanese. (For the uninitiated, Battle of the Planets was a very loosely translated version of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. The latter was an edgy, groundbreaking anime that didn't feature any cutesy robots.)

Now that Rhinomation has gotten me watching Gatchaman again, I can't stop. I hope they won't confine themselves to releasing the 85-episode run of Battle of the Planets episodes; after all, they don't cover the entire run of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, which ran 105 episodes.

Can you imagine if a publisher decided to print only 85 pages of a 105-page book? And in the missing 20 pages were some of the best parts of the story as well as the ending? I'm very much hoping that Rhinomation doesn't force us to ask those questions.

Come on fans, don't settle for anything less than the whole series! There are 105 episodes to be seen so tell Rhino (or its parent company, Time Life Warner) that you want to see them all!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for all anime fans, November 17, 2001

By	"madnessmark" (Maple Grove, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Battle of the Planets, Vol. 2 - The Space Mummy / The Space Serpent (DVD)

This DVD contains two original broadcasted episodes of Battle of the Planets, the original Japanese version of two episodes as Science Ninja Team Gatchaman and one episode of G-Force in three languages. My review will go threw each feature.

Battle of the Planets: Episode 3
Content: B+
Animation: B
Music: B
English Script: B
Action Scenes: B+

When 7-Zark-7 discovers a new planet, he discovers a numerous amount of plane crashes on his new planet, Zarcadia. He sends out G-Force to find out the problem. After Mark meets up with Dr. Sweet and his nephew Buddy, Mark discovers a giant mummy is causing all the plane crashes. Later, Dr. Sweet's brother returns disguised as Zoltar, head of Spectra. Zoltar wants Dr. Sweets anti-pluton, but Mark wont let him have it. And the mummy attacking the plane station is a perfect chance to try out the anti-pluton.
Edits: Sweet's brother's plane crash scene, gun pointed at Buddy's head, scenes of mummy crushes planes edited down.

Battle of the Planets: Episode 4
Content: A-
Animation: B+
Music: B
English Script: C+
Action Sequences: B+

When Dr. Harlem is killed by a giant centipede made by Zoltar, his daughter, Debbie, wants to seek revenge. So Mark brings Debbie along on the mission to destroy the centipede.
Edits: Debbie put in bed scene edited out, Debbie does NOT press the button in the end.

Gatchaman: Episode 3
Content: A-
Music: B
Japanese Script: B+
Action Sequences: B+

Same plot as episode three with a few name changes. The Japanese version has more zing to it and the screaming from all the people at the airport when the mummy attacks is almost dead on.

Gatchaman: Episode 4
Content: A-
Music: B
Japanese Script: A-
Action Sequences: B+

The voices really sound great in this episode. And give a few hints that Ken might have a girlfriend.

G-Force: Episode 102
Content: A-
Animation: A-
Music: B+
English Script: B+
Spanish Script: B
Portugese Script: B+
Action Sequences: A-

After the G-Force gets out of another daring escape, they come head to head with one of Galactor's henchmen. And uncover a secret at the bottom of the ocean.

Overall, a good disc that is just as great as the last. Highly recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars About Bloody Time!!, October 29, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Battle of the Planets, Vol. 2 - The Space Mummy / The Space Serpent (DVD)

It has been about 20 years since I ran around with a Yo-Yo, pretending I was Princess. And I have seen many different Anime since then, and I'd say my tastes have matured. Expecting the worst, I watched this DVD, and I tell you, it is amazing what I had forgotten. 7-Zark-7 was from a different anime, Casey Kasem was the voice of Mark, the hero. Some of the characters were annoying, but it was great!! Death, smoking, violence, all that are missing from today's children's entertainment, since were worried about scarring them. I loved every minute of it, and felt some of the old thrill I had when I was a child. And to top it off, the DVD had the original Ninja Science Team, Gatchaman episodes. And another Gatchaman Series, I hadn't known about.
The only thing I didn't like, was these episodes focused too much on Mark, and that Volume 2 was released before volume 1. But, other than that, it is a great buy.