I can see why anyone who has seen only the English dubs would be a bit confused by the first few episodes. With the deletion of nearly a whole episode, there are some events that are unexplained. I know I already wrote about this
DVD sub vs, VHS dub, R. Strauss vs. F. Liszthere is the paragraph dealing with this:
One defect of the English television version (also on VHS) is there was no explanation about his flashing eyes incident that occurred in this episode. But here, it is clear, he has a psychic link to 'Atlas' (dub), or is it 'Artilus' (sub, which I believe is simply a translation error), a twin robot that the bad guys have created using stolen plans for Astroboy. In the English television version, Atlas does not even appear in until tenth episode, leaving viewers stumped regarding Atom's flashing eyes incident, that caused him to loose consciousness and go 'sleepwalking'. Another defect, is that the scene with a dying Tobio asking his papa san to make the robot in his image, and name it after him is completely missing. The DVD has it all.
However, I am certain that somewhere I also commented upon the missing episode.
O.K., here is the quote from this thread
Astro on DVD? have obtained a copy of the 1st of 2 Japanese / English subtitled DVD set. I also have the complete* English dubbed version on VHS. Comparing the two, I first see that the DVD has 52 episodes, one of which has had portions of it edited in to two of the English version's episodes. The overall sequence also differs between the English VHS and Japanese DVD, also some of the music is different. But back to that second episode: It occurs between "The Birth of Astroboy" and "The Robot Circus", and includes the part where he is on the ship that nearly sinks via iceberg. The VHS English dubbed version leaves the viewer wondering about two things:
1. Why was the ship headed toward the iceberg in the first place?
2. Why did Astroboy go 'sleepwalking?' (1st episode vhs/ 2nd DVD).
The DVD answers both of those questions. I found it sufficiently different from the VHS, that it held my attention very well. Besides that, I always use the Japanese audio and English subtitles.
*This entire episode except the noted scenes is missing from the VHS.
I am eager for the 2nd season on DVD!
To this I add, the greatest offense is that
Uran and Uran had a really amusing song and dance, as the two are arguing about who will go to school and who will wrestle.
Uran's twin changes scenes just after the split is made;

and therefore does not feature this delightful scene

eDonkey has this episode listed as
AstroBoy ATOM 1982 Ep 30.avi. Although this dance is not required part of the plot, it does exemplify the attitude of the editors. They only cared about making the thing presentable to English-speaking children, and making each episode fit in the time-slot. Thus, no little boys can be seen dying, the fight between little Atlas and Atom was also deemed too extreme, etc.
