When I was about seven, I think - in the first or second grade, anyway - I became pretty keen on a certain after-school cartoon that appeared on channel 5 out of New York. This show was titled Battle of the Planets, and it made enough of an impression on the kids in my class that we made makeshift games out of it at recess. I'm not sure how many of them attempted doodling recreations of the bird logo on their gray tablets, but I know I did!
Gatchaman was considered ground-breaking anime in its time, and spawned the "team" superhero stories. Tatsunoko's masterpiece superhero creation proved once and for all that quite a bit of anime, in its original form, is definitely not for children.
The Plot
Earth of the future, now technologically advanced enough to allow for casual space travel, etc. (of course!), is under continual attack by the evil inhabitants of the planet Spectra who, having selfishly squandered their own natural resources, now intend to mine the earth of ours (sounds a little like the plot of the movie Spaceballs, doesn't it?). The only thing standing between Earth and total alien takeover is G-Force, a team of five skilled adolescents who were trained from early childhood to perform one task - protect Earth.
What Was "Lost & Found" in the Translation!
Before I go any further in describing the plot, I'd like to point out what may be obvious to many - to wit, the plot similarities with both the Star Wars and the Star Trek universes. In Peanut Gallerese I made an "of course" comment above concerning the futuristic setting for Earth and the casual space travel In fact, BotP even boasts an "Intergalactic Federation of Planets" - sub the word "United" for "Intergalactic", and you have a direct Star Trek rip-off. In addition, the premise of a team of people who evince special abilities at an early age, who undergo intensive training to enhance these abilities and add new ones, and who act as a brotherhood of White Knights whose solemn duty is to protect the world - well, it sounds a lot like a Jedi Knight rip-off to me.
It is my own personal belief that these similarities were often created and always capitalized on by those in the entertainment industry who arranged for Gatchaman's original translation. Star Wars was released in 1977; the original Star Trek series, off the air for nearly a decade when Battle of the Planets was released in 1978, had enjoyed growing popularity in syndication, and the first film version was released at this time as well (perhaps 1979 - not sure right off the top of my head).
I was to learn many years after the fact that Gatchaman in its original Japanese had taken place almost entirely on Earth, with most of the battles between other denizens of Earth, and the only real similarity between the cartoon and the above-mentioned films as far as space travel went was a futuristic setting on Earth itself. I was pretty surprised when I learned this, but then I thought back and realized that I could not recall a single mid-air battle that took place in an outer space setting. Battle always seemed to be joined in Earth's atmosphere. Now I realize that this was because, in it's true form, there was little and limited space travel referred to in Gatchaman.
Compared to what was on at the time, Battle of the Planets was something special in animation. The episodes were exciting and filled with action, yes, but they were also often serious and sometimes dark. Violence has always been common in cartoons, but in BotP no characters were blown up, only to appear perfectly sound later on; for example the father of one of the principals was killed at one point in the series, and during season one we experience the steady decline and death of one of the principals (so he comes back to life in the second season; so what? Spock did it!). I can recall nothing with similar seriousness in other cartoons of the time).
Even so, BotP was an extremely watered-down version of the original Japanese series known as Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, which was produced in 19721. The Japanese production boasted a total of 205 episodes. Battle of the Planets had only 85, and even these were beefed up with quirky new characters and odd-fitting scenes by an animation studio in the USA. The fact was, the American studio didn't have much to work with after cutting out all the violence and bad language, and 85 episodes seemed to be the best they could manage! In addition, they didn't feel that American children would be interested in following an ongoing series, so they made what episodes they could get out of it as self-contained as possible. (The studio must have thought American kids were stupid)2.
The additions, incidentally, included a rather annoying little robotic character named 7 Zark 7, with his little robotic sidekick, 1 Rover 1 keeping him company on "Center Neptune" - an undersea station which, oddly enough, afforded the team with a gathering place and served as a communications center and watch tower in the BotP version. Adding to my above theory on the effort by the studio to identify the show with the Star Wars universe in an effort to gain popularity, Zark looked suspiciously like R2D2. The studio also added some generic space scenes and a recreational-type facility known as the Ready Room where the team hung out during their off time.
The Characters
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On the side of the villains, I'll only mention two: In BotP, our invading aliens are known as Spectra. In the original they are Galactor. In both versions they are headed by this ghostly-looking blue flame with cat-like eyes. This is S'sai X (referred to by Zoltar in BotP as "O Luminous One"). Just what S'sai X is exactly we're never quite certain - a powerful alien that seems to be both god and machine, an energy being able to (apparently) regenerate himself when the need of a sequel arises. Although S'sai X is the brains behind the Galactor outfit, we don't see too much of him very often - mostly he manipulates his pawns to do his bidding (pawns he has no real particular interest in outside of their usefulness to him), and frankly they are far more interesting characters.
S'sai X uses a different commander in each series - in Gatchaman I we have Berg Katse; in Gatchaman II, we have Gel Sadra, and in Gatchaman F there is Count Egobossler. Since I'm sticking mainly to Gatchaman I here (and there are many fine Gatchaman pages that go into more detail), I'll concentrate on the all-time great of Gatchaman villains, Berg Katse (Zoltar in BotP).
Even in the watered-down BotP, Katse is a guy you love to hate. Masked most of the way through the first series, he proves to be a master of illusion (or perhaps a mistress of illusion? In one episode, Mark tears away the mask, and before Katse escapes we see a swirling cloud of blond hair). With a very high, genius intelligence and a positive penchant for nastiness, Katse reminds one of a wicked feline with characteristic grace (in fact, the name means something like "mountain lion").
Spoiler Warning: Don't read anymore about Katse if you're into Gatchaman and don't want to spoil the surprise!
Here's the kicker: Berg Katse is really a pair of fraternal twins somehow merged into one mutant being by S'sai X, able to become male or female at will. This makes for a pretty interesting story, but I guess once again the American translators didn't think so: in BotP, Zoltar is a man, and the woman we see in his clothes sometimes is his sister. Right.
There is something pathetically tragic about Katse. We lose his/her character by the end of Gatchaman I, and I found that I was almost sorry - though in truth, he/she really was despicable and quite deserved it!
The Gadgets
At their disposal in their struggle against their enemies, G-Force depends on some pretty far-out weapon and aviation technology. While each of the team had his or her own signature ship or vehicle (e.g. Mark's jet and Keyop's "space buggy") as well as their own signature weapons (e.g. Jason's feather shuriken), they traveled together in their fantastic spaceship, Phoenix. While each of the G-Force team is able to "transmute" into their birdstyle suits, so, in time of peril, is the Phoenix able to transmute into their Fiery Phoenix - becoming a huge, powerful, flaming bird in the sky. This is saved only for time of great peril, however; transmuting over to the fiery Phoenix is structurally hard on both ship and crew.
To learn more about Gatchaman in its original and various forms or to find some excellent graphics, try one of the following web sites:
The Battle of the Planets Universe
Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman
All of the character portraits shown on this page were adapted from images found on this page. To see the originals, visit Jen Nolan's Gatchaman Page.
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Jenn Eagen is a member of
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2There is an updated 90's version of Gatchaman with which I am unfamiliar. I don't really have that much of an interest in finding out more about it, as I feel it probably cannot equal the charm of the old series; however, you may find out more about it in the links listed at the end of the article.
3One should really watch these characters in the original Japanese, not only for the story line, but also for the characterization. Seeing BotP you see only a shallow side of the bowl; the characters are delved into with greater intensity in the Japanese. Also, watch out for Keyop - in BotP he is a lab produced, warbling non-entity; in Gatchaman he is a much more believable and interesting character.
