Force Five

[O.Supreme]

Greetings All,

I am in search of information about this Jim Terry Production from 1980. I know it took episodes from Five Anime series of the 1970's (4 of which are the super robot genre).

Grendizer (spelled a Granizer)
Getter Robo G (Renamed Starvengers)
Gaiking
Danguard Ace &
Stazinger (Renamed Spacekeers)

Of course each series was much longer than the 26 episodes Jim Terry's company selected for broadcast. I was just wondering if somebody knew if a list had been compiled online of which episodes from each series were used in correspondence with the original Japanese ones. Wikipedia & IMDB don't offer much, and some anime sites are riddled with erroneous info (such as Getter Robo G having 90 episodes when in fact it only had 39- curiously this same error appears in "The Complete Anime Guide" 1995 from Tiger Mountain Press.

I know boots of these episodes are fairly easy to find in addition to the single -two episode VHS volumes released for each series by Parade Video in the mid 1990's. Any assistance is appreciated

[EricDent]

[O.Supreme]

Several Super Robot series were dubbed in english in the early to mid 80's.

The Force-5 set was the first attempt by Jim Terry to capitalize on tghe popularity of the Shogun Robot toys that Mattell was importing (Popy Jumbo Machinders) including the famous Godzilla toy. Unfortunately it only aired in a few markets

Later there was of course Voltron which World Events Productions took portions of Beast King Golion & Dairugger XV to create. Harmony Gold did the same with Robotech (Macross, Southern Cross & Mosepada).

A couple smaller venues tried there hand but were less successful Mazinger Z was edited/released by Sony as Tranzor Z. Saban edited GoShogun & Mission Outer Space Srungle into Macron 1

Where shows like Voltus V, Daimos, Gakeen (Magnos) fit in are that they were dubbed in English for the Malay market (similiar to the Japanese Transformers) in the mid-80's, thus the dubs are pretty bad

Although I agree the dub for Gaiking isn't the best, it is far better and more authentic than the Force-5 dubs. Also I disagree about Star Blazers (I know it wasn't your comment) . The first two seasons done by Sunwagon were superb! A part of my childhod I'll never forget. The 3rd season isn't as great and dosen't hold that nostalgic feel since it didn't air in my area, but its still passable.

[EricDent]

[Russzilla]

I used to love watching these after school. You can find a few episodes and clips of each series on YouTube, and you can even find a few of the series in its entirety in Japanese/English subtitled on some websites. Even the Great Mazinga series.

[EricDent]

Manzinger Z is coming on DVD sometime soon, of course it's sub-only.
At least it will finally be uncut, since the Tranzor Z version was heavily edited.

Danguard Ace (movies) came out recently as well.

BTW the earlier mention of Voltron forgot to mention plans of a third Voltron.
Using Lightspeed Electroid Albegas as the base for a Gladiator Voltron.
This one would be the Defender of the "Middle" Universe.
Lion was "Far" and Vehicle was "Near".
They even made toys of the parts of the Gladiator Volton as part of the Voltron line.
I personally bought one at Disney World back in the mid 80s (the Epcot Center still had the 3D movie called Magic Journeys so it had to be before 1986).

[O.Supreme]

[EricDent]

Well I just put what Wikipedia had on Voltron.
Thanks for the info!
So there was plans for a different "Lion" themed Voltron?

BTW did you ever watch the original version of Beast King Go-Lion?
Boy was it rather bloody & violent for a kids show (the opening theme is obviously for a kids show).
Even that thing with Sven is handled much differently.
Apparently he had a twin brother, and does actually die.

[O.Supreme]

Yup. I have all of Go-Lion & Dairugger XV on DVD from Anime Works. The last episode of Go-Lion where the ammunition for "Zarkon's" giant cannon is human slaves...yeah, I can see why they tried to avoid that in Voltron .

[Russzilla]

[O.Supreme]

That is true (well the part about GM being part of F5 anyway). I agree Spaceketers was the weak link of the 5 series, obviously because of a lack of Giant Robots, but I am eager to get S!F's release of the Winkler produced Starzinger movies. I've just gotten behind due to lack of funds, but its definitely on my "to purchase" list. Maybe I'll wait until Danguard Ace comes out and just get them both.