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''Battle of the Planets'' ( 1978 ) was the first Westernized adaptation of the 1972 Japanese animated Television Series known as '' Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman ''. Of the 105 original '' Gatchaman '' episodes, 85 were used in the ''Battle of the Planets'' adaptation. The adaptation is generally faithful to the plot and character development of the original ''Gatchaman'' series, but significant additions and redactions were made in order to increase appeal to the space-obsessed North America n juvenile television market of the 1970s . SUMMARY ''Battle of the Planets'' casts five young people as G-Force, consisting of Mark, Jason, Princess, Keyop, and Tiny. G-Force protects Earth from planet Spectra and other attacks from 'beyond space'. Their main ship is called The Phoenix, which can deploy four smaller vehicles, each operated by one team member. A regularly featured '' Deus Ex Machina '' was the transformation of The Phoenix into a flaming bird-shaped craft able to handle virtually any exceptional situation by functioning something like a large blowtorch. The Phoenix's primary weapon was a large supply of rockets. It also occasionally flaunted a powerful solar-powered energy blaster, although the team had the misfortune of choosing very cloudy days to use it. SUBSEQUENT VERSIONS In 1986, ''Gatchaman'' was re-worked in the US as '''' by Turner , with a good deal of the original content that had been edited out of ''Battle of the Planets'' put back in to the show. It followed the plot of the original ''Gatchaman'' much more faithfully than ''Battle of the Planets'' because of this. However, the lack of Hoyt Curtin 's original score and inferior voice acting prevented this series from attaining the high praise given to ''Battle of the Planets.'' Originally released in Comic Book form by Gold Key Comics , ''Battle of the Planets'' was later revamped by the comic book company Top Cow Productions . Two Soundtrack albums and several DVD s have also been released. The two Japanese follow-up series (''Gatchaman II'' and ''Gatchaman F'') were combined into 65 episodes and released as the Saban -produced show ''Eagle Riders''. All 65 episodes aired in Australia , but in the United States only 13 episodes were aired. KEY CHANGES IN THE ADAPTATION The ''Battle of the Planets'' adaptation differs significantly from ''Gatchaman''. The difference is due to heavy editing made to make the show appealing to the children's audience in the United States by removing objectionable elements while adding elements reminiscent of the film '' Star Wars '', which was popular at the time. While the original ''Gatchaman'' was earthbound, dark-toned, and environmentally-themed, the adaptation morphed it into a child-friendly outer space show with robot characters, although some environmental themes were kept. Setting, violence, objectionable language, and (most) character fatalities were altered or eliminated by cutting scenes, dubbing, and explanatory voiceovers (for instance, claiming that "the city has been evacuated" before a battle scene that would show the incidental destruction of buildings and houses, as well as explaining away the destruction of the Earth armies and air forces as being "robot" tanks and planes). One of the most notable changes in the ''BotP'' adaptation involves the character Keyop (Jinpei in ''Gatchaman''), who picked up a bizarre verbal tic of stuttering, chirping, and burbling. The reason for this is the source of some speculation. Some of Jinpei's lines contained mild interjections which, translated faithfully into English, would likely have been considered unsuitable for children at that time. Because those lines aren't heard in the English translation, some believe that the verbal tic was introduced to justify Keyop's excess mouth motion from the excised profanity. However, other characters (such as Joe, or Jason in ''BotP'') managed to "clean up" their language in translation without suffering any speech impediments. Another plausible explanation is that the translational mouth/voice mismatch for Jinpei/Keyop was more severe than for the other characters because he had a comparatively larger mouth and greatly exaggerated facial expressions. The main villain, known as Zoltar in ''BotP'', had an unusual background due to the Hermaphroditic nature of the original Berg Katse character. In an episode where Katse's female half was featured (''BotP'' title: "The Galaxy Girls"), "she" was introduced as a separate character, Zoltar's sister, for ''BotP''. (A hint of "her" actual nature was retained in the name "she" used when masquerading as a human, "Mala Ratloz"—a reverse spelling of "Zoltar.") To compensate for the other differences, an R2-D2 -type robot named 7-Zark-7 performed explanatory voiceovers and light comic relief, which both padded the time lost from editing and filled in the gaps in the storyline. Notionally, 7-Zark-7 ran the undersea monitoring station "Center Neptune," from where he received information regarding incoming threats to Earth and relayed that information to G-Force. Zark and other added robotic characters, such as 1-Rover-1 (Zark's robot dog) and Susan (the early-warning computer whose sultry feminine voice often sent Zark into paroxysms) added to the cartoon's youth appeal. Some additional footage was also animated showing G-Force members (using their ''Gatchaman'' model sheets) interacting with Zark, helping his addition blend more smoothly into the existing ''Gatchaman'' footage (although there is a clear difference in quality between the "Zark" and the "''Gatchaman''" animation). At the time, ''Battle of the Planets'' was a favorite with children, and the series is generally recalled with fondness by those now-adult viewers. However, some fans of the original ''Gatchaman'' contend that, due to all the changes made, the resulting ''Battle of the Planets'' is and should be considered as a wholly different show. It should be noted that, in spite of the alterations, the plot and character development of the adaptation generally follows that of the original to a higher degree than it is usually given credit for. EXTERNAL LINKS
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