Kimba Episode #5 -- Astro crossover!

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

I just got the 5 disk set of Kimba the White Lion on loan from the library. This series was made by Tezuka shortly after he finished doing Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy), and I think it was his first color series. I'm mentioning it here because I found some familiar faces (and voices) in Kimba. It's hard to hear Billie Lou Watts doing Kimba and some other voices without seeing Astro and Uran!

In Episode #5 a man named Roger befriends Kimba and takes him on vacation to Paris to a World's Fair. I think that's Rock in the first shot as Roger. Mr. Pompous (that's the name they used, and the same voice) appears too. They go to the 'Hall of the future' and guess who's in THAT exhibit! (second screen shot). Was that Astro's first color TV shot? I still have four more disks to watch, I wonder if Dr. Tezuka, or Lamp will show up. Hamegg played a hunter in the very first episode.

[Astrogirl500]

Great!

[AprilSeven]

OMG!!! What a spectacular find!!!

I watched Kimba when it first appeared back in the 60's (it replaced Astro Boy! :cry . . . and it greatly frustrated me to hear voices of all my favorite characters coming out of animals!

It wasn't a bad series . . . but I was so darned brokenhearted over losing Astro, that I couldn't really "see" the show for what it was on its own :d oh:

I don't remember seeing this episode or if I ever saw Mr. Pompous subsequent episodes . . . thanks sooooo much for sharing this - I'll bet it IS Astro's "color debut!"

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

I know we're not supposed to link to youtube here, but if you want to see this episode MANGAentertainment is streaming it via youtube. Google it for yourself, should take you all of 30 seconds. That might be the only color rendition of Astro in the 1960's style, they drew him differently in the 80's and '03 series. I think there was ONE episode (shown only in Japan) from the 1960's that was done in color (I think it's on the right stuff collection) and there was one done in a blue tint as well. Both were shown in B&W when dubbed for the US.

BTW I never saw Kimba as a kid, I don't know why as I did watch all of the 1960's Astro Boy series. Maybe because I was just entering my teenage years and as a male thought 'cartoons' were now beneath me? In any case my family didn't get a color TV until 1971 or so. (That was a Heathkit that I assembled myself while in college.) AprilSeven, you and I may be the only ones on this forum that ever saw the 1960 series first run.

EDIT:
Kimba isn't your typical Tezuka Anime as it's mostly animals so his star system doesn't get called on much. The series does have a few human cameos and a few familiar faces show up. However sometimes he does drop a few jokes, like in the following two screen shots (episode #10)

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

I've gone through the first three disks in Kimba, and I've found Dr. Tezuka in Episode #11 (first screen shot). Astro appears AGAIN in episode #13. Here Hamegg once again is a hunter (second screen shot) and we catch him at his camp site with a portable TV set, and guess what program he's watching?(final screen shots). I wonder what episode of the 1960 series that one was?

[ASTROBUDDY]

I've gone through the first three disks in Kimba, and I've found Dr. Tezuka in Episode #11 (first screen shot). Astro appears AGAIN in episode #13. Here Hamegg once again is a hunter (second screen shot) and we catch him at his camp site with a portable TV set, and guess what program he's watching?(final screen shots). I wonder what episode of the 1960 series that one was?

I believe it is a scene from the episode titled "The Roboids", an episode that was set to be dubbed, when it was decided that after dubbing "Double Trouble" the contract for 104 episodes was fulfilled.

kshcarf, I also watched "Astro Boy" in its first run, although you and AprilSeven seem to be a few years older than me and probably remember more about the episodes than I do. I remember specific elements of a few episodes and the theme song, but very little else. That is why when I rediscovered the show as an adult and watched some of the episodes, I felt the series held up well as entertainment for all ages.

I

[Astro Forever]

OMG!!! What a spectacular find!!!

I watched Kimba when it first appeared back in the 60's (it replaced Astro Boy! :cry . . . and it greatly frustrated me to hear voices of all my favorite characters coming out of animals!

It wasn't a bad series . . . but I was so darned brokenhearted over losing Astro, that I couldn't really "see" the show for what it was on its own :d oh:

I don't remember seeing this episode or if I ever saw Mr. Pompous subsequent episodes . . . thanks sooooo much for sharing this - I'll bet it IS Astro's "color debut!"

I watched the second Kimba series, and I can't remember seeing Hijeoyagi either, even if I had already watched Astro Boy at the time. I have a feeling he must have been there somewhere.

For some reason, when I was young, it never occured to me that the same voices were used from one series to another. I think perhaps it was so common that it didn't seem strange.

I know we're not supposed to link to youtube here, but if you want to see this episode MANGAentertainment is streaming it via youtube.

If the channel belongs to the copyrights holder, linking to it is not a problem. Excerpts are considered falling under fair use, too.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Some Kimba star system observations: I found Hijeoyagi again in episode #17l. The character of Chikara Aritake appears as well. Geta appears in a crowd scene along with Tezuka in episode #11.

It seems to me that Billie Lou Watts did two voices, her "normal" voice was used for male characters such as Kimba and Astro, and a higher pitch Falsetto voice was used for female characters such as Uran (Astrogirl). She wasn't as versatile as Mel Blanc (but then NOBODY was!). Another great female voice actor of her era was June Foray (my wifes' cousin BTW). I'm not sure who's voice was used for the 'narrator' who introduces some of the episodes as in Astro Boy. Could that have been Fred Ladd himself? Also I noticed that no credits were ever given to the voice actors in the closing sequences of Astro Boy, but ARE in Kimba.

One thing that I'm wondering about. Kimba was done in 1965 and Astro Boy from '63 to '66 so there was some period where Mushi Studios were doing BOTH shows at the same time. Kimba was in color but Astro Boy remained in B&W. If they already HAD the color facilities to do Kimba why weren't the last one or two seasons of Astro Boy done in color as well? Perhaps Kimba was an experiment as far as color production?

[ASTROBUDDY]

Some Kimba star system observations: I found Hijeoyagi again in episode #17l. The character of Chikara Aritake appears as well. Geta appears in a crowd scene along with Tezuka in episode #11.

It seems to me that Billie Lou Watts did two voices, her "normal" voice was used for male characters such as Kimba and Astro, and a higher pitch Falsetto voice was used for female characters such as Uran (Astrogirl). She wasn't as versatile as Mel Blanc (but then NOBODY was!). Another great female voice actor of her era was June Foray (my wifes' cousin BTW). I'm not sure who's voice was used for the 'narrator' who introduces some of the episodes as in Astro Boy. Could that have been Fred Ladd himself? Also I noticed that no credits were ever given to the voice actors in the closing sequences of Astro Boy, but ARE in Kimba.

One thing that I'm wondering about. Kimba was done in 1965 and Astro Boy from '63 to '66 so there was some period where Mushi Studios were doing BOTH shows at the same time. Kimba was in color but Astro Boy remained in B&W. If they already HAD the color facilities to do Kimba why weren't the last one or two seasons of Astro Boy done in color as well? Perhaps Kimba was an experiment as far as color production?

I am surprised that you guys have been on this website for so many years and you do not know that since both shows were dubbed by Fred Ladd & Associates that both shows were dubbed by the same actors. I believe it has already been confirmed that Ray "Cliff" Owens was the narrator.
The production of the last seasons of Astro Boy did coincide with the production of "Kimba". Tezuka had pitched "Kimba" to NBC, but in the US, stations were converting to color broadcasting, so they wanted no more B/W shows. NBC then offered to bankroll Mushi's conversion to color production if Tezuka would agree to some changes in his "Jungle Emperor" storyline. This meant Kimba would only be shown as a young cub and not as a grown up lion as he is in the complete story. Also since only the new shows would be produced in color "Astro Boy" remained a B/W show with two exceptions. The episode "Attack from Space" was color tinted as an experiment and "The Moon Monsters" was made into a full color episode, also as an experiment so that his staff would learn color produciton. Since Mushi had limited funds and a limited number of animators experienced in color production, the number of shows that could be made into color was also to remain limited.

I

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

I am surprised that you guys have been on this website for so many years and you do not know that since both shows were dubbed by Fred Ladd & Associates that both shows were dubbed by the same actors. I believe it has already been confirmed that Ray "Cliff" Owens was the narrator.
The production of the last seasons of Astro Boy did coincide with the production of "Kimba". Tezuka had pitched "Kimba" to NBC, but in the US, stations were converting to color broadcasting, so they wanted no more B/W shows. NBC then offered to bankroll Mushi's conversion to color production if Tezuka would agree to some changes in his "Jungle Emperor" storyline. This meant Kimba would only be shown as a young cub and not as a grown up lion as he is in the complete story. Also since only the new shows would be produced in color "Astro Boy" remained a B/W show with two exceptions. The episode "Attack from Space" was color tinted as an experiment and "The Moon Monsters" was made into a full color episode, also as an experiment so that his staff would learn color produciton. Since Mushi had limited funds and a limited number of animators experienced in color production, the number of shows that could be made into color was also to remain limited.
I

Actually I was aware of the fact that the same voice actors were used by Fred Ladd for both shows, though the only person whose role I was familiar with was Watts. I didn't know all of the details of the NBC deal with Mushi for Kimba however. Very interesting.