This is one of those cases where the differences between Battle Of The Planets and Gatchaman, the early animè series on which it was based, stand out in sharp, sharp relief. In the original Japanese version of the first episode on this disc, a meteor storm causes destruction on a massive scale - skyscrapers topple, and lots of people die. In the American translation of the same show...very little of the above is allowed to come through. It's more of a major nuisance than a global disaster. If that was considered too strong in the late 70s for American kids, then in light of the world events since the turn of the century this episode would probably be left completely unadapted nowadays. Ironically, though, it's one of the few places where the two shows meet - it's the first time in the original Japanese series that the God Phoenix actually makes it into space. (As a rule, Gatchaman happened almost exclusively on Earth itself; Battle Of The Planets' space travel sequences were an American invention to stretch out episodes that had been savagely edited due to violence.)

The second episode's even more of a contrast; in some ways for the same reasons (the nuclear power plant disaster in the original Gatchaman episode isn't even touched in the Battle Of The Planets version of the same story, which has an inordinate amount of 7-Zark-7 scenes to fill the void left by that subplot). But the bigger difference in the second show is the presence of Red Impulse, a recurring character whose identity was revealed slowly, bit by bit, in the original series; his planes are seen in Battle Of The Planets, but not the man himself. Granted, his appearance isn't that central to the plot of the Gatchaman episode, but it was a slight surprise to see yet another subplot surgically removed.

Oh, there's an episode of Turner Broadcasting's G-Force: Guardians Of Space on here too, but I've promised not to bash those anymore.

Reviewed by Earl Green
theLogBook.com editor/webmaster