Battle of the Planets

Did You Know?

• The show was voted #42 on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows in 2001.
• In 2009, IGN ranked Battle of the Planets as the 44th-greatest animated show of all time.
• Sandy Frank first encountered Gatchaman at the MIP-TV conference in Cannes in April 1977.

Plot

Battle of the Planets follows five young people—Mark, Jason, Princess, Keyop, and Tiny—who form G-Force, a team protecting Earth from the planet Spectra and other extraterrestrial attacks. The primary field commander of Spectra is the masked villain Zoltar, who receives orders from a ghost-like, disembodied floating head called the Luminous One, the ruler of Spectra and its armies. The team's main vessel is the Phoenix, which carries four smaller vehicles: a futuristic race car driven by Jason, a galacti-cycle ridden by Princess, a Space Bubble operated by Keyop, and a jet fighter piloted by Mark. Tiny pilots the Phoenix itself. A recurring plot device is the Phoenix's transformation into the Fiery Phoenix, a flaming bird-shaped craft of pure energy used for exceptional situations. The Phoenix's primary weapon is TBX missiles, and it occasionally uses a solar-powered energy blaster, though the team often faces cloudy weather when deploying it. G-Force members employ martial arts, ninja-like weapons, and cerebonic powers to defeat enemies. Their bird-like costumes include wing-like capes that function as parachutes or wingsuits, allowing them to glide safely from heights.

Other media

In 1986, Gatchaman was reworked in the US as G-Force: Guardians of Space by Turner, restoring much of the original content edited out of Battle of the Planets and following the original plot more faithfully, though without Hoyt Curtin's original score and with new voice acting. Two soundtrack albums and several DVDs have been released. The Japanese follow-up series Gatchaman II and Gatchaman Fighter were combined into 65 episodes and released as Eagle Riders by Saban; all 65 aired in Australia, but only 13 aired in the United States. A TV movie called Battle of the Planets: The Movie was made by Gallerie International Films and Sandy Frank Film Syndication, with David Bret Egen voicing 7-Zark-7; it compiled several episodes into a new storyline with violence and deaths, intended as an uncut remake but scrapped when Frank focused on an uncut dub of Gatchaman. Battle of the Planets also appeared in comic book form, originally by Gold Key Comics and later by Top Cow Productions, including the 2002 title Battle of the Planets: Princess. A comic strip ran in British TV Comic from issue #1530 to #1671, and holiday specials reprinted Gold Key stories.

Voice cast

The regular cast of Battle of the Planets included Alan Young as 7-Zark-7 and Keyop, Casey Kasem as Mark, Ronnie Schell as Jason and Tiny (episode 1), Keye Luke as Zoltar, the Spirit, and Cronos, Janet Waldo as Princess and Susan, and Alan Dinehart as Tiny and Anderson. The pilot episode featured a different end credits sequence crediting David Jolliffe as Jason, William Woodson, and Alan Oppenheimer; Oppenheimer's role is unclear, possibly Gorok or Chief Anderson, and he did not work on the series again. Uncredited additional voices were provided by Takayo Fischer, William Woodson (also the announcer for opening titles, episode previews, and trailers), Frank Maxwell, Edward Andrews, Wendy Young, and David Jolliffe.

Legacy

An animated reboot with the working subtitle Phoenix Ninjas was planned by Nelvana, d-rights, and Tatsunoko, aimed at the 6–11 male demographic, conceived after d-rights expressed interest following the success of the second generation of Beyblade. No new information has surfaced since 2016, and the project was scrapped after Corus Entertainment removed the press release from its website. At the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, Joe and Anthony Russo announced they are producing a live-action Battle of the Planets film through AGBO, with Daniel Casey hired to write the script in July 2021; Joe Russo stated in July 2022 that they are still working on the movie.