How did you discover Astro Boy?

[Innocent_Eyes]

That is so cool! Would he know who did the voice work of Astro? It is something that I have always wondered.

My Astro craze started when I was 5 back in 1995. I remember coming home from school one day to find that we had gotten Foxtel and as I scrolled through the channels for the first time I came across Nick and Cartoon Network. I was instantly hooked. That's when I first discovered the 80's Astroboy on Nickelodeon and I started to watch it. I still have a distant memory of the commercials for it. One is of the techno 80's introduction remix commercial they used to play and whenever it was on I would jump up and rush in to watch it! I can't remember exactly for sure but I think the first episode I saw was Atlas Lives Again because I have a memory of watching it with my parents, and crying at the end. Something about that episode has always made me cry towards the end, even to this day. I guess its the emotional impact of Astro joining his new family for the first time.

Sometime later, I discovered that the video store up the road had the old Siren videos and I would always go up and hire them. I can still remember watching those episodes. My favourite episode was always Astro's First Love and I would pretend I was Nikki! My craze died out after that, but I still liked Astro. Then when I was about 13 or 14, I found the DVD's of the 80's series at blockbuster and started to watch them again, remembering back to all those years ago. The release of the 2003 series got me hooked once more and I would force myself out of bed to watch the episodes on ABC at 6.30am during the holidays, and on school mornings. When they shifted it to the Thursday afternoon timeslot I would try to tape it, but only ended up taping one episode. My craze died out again as I had a new craze for Lilo and Stitch then. (I'm a huge fan of that as well) When we finally got Foxtel back again in 2005 the season on Cartoon Network had just finished, leaving me highly disappointed. After that my craze died out again, but sparked up again during the middle of last year when I decided to watch Astro again, and now my craze hasn't died out since! I purchased all three series as well as a stack of merchandise and cannot go one day without playing my PS2 game.

So yeah, growing up with Astro has left me a pretty big hardcore fan. It was only just recently that I discovered that Astro was actually over 50 yrs old and is Japanese! I'm so behind lol.

So, that's how I discovered Astro. Quite a long read lol, but hope you enjoyed it!

[Astro Forever]

That is so cool! Would he know who did the voice work of Astro? It is something that I have always wondered.

It was Patricia Kugler Whitely - the 1980 series, that is.

Jay Rath, who did Skunk's voice, has posted a few times on this forum mshould be possible to find them through the archives though) has posted this, which I had saved on my computer:

I did a whole lot of characters, but the recurring ones were Skunk and one of the classmates, Freddie. I'd have to check the scripts to see who else I was; Puko the Duck and Dr. Frankenstien come immediately to mind.

As for the others' recurring characters (at least those who come to mind right now):
Richard Ganoung, classmate Alvin, Astro's robot "dad"; he's appeared in some independent films here.
Bob Gonzalez, Daddy Walrus
Debby Holmes, no regular character
Del Lewis, was actually our director; he played Dr. Boynton in the pilot
David G. Miller, no regular character
Paul M. Nelson, Atlas
Brian Perry, Dr. Elefun
Kahlei A. Slick, no regular character
Patricia Kugler Whitely, Astro! Still a very good friend of mine
Becke Wilenski, Astro's sister; she and I wrote the new lyrics together
Greg Zerkle, no regular character; he went on to become a Broadway actor

I can't remember exactly for sure but I think the first episode I saw was Atlas Lives Again because I have a memory of watching it with my parents, and crying at the end. Something about that episode has always made me cry towards the end, even to this day. I guess its the emotional impact of Astro joining his new family for the first time.

I also remembered that scene very well years and years after watching it! I was moved, too.

I, too, had crazed periods that came and goes. However, craze or not, when I thought of Astro, I always regretted not having been able to watch the very first episode - I kept missing it when they would play the series again because I didn't know it would play again. I always wished I had stayed in front of the TV the very first time I saw the opening credit for Astroboy instead of thinking "ah, a robot story, that must be another one of those boys series, like the Transformers or something".

If only I had known that someday, I'd have three versions of that episode on DVD...

I purchased all three series as well as a stack of merchandise and cannot go one day without playing my PS2 game.

I wish I could play.

So, that's how I discovered Astro. Quite a long read lol, but hope you enjoyed it!

Yes, I always enjoy reading about people's childhood memories. Makes me remember how I felt at that time, too.

[Innocent_Eyes]

Are you serious that the voice of Uran came on here? When? I so wish that I could have been here! Did Patricia Kugler Whiteley ever come on here? That would have been so awesome. Astro on the forum lol! How cool!

I can't remember if I did see the first episode or not when it was on television all those years ago, but I do remember seeing it on VHS. How old were you when the 80's series first aired back in the 80's? Another episode that I find really sad is Astro Fights Aliens. Do you find that episode sad?

The game is awesome! You don't know how good it feels to be able to soar above Metro City and have the people looking at you as you fly by lol! Astro's arm cannon is a heaps cool weapon as well. I would highly recommend buying the game, it's totally worth it Unfortunatly, from the reviews I have read on game sites it gets heaps of critism (sp?), which really makes me mad. Why is it that so many people don't like Astro? I mean, the game is heaps wicked!
I get so upset whenever somebody says they hate Astro. I can't see how anybody could hate him. He's just too cute and adorable, and has a huge heart!

Do you know where I might find a picture of Patricia?

[fafner]

Are you serious that the voice of Uran came on here? When? I so wish that I could have been here! Did Patricia Kugler Whiteley ever come on here? That would have been so awesome. Astro on the forum lol! How cool!

Patricia Kugler didn't come here, only Jay Rath did.

The game is awesome! You don't know how good it feels to be able to soar above Metro City and have the people looking at you as you fly by lol! Astro's arm cannon is a heaps cool weapon as well. I would highly recommend buying the game, it's totally worth it Unfortunatly, from the reviews I have read on game sites it gets heaps of critism (sp?), which really makes me mad. Why is it that so many people don't like Astro? I mean, the game is heaps wicked!
I get so upset whenever somebody says they hate Astro. I can't see how anybody could hate him. He's just too cute and adorable, and has a huge heart!

Well, the PS2 game is bad, as in "it could have been better". But don't mistake me, I like the game anyway Fact is that it could have been waaaaaay better, should the developpers hadn't been a heap of lazy guys
The game uses the Havok physics engine, which allows extremely realistic physics. Despite of this, physics in the game are rather trivial, and even awkward by moments. Enemies are almost non-existent. Compare the game to Half Life 2 which uses a modified version of Havok, and see what could be in the PS2 Astroboy game which isn't.
Overall, I find the game disppointing, even though I think it is nevertheless a good game. No surprise it got often slashed by critics.

[Astro Forever]

Patricia Kugler didn't come here, only Jay Rath did.

Innocent_Eyes said the voice of Uran, and Becke Wilenski (although she no longer goes by that name) did come here. She sent me a drawing by Jay Rath of the full cast, and I posted it on this forum. But you are right, Patricia Kugler Whiteley never came here (to my knowledge).

Maybe Innocent_Eyes stumbled across that thread since I had forgotten it myself when I wrote my previous post.

I was at the beginning of my elementary school years when I first saw Astroboy here.

As for Astro Fights Aliens, I do not find it that sad, maybe because the lieutenant is not really likeable. The episodes I find the saddest is when everybody seems to be against Astro (Save the Classmate, Frenkenstein when they take off his energy cassette, or The Death Balloons).

[Stikibunn]

Astroboy played a major part in the man I am today.
I was 2 when I first saw Astroboy. My family had moved back to Melbourne after my mother devorced my birth father and left the army and I spent most of my time with my little brother who was 4. He used to watch Monkey Majic and TMNT and I preferred Astroboy and Thomas the Tank engine. I had gone through trauma for some time after that, my father kept trying to take me away from mum or get her back but he was an alchoholic and he beat her and my brother (at one point he tried to sell me to somebody for drink money)
Because of this I have no memories until I was 4.. except for one memory. A little robot who was strong and nice to everyone and could fly and shoot lasers! Today nothing remains of that part of my childhood. Even after my mum remarried when I was 5 and I started primary school and had trouble fitting in, the little robot boy who had trouble fitting in was in the back of my mind, even though his name and his story were lost to me (I was only 2-3 when it was first showed and even then it was repeats 'cause I was born in 85) In 1998 I took up my anime hobby and my dad said "When i was little I used to watch anime but we didn't know it was japanese. they never told us." "What did you watch" I asked "Astroboy and Gigantor." "Kimba the white lion and Speed Racer!" my mum added (she the proceeded to jump around the room singing "Kimba, Kimba the white lion!" as she used to as a kid) My dad borrowed the VHS tapes from lacklustre video and I watched them. It was cheesy and 80's but when I saw the end credits I knew what I was watching. (I'm better with music memory then visual memory) and the familar red background and flashing cells reminded me of how it affected my life and I'd forgotten.

[Astro Forever]

That's cute.

[Moogle]

I had a weird way of starting to like the Astro Boy anime. I knew about him but I never showed the anime much interest. It started with an astro boy plushie which was so kawaii I needed it so I got it. Then I bought some astro boy manga in no order. BUT finally I saw an anime dvd collection of 03 edition bought watched loved.

[CommanderEVE]

Nice, there more coloureful then how i found him

And thats so cute Bunn.

[jennytablina]

I cant really remember exactly where I first heard about Astro exactly, I had some awareness of him from way back, though I got interested in Astro though another Tezuka series.

A friend of mine in Australia in 2002 was suggesting I check out this site about this anime called Kimba The White Lion. I sort of started by checking that out and I instantly fell in love with Kimba as a character, by extension I learned Kimba was by the same guy who did Astro, I had a vague idea of Tezukas stuff from reading some books on manga, having started to get into anime like Cardcaptors and so on.

Then not long after they started airing Astro Boy 2003 on CBBC and I often tuned in to watch it. I was much intregued by the series and then decided to find out more of Tezukas stuff. Along the way my (now ex) boyfriend got me a cute Astro plush and I got the 80's series on DVD for Christmas 2005. Since then I've developed a fondness for Tezukas storytelling and so on.