ksf@security.UUCP (Keith S. Fung) (12/15/83)
[ This line for Finagle's imp of perversity ] Are we back to animations already ? Ok, lets get some facts straight. Yes the cartoons in the US are for the most part real garbage, but there are some fairly good shows here. TECHNICALLY excellent American shows: Flash Gordon (used rotoscope and was fairly intelligent, highly reminiscent of the old Crabbie serials). GI JOE (now showing on tv, sat morn 8 .a.m., Very good animation, character movement is realistic and high production standards). Spiderman/Hulk (good art work, nice sense of humour). The Fantastic Four (the latest version, yes Johnny wasn't in it, but Jack Kirby did alot in the show). (Hey, do you notice a pattern appearing here^) Now for the shows like Starblazers, Force Five, Battle of the Planets, and others where you spot Japanese names in the credits. Yes knock the ANGLO- SIZED versions, they really are crap, but they ARE NOT what they originally were. Force Five is actually composed of Five Japanese animations that were really butchered to hell. Danguard Ace == Danguard A Gaiking == Gaiking Starvengers == Getta Robo G Grandizer == UFO Robot Grandizer (Sorry, I forgot what the last one was) Now for some real mutilation, let us study what happened to the REALLY putrid show called Battle of the Planets. In real life, this show is actually "Kajaku Ninjatai Gatchaman", or translated "Science Ninja Team Gatchaman". Guess what happened over here ? The people who brought the first year of this show took a ONE hour show, cut it up into little pieces, kept 10 minutes of it, and crammed in their own TERRIBLE "cartooning" to make a 20 minute show (30 min + comercials). KNG was (and probably still is) considered THE MOST BLOODY show ever to be produced in Japan !!!! This is the show I would want to watch, instead of the mental drivel that oozes on TV now. Those little toys in the "other" show actually did nasty and deadly things on the bodies of the bad guys. What conclusions would someone in another country get if your favorite show was spliced, diced, mushed, etc.( not to mention being dubbed)? (For those interested in Japanese Animation contact your nearest CFO, Cartoon/Fantasy Organization for more details on showings and what not) An important note is that over in Japan, animations are not considered "just for kids". They show them during prime time too (of course the subject matter differs greatly between kiddie shows to adult shows). And now ... for your anticipation of the future ... Mobile suit pilot Keith Fung Mitre ...!linus!security!ksf PS For something to do vaguely with animation, run to your nearest coin- op arcade and look for Cliffhanger and Vortex. These two are laser disk games just like Dragon's Lair. If you like the animation, you will be thrilled to know that the two games are actually two Japanese animations that there formatted to become games. Cliffhanger is actually Lupin III in "the Mystery of Mamo" and Vortex is from the series "Harmagetton". (Yes, if you watch the moives long enough, you can play the games easily, but the actions on the disk are not in the order of the movies).
norskog@fortune.UUCP (12/17/83)
#R:security:-60500:fortune:11200006:000:183 fortune!norskog Dec 16 14:22:00 1983 Paraphrase: "Cliffhanger was a movie made to be recycled as a video-game" Which explains why there are not multiple story-lines a' la Dragon's Lair. Lance "Pinball Forever" Norskog
mae@aplvax.UUCP (12/22/83)
Hello animation fans (especially fellow Gundam fan Keith Fung)
Interesting, isn't it, how Keith described American tv animation as
technically excellent but otherwise real garbage. That is exactly
the problem. I like tv shows with well developed characters and
interesting plots, which probably explains why I watch British
and Japanese shows and Hill Street Blues. I haven't seen any of
his examples so things may be getting better, but what I have
seen of American tv animation hasn't been as good technically as
the best recent Japanese tv shows (Macross, Urashiman or Cobra for
example) and characterization and plots are nonexistent. These
things should have nothing to do with whether a show is animated or live
action, but I guess American tv is consistent in that most of the live
action shows don't have much in the way of character development
or continuing consistent plots either.
One correction to Keith's article, Gatchaman started as a half hour show.
(I just saw 6 hours worth at a C/FO Mid-Atlantic meeting.)
It is true, however, that the American version used very
little of that per show. And they only used 80 of the 105 episodes
of the first series. I remember reading a funny news item in Starlog,
that Battle of the Planets "boasted" 80 independent episodes.
Since they started with 105 serially connected episodes that is a
strange thing to boast about. I have heard a story (perhaps in jest)
that the same American company tried to buy Lupin III, but the show's
creator asked first what would be done with the show. Well, they
couldn't have a thief as the main character so they would have to
make him a secret agent, but then the Inspector chasing him wouldn't
make sense so they'd have to rewrite that and American kiddies wouldn't
understand a Japanese character so they'd have to write that character
out and . . . (I'll be sick if I go any farther). Wisely this
offer was rejected.
The fifth Force Five story is Spaceketeers == Starzinger, the only
one of the five that was originally a comedy. Other regrettable
American versions are Starbirds (made from Daimos) and the translation
of the first Galaxy Express movie. I've seen a not too bad version
of Voltus V, under the original title, with songs left in Japanese.
I've recently heard a rumor that the Playboy cable channel may be
interested in running Space Cobra. There is nothing in the episodes
I've seen that couldn't be shown on a network if it were live action but
apparently the idea of an adult animated show implies to American
tv types that it must be obscene. The pilot episode was made in
English.
Another annoying thing done to the American translations is the
character names. I can understand changing Japanese names to
American ones, even if I don't agree with it, but why change the
names that are American to start with? Technovoyager ("Thunderbirds
2086" in English) has the best examples. The international rescue
team, originally from 5 different countries, became all Americans.
The one original American character, Katherine Hayward, was renamed
Kallan James, and the British Eric Jones became a Texan Jesse Riegal.
I am bothered by this, even treated as a "kiddie" show, what's wrong
with showing the "kids" international cooperation?
Mary Anne Espenshade
...!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!maefranka@tekcad.UUCP (12/25/83)
#R:aplvax:-46500:tekcad:5300007:000:1290 tekcad!franka Dec 25 10:46:00 1983 >Interesting, isn't it, how Keith described American tv animation as >technically excellent but otherwise real garbage. That is exactly >the problem. And what causes the problems? It's very simple. All animated TV shows made in America are aimed at the Saturday morning kiddie market. And parents are so busy trying to blame someone elser for their poor raising of their kids that anything realistic (such as a thief being the hero of a show or kids using drugs) is kept out for fear of being used as a target of TV being a "bad influence on kids". Japaneese TV shows are not the only ones butchered. If you've seen the old Warner Brothers cartoons lately on network TV, there are scenes hacked so badly one can barely stand to watch any more. The new shows are filled with nothing but goody-goody wimps who can overcome evil only because the bad guys are so inept that they are not really menacing. I guess that for intellegent animation we all will have to look for independent stations and independent producers who still show and make decent cartoons. From the truly menacing, /- -\ but usually underestimated <-> and soon to be gone, Frank Adrian (tektronix!tekcad!franka)
franka@tekcad.UUCP (12/25/83)
#R:aplvax:-46500:tekcad:5300008:000:161 tekcad!franka Dec 25 10:58:00 1983 Oh, yeah. And why is it that every cartoon show has to have its token amorphous children between the ages of 7 and 10 and some pathetic anthropomorphic animal?