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Gatchaman (1972–1974)

TV Series   |  TV-PG   |    |  Action, Animation, Sci-Fi

Episode Guide
Gatchaman (1972) Poster

A team of bird-themed superhero ninjas battle the menace of Galactor, a technologically advanced international terrorist organization determined to conquer the world.

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  • Gatchaman (1972)
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User Reviews
5 March 2019 | Java_Joe
7
| The original and still the best.
I remember being 10 and seeing the first episode of "Battle of the Planets" on TV. The very next day at school it was all kids could talk about. This was something new and exciting and never before seen. We accepted the fact that nobody ever died. That all the explosions and people getting blown up were just robots. And that the bad guys were polite enough to warn of their attack so everybody could evacuate the city. And nobody really minded the shoddy animation that had been added to the show to pad out the run time after all the cuts. We were kids. It happens.

And then, years later, I discovered it had been cobbled together from this show "Gatchaman" and I was interested in seeing how the show differed. And let me tell you it was like night and day. Here there were consequences. People died. Bad guys were killed as well as innocent civilians. And best of all, no 7-Zark-7 and forcing a space opera theme on it. And yes while I loved Keyop when I was 10, I seriously have a problem with him now. What were they thinking?

This is a much more mature story. Instead of them being five orphans raised from birth to fight baddies with their "cerebonic implants", they're five highly trained and capable individuals who fight for freedom against a group of terrorists. These people have actual lives outside of being the Science Ninja Team and don't just chill in their underwater base while waiting for the next attack. They have real lives and real issues.

There are several English versions of this out there from the original "Battle of the Planets" which is a decent dub even with the inclusion of Keyop to the bad G-Force which added a lot of unnecessary dialogue and focused on them being able to fly for some reason. There was another one called "Eagle Riders" out there but I've never actually seen it but I've heard it's the worst of the bunch.

If you can find it I would recommend the ADV dub which is the closest to the original Japanese in terms of dialogue. Or just stick the Japanese audio in and watch the subtitles.

Critic Reviews

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Although the Zoltar character is also known as Solaris, especially in the English-language dub of Gatchaman (1994), his original Japanese name is Bergu Kattse, a name that literally means hill cat in German and is probably used as a pun on the surname Katzenberg. When the series was turned into Battle of the Planets (1978), the American animators changed his name to Zoltar and later to Solaris for Eagle Riders (1996).

Soundtracks

Taose! Gyarakutâ
(Destroy! Galactor)
Performed by Columbia Yurikago-Kai
Music by Asei Kobayashi
Lyrics by Tatsunoko Production Planning Department
Arrangement by Bobu Sakuma
First opening theme (episodes #1-22)
Second ending theme (episodes #23-105)

Storyline

Plot Summary

Genres

Action | Animation | Sci-Fi

Details

Release Date:

1 October 1972

Language

Japanese

Country of Origin

Japan

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