Astroboy 2004 Episode 20

[BAS_KOALA]

Hi all,

Don't know whether I'm the only person to have noticed this or whether this topic has been discussed elsewhere before...maybe someone can enlighten me?

Here in Australia the latest Astro Boy dub is getting a late afternoon airing and despite its modern days slants, it's still an engaging series.

So far we've had 19 episodes air all in the same order that they did in Japan. (I'm led to believe that in the US, the episodes that aired were far fewer in number and the episode order was juggled completely around just as it was with the other dubbed Astro versions).

OK, my question:

Tonight's episode, # 20, has no title on it's closing credits (unlike all of the other episodes so far....and those titles are by and large fairly straight translations of their Japanese counterparts).

More intriguingly, the episode itself features action within it that seems to take place *after* the episode...in other words, the US production studio seems to have lifted material from earlier and later episodes to make up an odd sort of "clip episode" that contradicts itself via the script, (it shows Astro battling Blue Knight, saving the Mach 15, Dragon Lake, Volcanic Island, etc......even before we've had those episodes air).

Intriguingly this episode was not played out of order by the Australian network....it was # 20 that they aired...and they are set to continue airing the next batch of episodes as per their Japanese counterparts.

I was wondering if anyone on this board knows the story behind this episode? There doesn't seem to be anything about it on the net at all, not surprisingly.

After having consulted a synopsis of the Japanese episode #20 "The Eternal Boy", it seems explore the relationship of Astro to, of all characters, Peter Pan and his relationship to other Neverland characters. I was wondering, has anyone on this board seen the Japanese raw episode # 20 and know what it's about? Indeed, if the story goes the way it seems to go down on paper, it's no wonder that Sony decided to re-edit their version of the episode in order that it didn't violate any number of Disney related copyrights.....

Is this making any sense? Does anyone know for sure?

Let me know, as I'd really like to put my mind at rest....it was certainly a long day at work today but as I watched the episode unfold, I thought I was drunk because it made so little sense in the (so-far) 20 episodes we've had.

I'll go now and have a good lie down.... :wahah:

Kelly Lannan (Australia)

[Fudgy]

Hi, Kelly.

You're not the only one. I was there watching it, thinking "why haven't I seen this episode?" I thought I had missed one, and then two, and then three, four... I knew there was too much extra info I hadn't seen in this episode and I was sure I hadn't missed an ep to date. I haven't searched very hard on the net to find an ep guide other than the US one, so could you please tell me where you've sourced your Japan running order from? http://www.epguides.com is usually a great source for TV shows (US ones mainly of couse), but with Astro Boy, they've got practically zip.

Patrick

[BAS_KOALA]

Originally posted by Fudgy@Aug 26 2004, 11:09 PM
Hi, Kelly.

You're not the only one. I was there watching it, thinking "why haven't I seen this episode?" I thought I had missed one, and then two, and then three, four... I knew there was too much extra info I hadn't seen in this episode and I was sure I hadn't missed an ep to date. I haven't searched very hard on the net to find an ep guide other than the US one, so could you please tell me where you've sourced your Japan running order from? http://www.epguides.com is usually a great source for TV shows (US ones mainly of couse), but with Astro Boy, they've got practically zip.

Patrick

Hi Patrick,

Glad I'm not alone.....phew....

I've done a bit more checking up on the episode and as it happens I've discovered:

1) Wally Wingert, the voice of Dr O'Shay and other regular characters did not record any material for this episode. He just confirmed that in an email back to me tonight. This further confirms what I'd thought was an oddity, (his dialogue peppered throughout # 20 was lifted from other recording sessions, from episodes both before and after #20).

2) My previous mention of the Peter Pan references in the Japanese #20 suddenly struck me: there was a scene in tonight's episode which was made to look like a flashback but it actually wasn't....it was actually part of the original #20. It's the bit where Astro talks to the boy in the hover-chair (the futuristic wheel chair thing)....he speaks of wanting to meet Reno, the circus boy (and new techno-geek)...so Astro makes the boy's chair fly....just as Peter Pan does to the sickly kids in the original story / movie. The more that I look at it, the more obvious it looks now....it seems Sony have tried to tone down the content of the episode, playing down any plagiarist elements and homages that people might have been able to infer from the overall story.

My bet is that the original # 20 was a much more coherent (if fanciful) story and wasn't the clip show that we saw. And I'll have a little wager it was done to avoid copyrights or lawsuit problems. Or just not to rock the boat. Or make anyone unhappy.

Yeah, the US sites have virtually nothing because of the way the series was aired there. The episodes were screened all over the place and out of order. Unlike here in Australia where it's going to air in the correct Japanese order, (even with this weirdo edit of # 20).

There are various sources on the net for the Japanese running order, (all of them in Japan....duh!! , but you'll need to be running Asian character sets on your browser to read it properly.

The easiest place to find one is at Tezuka's own site, located at:
http://ja-f.tezuka.co.jp/anime/sakuhin/sub...itle/ts024.html

That link will take you directly to their own AB 2004 Japanese episode guide. Although they do have an English language version of their site for overseas visitors, the newest series isn't included for some reason.

Let me know if you have any problems and I'll post a complete episode guide to the show here on site. I translated the titles for myself several weeks ago before the show started.

The actual English language episode titles vary only slightly from the Japanese versions. And to further complicate matters I have heard a rumour that the episode titles may be changed for the Aussie DVD release of the series coming soon, (say it ain't so...)

Hope this helps

Kelly

[jeffbert]

I have seen the P-version (subbed), & it appears that an elderly man in the guise of C. Hook, decides that children ought to have the ability to forever remain little. He (using robotic fairies) abducts a bunch of them, who had all attended his theatre the day before, & intends to run them through a device that would give them eternal childhood. However, the two who wore glasses, were immune to his fairy dust that had put the others in a cooperative & sleepy mood. One was a boy in a wheelchair (for lack of a better word).

I thought the immaginative play on Atom's part was very cute. He was playing a most appropriate role, for a boy who would always be a boy: Peter Pan. Poor Robita had to be Hook!

[BAS_KOALA]

Originally posted by jeffbert@Aug 27 2004, 12:41 AM
I have seen the P-version (subbed), & it appears that an elderly man in the guise of C. Hook, decides that children ought to have the ability to forever remain little. He (using robotic fairies) abducts a bunch of them, who had all attended his theatre the day before, & intends to run them through a device that would give them eternal childhood. However, the two who wore glasses, were immune to his fairy dust that had put the others in a cooperative & sleepy mood. One was a boy in a wheelchair (for lack of a better word).

I thought the immaginative play on Atom's part was very cute. He was playing a most appropriate role, for a boy who would always be a boy: Peter Pan. Poor Robita had to be Hook!

Wow! Thank you for confirming this!

So it seems the mystery is almost complete....the story has been radically re-edited for the English dub, with all of the main story edited out except for the scenes of Atom talking to the boy in the wheel-less-chair (and its flight across the sky).

From the minimal research I've done so far it seems this episode was dropped from the US batch of episodes that were broadcast, but was retained for the international release in its highly edited format.

My guess is their intention was to turn #20 into a clip episode and perhaps move it to a later position in the series, (making it perhaps #30...or even maybe as late as #45 or thereabouts). It would seem that they either forgot to move the episode to further down in the series or just didn't bother, thinking that no-one would notice. Moved down, past all of the events that were edited in (as past adventures) the episode would make sense, but appearing where it does, it just doesn't work.

The most interesting new stuff inserted into the episode is a continual verbal exchange between Tenma and Shadow, discussing Astro's evolution and how "it is now complete" (which it wasn't last time the subject was discussed).....and that the robot rebellion is about to begin. These scenes are all lifted from other episodes but it does add to the continuity in a sense. I guess I'll be able work out the best point for #20 to be viewed once all the episodes are broadcast.

Kelly L

[adrian _68]

YOu should be thankful Episode 20 was aired there, here in Asia, Episode 20 was never aired.

[jeffbert]

I do not know whether or not Peter Pan has, like A G's "This Land" passed into the public domain. Regardless, I cannot see any problem with the legality of the thing. Shows from the Flintstones (anybody old enough to remember) to the Simpsons use familiar stories as the basis for their own stories.

Duh! I cannot believe that I failed to see the anology between Atom & Peter. When he modified the boy's hover chair so that it would fly in open air, I should have seen it, but did not. BTW, unlike any modern retelling, the novel has Peter as the smallest not the largest of the Lost Boys. Never Land (only one 'Never', just like MJ's amusement park) was turned upside down from the real world in which big people dominated little ones. Yes, Peter Pan was so young, that he had not even had his first visit from the Tooth Fairy yet. Moreover, Dorothy's slippers were not ruby, but silver. It just happened that the color film did not make them stand out enough. I have read a good bit of classic literature, and seen a ton of movies, and I think that that of all the classics put on film Alice's Adventures in Wonderland probably has been depicted most accurately. Naturally, films must omit some scenes, or they would all be miniseries.

[Lisa]

When I saw it on Thursday I was extremely surprised...I didn't think ABC had "shown" so many episodes already....

I watch Astroboy on Cartoon Network (and on thursdays, it falls at the same time) , and I can tell you that the episode they aired last Thursday doesn't show until later in the series (in the english version australia has gotten). It does make sense for it to be a replacement for episode 20 because....

On Cartoon Network, they after ep 19 it jumped to ep 21 (with the three anti-eco ladies)...then showing 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26. Then there was a break, and then they aired the "new series" which started from 27.

Thinking of it that way....it was sliced into two series of 25 episodes each.

The volcano stuff you saw is from episode 30. The episode you saw didn't air on cartoon network until somewhere *after* ep 30. So for me, the only "new" thing I hadn't seen before was the scenes with the boy in the wheelchair. Everything else made sense given the context.

What was said leads up to something which happens late in the series.

I hope that gives you a better understanding.

However I still think it's pretty sick they'd tone down on an analogy such as that really - -'

[adrian _68]

Originally posted by Guest_willheim@Aug 30 2004, 12:46 AM
hi - i worked on all 52 of the new astroboy shows -i think this show was not able to air in its original format because it was a copyright infringment on peter pan and so they changed it to a clip show - it was a legal thing...

Really? YOu worked on the new astro show? Would there be a season 2?