There was, a while ago, some debate over whether or not the the 1980's Astroboy was simply the 1960's version in colour or an entirely different series. Affirming the latter, I was told to "post proof or retract." So, I offer the following information I have found on the subject. None of this constitutes proof and I'm not really trying to persuade anyone. Make up your own mind. I feel the only way to be sure is to actually watch the two shows together to see the differences and, since I only have half the 80's version, I'm not currently in a position to do so. I do really want to see the black and white series because it sounds alot darker, much grittier and less... well... sweet than the later version (which I adored, by the way.) Some day....
Anyway, IMDB lists three different shows entitled Astroboy or Tetsuwan Atomu or similar, though neither IMDB or TV Tome have complete information for any version except the recent remake. (NB: not all this information comes from IMDB but don't ask me to remember where I picked it all up. It was all found on the 'net in the last hour but I've closed the pages and I can't be bothered finding them all again.)
The first of these was released in the US in 1963 as Mighty Atom and was 191 episodes long. It was black and white and was the highest rating show in syndication in the US at the time, topping popular shows of the period like The Dick van Dyke Show, I Love Lucy and Bewitched. It was removed from the air both because of a drop in popularity with the change to colour and because parents complained about their children being exposed to "depressing" and "dark" themes and plots. The voice of Astro was done by Billie Lou Watt (who also did the voice of his sister, Astro Girl. *giggle*)
The second series was released in the US in 1980 (though some sources say 1982) which is the one we all saw as kids. Called Astroboy, it ran for 52 episodes and followed a variation of the plotline of the original show (which was based on the manga, wasn't it?). It was in colour. Once again, Billie Lou Watt did the voice of Astro. (I got that piece of information from a dubious source but it was the only one I could find that listed any information regarding the english language cast for the 80's version.) His sister was renamed to Uran. According to some sources the character of Dr Ocha-no-mizu had his name changed from Dr Peabody (in the english 1963 version) to the familiar Dr Elefun. (IMDB disagrees with this but then they can't decide how old James Marsters is, don't have Joss Whedon as a writer on the first Alien film and don't have any english-speaking cast for the 1980 Astroboy, so I don't trust them.)
The third is, of course, the recent (2003) remake, called Astro Boy, that disappointed so many. Though, interestingly (to me, at least), it seems like the name changes in the most recent version were actually so that they sounded western while still mimicking the Japanese names for the characters: Ocha-no-mizu to O'Shay. This is a just a personal opinion, however, and as I don't speak (or know anything much about) Japanese, it is almost completely unfounded.
Most of this came from comparing what others have opined and presenting what appears most often, valuing sources like IMDB over minor sites. I will add, for the sake of completeness, that TV Tome has only two pages for Astroboy: one for the 1963 version, one for the latest remake. They include the 52 episodes of the 1980 version as a second season of the original. This creates internal contradictions in their own information but since when has that mattered.
To be clear, my feeling (especially given the difference in episode numbers) is that the 1980 Astroboy is not simply a colour version of the original series. But, as I said before, the only real evidence would be to watch them side by side.
Now that I've bored you all to the point where you ahve either stopped reading after the second paragraph or you have eaten your own feet so as to have something interesting to do, let's go watch some paint dry while the grass grows. ;)
Anyway, IMDB lists three different shows entitled Astroboy or Tetsuwan Atomu or similar, though neither IMDB or TV Tome have complete information for any version except the recent remake. (NB: not all this information comes from IMDB but don't ask me to remember where I picked it all up. It was all found on the 'net in the last hour but I've closed the pages and I can't be bothered finding them all again.)
The first of these was released in the US in 1963 as Mighty Atom and was 191 episodes long. It was black and white and was the highest rating show in syndication in the US at the time, topping popular shows of the period like The Dick van Dyke Show, I Love Lucy and Bewitched. It was removed from the air both because of a drop in popularity with the change to colour and because parents complained about their children being exposed to "depressing" and "dark" themes and plots. The voice of Astro was done by Billie Lou Watt (who also did the voice of his sister, Astro Girl. *giggle*)
The second series was released in the US in 1980 (though some sources say 1982) which is the one we all saw as kids. Called Astroboy, it ran for 52 episodes and followed a variation of the plotline of the original show (which was based on the manga, wasn't it?). It was in colour. Once again, Billie Lou Watt did the voice of Astro. (I got that piece of information from a dubious source but it was the only one I could find that listed any information regarding the english language cast for the 80's version.) His sister was renamed to Uran. According to some sources the character of Dr Ocha-no-mizu had his name changed from Dr Peabody (in the english 1963 version) to the familiar Dr Elefun. (IMDB disagrees with this but then they can't decide how old James Marsters is, don't have Joss Whedon as a writer on the first Alien film and don't have any english-speaking cast for the 1980 Astroboy, so I don't trust them.)
The third is, of course, the recent (2003) remake, called Astro Boy, that disappointed so many. Though, interestingly (to me, at least), it seems like the name changes in the most recent version were actually so that they sounded western while still mimicking the Japanese names for the characters: Ocha-no-mizu to O'Shay. This is a just a personal opinion, however, and as I don't speak (or know anything much about) Japanese, it is almost completely unfounded.
Most of this came from comparing what others have opined and presenting what appears most often, valuing sources like IMDB over minor sites. I will add, for the sake of completeness, that TV Tome has only two pages for Astroboy: one for the 1963 version, one for the latest remake. They include the 52 episodes of the 1980 version as a second season of the original. This creates internal contradictions in their own information but since when has that mattered.
To be clear, my feeling (especially given the difference in episode numbers) is that the 1980 Astroboy is not simply a colour version of the original series. But, as I said before, the only real evidence would be to watch them side by side.
Now that I've bored you all to the point where you ahve either stopped reading after the second paragraph or you have eaten your own feet so as to have something interesting to do, let's go watch some paint dry while the grass grows. ;)
4 comments:
A inch! I saw it! An inch in just one second!
Saw a poster the other day for the B/W series of astroboy, I think it's soon going to get a DVD re-release. So someday may not be very far away.
BTW, I'm the president of the UOW anime club, if I find a disscussion on astroboy boring, i should probably resign.
Hey, good on you for looking it up ^_^ I'm impressed that you bothered, I think it's really cool. That, and of course, I'm in a good mood 'cus my stance was justified :p
I actually didn't think the new Astro series was too bad (for what I saw of it, anyway). That said, I haven't seen enough to know if it dealt with the same kind of relatively-traumatising stuff that the older series did. Godawful dubs, too, but that was kind of inevitable - I'd rather like to see it subtitled, I have to say. The GBA game is fun, too - man, I love how that system brought back sidescrolling platformers.
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