What were your first impressions upon seeing BOTP, GoS & Gatchaman?

It seems to me that im one of the rare few that was introduced to Gatchaman through G-Force rather than BOTP or Gatchaman first. So, what were your first impressions upon seeing [insert introductory series] and then your first reaction & impressions upon seeing the other 2 subsequesent incarnations?

I just spent a couple of hours doing my usual surfing throughout the net for any nugget of information that i (& most of us) dont already know about GoS. Upon this search i stumbled into many message board posts about people bringing up or reminiscing over BOTP & Gatchaman and being terribly misinformed and throwing mixed facts over the many incarnations. What was common about some of these posts was that G-Force was often at the recieving end of a lot of flak. It was often referred to as "the crappy version with the horrible voices & names that aired on Cartoon Network" or "the inferior version" :anger2: As painful as some of these comments may be, admittedly some of them are right. Even i must admit as a GoS fan who has mostly nostalgia to go by, and not the episodes themselves. As Ace Goodheart said in the fanfic which i referred to a couple of threads down (which you guys should check out if you havent already): DAMN YOU TURNER! :anger2:

I really dont remember much of my days watching GoS, but i do remember it being 1995 and i just happened to catch it at random on Cartoon Network (which as an 8 year old i viewed pretty much everyday. One of my favorite stations of all time, and not just because it was the exclusive home of GoS and never really quite getting it. I just.........watched it because it was a cartoon. I remember thinking, "why does that serious tune keep playing over & over?" If you havent noticed already i was referring to the backbeat. I also remember being peeved all the time not being able to catch the opening sequence to every episode, and being relieved when i finally did. One of my most fond memories of GoS was being captivated by the theme song & the fantastic artwork on the closing credits,which i always happened to catch. Soon after i became a mild fan of GoS, and watched it almost every day it was on (weekdays at 6:30, mid-afternoon on weekends).

Another fond memory was staying real late on a summer night of that same year and catching a late-night re-run of GoS. My mother tried to get me to go to sleep but i wouldnt until the episode was over! The episode i watched that night at 2:30 AM i later found out was one of the last 2 episodes of GoS. It always stood out from the rest because the backbeat music sounded awfully different from the regular backbeat. It sounded more varied. Perhaps this is 1 of those 2 episodes that had all the Gatchaman music removed,therefore having a more varied backbeat? Can anyone clarify this?
As far as episode highlights go, the only ones that come to mind as i type was the scene where Red Impulse beat down Ace & threw him across the room. Betcha that wasnt shown in BOTP eh? I always wondered what was the meaning behind that altercation. The other highlight was from that same episode i mentioned in the last paragraph, which was about Peewee having a crush on this little girl. It was one of those Peewee-centered episodes.Then, by about mid-to-late 1996 GoS just disappeared and i quickly forgot about it. I think i remember seeing it at least once more during the very early days on CN's then-new Toonami action block, then it truly disappeared off the face of the earth and i never saw it again.

 

I remembered GoS it from time to time over the next couple years, until around 2003 when i got my current PC and the comfort of the internet at home. I searched for "G-Force" and instead came up with this "Battle of the Planets". As i read up on it i realized its definitely not the G-Force i remembered & loved. Jump to early 2004, when nostalgia started kicking in and my search for G-Force resumed. In the process i educated myself on the basic knowledge of Gatchaman & its incarnations, and found out about the BOTP marathon on Boomerang. I wanted to see for myself if it was the atrocity most make it out to be. Also, it was the first time id be seeing anything related to GoS in 7 years, so i was excited and woke up the very minute the marathon started. I watched the marathon on & off throughout the day, and my impressions were mixed. I thought it was alright, but i was turned off by the cop-out edits & changes such as Keyop & the ready room sequences. And it JUST wasnt the G-Force i grew up with, and i longed to see G-Force again even more.

I kept watching BotP regardless, and later stumbled onto G-Force stuff such as the theme song & a couple of episodes and my resolve for GoS strengthened 100-fold. Which is when i found this board & the rest is history!

Sorry for the long post guys, but it isnt a first for me, you know that!

 

Talking to youself again when nobody will listen, eh Dirk?

My first introduction to this franchise was back in 1978. I was sitting on the floor against the couch watching TV with my brother next to me, and my father was reading the TV Guide. He said, "hey, this might be something you'd be interested in" and showed me a pictorial advertisement for this new cartoon called "Battle of the Planets." The ad featured Zark and Rover, with the Phoenix and G-Force behind them. (Darn, how I wish I saved that TV Guide.) It was on our ABC affiliate at 4:00 PM Monday - Friday. My brother and I were hooked. We got the board game for Christmas, bought those cheap Goody's toys from the supermarket, and even made uniforms to "play" G-Force. It was part of our childhood, and we watched until it went off the air in 1985.

I thought I would never see the show again, but I happened to find three tapes with 12 episode total from some shop in Philadelphia, Japanimation, that took the original 8mm films and put them on VHS tapes using a coverter. When that UPS dude delivered the package, it was one the best days of my life. I popped in the first tape, and I couldn't believe I was watching "Battle of the Planets" again. It was about a year later that I found an article in Animag magazine, which I still have, that introduced me to "Gatchaman." It explained how "Battle of the Planets" and "Gatchaman" were related, and things started to fall into place. I then went on a quest to get all 105 episodes of "Gatchaman," which I did, and some episodes of "Gatchaman II" and "Gatchaman Fighter." (Now I understood why some of the Entex models I saw were of this weird bird Phoenix and G-1 ship.) At this point, I still had not heard of "G-Force: GoS," but finally found out about it from someone. I went on the hunt again and someone taped a few episodes for me. I got it and watched a little, but it wasn't my "Battle of the Planets."

Then, Saban came out with "Eagle Riders," which was a splice of stories from "Gatchaman II" and "Gatchaman Fighter." Only 13 of the episodes were aired here in the States, although I understand all of them have been showin in Austrailia. I was hoping they would have used the original "Battle of the Planets" names, but they once again made up new names. This time, even the ship was renamed, called the Eagle where they "fought for the global good." That was enough for me.

The first thing to come out during the resurgence was the soundtrack in 2000. Do you know how I found out about it? I had e-mailed Hoyt Curtin from his website, telling him how much I loved his "Battle of the Planets" music. He personally wrote me back, telling me he was working on the soundtrack. I wish I kept that e-mail! He actually wrote to me twice, and died very soon after. :sad: In fact, he died after working on the soundtrack, but before it was released, so they were able to dedicate it to him.

Now I'm 33, married, and as big a fan as I ever was. I even have my wife grooving it up with some of the Gatchaman music. You gotta love that stuff!

 

Talking to myself? Hardly, unless ive been wrong about most of my posts all this time Pretty interesting story Mark! While your search for BOTP may have pretty much ended, my search for GoS has only begun. But if im not impressed by the initial episodes on various DVD's out there and realize that my nostalgia (& GoS overall) have not stood the test of time then ill stop my search dead in its tracks & instead wait until ADV hopefully gives us excellent DVD releases of Gatchaman. But no matter what GoS will always have a soft spot for me, no matter how bad ill probably be shaken out of my blind, one-sided nostalgia

 

I watched BOTP in 1978. I was six. I have very few memories of the show at all, except I admired those numbered T shirts more than birdstyle. (I was, after all, very young) I always wanted a T shirt like that, and many years later (must have been 14) I got given an american football shirt I was very happy.
Even then I knew the show had deeper, darker meanings. I never understood why, untill `Akira` came out and I was watching it with an anime buff friend, he told me BOTP was originaly japanese and something clicked.
Funnily enough I have no memory of Zark and his electronic yapper.
My late mother had a distinct aversion to our good purple archenermy, and said things whenever he came on. (fondles long blonde hair thoughtfully.) Zoltar would never have gotten invited to tea in our household!
I liked Princess (cus shes got a motorbike!!!) and Tiny (hes fun!) but never had much time for the rest. (no sordid tales of Eagle idolisation here)

I never expected to see BOTP again, but here I am, in the self same house (now my own pad) the characters have changed, and so have I...but oddly enough, not that much.