Transmute Jun
Queen of the Bird Missiles
I am a Swan.
40 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 04-04-2007
Posts: 20978
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30-09-2009 01:32
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meg
Boardie
I am a Swan.
Registration Date: 06-02-2008
Posts: 335
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02-10-2009 08:38
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Hinotori
Babbling Loonie
I am an Eagle.
2 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 09-10-2007
Posts: 2004
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04-10-2009 23:22
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tatsunokofan
Gatch Guru
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 03-12-2006
Posts: 1513
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Hi all!
There seems to be a little confusion regarding the different Astro Boy TV series. In basic terms, you've got the following:
The original Mighty Atom comic that was published from 1951 to 1968.
The black and white Mighty Atom puppet TV series aired in 1957 was Atom's first foray outside his original manga format. This series was not shown outside of Japan, and I have never seen anything aside from a couple of pictures from it.
The black and white Mighty Atom live action TV series aired from 1959 to 1960. This series was never shown outside of Japan. From the few clips I've seen from it, it looked fairly awful.
The first Mighty Atom animated TV series, a black and white series that aired from 1963 to 1966, half of which was released in North America as Astro Boy, airing in the 1960s and 1970s. This series is considered the first anime TV series.
This version of Mighty Atom had what could be called the "first" Mighty Atom movie in 1966, but the film was little more than a collection of several episodes of the TV series shown in theaters across Japan. The highlight of this was that one of the stories was produced in color for the event, the only part of the first series to do done that way.
The second Mighty Atom animated TV series, a color remake that aired from 1980 to 1981. This is the series that was aired in Canada in the 1980s as Astro Boy.
The third animated TV series, confusingly titled "Astro Boy Mighty Atom," was another color remake that aired from 2003 to 2004. It aired briefly in North America in early 2004 as Astro Boy.
From what little I know of the film (I haven't spent too much time on it), it sounds like they'll be keeping much of the basic origin story intact (When Dr. Tenma's son Tobio is killed in an accident, he creates a super-powered robot duplicate of the boy as a replacement). Of course, no matter how hard he tries, the robot cannot replace Dr. Tenma's lost son, and he is eventually rejected by the scientist. From that point on, it sounds like they'll be touching upon elements from the original stories (Like the robot wrestling matches, not being played up as "robot gladiators') as framework for creating their own story.
One thing that I do find odd is that they seem to be using a combination of the original Japanese names for the characters (Dr. Tenma, Ham Egg) and the American names for others (Dr. Elefun and, of course, Astro Boy).
I doubt that Uran is in this film, and neither is Astro Boy's brother, Cobalt. They'd likely want to focus only on one robot in this film, and save Uran for a sequel. The same goes for characters like Atlas (Who was a minor one-off character in the original comic and in the 1960s TV series. He was given a greatly expanded role in the 1980 TV series). I am disappointed that Higeoyaji/Mr. Pompus/Daddy Walrus doesn't appear to be in the film. I always liked him. Oh well, maybe if they make a sequel.
If anyone is interested in reading them, Osamu Tezuka's original manga series is available in English, under the title "Astro Boy," not "Mighty Atom." They were first published in the early 2000s by Dark Horse, and have been out of print for a while, but the movie release prompted Dark Horse to reissue them. I saw them in the manga section of Borders and Barnes & Noble, so you probably won't have any difficulty finding them. I'd highly recommend them for any fan of the TV versions, just so you can see where it all began. Heck, I'd recommend any comic by Osamu Tezuka. The man was a genius, no doubt about it.
It should also noted that all three Atsro Boy TV series are available on DVD. The first series is available, broken down into several box sets, such as this one:
Astro Boy Ultra Collectors Edition DVD Set 1 .
The 1980s series is available in a single box:
Astro Boy Collection Box Set
And the 2003 series is also available in a single box set:
Astro Boy - The Complete Series
James
This post has been edited 3 time(s), it was last edited by tatsunokofan on 05-10-2009 at 01:56.
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05-10-2009 00:07
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