Today I was going into to work. I leave about 4 am or so, so when I was driving through the city it was in the pitch dark. I come over a rise, and right in front of me is this massive, brilliantly lit billboard for... Astroboy. The serious promotional push has begun. Watch for those TV ads!

Hi all!

Watch for those TV ads!

They've been airing for a week or so now. I've seen them at work a number of times. James

When I was in the movie theatre a few weeks back I saw a Promo for the film. It was also written up in the theaters monthly magazine. So I guess as you say the push has begun.

DH showed me a promo on it! It looks good from the promo.

I haven't seen any promos or ads for Astroboy yet where I live, but that doesn't mean they aren't there! I did just watch the trailer here now, though. I didn't realize it was starting so soon -October 23rd. For some reason I was thinking it would be out in late November. http://www.astroboy-themovie.com/ I feel as though I should see it, to support Imagi. My sister gets all nostalgic about Astroboy, so I might be able to get her to see it with me, and bring her son.

I've seen the trailer and several commercials. I do love that they included his butt blasters. My son got a charge out of it. We're still debating whether we're going to see it or not.

Ive not seen anything in the UK yet

Doesn't look like it is coming to Denmark either. I would love to see it. Trailer is great!

I was at my school's book fair yesterday, and they already have an Astroboy book!

SQUEALLLL I am so excited to see this movie. Not too thrilled that they've appeared to change the whole damn story yet again, but it's ASTROBOY!! Whoot whoot. This month, right?? SJ

I watched it when it first came to the US waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy back. I think I was about 6. I don't remember much. SJ, what have they changed?

I don't think I've ever seen it. However, I did see a DVD in Safeway yesterday for the series.

I've seen Astroboy a bit. It was on TV at about 7.00 am every weekday in Nova Scotia in the late 1980s but I was nearly always getting ready for school or (if there was no school) asleep. I recall thinking it was kind of entertaining, but my older sister (a total morning person) was in university then and she and her roommate watched it every morning while having coffee -she was a bigger fan than me.

Well, Becky ... I can only deduce the changes based on the trailers for the movie... I know that they changed the storyline for the most recent Manga release ... That annoyed me muchly.. The new series was ... okaaaay ... I suppose. The back story was very different to the 80's release (the one I grew up on)... What I am used to: Dr. Boynton (excuse my spelling... I'm working off memory here)... Created Astroboy as a "replacement" of sorts after his son Toby died in an accident. He had been trying to create a ... I guess ... empathetic robot and had continuously failed. Toby suggested he try a "boy" ... so when Toby was killed, Boynton worked on the robot and created him in the image of Toby. He was then stolen by a circus ... and events led him to the care of Dr. Elefun... The series most recently released had Astro created by Elefun... Astro was born pretty much as an infant and therefore had to be trained (pretty quickly) to become the superpower. They even had a nanny for him and played with him in a nursery to teach him. Boynton seemed more like a dark figure behind the scenes that you really only saw in the opening credits and sporadically here and there in the shadows.... I never watched the whole series so I can't say if they ever went back to it. But the animation in this one was GORGEOUS!! This movie looks like Boynton does create the boy as his kid ... but with Elefun at his side. While the 80's version had Boynton work covertly against the wishes/orders of the Science Ministry to create Astroboy, this movie looks as though the ministry approves and is behind him (which is how the new series handled it, I might add)... Astro met his friends all through school, whereas this looks like a street kid meeting Astro ... kind of deal... And ... please tell me Uran is in there somewhere. She MADE that whole series!!! Astro isn't Astro without Uran in there causing mischief... Joshie loves Uran and loops the song from "Uran's Twin" to sing it.... Oh, and of course, Atlas ... I loved Atlas.... (although his rendering in the new release was pretty dumb and awful) Oh and Daddy Walrus -- he ROCKED!! He is way more funny when you watch it in Japanese ... I should reserve judgement until I watch the movie ... but I get the feeling this is going to be very different to the series I grew up with... Which is to be expected I suppose... I'm still excited, though!! SJ

I just have random and remote memories of Astroboy as I did not watch the original series so much way back when I was a child! I always ended up to watch what my eldest brothers watched until I had some bit of a say! I would like to see the film, though, maybe on dvd, so some memories would come back and thanks SJ for sharing with us the information!

I watched the original version sometime around 1970. I vaguely remember a remake in the 80's. There was another remake a few years ago that I watched with my son, unless it was a showing of the 80's version. Thanks for the rundown SJ!

I've never watched Astroboy, though I'm sure it was on eons ago (somehow I wouldn't be surprised if the local UHF channel ran it right after Speed Racer). I did see a commercial for the movie a couple days ago, but I was on the phone, so I wasn't able to hear/concentrate on it. Haven't seen it since, but I'm sure I'll see more of it as we get closer to the 23rd.

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

Thanks James!

I noticed today that reviews are already coming in for Astroboy at rottentomatoes.com -mostly from Australia, for some reason. So far, more good than bad! http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/astro_boy/

It was very popular here IB, maybe thats why. I'm waiting for it to come out on DVD since its hard to get to the movies at that moment for me.

I can't ever recall watching the original, but the previews make it look decent. Doubt my B/H will go with me though.