Battle of the Planets [DVD]

First of all, Battle of the Planets is great Anime. Its wonderfully drawn and the stories are well told.

If you're looking at this specific set as an introduction - I would however, suggest you begin with BOTP (Battle Of The Planets) Vol.1 as this DVD boxed set starts at a point further into the Gatchaman storyline.

I honestly feel a little clarification is needed here with regards to this DVD set.

The set contains 4 discs. Episodes 14 through 27 are featured but episodes 19 and 20 are not included. I'm not sure why (perhpas there's a BOTP fan who can explain) but its worth mentioning.

In order to get a COMPLETE set (note the title of this boxed set is "ultimate" not "complete"), you have to purchase the previously released VOLUMES (Volumes 1 through 6). This DVD set starts off with the storyline started in those volumes.

Is it a good set - Oh yea! Its very cool and very watchable, just know what you're getting.

I would suggest - start with the individual volumes and then puchase this DVD set to continue your collection.

Happy viewing.
Best Regards,
turtlex

The bonus features were a pleasure: subtitled episodes of Gatchaman, the anime from which Battle of the Planets was created, and also interviews with the original cast members. I LOVE Ronnie Schell! He made Jason come alive for me and I never forgot his voice, even after all this time. It was a thrill to hear their recollections of creating the series. It sounded as if they were really enjoying themselves, and that must have contributed to why this show has such longevity.

The original show itself has some problems--notably the robot narrator and the sanitized violence--which are more glaring to an adult than they were to us in our childhood. I think that by watching both versions, we get the full experience: we remember why we loved the show, and we see what it truly was. I highly recommend this box set. I especially recommend the limited edition Jason action figure with his civilian car. I've already had to convince my daughter it's Mommy's toy and not hers! I would definitely buy this all over again if I had to, and it's terrific to see this show once more.

I did not see the word "remastered" anywhere, so don't expect it - the "BOTP" episodes look like the 30-year-old adaptation of a 40-year-old cartoon that they are. The corresponding Gatchaman episodes are a little brighter and clearer becuase they were never messed with. If you own any of the vol 1-6 DVDs, then you already know this.

The sound is terrible. It was terrible on all of the other DVDs, and its the same here. There is a 5.1 sound option on the DVDs, but that's just louder with more bass. Its a much easier experience if you just use the standard sound option.

The previous releases included three versions of the "same" episode: BOTP, G-FORCE and Gatchaman... I believe that one of the DVDs also had an Eagle Riders episode. This Box Set appears to only contain BOTP and Gatchaman versions.

If this is the first DVD that you are buying for BOTP, lower your expectations a bit in terms of audio and video quality... but other than that - its a great ride down memory lane.

Its also an interesting glimpse at reality of children's television in the 70's. Whereas its true that Gatchaman is the source of Battle of the Planets - they are very, very different television shows. Some reasons to watch the subtitled episodes of Gatchaman:

1. You could not kill humans in cartoons, so all of the human troopers became "robots", and all the planes that crashed became un-piloted "drones" for BOTP. In Gatchman, people and animals die all the time. You rarely see Jason fight in BOTP, becuase he almost always ends up killing somebody in Gatchaman.

2. You could not show images of strife and war, so even though Gatchaman took place entirely on Earth, the outer-space theme was introduced in BOTP to make it look like all of the conflicts took place on other planets.

3. Center Neptune, 7-Zark-7 and the Ready Room were all introduced in BOTP as filler to replace all of the violence and censored content of Gatchaman and to anchor the space-theme into the story.

4. Avenging your fathers death by killing those responsible is a very good-samurai-legend-type thing to do in Japanese lore, but its frowned upon in Children's television in the US - so you will be amazed how a little editing and clipping can spin an episode around.

5. It goes on and on...

All of the previous releases, plus this boxed set brings the total up to 24 episodes out of the 85 in the US series (108 episodes in Gatchaman I in Japan), so I beg that Rhino continues producing these collections for the entire series.

In the end, the compromises in the quality don't detract from the excitement and nostalgia of watching this fantasic and ground-breaking show. If you were a fan as a kid - you can't be without this collection.