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I've scanned half of the Official Episode Guide (dated 1992) and don't want to do anything that would be inappropriate, so I'll start with this copy and paste text describing the series history. I've made a pdf of the complete first part, and need to park it somewhere -- for, now - here is a bit to get started with (I don't believe this is available anymore -- heck part of it was typed on a TYPEWRITER!!!)

I see this is the SECOND EDITION

This compilation Copyright 1992, The Right Stuf, Inc.
Astro Boy copyright 1963, NBC Films;
Copyright renewed 1991 Suzuki Associates International. (hey Fauna - -check that out!!


Sorry, but I have deleted the content. see my posts on page 3

-jeffbert

Sorry, but I have deleted the content. see my posts on page 3

-jeffbert

Amazing, isn't it?? Look how far they've come in putting all the pieces together -- plus they built a very successful online business!! Now let's all go order something from The Right Stuf, and support the people who pretty much saved Astro Boy from disappearing from the rest of the world (along with Dark Horse Comics)

Thank you for reprinting all this, AprilSeven! It's interesting getting a look into what it was like as a fan nearly twenty years ago...

I think the real reason 1980's Astro floundered in the ratings was because it had to compete with the debut of anime based on huge franchises like Cyborg 009 and Tomorrow's Joe (the latter was a big deal; when one of the main characters died, fans held a huge real-life funeral for him). Topping that off, Gigantor/Tetsujin 28 had an insane space-age remake too in 1980, and it was The New Adventures of Gigantor. I guess blighted otaku are dangerous folk... (And hey, NOW! Comics hated the 80's version too, Right Stuf!)

One of these days I'll find out who Suzuki & Associates was, and the picture will be complete...

This must have been a lot of work for you, AprilSeven. Thank you very much for the effort.

About Tomorrow's Joe...



WE'LL NEVER FORGET YOU, TOORU!!!

Well, back to the text. Two things that catch my attention...

The reasons for this seemingly paradoxical move is fairly simple to understand actually, if you happen to be an American.

For one thing, it was decided that the public could not clearly remember more than 104 episodes, and by the time you showed the 104th episode, you would be ready to see the first one again. Astro Boy could endlessly rotate its episodes, incurring no more production costs other than replacing worn-out prints. The Japanese did not repeat old shows, they simply made new, and simply did not understand the NBC decision.

Well, I'm not American, but... Man, really, time changes everything. Nowadays we have the Simpsons with almost 500 episodes and we still remember most of 'em (though I stopped watching the series about season 10 due to the noticeable loss of quality).

Tezuka used his cutesy, babyfied Atomu, placing him in contrived stories that deliberately wrenched the character into overly pathetic situations. This was too much for even the Japanese to bear; the show died miserably in the ratings, and eventually, even Tezuka grew embarrassed by it. It was unceremoniously dropped from production after the first season.

According to Fred Schodt's The Astroboy Essays, this statment is not true. Tezuka wanted to turn his new Astroboy into a farcical, crazy and politically incorrect parody of his own character, much in the vein of Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump, a manga and anime he apparently idolized. However, Tezuka's own team wanted a more serious approach to the character, and persuaded Tezuka into changing this focus on HIS OWN CREATION (where's the freedom of the artist?!). We can see how this anime would have been if Tezuka had had the real direction of the project in the promotional mangas he made (on the volume 23 of the Dark Horse edition) and in the couple of chapters he directed, which happen to be not only the funniest but the best one in all the series. Well, at least we had that Astro-Atlas rivalry...

And now, from something completely different. Cute syndrome overflowing:

http://www.imagenes-anime.com/images/wallpapers/sakura_and_mokona-1024x768-142337.jpeg

Now that's something that will drive Mr.Ferson crazy.

@ Ataru -- great observations -- I've read though some of the manga and have seen where Tezuka wanted to age Atom, but the fans wouldn't let him. Like so many artists, his creation took on a life of it's own, and he kind of ended up "working for Atom!" I saw those "goofball Atoms" -- they were REALLY OUT THERE compared to innocent little Astro Boy. Funny, but much more adult. BTW I just scanned in the pages and ran 'em through my OCR software! LOVE IT!

I don't think they really knew much about Tezuka when this was written, so much of it could have been hearsay. I agree with you about America's supposedly stunted attention span - Ooofah! -- and another show with a gazillion episodes: Sienfeld.

@ Fauna and Ataru -- I forgot to mark the link, but it looks like there's a Tomorrow's Joe movie coming out next May.

"AprilSeven" wrote:@ Fauna and Ataru -- I forgot to mark the link, but it looks like there's a Tomorrow's Joe movie coming out next May.

A live action movie! I would love to see Joe's toupée on the main actor BTW, talking about Dr.Slump, if anyone of you ever tried to follow that series, there's a lot of Astro influence in Arale, don't you think? Her innocence, her strength, her cutesy, her strange tendency to age regression during the series...

hmy:That is a lot to read, & I have only finished pt 1. Yet, there are a few inaccuracies, at least, according to Fred Ladd's book. I will cite only 1. While the above text says that the Americans were ok with 104 episodes, Ladd states that they really only wanted 52; & that once season 1 was nearing completion, Tezuka offered Season 2, & was quite unprepared for the Americans' refusal, as the series was planned to run 193 episodes. Americans felt that kids would not remember any more than 1 season, so why buy more. The above part about maintaining the films is correct.

For one thing, it was decided that the public could not clearly remember more than 104 episodes, and by the time you showed the 104th episode, you would be ready to see the first one again. Astro Boy could endlessly rotate its episodes, incurring no more production costs other than replacing worn-out prints. The Japanese did not repeat old shows, they simply made new, and simply did not understand the NBC decision.

Take the '104' from this block of text, & make it '52,' & that will be right.


Season 2 was brought to America only because Tezuka said that if NBC Enterprises did not want it, he would seek other buyers. NBC felt that would be bad, & bought s2* on agreement that Tezuka would not offer 3 or 4 to other American companies.

* means that several episode from s3 were actually used as substitutes for unacceptable episodes in seasons 1 or 2. I intend to cover such details in my book, but for now, I will state that episodes from the 115-125 range were selected rather than others in the 1- 114 range. A few from the 105-114 were used, but others were passed as substitutes.

BTW, I appreciate this stuff, but please hold off posting any new material, as this is copyrighted in the USA.

"jeffbert" wrote:BTW, I appreciate this stuff, but please hold off posting any new material, as this is copyrighted in the USA.

I appreciate your copyright respect, and I too follow these rules, but this book hasn't been in print for more than fifteen years.

I am not wanting to be mean, but I am certain that much of this has been covered in recent publications. As I read this, certain portions just 'clicked'; therefore, I want some time to research this. I bought the Kimba ULTRA EDITION the other day, & read the booklet, & watched the extras disc; I know the part about Jetter Mars & 1980s Atom was not in it, but I am dead certain much of this was also featured in other books.