Finally, somebody is using their brain and remaking a good, yet flawed, television show into a movie that begs to be made.
The old “Battle of the Planets” cartoon is finally coming to the big screen!
Back in 1978, during the height of “Star Wars” mania, every media company on earth scrambled to try and cash in on the craze. Meco released disco versions of “Star Wars” music to (unbelievably) great success. The American Broadcasting Company created “Battlestar Galactica,” which aped several “Star Wars” elements. Dollar signs were everywhere.
Sandy Frank, an animation company, decided to get in on the action. Like an early version of Saban Entertainment (”creator” of “Power Rangers”), Sandy Frank scoured Japanese animation series, looking for something “Star Wars”-like to market to the kids. They came across “Gatchaman,” a dark, brooding, violent show about five genetically-mutated kids who fight against an intergalactic hermaphrodite and its minions.
So Sandy Frank cut out all the violence, renamed the characters, and awkwardly added an R2-D2 character into the show. The resulting kid’s show, called “Battle of the Planets,” became an instant hit both in the United States and abroad.
Here is the brilliant opening of the show, replete with its terrific, “Star Wars”-like theme:
Now it seems that a live action version of the show is moving forward. “Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles” director Kevin Munroe and producer Tom Gray intend for this to be their next project, although they promise that the film will be a PG-13 or R-rated, more in line with the Japanese version of the cartoon. We shall see about that.
Frankly, either way, I can’t wait!! I tried to get permission from Sandy Frank to write a screenplay for this franchise, but they refused, citing their ongoing internal efforts to turn this into a movie. I guess they finally found the right partner for it.
Go G-Force!!
7 Comments
lol. What in the hell was that.
Live action? Strange!
It was actually a pretty cool cartoon for the time. I always thought that a live action film, if it was darker and more adult, could really work.
That’s actually pretty cool. I would imagine, being that it’s a Battle remake, they would stick more to the American modification than the Japanese Gatcha roots, but, who knows? Could be good fun.
It is the trend to make old Japanese cartoons into live-action eg:Transformers. Lion Voltron is on its way & rumour has it that Sailormoon is likely to be made too. I used to like Battle of the Planets when it was on. I hope they base it on the original Battle of the Planets and not is want to be G-Force. The original was the best. Who knows maybe more cartoons will be made from this, eg: Scooby Doo was made into live-action 2ce and more cartoons have been made since.
@ lovelyl – From what I understand, the movie will be based on the original Japanese show Gatchaman. Gatchaman was redubbed and edited and called Battle of the Planets in English speaking countries. The movie will not have characters like Mark and Jason and Keyop – although that is probably for the best. Most encouraging news of all: no 7-Zark-7.
YES!!!
@ Ray
No 7-zark-7? What a shame….NOT. As long as they don’t base it on that remake of the show G-Force (made mid 80s) it was BOP footage with different names and different dub. I have cn it on Youtube, what a joke. They replace the name Mark with what Ace? I thought that BOP was more based on the original than the remake ripp off.
OOOOhhhh my god!
Yes!
I have been waiting for a movie version of Battle of the Planets for ever.
Well….what can I say…I am a generation Xer!
Bring it on!