Battle of the Planets (2025)

Battle of the Planets was the first English-language adaptation of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, and debuted on TV on September 1, 1978. It is a loose adaptation of the source material, edited to better appeal to the sci-fi trend of the late 1970s (in the wake of Star Wars), as well as remove content deemed to be inappropriate for younger viewers.

This version was produced by Sandy Frank Entertainment, known for their dubs of Japanese kaiju films as well as producing game shows such as "Name That Tune" and "Treasure Hunt". The dubbing of the series was done in North Hollywood, California, and featured voice talent that had been famous in various Hanna-Barbera productions.

Overview[]

Sandy Frank attended MIPCOM in April of 1977, where Tatsunoko Production's offering of Gatchaman intrigued him and he requested personal copies of the prints to evaluate the series. He would only make a move on licensing when he saw the Star Wars movie premiere a month later, and realized that a show like Gatchaman could capitalize on the new Star Wars craze going on. In making the deal with Tatsunoko, Sandy Frank would sign a 30-year contract, giving his company international rights to the original series in most territories of the world. This would cover not only the airing of the series, but licensing for merchandise, music publishing, and other ways of marketing the work.

In searching for an adaptation team, Sandy Frank had considered a Hanna-Barbera producer Alex Lovy to write the scripts, and for Fred Ladd to voice direct. Ladd felt hesitance at Sandy Frank wanting to employ an unexperienced lip-sync writer, as well as the distance involved for the production (Ladd lived in New York at the time, while production was handled out in California), and he passed on the deal. Sandy Frank would ultimately wind up selecting Jameson Brewer to pen the script for the pilot, while Alan Dinehart would direct.

Brewer was concerned at the level of violence and inappropriate content that he saw in the episodes, especially since editing them could shorten them too much for broadcast. To patch up the holes in the script and pad out the running time, a new robot character named 7-Zark-7 would be created as well as other new animation sequences. The voice cast was also assembled via Brewer, through others he had known through his time at Hanna-Barbera.

In writing for the series, the simple English scripts that were supplied to Sandy Frank by Tatsunoko were often considered incomprehensible by Brewer and other staff, relying on them to have to watch episodes and write a script based around what they believed was going on in the story. The writing would be done through these phases, with one group of people viewing the episodes and and describing the scenes, with the next group crafting the dialogue for the characters.

Sandy Frank would initially envision 78 episodes of the re-titled "Battle of the Planets" being offered for syndication, but quickly changed his sales pitch to be 85 instead, the maximum syndicated episode run for the time. It would take approximately three and a half months to get through recording the rest of the series, once the green-light was given to go ahead with production, and about five months for the full production.

The series was a hit across many stations of the USA and was imported to many other countries under Sandy Frank's contract. Unfortunately, as its USA syndication run and renewals extended into the 1980s, Sandy Frank found that less and less networks were willing to extend their contracts. This led to him and Turner Program Services brainstorming a new way to keep the license active through the new decade, and led to a second English adaptation titled G-Force: Guardians of Space to be created and marketed worldwide.

The Battle of the Planets IP would undergo a resurgence of interest in the early 2000s (see "Revival Attempts" and "Comic Adaptations"), as Sandy Frank sought to find more ways to revive and re-invent the concept before his 30-year contract ended, or to even find options for how he could create a new Battle of the Planets that wasn't reliant on the Gatchaman character and mecha likenesses.

While there would be some merchandise and efforts to come from this revival plan, such as home video releases, it would all come to a halt upon the expiration of the license in early 2007. This would ensure that Tatsunoko would not only have the worldwide rights to Gatchaman back under their control, but that they would also own both Battle of the Planets and G-Force: Guardians of Space for anyone to license out along with the original series.

Key Changes in the Adaptation[]

Gatchaman underwent a heavy reversioning in order to become "Battle of the Planets". What follows are some of the changes made.

Name Changes[]

• Ken Washio became Mark.
• Joe Asakura became Jason.
• Jun became Princess.
• Jinpei became Keyop.
• Ryu Nakanishi became Tiny Harper.
• Dr. Kozaburo Nambu became Security Chief Anderson.
• Oddly, in turn, Director Anderson was renamed President Kane.
• Berg Katse was renamed Zoltar, and stated to be an alien
• X was renamed The Great Spirit or The Luminous One (among various nicknames).
• Red Impulse was renamed Colonel Cronus, and was said to hail from the planet Riga.
• The Science Ninja Team was renamed G-Force. The Bird Style names were left out, along with the G- designations.
• The Galactor organization was renamed Spectra, after the planet they are said to come from. Thus, planet Selector is now planet Spectra.

Occasionally, the adaptation team would have some fun with referencing the original names for characters, such as calling a baby whale "Nambu" or a baseball player "Joe Gallactor".

Additions by Sandy Frank[]

Animation[]

As mentioned before, 7-Zark-7 was infamously added to the series to fill in the gaps left behind by edits and provide exposition for the viewers. Zark also was given a robot dog, 1-Rover-1, and an unseen love interest named "Susan" who was stationed on planet Pluto. Susan was named after a secretary of Sandy Frank, whose voice had left an impact on the main dub writer Jameson Brewer, who never got to see what she looked like. Zark's design was created by Alex Toth, and a company Gallerie International would be in charge of his scenes and other newly-created footage.

Outer space stock footage with limited animation was utilized for sequences where the Phoenix would travel outside Earth, to help the illusion of the plot taking place across many planets. The travel animation, as well as the still shots of planets the team would see, were freely re-used often.

Gallerie also created a sequence known as "The Ready Room", where the G-Force members would hang out. This sequence would be composed of various shots that could be freely recycled or excluded for needs of the plot (such as cutting shots of a team member if they were absent). The stock animation would usually consist of Mark and Jason playing ping-pong, while Princess and Keyop would play musical instruments and Tiny would be busy eating his favorite space burgers.

Occasionally, Zark would also find himself joined by the Gallerie-animated versions of Mark and/or Princess in his control room, who would be frozen in set stock poses and talk to him about the episode's events. Princess' animation would always conclude with her kissing Zark, causing him to become flustered.

Music[]

A number of sequences within episodes were re-scored with a soundtrack by Hoyt Curtin, for a few different reasons: to replace music that was deemed not as dynamic, to provideseamless background music where cuts had to be made to footage, and to fill in gaps of silence. However, the original music was reused for other scenes. The original Gatchaman also relied heavily on sound effects or silent portions in the plot; these scenes, when used for Battle of the Planets, have added music. Gatchaman also had music cues before going to intermission which were not utilized for Battle of the Planets.

Excluded elements and other changes[]

• Title cards are different, and the Gatchaman intermission cards are not included. As also mentioned above, the music cues before intermission were taken out.
• Civilian deaths were edited out, usually with Zark explaining that a place was evacuated. If death had to happen, it was usually off-screen or done in a way that the adaptation team presumed would not distress children too much. When it came to cyborgs like Lucy, it was easy to claim she was a mere robot. The fate of Romina and Julia had somewhat messier and questionable writing, with the two claiming they had become robot "humanoid" duplicates of themselves while their real bodies were trapped in a lab, and their sacrifice (being said to be done to try to regain their human bodies) edited down to them simply "vanishing", though Susan later claims to viewers that a shooting star carried the two off to a paradise in space.
• Blood spatter shots were removed in the few times of blood spatter, such as when Nambu cuts his hand, when Jinpei crashes into a post, the hallucination of the syringe in what is now "G Force In The Future", and the moments of Galactor soldiers' teeth being knocked out.
• Joe's backstory was excluded from one relevant episode (now "The Galaxy Girls"). All viewers know of Jason is that he is an orphan.
• In undergoing the adaptation to make Jinpei into Keyop, the character was rewritten into a genetically-engineered child with a strange speech impediment. Scripts had intended him to be seen of alien origin, but this detail never got to come up within the adaptation.
• Tiny Harper is stated to be an orphan like the rest of the team, while Ryu had a living family. His father was rewritten into an acquaintance named "Captain Jack" and his brother also became an unrelated character.
• Katse's female self was adapted into four separate named characters; first as a spy named "Hanna", then as a reporter named "Ms. Ostric", then as another spy known as "Agent S-9", and finally as Zoltar's sister "Mala". However, before the appearance of any of these characters, the episode where Katse was partially unmasked was adapted first, and the implication was kept that "Zoltar" could be a woman.
• Some of Dr. Nambu's early scenes were dropped or his importance was generally downplayed, in order to give Zark more focus.
• Red Impulse is rewritten into Colonel Cronus, a mentor and "old friend" of Mark's, and is first stated to have been killed and impersonated by Zoltar (the episode originally took place after the death of Red Impulse in Gatchaman), though he later turns up alive. Later, Mark's father is referenced as having been killed by an assassin named Gartz on the planet Riga, leading to Mark seeking vengeance for his death;this episode also originally happened after the death of Red Impulse. Later on, Mark learns that Colonel Cronus is his father, having disappeared when Mark was a young boy. It is stated that Mark had never believed his father to have died. Rather than dying in a sacrifice to stop the V2 plan, Cronus is said by Zark to have ejected at the last minute.
• One scene of Ken at Red Impulse's grave was dubbed as Mark visiting the grave of an older brother that died. The first episode in the Red Impulse arc was also adapted separately from the V2 two-parter, and had a scene of Red Impulse thinking about his wife and a younger Ken rewritten to have Cronus missing a wife and a young son named "Timmy". Another episode had Masaki (one of Red Impulse's subordinates) dubbed and rewritten as Cronus, despite the differences in their appearances.
• Deaths of Galactor henchmen were entirely cut, or Zark would claim that they were simply knocked out. Similarly, fight scenes tended to be heavily edited, especially portions where Joe was involved.
• Scenes of Jun panicking or being unsure of what to do were rewritten to have her come off more capable to female viewers. However, Princess is also said to only work part-time at a snack bar for her friend Jill (explaining the "J" in the name), while Jun had owned the snack bar in the original.
• While Ken rebuffed or was oblivious to Jun's feelings and more concerned with the mission, Mark openly reciprocated Princess' feelings and the two had rewritten dialogue suggesting a much closer relationship. He also doesn't respond to the advances of other women like Amanda Gregg, who realizes it's because he must already have someone he loves.
• Interteam violence such as Ken and Joe's fight in the Hebi-Cobra episode, or Jun being slapped by Ken in the second part of the Jigokillers plot, was naturally cut as well.

Episodes and Viewing Order[]

When adapting Gatchaman, Sandy Frank reportedly originally planned to keep the episode order intact. However, as Tatsunoko had sent them the film reels out of order and some would arrive late, this lead to the dubbing team translating the episodes in the order that they were received in. Thus, some episodes that originally kept continuity from the previous stories have had said references written out, and watching some episodes in the Gatchaman order will wind up spoiling developments that had yet to actually happen in the original. This lead to a different order being created.

While Sandy Frank last reverted to the Gatchaman order as the official viewing order by the time of the G-Force Animated companion book, there were a few different variations created for Battles release in 1978, along with the translation order. All in all, at least 85 episodes of Gatchaman were utilized, with #101 ("The Sniper Group Hebi-Cobra") being the latest to be covered. However, in Sandy Frank's intended adaptation/airing order, their "Invasion of Space Center" two-parter is supposed to end the series, still offering no concrete conclusion but leaving an open ending for viewers to figure what might happen with G-Force and Spectra later on.

By Jameson Brewer's recollection in 1998, those at Sandy Frank were open to utilizing all 105 episodes, but Tatsunoko had only offered to send their last 20 reels relatively late into the production of the English version, and Sandy Frank had already decided that 85 episodes were adequate for syndication. It was not easy to adapt and release all these episodes to begin with, and some international adaptations ended earlier due to not meeting the same success that the English airings did.

"Zark Double Zark"[]

Some unusual evidence suggests that early in the translation project, the writer Harry Winkler drafted an entirely original episode plot. This lead to speculation that perhaps the production team had considered making all-original stories rather than merely adapting the Gatchaman episodes. The story, with the production code 106, was titled Zark Double Zark and involved Spectra creating an evil duplicate of 7-Zark-7. Going by the script's date of August 1978, this was done after the pilot but before the established episodes for the series.

Copies of the scripts show that they were marked, suggesting that a voice reel was at least completed; Janet Waldo had also attested to having recorded the episode. However, the tapes seem to have been lost or destroyed.

Alternative Versions of Episodes[]

At least four of the adapted episodes are known to have alternate takes that were not broadcast on TV, although one ("Rescue of the Astronauts") is included as an extra on the Australian DVD release.

Differences include the absence of Hoyt Curtin's replacement score (with the original Bob Sakuma music retained), scenes of violence or death retained, missing or different Zark scenes, and different opening credit sequences. The episodes that these alternate takes exist for are "Attack of the Space Terrapin", "Siege of the Squids", "Mad New Ruler of Spectra", and "Rescue of the Astronauts".

In some cases, these takes were earlier production tests of the episodes. However, there also exists a later experiment done in 2003 to modify some episodes like "Rescue of the Astronauts" as preparation for a re-dubbing of the show that would eventually be scrapped; this very episode would involve Janet Waldo and Alan Young's voices of Princess and Keyop switched out for new, modern voice actors, and their dialogue rewritten.

Episode List[]

This list is the intended viewing order of the episodes, from how they were adapted. Original Gatchaman episode numbers are in parentheses.

1. "Attack of the Space Terrapin" (#1, "Gatchaman Versus Turtle King")
2. "Siege of the Squids" (#36, "Little Gatchaman")
3. "Decoys of Doom" (#62, "The Snow Demon King, Blizzarder")
4. "Mad New Ruler of Spectra" (#21, "Who is Leader X?")
5. "Peril of the Preying Mantis" (#75, "Jumbo Shakora, the Ocean Devil King")
6. "Giant from Planet Zyr" (#58, "Hell's Mecha-Buttha")
7. "The Thing with 1,000 Eyes" (#15, "The Fearsome Jellyfish Lens")
8. "Fastest Gun in the Galaxy" (#57, "The Evil White Sea")
9. "Panic of the Peacock" (#80, "Come Back! Boomerang")
10. "Raid of the Space Octopus (#67, "Mortal Blow! Gatchaman Fire")
11. "The Space Rock Concert (#41, "The Murder Music")
12. "Mammoth Shark Menace" (#55, "The Daring Mini-Submarine")
13. "The Fiery Lava Giant" (#25, "The Magma Giant, Emperor of Hell")
14. "Race Against Disaster" (#27, "Galactor's Witch Racer")
15. "A Whale Joins G-Force" (#18, "Revenge! The Whale Operation")
16. "Rescue of the Astronauts" (#2, "The Monstrous Aircraft Carrier Appears")
17. "Big Robot Gold Grab" (#6, "The Great Mini-Robot Operation")
18. "The Musical Mummy" (#24, "The Neon Giant that Smiles in the Dark")
19. "Attack of the Alien Wasp" (#61, "The Phantom Red Impulse")
20. "The Space Safari" (#73, "Pursue Katse!")
21. "Raid on a Nearby Planet" (#48, "The Camera Iron Beast, Shutterkiller")
22. "The Ghostly Grasshopper" (#30, "Kamisoral, the Guillotine Iron Beast")
23. "Space Rocket Escort" (#11, "The Mysterious Red Impulse")
24. "Museum of Mystery" (#74, "Secret of the Birdstyles")
25. "Silent City" (#68, "The Particle Iron Beast Micro-Saturn")
26. "Microfilm Mystery" (#16, "The Indestructible Machine Mechanika")
27. "Mission to Inner Space" (#83, "A Deadly Ring of Fire!")
28. "A Swarm of Robot Ants" (#10, "The Great Underground Monster War")
29. "Cupid Does it to Keyop" (#87, "Patogiller, the Triple Combined Iron Beast")
30. "Raid of the Red Scorpion" (#54, "Gatchaman Burns with Rage")
31. "Spectra Space Spider" (#84, "Smog Fiber, The Spiderweb Iron Beast!")
32. "Beast With a Sweet Tooth" (#12, "The Gluttonous Monster Ibukuron")
33. "Raid on Riga" (#44, "Galactor's Challenge")
34. "Prisoners in Space" (#42, "The Great Breakout Trick Operation")
35. "Capture of the Galaxy Code" (#47, "The Devil's Airline")
36. "Orion, Wonder Dog of Space" (#37, "Renzilla, the Electric Monster")
37. "Secret Island" (#59, "The Secret of the Monster Mecha Factory")
38. "The Jupiter Moon Menace" (#9, "The Devil from the Moon")
39. "Seals of Sytron" (#45, "The Sea Lion Ninja Team in the Night Fog")
40. "Ghost Ship of Planet Mir" (#5, "The Ghost Fleet From Hell")
41. "The Alien Bigfoot" (#71, "The Invincible Leader X")
42. "Super Space Spies" (#86, "Galactor's Monopoly Operation")
43. "Vacation on Venus" (#96, "Storm Galactor's Headquarters!")
44. "Keyop Does it All" (#49, "The Fearsome Mechadokuga")
45. "Demons of the Desert" (#35, "Burn, Desert Fires")
46. "The Space Serpent" (#4, "Revenge on the Iron Beast Mechadegon")
47. "Rockets Out of Control" (#97, "Leona 3, the Spaceship With No Tomorrow")
48. "The Space Mummy" (#3, "The Giant Mummy that Summons Storms")
49. "The Sea Dragon" (#22, "The Firebird Versus The Fire-Breathing Dragon")
50. "Perilous Pleasure Cruise" (#14, "The Fearsome Ice-Kander")
51. "G-Force in the Future" (#100, "Gatchaman, 20 Years Later")
52. "The Awesome Armadillo" (#90, "Matangar, the Armored Iron Beast")
53. "Tentacles from Space" (#88, "Iron Beast Snake 828")
54. "Ace from Outer Space" (#7, "Galactor's Giant Airshow")
55. "Giant Space Bat" (#60, "Science Ninja Team, Number G-6")
56. "The Great Brain Robbery" (#65, "Super Bem, the Synthetic Iron Beast")
57. "Giant Gila Monster" (#46, "Gatchaman in the Valley of Death")
58. "The Duplicate King" (#77, "The Successful Berg Katse")
59. "Curse of the Cuttlefish (Part 1)" (#32, "The Grand Gezora Operation (Part 1)")
60. "Curse of the Cuttlefish (Part 2)" (#33, "The Grand Gezora Operation (Part 2)")
61. "Peril in the Pyramids" (#69, "The Cemetery in the Moonlight")
62. "Save the Space Colony" (#93, "Counterattack! The Underground Torpedo Operation")
63. "Zoltar Strikes Out" (#63, "Massacre of the Mecha Curve Ball")
64. "Magnetic Attraction" ("23, "The Mecha Ball Runs Wild")
65. "Peaks of Planet Odin" (#51, "Cata-Roller, the Revolving Beast")
66. "G-Force Defector" (#98, "Grape Bomber, the Spherical Iron Beast")
67. "Invasion of the Locusts" (#72, "Swarm! A Plague of Mini Iron Beasts")
68. "Victims of the Hawk" (#43, "A Romance Destroyed By Evil")
69. "Island of Fear" (#89, "Lay a Trap in the Crescent Base!")
70. "Strike at Spectra" (#99, "The Wounded G-2")
71. "The Galaxy Girls" (#31, "The Plan to Assassinate Dr. Nambu"
72. "The Conway Tape Tap" (#101, "The Sniper Group Heavy-Cobra")
73. "The Awesome Ray Force" (#76, "The Bracelets Exposed")
74. "Fearful Sea Anemone" (#8, "The Secret of the Crescent Coral Reef")
75. "The Alien Beetles" (#17, "The Grand Insect Operation")
76. "Defector to Spectra" (#79, "The Stolen Gatchaman Information")
77. "The Bat-Ray Bombers" (#26, "The God Phoenix Reborn")
78. "Rage of the Robotoids" (#70, "Death Girls Unite!")
79. "The Sky is Falling! (Part 1)" (#52, "Red Impulse's Secret")
80. "The Sky is Falling! (Part 2)" (#53, "Farewell Red Impulse")
81. "The Fierce Flowers (Part 1)" (#39, "Jigokillers, the People-Eating Flowers (Part 1)")
82. "The Fierce Flowers (Part 2)" (#40, "Jigokillers, the People-Eating Flowers (Part 2)")
83. "Charioteers of Changu" (#95, "The Combined Ninjas, Giant Demon Man")
84. "Invasion of Space Center (Part 1)" (#91, "Completion of the Plan to Destroy the Crescent Base")
85. "Invasion of Space Center (Part 2)" (#92, "The End of the Crescent Base")

From this list, it can be confirmed that 20 episodes (13, 19, 20, 28, 29, 34, 38, 50, 56, 64, 66, 78, 81, 82, 85, 94, 102, 103, 104, and 105) were not adapted into Battle of the Planets. For that matter, episodes 81, 94, 102, 103, 104, and 105 would not be adapted into any known English version until ADV's dub which was produced through 2005 to 2006.

International Versions[]

As Sandy Frank held the worldwide license outside of Japan in their 30 year deal from 1977 to 2007, most foreign adaptations were sourced from this version.

Countries that were excluded tended to be in the Far East, and had already aired their own dubs of Gatchaman or fell under direct contract with Tatsunoko for further licensing (eg: Hong Kong's The Brave Eagle Man, or Taiwan's Science Youth Flying Knights).

• A Dutch version titled Strijd der Planeten ran around 1980, for 26 episodes. It utilized the Gatchaman order for its broadcast.
• A French version titled La Bataille des Planetes covered 59 of the 85 episodes, and aired on TF1 in the early '80s. While some characters retained the English names, others were further localized into French. Jason became "Thierry" (matching with his voice actor's name), Tiny was renamed "Allumette", Chief Anderson changed to "Dr. Cavalier", and Susan was "5-Sibel-5". Hoyt Curtin's opening theme was also given lyrics by Michel Gatineau, who titled it "The Archangels".
• The Italian version was titled Gatchaman: Battaglia dei Pianeti and mostly retained the team's original Japanese names, save for Jun who became "Pretty Jane"/"Pretty Jun". The first 85 episodes to air followed Sandy Frank's adaptation, but it also utilized the 20 missing Gatchaman episodes. These episodes broke the continuity by using different title cards (showing the Gatchaman Bird Style logo in the background, as opposed to the starry space one), as well as having no 7-Zark-7. The Italian version was able to purchase all episodes due to the fact that Italy had licensed Gatchaman before Sandy Frank's deal. However, due to the delays in adaptation, they were made to utilize Sandy Frank's scripts and reels for the 85 episodes that were sourced from the English release. These days, multiple episodes of this very dub are considered lost media and the home video releases only include 83 episodes of the Sandy Frank-reversioned portion. The Battaglia dei Pianeti title would continue even when the sequel series were adapted.
• It was aired in Greece under the name I Machi Ton Planiton, and all 85 episodes aired. The characters' names were mostly translated into Greek cognates, although Susan became "5-Susan-5" to match up with Zark's name.
• The Spanish version was titled La Batalla de los Planetas, but was also known colloquially as "Comando G" (due to the team's name). It ran for 59 episodes starting in 1980, and was known for its opening theme by the group Parchis. This version also utilized the Gatchaman airing order. Only 57 masters of this version survive, and only 26 of them have ever been released on DVD.
• A Latin American version titled Fuerza G: Guerra entre Planetas also existed and aired starting in 1978, though many of its episodes cannot be found. It was dubbed through the Mexican studio CINSA.
• It was titled Wojna Planet ("War of the Planets") when it aired in Poland, although it would later be retitled Zaloga G due to the pacifist policies of the TV station. Only 71 of the 85 episodes were dubbed and broadcast through 1980 to 1981.
• A Brazilian Portuguese dub titled Batalha dos Planetas aired on the Band channel in Brazil in 2003, as well as on Rede 21 in 2004. This version contained a modern, CGI logo replacement.
• An Arabic version titled Maaraket Al Kwakeb aired in various Middle Eastern countries (Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Kuwait, Libya, Lebanon, and Qatar) through 1979 to around 1985. Israel aired its own dub of the series, titled Milchamah Kochav.

Production Staff[]

• Produced by: Sandy Frank Film Syndication, Gallerie International Films Ltd.
• Executive Producers: Jameson Brewer, Sandy Frank
• Associate Producer: Warner E. Leighton
• Producer-Directors: David E. Hanson, Alan Dinehart
• Writers: Jameson Brewer, Peter B. Germano, William Bloom, Jack Paritz, Harry Winkler, Helen Sosin, Muriel Germano, Dick Shaw, Kevin Coates, Howard Post, Sid Morse
• Supervising Film Editor: Franklin Cofod
• Assistant Editor: Pam Bentkowski
• Voice Director: Alan Dinehart
• Assistant Voice Director: Mason Alan Dinehart (credited as "Alan Dinehart, Jr.")
• Creative Consultant: David Levy
• Standards and Practices: Winifred Treimer
• Program Consultants: Leonard Reeg, George Serban, M.D.
• Production Executives: Irving Klein, Tom Swafford
• Production Assistant: Bob Robinson
• Production Manager: Emil Carle
• Animation Supervisor: Harold Johns
• Design Consultant: Alex Toth
• Music Composers: Hoyt Curtin, Dennis Dreith, Richard Greene
• Music Supervisors: Paul DeKorte, Igo Kantor
• ADR Recording: TV-R Hollywood
• Camera: Take One
• Ink and Paint: C&D Productions, Hollywood
• Titles: Thomas Wogatzke

Voice Cast[]

• Mark: Casey Kasem
• Jason: Ronnie Schell, David Jolliffe ("Attack of the Space Terrapin" pilot only)
• Princess, Susan: Janet Waldo
• Keyop, 7-Zark-7: Alan Young
• Tiny, Chief Anderson: Alan Dinehart, Ronnie Schell (Tiny, pilot only)
• Zoltar, The Spirit, Colonel Cronus: Keye Luke
• President Kane: Edward Andrews
• Mala: Takayo Fischer
• Additional voices (uncredited): Alan Oppenheimer, David Jolliffe, William Woodson, Frank Maxwell, Alan Dinehart Jr., Jack Leonard, Wendy Young.

The voice actors other than Casey Kasem, Ronnie Schell, Janet Waldo, Alan Young, Alan Dinehart, and Keye Luke were only ever listed in the credits for the pilot. The knowledge of the other actors comes from records at Sandy Frank as well as Jason Hofius' "G-Force Animated" guide, although most of their roles are officially unlisted.

An actor only known as Robert L. Robertson also attended voice-over sessions for the series, though it is unknown if any of his vocals made it into the final product as Alan Dinehart often requested those character parts to be re-recorded by others.

French cast[]

• Marc: Bernard Jourdain
• Thierry: Thierry Bourdon
• Princesse: Catherine Lafond
• Kipo: Jackie Berger
• Allumette: Claude Rollet
• Dr. Cavalier: Michel Gatineau
• 7-Zark-7: Philippe Dumat
• 5-Sibel-5: Michelle Bardollet
• Zoltar: Raymond Loyer
• Sparok: Raoul Delfosse

Dutch cast[]

• Mark: Arno Guldemond
• Jason: Jaap Stobbe
• Prinses, Susan: Jody Pijper
• Kiap: Joop Doderer
• Taini: IJf Blokker
• Chief Anderson,Zoltar: Cor Witschge
• Comp 7: Henk van Ulsen
• Grote Meester: Fred Weydeveld

Spanish cast[]

• Mark: Jose Luis Angulo
• Jason: Jose Maria del Rio
• Princesa: Maria Antonio Rodriguez
• Keyop: Ana Angeles Garcia
• Tiny:?
• Professor Anderson: Carlos Revilla
• Zark-7: Jose Moratalla
• Susan: Ana Maria Simon
• Zoltar: Jose Caride
• Jefe Supremo: Angel Ter

Italian cast[]

For additional information pertaining to the sequels, see the Battaglia dei Pianeti article.

• Ken: Francesco Prando
• Joe: Fabrizio Pucci (episodes 1-67, 69-75, 77), Massimo Venturiello (episodes 68, 76, 78-85)
• Pretty Jun: Valeria Perilli
• Gimpy: Fabrizio Mazzotta
• Ryu: Maurizio Mattioli (episodes 1-60, 64-67, 70), Giuliano Santi (episodes 61-63, 68 and 69, 71-85)
• Commander Anderson: Giorgio Lopez
• 7-Zark-7: Vittorio Battarra (episodes 1-7, 10),Elio Pandolfi (episodes 8 and 9, 11-85)
• Zoltar: Mario Bosco
• The Great Spirit: Gino Lavagetto (episodes 1-13, 15), Mario Chiocchio (episodes 14, 16-85)
• President Kane: Mario Colli, Elio Pandolfi (episode 85)

Brazilian Portuguese cast[]

Due to the obscurity of this version and it being considered lost media, very few of the cast members are known.

• Mark: Marcelo Campos
• Jason: Tatá Guarnieri
• Kiyop: Júlia Castro

Revival Attempts[]

"Battle of the Planets II" and early USA spin-off concepts?[]

The November 27, 1978 issue of Broadcasting magazine would feature an article on Sandy Frank's further hopeful plans with the Battle of the Planets IP after the success of its sales, although nothing came of such announcements. It would back up that they had been in early discussions of licensing Gatchaman II from Tatsunoko, as well as planning other animated media^[1]:

Spurred on by the success of its animated strip, said to have already been sold in more than 100 markets in the U.S. and abroad, the Frank company is preparing 52 new episodes for the 1979-1980 season. That will bring the number of Sandy Frank/Gallerie International Films co-produced episodes to 137.

Add to that company hopes for a Saturday morning Battle spin-off as well as prime-time network specials.

The only traces of II that would make it out would be the New God Phoenix model kit being imported under the Battle branding, as well as the model sheets for the characters' redesigns getting use for licensed international comics and coloring books produced in France and Italy.

Battle of the Planets: The Movie[]

A 70-minute compilation film was created by Sandy Frank in 2002, to test the water for their eventual redub plan. It utilized footage from several different episodes and had a new voice actor named David Bret Egen dubbing over Alan Young's dialogue for the 7-Zark-7 sequences. Scenes of civilian violence and death were included.

However, while the Zark segments were redubbed and the credits were modified to include Egen's name, the rest of the footage contains the original voice actors' audio (making for some sound discrepancy).

More "Battle of the Planets" compilation films were planned by Sandy Frank to follow this one, but never came to pass.

Battle of the Planets: The New Exploits of G-Force[]

In 2003, Sandy Frank made plans for a new 21st-century redub and second look at the series. It was to use the 20 episodes of Gatchaman that they originally didn't get to utilize, as well as re-editing at least 32 other episodes.

While there was some adaptation writing done and plans to redo the Space Terrapin episode with the title "The Iron Terrapin", the Sea Dragon episode was ultimately selected to be the pilot and two versions were tested; one with a script focusing more on action, and one with comedy. Sandy Frank had hoped to air this version of the series on Cartoon Network's Boomerang (along with the above "movie"), tentatively slating it to debut in the spring of 2004.

Ocean Studios was used as the ADR studio for this pilot dub, opting to go with an all-new cast for the series instead. Due to the lack of interest from buyers, as well as the costs required to reversion Gatchaman and incorporate new CGI footage for Zark, Sandy Frank pulled the plug on this idea. Ultimately, it would be ADV's uncut dub that would provide another look at Gatchaman in English.

Battle of the Planets (Proposed 2005 reboot)[]

One stillborn idea of Sandy Frank's, after the "New Exploits of G-Force", was an attempt to get major studios such as Warner Bros. Entertainment or Walt Disney Animation on board an all-new Battle of the Planets series and merchandising roll-out, which he had hoped to bring out by the fall of 2005.

The date that Frank had in mind for the reboot would curiously align with the time the character sub-licensing from Tatsunoko was to come to an end, and was part of his plan for the "all-new, all-different" Battle of the Planets that he had wanted Top Cow to engage in. As with the Top Cow continuation plans, Sandy Frank would have dictated that this series focus around new characters and stories in order to avoid royalties to Tatsunoko.

However, if the studios had wanted to make a deal in conjunction with Tatsunoko, the Gatchaman likenesses and the characters based from them would've been available for use. This series ultimately didn't go further than initial talks with the studios, and no concrete pitch was made.

Comic Adaptations[]

Gold Key (1979)[]

Gold Key Comics produced a comic book adaptation of the series, although it took more significant liberties with the material and made more alterations on top of the ones that already existed. In particular, Keyop was explained away as an android to explain his speech impediment, rather than him being genetically-engineered or an alien. The team also gained the power to "transmute" into different objects or forces to disguise themselves or attack in a different manner.

The artwork in this version is infamous among fans for being inconsistent and off-model, as well as having several coloring errors for the team and other characters.

Top Cow (2002-2005)[]

See main article for more details on releases

This comic adaptation was another revival project approved by Sandy Frank. It was planned to be a regular series, and debuted in 2002, written by Munier Sharrieff and with art by Wilson Tortosa. Alex Ross was responsible for the genesis of the project, although his active credited involvement extended to drawing the covers for the series and designing new characters.

Two one-shots were also produced through 2003 as a way to tie into events in the main run, titled "Mark: Heaven" and "Jason: Hell".

Due to declining sales, the series was swiftly relabeled as a "limited series" and cancelled at issue 12, leaving the story line on a cliffhanger with a mysterious member of G-Force collaborating with Zoltar. There were plans to resume the series later in the year with a six-issue "G-Force" mini-series, picking up on the loose ends, but it was postponed as Top Cow tried to figure out the future of the franchise.

There were also issues with Sandy Frank compounding the plans for the "G-Force" series, as he wanted the creative team to phase out any Gatchaman-inspired designs, in order to avoid paying royalties to Tatsunoko as he didn't want to have to negotiate more years of character licensing. Consequently, the creative team would be required to go with entirely new uniforms, characters, and settings as Sandy Frank Entertainment would own the names such as "Princess" and "Keyop" but not the designs originated by Tatsuo Yoshida. Alex Ross would depart the project due to this edict.

A two-issue mini-series titled Battle of the Planets: Endgame (or as "Coup de Gras" in some listings) was eventually solicited in 2005 and was a shortened attempt to wrap up the loose threads from the series, but was cancelled before the issues could be made, as there were not enough pre-orders to justify producing it.

Due to the end of the "Battle of the Planets" character licensing from Sandy Frank and Tatsunoko after 2005, the Top Cow series will not be resumed.

Other Top Cow projects[]

Top Cow had also produced crossovers with Witchblade and Thundercats, a manga-style mini-series titled "Battle of the Planets: The Manga", and a guidebook for their continuity called "Battle Book". Princess had even received her own spinoff mini-series, but this like the other projects was left in black and white to save on costs.

DVD Releases and Home Video Availability[]

As a further note, the US DVD releases of the series use the original Gatchaman order for the episodes

USA[]

• Twelve episodes of the series were released on the single disk Battle of the Planets volumes by Rhino, with two episodes on each volume. Each disk also contained the original Japanese Gatchaman track. The episodes are presented in the original Gatchaman running order. VHS releases also happened for these volumes, minus the Gatchaman episodes.
• "Battle of the Planets: The Ultimate DVD Boxed Set" contained thirteen more episodes, as well as interviews with Casey Kasem, Ronnie Schell, Janet Waldo, Alan Young, and Jameson Brewer (Brewer died not long after the interview was conducted and recorded). It also included an audio commentary for "Race Against Disaster", as it was one of Waldo's favorite episodes.
• "Battle of the Planets: The 25th Anniversary Collection" contained thirteen more episodes, although it lacked the Japanese audio track for Gatchaman and had no extra features. After this collection, Rhino halted their releases due to low sales as well as the plans for ADV Films to release the Gatchaman series on DVD.

As of recent times, Sentai Filmworks now holds the USA rights to Battle along with its license of the first Gatchaman series, and has perpetually renewed the rights for it but no home media releases have happened.

UK[]

VHS[]

• Longman Video had a 12-tape VHS line, released through 1984. The first 8 cassettes contained 4 episodes each, while the last 4 only had 2 on each.
• Mollin Home Video would release 3 VHS tapes for the series, though a Volume 4 and 5 were planned before the company shut down. Each of the 3 existing volumes contain 4 episodes.
• Universal Home Video's Playback line would have 2 VHSes labeled "Volume 1, Part 1" and "Volume 1, Part 2" with 6 episodes apiece.

DVD[]

• Mollin would release a single DVD of the series before their company shutdown, which consisted of 4 episodes plus promos and artwork as extras.
• Playback would release two double-disc volumes in 2002, with each set containing 12 episodes.
• "Battle of the Planets Mega Box Set" was a 2004 complete release by Playback, consisting of 12 volumes. This marked the first time the entire series in its English language could be purchased on DVD.

Australia[]

• Siren Visual had a short-lived release in Australia, duplicating the initial volumes by Rhino but only presenting a Japanese language track on the first two (where the episodes lacked subtitles).
• Madman Entertainment re-released the series over 5 DVD box sets through 2004 to 2005, presenting the episodes in the Sandy Frank adaptation order. These sets also contained the alternative versions of episodes as extras.
• Madman would also release a 10-episodes "Best of" Collection in 2006.
• "Battle of the Planets: The Complete Collection" was a 15-disc set released in Australia in 2013 by Madman, compiling the extras from Rhino's Ultimate DVD Boxed Set along with other extras for the series such as the compilation film and pre-production versions of two "G-Force: Guardians of Space" episodes. This release contains all 85 episodes.

France[]

• Film Office released at least 4 of the series' episodes on Super 8 film format in 1980.
• La Bataille des Planetes had a short-lived VHS line through 1982 to 1983, with the first cassette containing 4 episodes while the second only contained 2 (The Fierce Flowers) from the previous one.
• A 10-volume DVD release was put out in France through Declic Images, consisting of all 59 episodes. A 16-tape corresponding VHS line was also issued.
• La Bataille des Planetes had a 12 episode DVD release by Riche Lieu in 2004, but no further volumes were made.

References[]