Osamu Tezuka appreciation thread

[MartyMuppets]

Goodness me. I'd forgotten all about this thread of mine.

And I was going to talk about my collection when it took off wasn't I?

Well. I'm not often online these days because of my Internet troubles. (I mostly am able to get on successfully for awhile at night) But I shall endeavour to begin next time and see what sort of discussion we have my friends.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Hello. I'm back. And I think to start the ball rolling I shall list all the contents of my Tezuka DVD library to date.

I have the following items in order of their purchase:

Astroboy 1980's version series
Kimba the White Lion series
Astroboy 1960's version series
The full length theatrical features Black Jack, Jungle Emperor Leo and Space Firebird 2772
Astroboy 2000's version series
The Experimental Films- a collection of 13 theatrical shorts
Another full length theatrical feature Metropolis
and the Phoenix TV Mini-series.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Astroboy 1980's version reviews beginning as soon as I begin watching them later today.

 

[Kiki]

Awesome, can't wait Marty!

 

[MartyMuppets]

The 1980's version was the Astroboy that I grew up with and always watched on ABC. So naturally out of the three versions made for me it shall forever be the "official" Astroboy series. And in my opinion it is by far the best in any case.

It is marketted as a kids' show. But it never-the-less has adult appeal. It is the darkest of the three series in terms of violence, though it is mild enough for family friendly standards.

Anyway I'm taking it one episode at a time, so here's episode 1: "The Birth Of Astroboy"

The basic premise is that sometime in the 21st century (funny watching it now to think that it's no longer set in the future technically) robotics scientist Dr. Boynton is trying to create a robot with the qualities of a human soul. He keeps failing and finally his young son Toby suggests he makes a boy robot for his next experiment. Boynton accepts the idea and goes to work with his team.

Unfortunately he has apparently been putting so much time into following his dreams that he has failed to find any time to play with his son. When he breaks a promise to take Toby to the amusement park, Toby is so upset that he tries to drive the car home by himself and perishes in a horrible traffic accident.

In his grief Boynton designs the robot in the image of his dead son despite being ordered by his superiors to scrap the project. He finishes it in secret and takes him home calling him Toby with only a couple of his close friends among the research team knowing.

He tries to train Toby to act just like his son but one day Toby goes into a strange trance with his eyes flashing and he walks away while Boynton is calling his friend Miss Ford on the phone for help. Miss Ford is concerned that the atomic robot might explode and feels it should be disassembled. She tracks Toby down driving a van with Boynton and their other friend, whose name is not revealed. But when she tries to seize him with a mechanical claw Boynton tries to stop her, and the van's computer goes out of control sending them screeching away on fire.

Fortunately Toby comes out of his state and rescues them and saves the city from the rampaging vehicle. Boynton is fired for creating Toby without permission but he's proud of his son's heroic actions.

He takes Toby away on a boat with him for the purpose of moving to a part of the world where they can live together in peace. Sadly somehow during the course of the voyage Toby gets stolen by the ringmaster of a robot circus and Boynton doesn't know what has become of his son. The first episode ends with Toby trapped in the ringmaster's cabin with his power switched off.

For those of you who've never seen it I hope I've given a good review without spoiling it too much. I highly recommend it.

Episode 2 coming soon.

 

[Drtooth]

Funny thing about Astro Boy.... apparently Osamu created a show that was exactly like it (I forget the name at the top of my head... I wanna say it has the word Mars in it), and it was produced by Toei. Naturally, Osamu wanted it to be a show to be similar to Astro, but majorly different and it's own show. Of course, Toei made the series EXACTLY like Astro Boy to the displeasure of Osamu.

What I'd love to see is Don Dracula, a series Osamu created that got canceled as soon as it's main sponsor went bankrupt (something that happened a lot in the early days of television in the US... but this was in Japan in the 70's or 80's). There were about 5-8 episodes produced, and only a handful of them aired in Japan, but the entire series aired in Europe... I think it was a brief hit in Italy 9since all the clips I ever find from it are Italian). That one's about how Dracula (His full name, according to the manga is "Earl Dracula"... heh Earl doesn't sound like a Count's name... just a Duke's) raises a daughter, and has to flee to Japan in hiding from Professor Rip VanHelsing. I read that he has to take blood from virgens to survive, and the first woman he bites in Japan is hideous. I think she follows him around everywhere too, but that's based on the little info I've acquired.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Episode 2: Robot Circus.

Tezuka's animation is as lavish as that of Disney's and he did "borrow" a few ideas from Walt.
When Hamegg the Ringmaster enslaves Toby into his circus it reminds me of Pinocchio becoming prisoner to the puppet showman Stromboli. Hamegg is very cruel and barbaric to poor Toby even though Toby always tries to please him. Admittedly Toby does make a few little blunders here and there. But still.

Anyway as time goes by we are introduced to an important character, Dr. Elefun.

He is Dr. Boynton's replacement at the Robotics Laboratories and finds out the brilliant atomic robot boy created by his predecessor is in the Robot Circus. Even though Dr. Boynton had originally created Toby in defiance of superiors, Elefun feels that they should claim possession of him because he will be of immense benefit to their future research. Hamegg refuses to give him up because Toby signed a contract with him and breaks a promise he made to his assistant Kathy to release Toby after he had filled in for their star attraction at the last show.

I won't give away how Elefun and Kathy liberate Toby and christen him Astroboy afterwards but it is exciting believe me.

Episode 3 coming next.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Episode 3: Save The Classmate

After rescuing Toby, or rather Astroboy as he is now known throughout the rest of the series (Astro for short) Dr. Elefun becomes his new adopted father. We are never told what became of Dr. Boynton. Only that he vanished and is never heard of again.

Elefun arranges for Astro to become the first robot enrolled in the local school. We are now introduced to another major character. The schoolteacher is an old friend of Elefun's. His real name, seldom referred to during the series, is Mr. Albert Duncan. But to all his students and close friends he is affectionately known as Daddy Walrus. Perhaps his moustache reminds them somewhat of a walrus? Anyway Daddy Walrus is a teacher by profession, though sometimes he does some casual self-employed work as a private-eye. These talents prove very helpful to Astro and the police in further episodes.

As for Astro's first day at school most of the kids are welcoming to him, albeit a little taken aback initially, but there are a few who don't like Astro and want him kicked out. The main opponent is a great, big, fat kid with a pompous attitude named Alvin. He complains to his mother and she goes to see the principle. She and Daddy Walrus have a heated argument in the principal's office, well nigh giving him a headache. Suddenly the phone rings and the fight is dispelled when they hear that Alvin and some of his friends are in danger. The boys were foolishly playing in an amusement park still under construction and are trapped in a roller coaster ride that won't stop. It's up to Astro to save them. Afterwards he is more accepted by his classmates, though the prejudice still crops up occasionally.

Episode 4 next.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Episode 4: Atlas Lives Again

In this episode Dr. Elefun has a robot mother and father built for Astro and Astro must rescue them from a tall robot named Atlas who has kidnapped them and tries to persuade Astro to help him take over the world or else he will destroy Astro.

Atlas is a strange character wielding a sword that can drain Astro's power or energy.
There are flashbacks from an episode which doesn't actually exist in the English version of Astro's first encounter with Atlas. We see that he was originally the same size as Astro but as he himself says "I have been completely remodelled" Now he's very big indeed.

We also meet for the first time a criminal named Skunk who knew Atlas before he "grew up". Atlas temporarily joins up with Skunk's gang and helps them rob a few banks and jewellery stores. However he leaves when he becomes bored with the game and steals Astro's parents leading to the final confrontation in some underwater hideout.

Atlas becomes a recurring villain for the rest of the series and he has vowed he will rule the human world and Astro will die if he tries to stop him. He is an enigma in that we do not know his origin though we get a hint to his background as things go along.
Skunk is another regular enemy. He wants revenge on Astroboy for interfering in his crimes. I suppose he is meant to be a human but for some unexplained reason he is animated with blue skin.

Anyway so naturally Astro saves his parents and the robot family move into their very own lovely house. Astro couldn't be happier.

Incidentally in case some people get confused about the way my reviews go, let me explain that the DVDs I own are arranged according to the originally intended chronological order in Japan. The order in which the English episodes were broadcast were mapped out by the people who produced the dub. So that's why you may find that the continuity as I go along doesn't match up with what you remember.

Episode 5 coming soon.

 

[Kiki]

Hey, these are good! I used to watch quite a bit of the 1980s Astroboy, I haven't seen it in a while though. Perhapes I'll get back into it.