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--- ANOTHER unaired G-Force pilot ep? (http://www.gatchamania.net/threadid.php?threadid=4153)
Posted by Dirk Daring on 08-10-2012 at 05:41:
ANOTHER unaired G-Force pilot ep?
Greetings ya'll, it's been a while! Glad to see some activity in the wake of Gatch's 40 anniversary. I've been "celebrating" the occasion by continuing the epic project I've been embarking on since August: digitizing my VHS collection of G-Force episodes (all 6 of them, containing most of the 85 episodes) to PC via a nifty DVD recorder I scored not too long ago! Not only will I be fulfilling a long-time goal (I bought these tapes well over four years ago), but it'll be a victory for the handful of fans of Gatch's red-headed stepchild. 
That notwithstanding, I just made an interesting discovery on a random Google search. As you may (or may not remember), "G-Force" had two sets of pilot episodes (one unaired, the other aired, both based off of Gatch Episodes 18 and 87) that featured noticeably different music that was not retained for the rest of the show's episodes. They were put together as demonstration pilots by Fred Ladd's "Sparklin' Entertainment", whom Turner Program Services contracted and eventually put on to the project in 1986.
Around the same time period (mid-to-late 1986), it appears that Turner contracted another production company, media360group, to put together a test pilot for "G-Force". media360group faced more restrictions producing their pilot however, as they were allowed no access to scripts, translated or otherwise. They did whip up new music and sfx which sounds well.....totally' 80's. Here is a snippet of their pilot episode, which predominantly features Ryu The Horned Owl not as "Hoot Owl" or "Hootie"....but "Quintin":
http://youtu.be/OA9M2r9UCeU
Comments? I've contacted the company with an inquiry regarding their work on "G-Force", and am patiently awaiting their response!
Posted by KT1972 on 08-10-2012 at 07:42:
Not just Ryu being called Quentin, but Nambu is Professor Nicholas too... wonder what the others were called!
Great find, thank you for posting.
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Posted by littlewolf on 08-10-2012 at 10:39:
Thanks for posting
very interesting, not sure about the voices though...
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Posted by Transmute Jun on 08-10-2012 at 16:06:
Wow, that's freaky! Great find, Dirk! Thanks for sharing!
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Posted by gatchamarie on 08-10-2012 at 16:15:
Thanks for sharing, Dirk! Surprises never end!
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Posted by ElectricWhite on 08-10-2012 at 17:45:
I can't help wondering what it would have been like if Turner had used this group instead... (put the pokey sticks away! If I can come up with anything, it's gonna have to simmer a while.)
I do agree with LW, though. They probably should have gone with different voices.
Anyway, thanks a lot for this find! 
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Posted by Dirk Daring on 09-10-2012 at 15:46:
Some more info from media360group:
The G-Force pilot was created in 1985 under contract with Turner Program Services ["TPS"], the program development division of TBS. At that time, Lee Turner was the contracting officer for TPS. Lee, no relation to Ted, has since retired. Prudence Eddy was Turner's Exec. Producer for the project.
Bill Anderson and Steve Bell, Co-Founders and Senior Partners of our firm, were the primary creators. (At that time, the firm was known as AVS.) Bill led concept development, wrote most of the script and directed the voice talent. Steve contributed to the script, scored and performed the entire original music track (with Bill contributing guitar tracks) and co-produced the voice recording sessions with Bill.
Audio was recorded @ JBS Studios, Avondale, Ga. Brad Jones served as chief audio engineer. Final layback and video conform was completed at Crawford Post Production, Atlanta.
Primary Cast included:
Don Spalding - Lucas
Doug Paul - Quintin, Commander Tiros, Narrator
John Ferguson - David, Commander Zol, Timmy
Barry Stoltze - Jason, Professor Nicholas, Newsman
Faith Salie - Rachel
Although Turner was elated with the pilot, a mutually acceptable series production contract proved to be elusive. Apparently, Turner revisited the G-Force property in the mid-90s, but without the involvement of our firm.
media360group's pilot was based off of Gatch Episode 26 (the one with Ryu's brief departure from the team and the mechanical sting rays).
My guess is that:
Ken=Lucas
Joe= David
Jun= Rachel
Jinpei= Timmy
Ryu= Quintin
Nambu= Prof. Nicholas
Katse= Commander Tiros (with Hol as the lieutenant)
Oh, what could've been!
Posted by k2p2 on 09-10-2012 at 16:20:
Wow, thanks for all this research..It seems pretty amazing to me that a series from the early seventies was still generating interest as late as the mid nineties....
Just goes to show you the staying power of a good story.
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Posted by KT1972 on 09-10-2012 at 16:25:
fascinating... oh if only something could have come of it, and brought our favorite show to a new generation!
I must agree about the voices though, but could have got used to them.
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Posted by Dirk Daring on 09-10-2012 at 16:43:
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The media360group rep got confused with that "1990's" bit, as it wasn't until 1995 that us Americans got to see "G-Force" in its entirety (via Cartoon Network). The show had already been produced by Fred Ladd's Sparklin Entertainment in late 1986. Still, that was 14 years after Gatch premiered, and it is indeed impressive that an already-old show was given a second shot.
Posted by amethyst on 09-10-2012 at 20:21:
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I haven't seen the video yet, but these names seem a lot better then the ones they were actually given in GoS. Though, I'm not positive about Quintin.
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Posted by clouddancer on 09-10-2012 at 21:37:
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Hmmm, that does seem to make sense but my thought is that with 5 vocal actors each one might do one of the 5 characters from the team. Which makes me wonder if one of the team may have been called Jason. Instead of John Ferguson voicing both the "Joe" character and the "Jinpei" one.
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Posted by Dirk Daring on 09-10-2012 at 22:04:
Keep in mind that Ep. 26 prominently featured Ryu's younger brother, which may have been "David" or "Timmy".
Posted by clouddancer on 09-10-2012 at 22:11:
Good point Dirk ....
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Posted by Dirk Daring on 13-10-2012 at 20:28:
Some more info:
"the Turner people were absolutely great; totally pro all the way. They worked so hard with us to try to make it happen. Everyone was on board with the creative. The issue really boiled down to the cost of the technology/production processes required to execute the creative. In those days, rooms full of very expensive gear were needed to do what can now be done on a PC. Nevertheless, we will always be grateful for the opportunity. It was our first TV pilot and it opened doors to other opportunities."
Sounds like Turner Program Services was looking for a company who'd be able to produce "G-Force" for the cheapest price tag. This coincides with the anecdotes I'd read from Dean Andre, who mentioned that the production was both low-budgeted and tightly scheduled (85 episodes dubbed over 3 months!). media360group would've definitely provided a better soundtrack, but Fred Ladd's dubbing expertise resulted in better voices and dialogue.
Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 15-12-2012 at 15:32:
Eek! on the men's voices. G-3 sounded okay.
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Posted by TheSolarSailor on 24-09-2013 at 07:52:
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Wow, those names. Wow, those voices. Professor Nicholas seems really weird, but I could get used to that. The two that seem extremely off are Lucas (Ken) and Timmy (Jinpei). Lucas just needs a lisp to put it all in perspective as to why he never wants to date Rachel
, and Timmy sounds like a alien adult trapped in a kids body. Overall, though, this effort probably would have been much better than the G-Force version and it's gratingly bad music.
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