Battle of the Planets

[Carol Baynes]

Back in the late '70s a cartoon series arrived on BBC1 which blew the other stuff out of the water. "Battle of the planets" aired on a mid-week slot as part of the childrens' programming and was distinctive for a few reasons. Very few of us kids knew it was Japanese in origin at the time, although now it's obvious, and this gave the whole series a very strong image.

It was cribbed from a more violent 1972 series called "Gratchaman" (abrieviated title there) which a bloke called Sandy Frank got the rights for in the US. The American version was dubbed with American artistes (including the great Casey Casem!) It was renamed "Battle of the planets" and new animation of cute robot 7-zark-7 was inserted as a way of narrating the action and making more sense out of the Japanese plots. 7-zark-7 was based under the sea in 'Centre Neptune' (some kind of Earth defence base).The main heroes were a team of kids called G-Force, whose spaceship had the ability to 'transmute' into a flaming pheonix. Infact, birds were very much the theme with G-Force.
The five teenagers were Jason, Princess, Mark, Tiny and Kee-opp and all used to dress in bird-like costumes and drive various vehicles (stored in the spaceship). Their superior was a bit like Commisioner Gordon in 'Batman' as I recall. Come to think of it, their main nemesis was Zoltar, who looked a bit like The Joker.
Zoltar, to be frank, was a tranny from outer space. Either I'm dreaming or I remember an episode were one of G-Force tore his mask off and he was revealed to be a woman??! Either way, he/she wore lipgloss and what looked like purple tight spandex (including a ridiculous mask with bat-ears). He led the forces of planet Specter, and got his orders from some ancient spirit being. Far out!
Zoltar would bomb planet Earth to shit with a variety of giant machine creatures only to have 7-Zark-7 comment how everything was 'fine' and there were no casualties...like whatever.

Anyway, BOTP was great, even if it was meant to be inferior to the Japense version. Anyone recall it with fondness?

Here's a reminder...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoO5H_UKCrw

[Captain Tancredi]

Oooh, did I have a thing about Princess...

This would have been a couple of years before I developed a crush on the line drawing of a girl in the French textbook. And I wonder why I can't get women...

[Lissa]

I remember a late night debate with one of my university housemates about whether the show was called "Battle of the Planets" or "G-Force". We were both right - he grew up in Gibraltar and saw the Turner produced adaptation while I saw the one m'love describes above. BotP lacked quality character names like "Dick Daring" and "Ace Goodheart" but it had alien worlds and space excitement which none of the other versions had.

Transmuuuuuuuute.

[SiHart]

I think everyone of a certain age remembers Battle of the Planets with much affection. However, aside from the fabulous titles and music, watching it now is a severe disappointment- it's obvious how much the episodes are chopped and they seldom make a great deal of sense, sadly.

However, when I was 5 it was one of the most exciting shows there was!

Si xx

[Captain Tancredi]

I remember a late night debate with one of my university housemates about whether the show was called "Battle of the Planets" or "G-Force". We were both right - he grew up in Gibraltar and saw the Turner produced adaptation while I saw the one m'love describes above. BotP lacked quality character names like "Dick Daring" and "Ace Goodheart" but it had alien worlds and space excitement which none of the other versions had.

Transmuuuuuuuute.

Mother once told me off for saying "transmute" in a game I must have been playing with my friends, because she was of the belief that I shouldn't say anything if I didn't know what it meant. Which is ironic when you think that fifteen years later I wrote an MA dissertation on modernist poetry- the sort where nobody knows what it means.

[Andrew Curnow]

Either I'm dreaming or I remember an episode were one of G-Force tore his mask off and he was revealed to be a woman??!

I do remember an episode where they whipped off the mask, and we caught a fleeting glimpse of what looked like a woman, yes. I also seem to recall a two-parter, involving killer plants. Either part one or part two was on one Sunday morning, meaning we missed most of it because of Sunday School!

What with the two male leads, one whiter-than-white and one rather more roguish, and the Princess female lead, the show neatly rode that Star Wars popularity of the late-70s. It was certainly very exciting indeed when I was in Primary School.

Inseparable, invincible!!!

[Carol Baynes]

Inseparable, invincible!!!

Acting as one!

Oh what a geek I am!

[Jonno]

This has reminded me that I had a BOTP avatar for a short while in the early days of PS! I loved the show, and clearly recall the unmasking of Zoltar episode - long blonde hair IIRC.

What was the name of the robot dog that accompanied 7-Zark-7? I used to like his electronic bark!

[Andrew Curnow]

1-Rover-1 I think.

[Milky Tears]

I only watched it for the upskirt shots.

[Andrew Curnow]

Wasn't that in fact every scene with Princess in it? Plus the opening titles?

[Paul Monk]

I love this show! Its rubbish but quite good fun.

I loved the show, and clearly recall the unmasking of Zoltar episode - long blonde hair IIRC

In the original Gatchaman cartoon Zoltar (he wasn't called that) was actually a transexual! This was clearly deemed not suitable for kids when Battle of the pLanets was made. ALso Gatchaman was set entirely on Earth which is why the planets they viisited in BOTP were all strangely the same as Earth.
The G-Force cartoon was almost a straightforward translation of Gatchaman.
Oh the complicated world of 70's Japanese cartoons!

[Dirk Gently]

Zoltar looked like this:

[Pip Madeley]

This thread is now Recommended.

So don't let me down, team. Or you're all fired.

[Andrew Curnow]

According to the internet, there were 85 episodes... and one of them dies in the last episode!! I don't remember that - maybe I wasn't allowed to watch it for fear of being scarred for life.

But anyway, back to discussing Princess's almost non-existent hemlines...

[SiHart]

I liked it when Princess and Mark came to visit 7-Zark-& and suddenly the whole way they were animated was completely different!

Susan, who used to call 7-Zark-7 at Centre Neptune had an amazingly sultry voice.... it's no wonder he used to have to get his fan out to coool down after her calls.

Si xx

[WhiteCrow]

Yes I remember this well - and it was homaged really well in Megas XLR

[Carol Baynes]

This thread is now Recommended.

So don't let me down, team. Or you're all fired.

One of my threads got recommended! Yeah! It's my first time!
Be gentle with me...er...team..

[Pip Madeley]

Me first.

From the Battle of the Planets clips I've seen, it's really poor animation with English voiceovers.

But I know nothing, I'm only young.

[Andrew Curnow]

Ay, in our day you were lucky to get poor animation with English voiceovers. You kids today...

[Dirk Gently]

Kids don't know they're born these days, when I were a kid we never had poor animation & voice overs, we had Black & White stop motion paper cut outs with one person doing all the voices.

Those were the days, Captain Pugwash was all we had.

[Lord President]

I liked it when Princess and Mark came to visit 7-Zark-& and suddenly the whole way they were animated was completely different!

I think that the reason for this was that the 7-Zark-7 scenes were added for the European version of the series and animated by completely different artists!

[SiHart]

That seems likely. It never jarred until I saw it again a few years back, when it was really noticeable.

Si xx

[Dirk Gently]

I think that the reason for this was that the 7-Zark-7 scenes were added for the European version of the series and animated by completely different artists!

That's exactly why. The 7-Zark-7 bits were added in place of the bits that were considered to violent to be seen over here.

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

I remember the two-parter with the plants (as referred to earlier in this thread), Didn't the plants produce some kind of pink gas that sent everyone to sleep or something?
I recall that Princess was captured by the plants but in her non-G-force form (as in pre-transmuuuuuute stage) - or something like that anyway

I loved this cartoon - in a way I don't want to se it again now as I think I will be disappointed