Some very old Anime

[Hellion]

Thanks to Youtube I can now finally watch this,which I have not seen in almost 3 decades

this was when Detroit TV was worth watching

some of you here should remember

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZfujTF_C6o

[StormKnight (1)]

I got up early (second only to Dad,) to watch this show. It was one of the shows that hooked me on anime. Some interesting trivia.

Hoyt Curtin, the chief composer of music for Hanna-Barbara's instrumental music, composed a lot of the instrumental music (including the opening/closing credit theme.) He got special permission from H-B (he was under contract at the time,) to take on the project. The rest of the material is written by the composer from Japan, Bob Sakuma. I could tell you if I was watching it who is who (have both composers' soundtrack.)

The show's animation is taken from the show "Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.) Originally released in 1972 (released by importer Sandy Frank here in 1978,) the show was even more violent than what we got. But the animation had incredible detail for a hand-drawn artwork. It still blows my mind that it was all hand drawn. And it had a long running story line. This show still has impact on some areas of Japanese culture today.

The reason 7-Zark-7 was there was to fill in for the violence they had to cut out to make acceptable to US standards. I have seen the original, and the violence is incredible. There were 115 eps of Gatchaman, of which 89 were imported. The rest were too violent/part of the overall story arc. Also, the reason Keyop (the boy in the show,) has such a speech impediment is that in the original show, he swore like the drill sergeant from "Full Metal Jacket."

This show is the one that started the team concept of anime. Look into all those teams since this, and you find a variation of the various archetypes: The noble leader, the quiet brooding second in command, the token female (sorry folks,) the country bumpkin, and the kid. Also, the mecha seen in this anime are the inspiration for Gundams, Evas, and the like.

If you ever compare the two shows, here is a primer:

Mark=Owashi no Ken (Ken the Eagle)

Jason=Condor no Joe (Joe the Condor)

Princess=Jun the Swan (my brain is not completely awake yet.)

Tiny=Ryu the Owl

Keyop=Jinpei the Swallow

Chief Anderson=Professor Nambu

Center Neptune=International Science Organization (ISO)

Spetra=Galactor

The Lumionous One=Galactor (proper)

Zoltar=Berk Katse

Sorry, this show has a place near and dear to my heart, in both versions.