EPISODE GUIDE:

VOL 1: The first two episodes introduces the members of G-Force/Science Ninja Team.  We meet what will become the archetypes for many Japanese "Sentai" shows.  You have Ken, the strong leader.  Joe, the dark one, who kicks a lot of ass.  The beautiful (some would say token female) Jun, who is actually stronger than she looks.  Gentle giant Ryu, and Junpei, the youngest and least mature of the team. While a few deaths, and the character of Dr Nambu have been "omitted", for the most part, These episodes are unchanged. What is up with Terets-Boy Keyop messed up speech? I swear he says "My bare a$$" and "Fu** Off".

VOL 2: It's giant mummies and bugs attacking the Earth, or planet Zarkania.  However these episodes are less about monsters, and more about the loss of family.  In both episodes, secondary characters loose their fathers due to the evil of Glactor/Spectra.  Angry at the pain these nefarious villains have caused, Ken looses his cool and makes some very questionable moves. Most of the changes lie in the writing.  With the exception of Dr Harland in episode 4, no one dies.  Sure some fighter jets get blown up, as do Spectra henchmen, but they are only robots.  Poor Dr. Harland's death is also glossed over, and Mark reflecting over his grave is a lot shorter than Ken's in Gatchaman.  There are many more changes to the characters between BTOP and Gatchaman, but I think you get the picture. There are Three edits that really stand out. Ken and Chief Nakahara bowing after they met, and Ken punching Nakahara's teenage daughter in the gut when she attacks him.  In further violence against women, Ken also bitch slaps her for not firing the missiles.

VOL 3: Like Cobra from "G.I. Joe", Glactor/Spectra has come up with some disparate plans.  First they try an invasion force with UFO's in sunken ships.  Then they send little robots to rob a bank.  Now, all they have to do is use metallic bugs to steal candy and world domination is complete. Some major changes were done in these two episodes.  One such change involves the Red Impulse fighter squadron. In episode 5, "The Ghost Fleet From Hell" (Gatchaman title) we are introduced to this mysterious fighter group.  In later episodes, the Red Impulse will play a major part in the war against Galactor, and a startling secret involving Ken will be revealed.   In "Ghost Ship of Planet Mir", we are told that Brock, the deposed leader of Mir has aligned with Spectra.  Yet in the next episode "Big Robot Gold Grab", he isn't Brock anymore, just a nameless henchman.  You would figure that if they were going to "amp" up a minor Gatchaman character, they would keep him the same in both episodes.

VOL 4: News flash: Glactor/Spectra actually wins a couple of battles.  The fight between Gatchaman/G-Force goes up a notch, with the evil organization causing some major setbacks for our heroes.  With the evil Bi-Plane pilot Katesnberg destroying planes and a giant sea anemone attacking subs, it seems that the Science Ninja Team may not win this chapter of the war. Perhaps the most bizarre character we have met to date is Katesnberg/Captain Doom.  First, it takes a real man to wear a skull mask and purple leggings and still appear menacing.  What makes this character so bizarre is that in "Gatchaman", Katsenberg is really a disguised Berg Katsu.  On the "Battle of the Planets" side, the writer made him into a new character, who was working against Spectra.  Confusing?  Sure.

VOL 5: More terror and evil is being wrought on the good citizens of Earth.  This time, it's Armageddon!  Well not exactly.  The "meteors" are not from a rouge comet, but from a robotic bug that chews up moon rocks and shoots them out it's butt.  No, I am not making this up.  For some reason, the bugs are on Calisto, one of the moons of Jupiter, in Battle of the Planets.  The fact that you can see the "blue Earth" in the background must have escaped the notice of the writers. More bugs cause havoc with robotic ants attacking everything they can find.  While fighting Galactor in her mini dress does not bother Jun, bugs do.  She squeals and hates toes ikky things.

VOL 6: Okay, this volume really shows the differences between Battle of the Planets and Gatchaman.  That difference can be found with the Red Impulse. In Gatchaman, the Red Impulse was a top secret army created by Dr. Nabu to perform offensive attack.  The leader of the Red Impulse is none other than....(gasp) Ken's Father!  It seems that dad "disappeared" years ago but is presumed dead.   Where the differences come into play is the fact that the writers for BOTP had turned the Red Impulse from a secret army into fighters from planet Mir (or Glactic Federation Fighters, or Fighters from planet Riga) . So, they turned Ken's father into Colonel Chronos from Planet Riga.  Apparently (due to the witty repartee), the two have met before.  If you have watched volume 1-5 of Battle of the Planets, you know that this is this is the first time they have actually met.  Since BOTP episodes were shown out of sequence, this is not a big shock.  So now, the entire sub-plot involving Ken and his father is totally FUBAR! Remember when I said that if Glactor used metallic bugs to steal candy, their plans for world domination would be complete.  Well, they do.  While the actual episode was cool, it reminded me of the "Inspector Gadget" episode where MAD replaces all the milk with MAD Milk.  Since this series reached 102 total episodes in Japan, God knows what else they are going to steal.

CONCLUSION:

This is a classic, make no bones about it. The name G-Force evokes the same response in the US as the name Gatchaman does in Japan. Full of fast action, cool machines, and inventive plots, very few series can come close to the energy this anime has.

While many bemoan the heavy editing that Sandy Frank had to do (standards and practices were very strict back in the 70's), his company should be given credit to bring something that few people would be willing to take a risk on, a Japanese cartoon. Despite the edits, for us older viewers, still remember yelling out "Transmute!" when we were playing with the neighbor kids. Like Star Blazers, this series will never be forgotten.

Battle of the Planets, unfortunately, may forever be stigmatized by the fact that it was so badly edited, and that the dialogue was just as bad as Speed Racer. Especially the character of Keyop, who sounds like he suffers from Terets (Chikerup whoop whoop whoop my bare hands!) The inclusion of the queer sounding 7 Zark 7 makes most purist cringe. However lets be honest. At the time Battle of the Planets came out, no one noticed how bad it was

It also appears that the writers were a bunch of dirty old men as well as "hackers" (hack writers). First, what is up with the phone-sex voice for the computer Susan?  "It's--gasp--only has a---gasp---million miles--gasp range!".  Apparently, her talk gets 7 Zark 7 pretty hot.  He also finds "Princess" very pleasing to look at, but he does not know way.  Maybe it's because when he says this, there is a shot of her panties while riding her hover cycle? 

Another sex reference is the "did she come on!" remark made by Tiny in vol 4.  Basically, some unknown island ho came on to the tubby teddy bear, and they did the nasty!  So, let me understand this.  Death is not cool, but Tiny talking about his sex life and 7 Zark 7 getting a rise in his rectalfier is?  What exactly was the purpose of "Standards and Practices"?

Years later, things got better with G-Force. Despite the bad acting and writing, the episodes themselves remained unedited. Unfortunately, the constant and overly receptive 80's back beat drives me nuts, and it makes it hard to watch. That and the poor audio quality.
Despite any problems I may have with the writing or acting,  Rhino should be congratulated for their work on this series. Truly a "Perfect Collection", this series has Gatchaman, Battle of the Planets, and G-Force all on one disc. Now the purists can see this wonderful series the way it was intended, and the nostalgic who loved Battle of the Planets can revisit their old childhood friend.

Despite it's age, Battle of the Planets will always remain a part of anime history. So, get your transmuter ready, and pick up this series of DVD's.

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