I've not seen much of this myself - is this the one where we get the shot of Jun coming out of a jungle wearing an extremely tattered uniform?

I'd be interested to know the whole story myself!

__________________


"When I'm old, I don't want them to say of me, "She's so charming." I want them to say, "Be careful, I think she's armed." -G. Stoddart

__________________
Benefits, not features; benefits, not features

LOL, Springie doesn't have it... I do! However, she borrowed my DVD for a year... I guess she wanted to watch it over and over and over again...

I'm sure James will step in and clarify my muddled explanation, but here it is. Time Bokan was a series produced by Tatsunoko in the 1970s, in which the Yatterman characters were introduced. It's my understanding that there were numerous variations of these characters, but the heroes and villains all bore a strong resemblance to the characters in the recent Yatterman remake.

There is ONE episode of that series, where the Villians/Dorombo Gamg are ordered to enter the 'Secret Tatsunoko Kingdom' and steal a gem (which happens to be in the eye of a massive statue of the Tatsunoko seahorse on top of a giant pillar in the middle of the 'town square'). 'Boyacky' recalls that when he ran a noodle shop, some strange characters came in and didn't pay (the scene to which Ebony is referring) and the villains realize from this memory where the entrance is to the Tatsunoko Kingdom.

When they get there (in their mecha) a number of Tatsunoko characters fight them (including the SNT and Polymer). Polimar accidentally gets into the middle of a discussion between Ken and Jun, where Ken insists to Jun that he doesn't like schoolgirls, because he likes women over 30 best. Jun is insulted, because she's 'not 30 yet'. While they are speaking, Polimar appraches and Ken pushes him away. This ends up with both Jun and Polimar attacking Ken.

During this argument, the defeated mecha arises and has transformed into a new mecha. It manages to grab Jun, whose Birdstyle has been shredded by the attack (there's no jungle). 'Doronjo' is furious when her villainous cohorts go crazy for her, muttering, "How dare she be sexier than I am?" and has the mecha throw Jun far away (presumably to her death).

But... Yatterman 1 swoops in and saves her. Unfortunately, he drops her to the ground doing his 'victory pose', but Jun survives.

If you want the DVD, it can be purchased here:

http://www.amazon.com/Time-Bokan-Artist-...73153427&sr=8-1

There are also random clips found on Youtube every so often.

__________________

Hi all!

Okay, a little background on Time Bokan.

Time Bokan was a comedy produced by Tatsunoko that aired between October of 1975 and December of 1976 (61 episodes). The series featured a young boy and girl who used a time machine to travel through time in an effort to find the inventor of the time machine, who had been lost in an unknown era during his first use of the machine. Causing complications are three villains, who want to know where the scientist went because that time period is where they can locate ultra rare dainamonds (Gems that are more precious that diamonds). The series was very popular, and the three villains were by far the most popular part of the show.

When Time Bokan ended, it was replaced by Yatterman, which aired from January of 1977 to January of 1979 (108 episodes). This series ditched the time travel aspect of the series in favor of two superhero-type characters, Yatterman 1 and Yatterman 2. Since the villains from Time Bokan were so popular, the three characters were given new names and costumes, but were left essentially the same.

With the continued popularity of Yatterman, when that series finished, it was replaced by Zendaman, which ran from February of 1979 to January of 1980 (52 episodes). Again, the heroes of the show were different, but the villains (With new names and costumes) were essentially the same.

And so it went, with Zendaman being replaced by Otasukeman (February of 1980 to January of 1981 (53 episodes)), which was replaced by Yattodetaman (February of 1981 to February of 1982 (52 episodes)), which was replaced by Ippatsuman (February of 1982 to March of 1983 (58 episodes)), which was replaced by Itadakiman (April of 1983 to September of 1983 (20 episodes)). In all of these series, the heroes were new, some of the basic premise of the shows were new (With most involving time travel of some kind), but the villains remained essentially the same.

Following Itadakiman, it looked as though the Time Bokan series had finally run out of steam, though Tatsunoko did have some ideas for a potential replacement series in the works, named Time Express. Alas, this lost chapter of the Time Bokan Series was never produced.

During the runs of Zendaman and Otasukeman, both shows were popular enough the warrant the production of original movies tht were shown as part of the Spring Toei Manga Festivals in 1980 and 1981. The Otasukeman one is notable because it had the lead lady villain fm that series attempting to marry the male hero from the show. In attendance at the ceremony were the heroes and villains from Time Bokan, Yatterman, and Zendaman, marking the first time all the characters had appeared together.

Even with no new productions, the Time Bokan series remained nostalgic favorites, with Yatterman being by far the most popular.

The Time Bokan Series was left dormant until 1993, when it was decided to revive it for a 2-volume OAV series. The first volume consisted of a Wacky Races-style race between all of the villain characters from all seven Time Bokan Series shows. The winner of the race would be the stars of the second volume of the series. Perhaps not too surprisingly, the villains from Yatterman won.

The second volume was the story of their attempt to steal the jewel from the seahorse statue in the Tatsunokon Kingdom, where they encountered numerous characters from past Tatsunoko series (Including not only the Science Ninja Team and Hurricane Polymer, but also Tekkaman, Casshan, Speed Racer, Space Ace, Temple the Balloonist, Demetan the Frog Boy, and Guzura). It is these two made-for-video stories that the Time Bokan DVD release in America comes from.

The next appearance of the Time Bokan characters came in the form of a radio program, "Heisei Time Bokan," that aired from April of 1996 to March of 1997 and featured the Yatterman characters.

The Time Bokan Series finally returned to TV in 2000 with the premiere of the 8th Time Bokan Series show, Kiramekiman, which aired from April of 2000 to September of 2000 (26 episodes). Despite having many of the main staff from the earlier Time Bokan Series shows working on it, Kiramekiman did not win great favor with diehard Time Bokan fans. I found the series to be entertaining. but that's just me.

In April of 2007, the Nikkatsu Corporation announced that they would bring Yatterman to the big screen in February of 2009 in the form of a live action movie to be directed by Takeshi Miike. Since Miike was a big fan of the original Yatterman TV series, he tried to keep the movie as close to the look and feel of the TV series as he could manage. The film did very well in the box office, and was the No. 1 film for several weeks.

Because of the growing interest in the live action Yatterman film, Tatsunoko was able to revive Yatterman in an animated form with a new Yatterman TV series. The new series was a remake of the original, not a continuation, and aired from January of 2008 to September of 2009 (60 episodes, plus several 1-hour specials). This series did far better than Kiramekiman, and was even popular enough that Tatsunoko released their own animated Yatterman feature film in August of 2009.

Things have been quiet for the Time Bokan Series since Yatterman left the air last year, but I think it's safe to say that it'll be back someday.

And there you have it, more on the history of Time Bokan than you ever wanted to know.

By the way, it should be mentioned that the three actors who voiced the villains in the original Time Bokan have provided the voices for their counterpart characters throughout all the incarnations of the Time Bokan Series. Two of them even appeared in cameos in the Yatterman live action film (Alongside Hiroshi Sasagawa, the Chief Director of all the Time Bokan Series shows. He was also the Chief Director of Gatchaman II, in case you cared).

James