Hi Everyone, I think I might be getting my universe terms mixed up! Its been a while since I've been in BOTP universe. I'll list the Gatchaman term first and what I think is the BOTP...correct me if it's wrong please! Thanks. Galactor/Spectra Devilstar - Galaxy girl black bird- Blackbird Devilstar ships name??? for both. SNT/G-Force Cresent Coral- Centre Neptune These are the main ones for now. I'm just getting together a referance list so I don't make errors in fics with it.

This might be something to question James about Ebony. Or I am wondering if anyone has created an online list comparing these.

Hi all! I missed this one when it came up earlier.

Galactor/Spectra Devilstar - Galaxy girl black bird- Blackbird Devilstar ships name??? for both. SNT/G-Force Cresent Coral- Centre Neptune

The Black Birds had no specific name in BotP. While visually they look different than your average Spectra soldier, they were not given a special title in any of their three appearances in the series (In "The Musical Mummy," "The Duplicate King," and "Tentacles From Space"). Likewise, the Devil Stars are not referred to by a specific name in BotP, but are called Galaxy Girls because that's the title of the only episode of BotP in which they appear. The Devil Star ship is referred to as the Devil Star in both Gatchaman and BotP (Check "Rockets Out of Control" for the BotP reference). Crescent Coral Reef is generally thought is as being Center Neptune in BotP, and they sure do their best to make you believe that for 83 of the 85 episodes of the series. But, in the BotP episodes "Invasion of Space Center" Parts I & II, we are told that the building we've thought was Center Neptune for the previous 83 episodes is actually Research Center, which is a separate building from Center Neptune, and both structures are part of a larger Space Center complex. Doing this allowed Research Center to be destroyed in the story, while Center Neptune remained intact. Yes, it was all a shell game to avoid destroying Center Neptune and having to explain how Zark got out without creating any new animation, but it's an important shell game as far as the specifics of the series are concerned. I hope this helps! James

No wonder it get confusing at times James! I just wish Zark went down with the underwater base...sigh. Can't have everything I guess. Thanks for the confirmations!

The (bad) animation of the Zark segments made it look as if the robot hung out in the dome on top of the underwater base. I do remember wondering why they hadn't drowned that robot. As I told TJ over on ff dot net, when I first saw 'Gatchaman', I watched it with the subtitles. Somehow, Leader X scolding Berg Katse came across as a gay man chewing out his boyfriend. I don't know why: it just did. BOTP had, in my opinion, improved the relationship. (Don't worry: I feel much better now.) If you want an idea of how mind-blowing BOTP was at the time, find some of the American shows that kids were watching, such as 'Superfriends', 'Scooby-Doo' and others that currently escape my memory. Actually, either 'Superfriends' or 'Scooby-Doo' should do the job. The spectacular animation covered a number of sins in BOTP. I actually enjoyed it, even though I was in high school at the time. Now I'm off to look around some more.

Originally posted by UnpublishedWriter If you want an idea of how mind-blowing BOTP was at the time, find some of the American shows that kids were watching, such as 'Superfriends', 'Scooby-Doo' and others that currently escape my memory.

Or that this Canadian kid was not watching! In Nova Scotia in the late 70s, cable TV was only just starting to become available (and it was ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS piped in from Bar Harbor, Maine) and the two Canadian channels available had hardly any animation for kids -I think "Pink Panther" was the only Saturday morning cartoon. Battle of the Planets was really "mind-blowing" for me -there was just nothing else even close to it that I could see on TV!

They must not have had the Saturday morning cartoon ghetto in Canada. You can probably rent original Scooby-Doo at the video store. Any animated series from the 1960s to the late 1980s will do. BOTP had pans, zooms, fancy camera angles, and characters or machines that turned, twisted, went from foreground to background, and generally behaved more like characters in live action television than in cartoons. Awesome stuff.

Well, Nova Scotia had the disadvantage of being too far from the US to be able to pick up its TV channels with rabbit ears, but lots of other regions of Canada didn't have that problem, or had other Canadian channels not available in Nova Scotia. But some of my friends had parents who were willing to get cable TV when it became available (even if mine weren't interested) and I spent a lot of time in Connecticut in the summers, so I did -for better or for worse- get to see Superfriends and Scooby Doo sometimes. Battle of the Planets was awesome, though.

I'm not a fan of Zark at all. I've been writing an AU thats made him into a disfunctional robot, nobody knows it yet, but he's behind a lot of cover ups due to taking information being stored in him as orders to carry out the ideas....and keep em under wraps. So I have no issues with someone blowing him up! TJ did in one ficcie....LOL

Originally posted by UnpublishedWriter They must not have had the Saturday morning cartoon ghetto in Canada. You can probably rent original Scooby-Doo at the video store. Any animated series from the 1960s to the late 1980s will do. BOTP had pans, zooms, fancy camera angles, and characters or machines that turned, twisted, went from foreground to background, and generally behaved more like characters in live action television than in cartoons. Awesome stuff.

In the part of Canada I was in when I was 8 and onwards we got the Saturday morning cartoons. I remember we could sit in front of the tube all morning until noon watching - that is if my parents let us, usually we were off to the shops for one thing or another so we had to stop watching. I do remember getting up at 6 or 6:30 to watch BOTP and my parents wondered why my brother and I could managed to do that on Saturdays when they had problems getting us out of the house to catch the bus at 8:00, to get to school, the rest of the week. LOL

I grew up in Canada as well, and in the Toronto area we got to watch it after school. So I saw it five times a week, and loved it!

Where I lived we got to watch it right after school. Sometimes you'd miss the first 5 min, due to the bus running behind. My biggest problem was we didn't get cable till the last year it ran on that station.

In Nova Scotia, I don't think BOTP aired until around 4.30 PM or so -possibly because Nova Scotia's in a time zone that's an hour later than Eastern Time. I never had to rush home from school, and I dimly recall that when it was on TV, my mother would be just starting to prepare dinner but my father wouldn't be home yet, and in the winter it would be getting dark outside.

I got told by an Aunty when I was 13yrs old and it was being aired again that I was "Too old" to watch something like BOTP! I blushed and said I was watching it with my younger sister...she knew the truth! It was me who loved it not her! LOL! (My younger sis is 7yrs younger than me.)

My aunts rarely said anything about what I watched while visiting, but then again considering my cousins and how much influence they had on me when I was younger, I think they were probably glad they knew where I was and what I was doing. Besides, I was usually stranded while visiting unless one of my cousins was around.

Ebony, my poor niece is having problems with her parents this year. They think she's too old to watch the new Anime that's out. Needless to say, I have to speak up for her and tell them I still watch mine, and would if it would be on. I watch my sister shake her head and wonder what became of me.

People fall in love with things that are not "age appropriate" all of the time - just look at all of the adults who are crazy for Harry Potter, Disney, and computer games. I think for those people not generally into anime or cartoons, they cant' really understand how anyone -from 10 yrs old to 100 yrs - can be into it at all. Which is why I am so glad to have all of you

If you read the entire Harry Potter series, you'll find it is not simply a children's story. That said, "age appropriate" is not something easily defined as it can vary by culture, but really should vary by individuals. For myself, I don't care what my children watch as long as they watch it with me. Mostly because I remember being too curious about the stuff that my parents wouldn't let me watch or read and sneaking around. I'd rather watch it with them and discuss it with them then have them sneak around. But then the raciest things that are available to them, unless they risk death or dismemberment by going on the computer, is the Demi Moore/Gary Oldman version of the Scarlett Letter and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, which really only has one very racy scene.

I think that a sign of good children's fiction is that adults can read it without feeling embarrassed. The same with television shows and movies. Gatchaman is on the edge. It's intended for six-year-olds, which explains the many inconsistencies and oddities, yet it has enough in it to appeal to adults who want to write fics. (The ADV box rates it as PG.) Tell any nay-sayers that anime is often used for adult series, and that the Japanese put enough wit and sophistication into their children's shows to appeal to adults.

I myself feel embarrassed sometimes in admitting that I still like to watch anime, disney and other children's programs or films that appeal to me! Now that I have children I find an excuse in watching these programs with them and watch older series such as Gatchaman to introduce them to my kids! Not many people of the same age of mine share the same opinion (my DH included!) but sometimes I'm surprised how, in fact, there are persons who still like to watch such stuff! My explanation to this love of mine of watching anime and older series is that I find this as an escape from the present, hard and hassled life and a connection with my childhood which I wish I'll never forget especially with series like Gatchaman with which I have grown up and made up all sorts of stories in my head that kept them alive since now!

I THINK I know how you feel Gatchamarie. At least, since I am single, it is easy for me to sit and watch the anime and Disney on TV and I have no one complain or even know. My problem lies in what to do with the collection of DVD/ VHS anime that I am collecting. I thought I was doing a good job of hiding it until a few years ago when I had a flood in my basement. I had friends and family over to help me sort through all the soggy stuff and of course out comes my collecting of Gatch DVD's. Now the story has gotten out. Another problem I find, going to the movie theatre. I think I need to find a friend with a "young one" so I HAVE an excuse to go out and watch all those new releases for families or children.

Yes, CD, going to the theatre is another problem but having kids sometimes helps out again! At least, with the present initiatives of transforming old series into grownup movies, the trend of getting people interested into these series is getting bigger! Some time ago, when we were watching "Speed Racer", my husband kept asking me about the original series and my kids, who of course do not remember it, loved it! I hope the Gatchaman movie will have the same effect on lots of people (cross fingers)!

Yes, going to Disney or other kid related movies is rather strange for us adults. Though at times I find that having my nephews or other kids can be worse. Cause I know when it comes to Gatch, I won't want to answer any questions until I have at least watched it two-three times.