|
|
|
tatsunokofan
Gatch Guru
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 03-12-2006
Posts: 1513
|
|
Hi all!
The "Gatcha" part of the name is supposedly based on the onomatopoeia that Japanese use as the "sound effect" for when mechanical items bang into each other; "Gatchan~!" In English, it would be like using "Clang~!" as the basis of a title. The dragonfly part comes from the unfortunate Japanese use of the aforementioned "Gatcha-suru" as the onomatopoeia for that insect mating, but that similarity is not intentional.
The name of the series was actually something that was settled upon fairly late in the planning stages for the show. The earliest known name for the series was "Science Ninja Squad Number 5." At one point, the name "Torimekaman" was considered ("Tori" being Japanese for "Bird," "Meka" being "Mecha," or a mechanical device, and "Man" being, well, "Man." Proving that nothing ever goes to waste, this name later appeared as the name of the villains in episode #12 of Hurricane Polymer), and the series almost went with "Birdman" as its title. The name change to "Gatchaman" came late enough that, reading through the scenario draft of the story for episode #3 of the series, one can still find a few references to "Birdman" that were accidentally left in it.
Changing the name to "Gatchaman" came at the suggestion of an executive from the Yomiuri Advertising Agency (Commonly referred to simply as "Yomiko"), whose job it was to promote the series, find sponsors for it, and to act as an intermediary between the studio and those sponsors. Why he thought that "Gatchaman" was a superior (And more salable) name than "Birdman" is unknown, but Tatsunoko followed his suggestion.
James
|
|
08-03-2010 02:05
|
|
tatsunokofan
Gatch Guru
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 03-12-2006
Posts: 1513
|
|
Hi all!
I had wondered if the Hanna Barbera "Birdman" series was a consideration in changing Tatsunoko's "Birdman" to "Gatchaman." Checking into it, I found out that the Hanna Barbera series was called "U-Bird" in Japan, not "Birdman." Okay, the full Japanese title was "Electronic Birdman U-Bird" ("Densho Chojin U-Bado" phonetically), but with such a different title, I doubt that it played any part in the name change.
Regardless, Harvey Birdman is a hilarious show, and well worth watching! Birdman and the Galaxy Trio is fun if you like the various 1960s Hanna Barbera hero series (Space Ghost, Herculoids, Mightor, and the like), but if you're not already a fan of those, you'd probably wonder why anyone would care about it.
James
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by tatsunokofan on 11-03-2010 at 08:02.
|
|
|
11-03-2010 07:57
|
|
|
Members browsing this thread: none
|
|
|
|
|
|
Space Cats! 
