Okay, when I watched it, it was Battle of the Planets. And when I see it now, I wince. How could I have loved it so?
But there was a time when 7 a.m. every Sunday, found me creeping downstairs to beat the tv into submission, trying valiantly to capture that channel that could be found no other time. And sometimes wouldn’t even come in for the whole half hour.
Was it meant to be? You tell me. I don’t know how I found the show in the first place, I doubt I was up at 7 on a Sunday morning without the equivalent of a bucket of water over my head. (Yes, missing Battle of the Planets was worse than that!)
And Gatchaman…Science Ninja Team Gatchaman is what Battle of the Planets was supposed to be, what it originally was. There are other incarnations, but I only care about two–the one I knew, and the original, before nameless folks mutilated, cut, dubbed and otherwise sodomized it. When I watch that, I remember why I loved Battle of the Planets.
Though I can’t tell you a single plotline (except the only plotline, evil aliens send giant mecha, G-Force fights courageously, gets their tails kicked separately, then band together to defeat the thing), I know G-Force. Better than I know most people I’ve met in the real world. And I love them. Much more than I love most people I’ve met…
Even through the attempts to dumb it down and make it “kid-friendly,” it remained real. (As real as anything in the ’70s could be, especially as it was animated…) People got hurt, characters clashed–How many times did Mark and Jason face off?–and they had depth. When is the last time you saw that on a Saturday morning?
So you can keep your Smurfs, your Carebears, your Justice League and your LooneyTunes. Give me the Phoenix, and Mark, Jason, Princess, Keyop and Tiny–or Ken, Joe, Jun, Jinpei and Ryu, if you prefer–and we’re outta here. You can have your fluff. I’ll take reality. Trans-mute!