Stupid question time

[Photar]

And no you can't say 'because it's a cartoon' or 'a wizard did it'. Why didn't Elefun give astroboy back to boynton at the end of the circus episode? I mean MY first action would be to get astro to break into Australia's maximum security jails and kill every inmate but that's just me. :d evil:

[AtomXKoisuru]

my guess would be that Astro told Elefun that Boynton sold him, and to protect him from further abuse, he kept Astro and raised him as his own.

[diehard67]

boynton disowned astro, he has the mind of a child so he would want to go where he is loved and elefun gave him that.

[Photar]

Thanks guys. Just thought that SOMEHOW Boynton would become aware of Astros whereabouts (he didn't exactly keep a low profile) and commence custody proceedings. Maybe boynton was a scientologist and that's why he wasn't allowed further contact. There's a law I think that says scientologists can't own Himalayan mountain goats because they're too smart.

"you can milk a cow, you can milk a pig
but you can't milk worrrrrrrrms............


....cause they're too big"

Me thinks my painkillers are working better than they should.

[AprilSeven]

In order to make sure I've got this right . . . I just watched that episode.

Okay - here's your answer, Fotar:

Boynton lost his marbles and sold Astro. Apparently his mental state did NOT go unnoticed

Dr. Boynton was put on "medical leave" and Dr. Elefun was put in as the director of the Institute of Science.

Astro Boy was ACTUALLY the property of the IOS, which is why/how Elefun was trying to claim rights to him (Boynton had "sold" him to Cacciatore, but legally he couldn't sell him because he didn't own him - the IOS did)

However, Elefun didn't have to sue to take Astro away. A robot bill of rights was signed into law while Cacciatore was recuperating from the circus fire, making the ownership of Astro illegal, so Astro left with Dr. E.

As to why he wasn't returned to Boynton . . . well - according to the 1960's American version of the anime, Boynton wanted Astro out of his life - so there would be no reason to return Astro to him. Plus he was technically the creation of the Institute of Science - and Elefun assumed guardianship over him as the director (as Boynton had been previously).

Hope this answers your question, and you are healing comfortably, Fotar

[avatargirl]

HI- HUGS ASTROBOY was better off with DR.Elefun also

[Fauna]

Boynton pretty much gets retconned in the 80s series...the Canadian dub tries to remedy this by having some characters in "Robot Circus" mention that he'd died in the iceberg crash, which is notable because they actually added a death instead of cutting it out.

As well, I'd have to go with April's answer about Astro being MoS property and having to return to the latest minister.

[AprilSeven]

@Fauna - so Boynton doesn't return in the 80's series at any time (whereas he does in the 60's and manga - even though he sometimes cloaks his identity)?

I thought I remembered him in a couple episodes - but I've only watched that whole series once, so it's a bit of a blur... (so many Atoms, so little time! )

[Fauna]

@Fauna - so Boynton doesn't return in the 80's series at any time (whereas he does in the 60's and manga - even though he sometimes cloaks his identity)?

I thought I remembered him in a couple episodes - but I've only watched that whole series once, so it's a bit of a blur... (so many Atoms, so little time! )

Yeah, after the Robot Circus episode, he completely drops off the map. Although I do remember in Outer Spaceport R45, he's shown measuring Astro's height when a guy mentions making a robot that can grow.

[AprilSeven]

Yeah, after the Robot Circus episode, he completely drops off the map. Although I do remember in Outer Spaceport R45, he's shown measuring Astro's height when a guy mentions making a robot that can grow.

YOU'RE RIGHT - but here's the wierd part . . . Astro's inability to grow was never a part of the 1980's story, or at least it had nothing to do with Boynton rejecting him (he was actually trying to find Astro when the ship ran into the trouble). So that reference is totally out of context.

I also get a kick out of how in the 80's version Astro's human counterpart has a name that is almost half-way to the Japanese original (Toby Boynton). I wonder why they lost the Astor and switched to Toby - BUT - decided to stick with Boynton. Maybe they figured "Tenma" was too difficult to pronounce (and Tobio sounds almost Italian)

I'm glad they cleared that up in the 2003 anime. At least ONE name is true to the original