C&C - Astro Boy - "The Birth of Astro Boy" [7/13]

[Zach Logan]

Let's get this started.

[Mugen]

Aside from the episode being on AS Video, the episode airs late Saturday/early Sunday morning at 2 am Eastern.

[D Dubbs]

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how well an old school anime will do in the ratings at a more watchable time.

I am looking forward to watching it. I wonder if AS will ever get around to airing all 193 episodes. It should take us about 4 years at this pace...:sweat:

[Mugen]

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how well an old school anime will do in the ratings at a more watchable time.

I am looking forward to watching it. I wonder if AS will ever get around to airing all 193 episodes. It should take us about 4 years at this pace...:sweat:

I don't think they dubbed all 193 episodes though.:sweat:

[D Dubbs]

Hmm, I guess you're right. Only 104 were dubbed. I wonder if that means some episodes just weren't aired or some were spliced together or something else. Whatever happened, 89 episodes is a rather large amount of episodes to skip. It's almost half the series.

EDIT: Whoa, just noticed this. Apparently the episode on AS Video is 26 minutes in length. AS will probably have to edit some out then, I suppose.

Then again, it is airing at 2 a.m. so maybe they can leave it uncut.

[Golgo13]

GO GO GO ASTRO BOY!

This is proof enough that Adult Swim is much better then Cartoon Network for making such radical scheduling. Makes me pine for the days when they'd show Speed Racer weeknights at 10.

[Ace Goodheart]

*Inevitable Ace Goodheart appaerance*

Or the days when "G-Force" aired 6 days a week WITH late-night encores to boot! Or when CN was testing the waters for what today is entirely Adult Swim territory-late-night weekends, and aired (Streamline Pictures dubbed, chopped up for time and content) a block of anime movies in 1995! How's about them apples?

By the time "Speed Racer" came on in the Spring of 1996 however, CN had already knocked "G-Force" from it's brief crown and disowned it, burying it on late nights and weekends only which is strange seeing as Speed Racer was not only an older (1967 as opposed to 1986) dub but an older show. Apparently it was a big winner for CN as they aired several all-day marathons of it, specifically before the premiere of the Dexter's Lab episode "Mock 5". After "The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest" and later Toonami premiered though, Speed Racer too was buried but at least kept it's primetime slot for a while later. By the summer of '97, "G-Force" was airing only ONCE a week on CN- Saturday afternoon during the weekend "Super Adventures" block. I think that when CN debuted it's then-new "Powerhouse" look and motif that summer was when "G-Force" was finally canned as they wouldn't bother creating new bumpers for it..........hasn't been available in it's entirety in the U.S since.

Rant notwithstanding, I look forward to seeing the U.S's first anime and Mr. Fred Ladd's first anime project. A question about "Gigantor", how many episodes of "Iron Man 28" were dubbed for it, and did AS ever air all of the available episodes? And how about "Voltron", have they pulled the same stunt Toonami did a decade earlier and only aired the Lion episodes? Man, people sure hated those Vehicle eps didn't they?

[D Dubbs]

A question about "Gigantor", how many episodes of "Iron Man 28" were dubbed for it, and did AS ever air all of the available episodes? And how about "Voltron", have they pulled the same stunt Toonami did a decade earlier and only aired the Lion episodes? Man, people sure hated those Vehicle eps didn't they?

They dubbed 52 episodes of Gigantor and I believe AS did get around to airing all of them. For Voltron, AS's run actually was shorter than Toonami's, as AS only got to episode 50.

[veemonjosh]

Whatever happened, 89 episodes is a rather large amount of episodes to skip. It's almost half the series.

They mostly skipped a random episode here or there, and then skipped large chunks towards the end.

Also, IIRC, all the episodes except for this first one were dubbed in some strange order.

[Daikun]

Wow! This show is awesome! I think it even exceeds Gigantor. Instead of a bunch of self-contained episodes, this actually has a story! And a well-done origin to boot.

Some of that animation is actually quite funny to watch.

[SpaceCowboy]

They mostly skipped a random episode here or there, and then skipped large chunks towards the end.
I read somewhere years ago that NBC supposedly pulled the series off the air prematurely due to violence in later episodes. It would be interesting if true.

[Dark Fact]

Is the infamous "power up" scene left intact in this episode or is it the permacut episode?

[Mugen]

This talkback cannot be complete without a Chris Wood, Beatdigga, Leaping Larry Jojo and other posters who are fans of anime before 1990(but still like newer anime titles).

[Beat]

Yeah, but I'm not watching it until Sunday.

This is stuff my dad watched. What is AS's obsession with showing stuff from the 60's era? (I suppose it makes as much sense as Pee Wee) Is 8 Man next?

[Mugen]

Yeah, but I'm not watching it until Sunday.

This is stuff my dad watched. What is AS's obsession with showing stuff from the 60's era? (I suppose it makes as much sense as Pee Wee) Is 8 Man next?

Probably because the people at WS were fans of Astro Boy and when the opportunity arised, they decided to air it. Essentially AS is what CN used to be: A place where shows you wouldn't think would air again, do air again.


That, and it seems Boomerang didn't want to air it.

[Mugen]

Is the infamous "power up" scene left intact in this episode or is it the permacut episode?

You mean the part where Astro helps one of the robots power up by putting his volts into her "hip?" Then yeah, they kept it.

Also, what is "permacut episode?"


Did this keep the original Japanese music? It looks like it from the credits.

[Ace Goodheart]

I'd say AS one-ups the pre-Toonami CN in some aspects, as even the old-school CN shyed away from Black & White programming. I read (via ancient, archived usenet postings) that CN once attempted to air Black & White shorts on primetime early in their life, and that subsequently their ratings plummeted. I believe after that they never aired B&W programming before 11PM, to this day. Doesn't help that Turner's library of B&W animated programming is really short and repetitive, which is why they removed their overnight staple "Late Night Black & White" many times during it's CN run. Hell, it was just this year that they finally gathered some courage to bring it over to Boomerang.

[ChibiGoku]

Did this keep the original Japanese music? It looks like it from the credits.

From what I remember, yes.

[livingfruitvirus]

I'd say AS one-ups the pre-Toonami CN in some aspects, as even the old-school CN shyed away from Black & White programming. I read (via ancient, archived usenet postings) that CN once attempted to air Black & White shorts on primetime early in their life, and that subsequently their ratings plummeted. I believe after that they never aired B&W programming before 11PM, to this day. Doesn't help that Turner's library of B&W animated programming is really short and repetitive, which is why they removed their overnight staple "Late Night Black & White" many times during it's CN run. Hell, it was just this year that they finally gathered some courage to bring it over to Boomerang.

They aired black and white programs before 11 PM back then. They may not have been hour long chunks but they existed. Cartoon Network didn't have enough ratings back then for there to be much of a difference. Between 1992 and 1994, they were 100% acquired programs, and their one original series til 1996 was made on the cheap.

[danreyes1]

Oddly enough I enjoyed this old show a whole lot more than the vast majority of Adult Swim.

[Dudley]

I'm looking forward to seeing classic Astro Boy, even though I hate watching old black and white cartoons.
My mom watched it as a kid when it came out in the States for the first time.

[Mugen]

TV-PG baby.

[livingfruitvirus]

I'm looking forward to seeing classic Astro Boy, even though I hate watching old black and white cartoons.

Yeah. How dare cartoons not have color. :mad:


God that theme song is annoying. I really hope those kids grew up and got throat cancer.

[Kitschensyngk]

Figures it'd happen on the one day the supposedly safest street in the city isn't.

What a father won't do for his son.

Was it Tezuka's intention to make his father look like a rooster?

Tee hee at pulling the donut he just ate out of his own stomach.

Ah, the wonders of early English dubbing.

"Astro, I've just sold you. From now on you belong to him."

"Every time I get mad I sneeze, and that makes me mad."

Errr...you could get thrown in jail for plugging anything in there.

I could see myself watching this. Feels like an old Popeye cartoon.

Why is his nose blinking?

[Beat]

Well the 80's version is clearly the superior product, but this has value in an Old Timey kind of way.

[Sandoz]

There's something very charming about the direction and animation. Man, Dr. Boynton was a jerk.

"Robot Bill of Rights"...Suddenly it's a prequel to The Matrix.

[Dudley]

Hyoutan-Tsugi (http://en.tezuka.co.jp/studio/character/c050/c050.html) made an appearance.
Awesome.

[Ace Goodheart]

Wow, check out the story on what is the current and only existing version of Astro Boy/Tetsuwan Atom, from Wikipedia:

The Right Stuf International (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_Stuf_International) has released 2 11-disc DVD collections of the series' entire American run. The video and audio quality varies widely since the company was forced to make do with the best available sources they could find. This is due to the fact that the original masters were destroyed in 1975 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975). According to Ladd, the masters were destroyed by NBC after the network had attempted to return them to Mushi Productions. Mushi, going through bankruptcy at the time, pleaded inability to take them, and so they were burned by NBC. Due to this, the show as currently seen consists of the English version (even in Japan, where it is shown with Japanese subtitles) supplemented with copies of some episodes taken from the masters, including the first episode, found in private archival collections.

Rarely do you hear or read about animated shows having their masters destroyed. Yeah, some (often unimportant) elements of the masters have been lost over time, like in many of the Golden Age cartoon shorts and a lot of Hanna-Barbera from the '50's through the '70's, but never the actual content of the shows. Pretty interesting. I wouldn't be surprised though if Sandy Frank Entertainment (creators of "Battle of the Planets") destroyed the master tapes to "G-Force", as it's been sitting in their vaults for years unused. Though I hope not........

So yeah, it'll be interesting to see upcoming episodes and if the video and audio quality will fluctuate. Oh, and there's no way the guys running Adult Swim were around to have grown up with Astro Boy. They're probably in their early forties, TOPS. You'd have to be born during the mid-to-late fifties to have grown up with Astro Boy, Gigantor, Kimba and the like.

Speaking of AS, I heard mentioned here some time ago that they skipped a Gigantor episode in it's run. True or False??? And how many Lion Voltron eps are there again, and is this really the end of Voltron on AS or will it return later?

[Justy]

Actually, I hoped they would show the remake from a few years ago, but it does rock that they acquired and are showing the original...takes me back to my youth....

[Daikun]

I think Dr. Boynton is going mad.

[Conan-san]

So Tenma is going to treat that boy with the bulletwond- Sorry Wrong Tenma.

[MeggieMay]

Actually, it sounds like someone is just hasn't heard about this chapter of the early days of TV.

Destroying master tapes of TV shows, live action, anime, or live events was the norm prior to the 1970s in most countries. The cost of keeping the tapes and paying storage costs verse the price of melting them down for their silver content fell on the side of melting them down (keep in mind that many people didn't realize the potential of re-runs until Star Trek, Gilligan's Island, and similar shows, became big hits in syndication in the early 1970s). This is why there is no known copy of Superbowl I (even though it aired on TV) and a good chunk of early Doctor Who episodes are missing to this day.

Often it's only by a fluke that many TV shows prior to introduction of Color survived and it often happened because the producers kept their own private copies or tracked down whatever remaining copies they could when they found out what was going on (i.e. this is what Johnny Carson did when he discovered that most of his early Tonight Show episodes had been burned by NBC). It really hurt network owned shows more than any other group, IMO because I think the main factor in what did and didn't get trashed came down to who owned it and if they thought they should keep it. The big movie studios had a history of keeping their materials post the silent film era because they seem to understand it was a potential future resource (such as this is where stock footage comes from). However, TV Networks didn't have that type of mind set and thus saw it as disposable.

With AstroBoy it got caught in a bad situation where the company that should have realized they needed to keep the material couldn't due to their legal woes and it lead to this situation happening to it :sad: .

[TheFZAtUGSOnline]

I Haven't Seen The Ep, I Do Remember Seeing The Sony 2003 Remake for KidsWB! it was fairly okay...

[veemonjosh]

I Haven't Seen The Ep, I Do Remember Seeing The Sony 2003 Remake for KidsWB! it was fairly okay...

I personally think the best part of that remake was that they revealed Astro's origin piece by piece, eventually leading up to the climax of the series.

I'm actually pretty excited about seeing this series, as it's the only one out of the three "official" series that I've never seen.

I especially can't wait to see the 60's versions of Uran and Atlas.

[Conan-san]

Actauly, I believe they showed Tobyo geting killed and Tenma making astro in the 2k3 uncuts.

[veemonjosh]

Actauly, I believe they showed Tobyo geting killed and Tenma making astro in the 2k3 uncuts.

Not in the very first episode of the uncut version.

As I said, those scenes were shown bit by bit through flashbacks during the course of the series, until the complete story was told in the final episode. Trust me, I've seen bits of the Japanese version.

Also, those scenes were left in the english version, despite how questionable they were for a KWB dub.

Wow, check out the story on what is the current and only existing version of Astro Boy/Tetsuwan Atom, from Wikipedia

That reminds me of the story about the lost Astro Boy episode, "The Beast from 20 Fathoms", where Tezuka hated the episode so much that he ordered it to be immediately destroyed after broadcast. Luckly, NBC got their copy of the episode before the original was destroyed, and managed to dub it. Unfortunately, as you mentioned the original dub footage was burned, so for many years, it was lost forever, outside of the audio. However, very recently (like, sometime within the past 10 years), a copy of the original Japanese version was found lying around somewhere in Japan, so the episode was no longer lost.

[SpaceCowboy]

Wow, check out the story on what is the current and only existing version of Astro Boy/Tetsuwan Atom, from Wikipedia:
Due to this, the show as currently seen consists of the English version (even in Japan, where it is shown with Japanese subtitles) supplemented with copies of some episodes taken from the masters, including the first episode, found in private archival collections.

So if there is a Japanese DVD release of the whole series, it would switch between English and Japanese depending on the episode?

[SpaceCowboy]

Figures it'd happen on the one day the supposedly safest street in the city isn't.

What a father won't do for his son.

Was it Tezuka's intention to make his father look like a rooster?
I've seen other Tezuka characters that look like animals, probably the Disney influence.

Ah, the wonders of early English dubbing.
And everybody seems to attribute it to Speed Racer.

Errr...you could get thrown in jail for plugging anything in there.
That scene probably seemed harmless for kid's TV in 1964, but seems wrong now. Times change.

I could see myself watching this. Feels like an old Popeye cartoon.same here.

[veemonjosh]

So if there is a Japanese DVD release of the whole series, it would switch between English and Japanese depending on the episode?

That's just Wikipedia talking.

There's two versions of these episodes. There's the fully uncut Japanese version, and there's the "Right Stuf" version (where they reconstructed how the English episodes might have originally been, while keeping some prevously-edited stuff in).

All the Japanese episodes still exist, fully intact.

[ChibiGoku]

All the Japanese episodes still exist, fully intact.

Not all of the japanese episodes. A couple episodes, the video masters were destroyed beyond repair, so they supplimented it with pictures from the episode that they could use. The audio seemed to be completely intact, however.

[Mugen]

Just wondering: How accurate is the dub to the Japanese version? I mean, I was shocked they kept the original Japanese music, since I thought back then, they would change it for the heck of it.

[veemonjosh]

Just wondering: How accurate is the dub to the Japanese version? I mean, I was shocked they kept the original Japanese music, since I thought back then, they would change it for the heck of it.

Having read the booklet that came with the Kimba boxset, I can answer this.

The Japanese music was specifically kept because NBC didn't give enough money to the group who dubbed both Astro Boy and Kimba to create any new music outside of both shows respective openings (and even then, Astro Boy basically used the same tune as the original opening).

However, the script was a different situation. The Japanese company never gave NBC the original scripts, only short 1-paragraph summaries of each episode. Since none of the people dubbing the show knew a single word of Japanese, each of the voice actors basically wrote the dialogue for each scene, making sure it fit what was going on, and went with it.

[D Dubbs]

Having read the booklet that came with the Kimba boxset, I can answer this.

The Japanese music was specifically kept because NBC didn't give enough money to the group who dubbed both Astro Boy and Kimba to create any new music outside of both shows respective openings (and even then, Astro Boy basically used the same tune as the original opening).

However, the script was a different situation. The Japanese company never gave NBC the original scripts, only short 1-paragraph summaries of each episode. Since none of the people dubbing the show knew a single word of Japanese, each of the voice actors basically wrote the dialogue for each scene, making sure it fit what was going on, and went with it.

Interesting. So it sounds like Japan didn't care too much for a faithful adaptation.

For those interested, here's the original Astro Boy opening that veemonjosh was talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4HVYZhohGw

Man, this didn't feel like anime at all. It was like an old school American cartoon. I'm pretty excited for it now.

[Anyone00]

I wonder what worker's comp is like the year 2000?

[Rolling Cloud]

I wonder what worker's comp is like the year 2000?

Think back 7 years..I'm sure you could figure it out.

[Anyone00]

Think back 7 years..I'm sure you could figure it out.

Swing and a miss ;)

[Beat]

I wonder what worker's comp is like the year 2000?

http://www.contrahour.com/contrahour/images/conan_in_the_year_2000.png

In the year 2000...

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Ace Goodheart]

Hmm, seems like all of the anime projects Fred Ladd has been at the helm of were poorly if at all funded, and consisted of only a small pool of people. Despite that the guy busted his ass and really made due with what he did and didn't have which is admirable. It's unfortunate though that his old-school dubbing mentality (with the descriptive names and terms i.e Dick Strong, Mr. Pompous and light-hearted one-liners here and there) didn't translate well......at all to a darker, more mature show like "Gatchaman" which is why so many people lambasted and disliked "G-Force". That and his first attempt at commisioning original music for one of his productions (he most likely was feeling the pressure from those newfangled, multi-million funded productions like "Battle of the Planets", "Voltron" and "Robotech" with their original musical suites) which led to the creation of the repetitive synth backbeat that's the main complaint of this Gatchaman dub.

In case you didn't notice, Mr. Ladd almost always created one-off production companies when he produced these shows, like "Delphi Productions" for Gigantor and I believe Kimba and 8-Man and "Sparklin' Entertainment" for G-Force. They never lasted more than the length of a couple of shows. Incidentally, Mr. Ladd pretty much retired from the dubbing business after putting together "G-Force" for Turner. I wonder if he would've been a good consultant or helper for one of today's big anime licensing companies, like Carl Macek was for ADV.

[PeppeRaskell1]

A thread such as this wouldn't be complete without a PeppeRaskell1 appearance. Haven't seen it as yet, and can hardly wait to see it.

The monitor on the school computer I'm on doesn't have the latest version of Flash Player, and you're not allowed to download it (something about "administrative privileges":crying::mad:), so I'll watch the video at the bakery/cyber-cafe where I usually go to type in my Coke Rewards codes*. (At least they've got the latest version of Flash player!)

And the first chance I get, I'm paying my TWC cable bill. I think I've just found a new motivation to pay it....


PeppeRaskell1
*"Suddenly I'm developing a strong craving for Coke and bagels..."

[Beefy]

Ah, the distant year 2000. With robots aplenty, hover cars, and a colony on the moon.

People in the '60s sure had high hopes for the future. What a let down.

[veemonjosh]

Guys, look what I just found:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xb2YX-IuvSI&mode=related&search

IIRC, the above version was used as the second ending of the newest Astro Boy series. :p

[D Dubbs]

Guys, look what I just found:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xb2YX-IuvSI&mode=related&search

IIRC, the above version was used as the second ending of the newest Astro Boy series. :p

That was sweet as hell. Hooray for J-pop remixes!

[PeppeRaskell1]

Watched the first two segments of Episode 1 at the AS site...with no sound (the cyber-bakery's computers don't have speakers), but it was still a good watch nevertheless

Observations (so far):
Astor Boynton? Astro Boy? AstorBoy? Yeah, I just got the connection.

Dr. Boynton looks like a rooster, even in silhouette and with a bird's nest on his head.

Osamu Tezuka does a cameo in Astro Boy's drawing lesson scene (did anyone notice that?)

The rejection scene with the bird's nest and Astro pleading to his "father" reminded me of that scene in AI: Artificial Intelligence when the David's human mother rejects him.

[Dudley]

Guys, look what I just found:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xb2YX-IuvSI&mode=related&search

IIRC, the above version was used as the second ending of the newest Astro Boy series. :p

They also made a slow version of the original for the show's ending credits.

[D Dubbs]

According to Wikipedia, there were deleted scenes in the initial U.S. airing, including this one:

Episode 1- When Dr. Elefun told Trickem that lots of things happened while he was sleeping, the doctor turns on the TV. The robots knew that they're free and speeches were all over the world and Dr. Elefun turned the TV off.Seems kinda odd that they would cut that out, since it's pretty important to the episode (and the entire series, I suppose).

[veemonjosh]

Seems kinda odd that they would cut that out, since it's pretty important to the episode (and the entire series, I suppose).

That's actually something I like better about the newest series.

Where as the robots gain their independence early in the first two series (episode 1 for the 60's, episode 3 for the 80's series), the newest series delt with the robots actually having to struggle to gain their rights, resulting in worldwide racism and a human-vs-machine war happening on a global scale. Then, they end up finally gaining their rights in the very last scene of the final episode (episode 50).

Plus, we got one of the best openings ever out of it: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GObEADU8yX0

[D Dubbs]

That opening was so kickass. Maybe I should go watch that new series. It looks pretty cool. Are there DVDs out?

[sdp]

I'll be sure to watch if i'm home by that time.

Can't believe I missed it last wee, I wish I had known. I've never seen the original series but I'm a fan of the 80s/2k3 shows. It'll help me hold over until I finally buy the two dvd sets.

[D Dubbs]

I'll be sure to watch if i'm home by that time.


Sorry to break it to you, but it doesn't look like you'll get to catch the first episode. AS Video has already taken it down and replaced it with episode two. And according to AS's schedule, it doesn't look like they'll be airing it again for a while (if at all)...:sad:

[veemonjosh]

Are there DVDs out?

The complete series is out in a single boxset for about $30. (http://www.amazon.com/Astro-Boy-Complete-Candi-Milo/dp/B0007KZQAC/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/105-1862120-0281204?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1184987562&sr=1-2)

Just to warn you, it's an edited-only dub, and it has been cropped from it's original widescreen format. However, even in it's edited form, it's still a series fully worth watching.

I've never seen the original series but I'm a fan of the 80s/2k3 shows. It'll help me hold over until I finally buy the two dvd sets.

Same with me. :p

[D Dubbs]

The complete series is out in a single boxset for about $30. (http://www.amazon.com/Astro-Boy-Complete-Candi-Milo/dp/B0007KZQAC/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/105-1862120-0281204?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1184987562&sr=1-2)

Just to warn you, it's an edited-only dub, and it has been cropped from it's original widescreen format. However, even in it's edited form, it's still a series fully worth watching.



Thanks. Sounds pretty cool. I'll probably pick it up.

[Taylor Karras]

In the future.
Computers will have Windows ME installed.
9/11 will happen.
Web 1.0 will crash.
A lot of gimmicks will apear with the year 2000.
and humanity will get a whole lot stupider.

And no giant robots, Shoot!, I was hopeing for that.

[TheFZAtUGSOnline]

In the future.
Computers will have Windows ME installed.
9/11 will happen.
Web 1.0 will crash.
A lot of gimmicks will apear with the year 2000.
and humanity will get a whole lot stupider.

And no giant robots, Shoot!, I was hopeing for that.
:lol:
Well, there's always ASIMO (the honda robot)

[Master Moron]

Thanks. Sounds pretty cool. I'll probably pick it up.

I personally wouldn't recommend buying a boxset of a KidsWB dub, ever.