Hi....I'm freddok--a newbie to this site, but not a newbie to either Battle of the Planets/Gatchaman (which I have been watching since about 1980/81) or to anime fandom (been watching anime since the first anime boom of the late sixties and am old enough to remember when Giants were in the Earth and you could catch Astro Boy, Space Giants, Speed Racer, Marine Boy, et al. I've been doing fanfic drabbles with BOTP ever since about the early 80's--it is the second anime series I have been inspired to write fics about; the first being the show that let me know anime was back-namely, my beloved Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato (but please don't hold it against me that I like space battleships and willowy space goddesses along with Bird Ninja). Only recently have I been getting my BOTP fics out there...and admittedly, in a somewhat alternate universe that also crosses over here and there into my alternate SB universe and has Gatch happening in the world chaos of about the 2060-80 time period, and the events of BOTP happening around 2218-22....If anyone is interested in my fic in progress on fanfic.net and my website, I'll post links and can put it up here-have plans for several BOTP and Gatch fics in my head. Fave characters: Ken/Mark, Jun/Princess, Katze/Zoltar, Joe/Jason, Nambu/Anderson, Count Egobusslar (did I get the spelling of his name right?) Most loathed character: 7-Zark-7 (darn Orwellian 'bot with his mind probes and smarminess) Favorite BOTP/Gatch moment: The first Gatchaman theatrical feature (how I first got to see Gatch uncut in its original form) Hope I have not gone on too long--I have some tech questions about the show I hope to find answers to, first....what is a good place to post them (if I cannot find a spot myself?) Best wishes.... Freddok

Welcome, Freddok! Looks like you're in the right place! Many of us started watching BOTP in the late 70's and haven't ever forgotten it! And you're also among fellow 7-Zark-7 haters...once I saw Gatchaman in all of its uncut glory, I loathed that dim witted robot even more!

Welcome freddok, nice to see another newbie joining the crowd. I am one of those who started watching BOTP and then discovered Gatch many years later. I will have to see if I can find time to get over to FF.net to read some of your fics. I am always interested in reading work from new members, as I am sure you will find a lot of us are. Please feel free to post a link to your website, or stories, to make them easier to locate. As for the tech questions you have you could post them in the general forum section or even feel free to post them right here in this thread. Best luck getting them answered. Enjoy searching the site.

Welcome to the site Freddok, I am sure you will feel right at home here

Welcome to Gatchamania, Freddok! Glad to see you and I look forward to you joining our conversations

BotP for me, too. If you have the time, you can also read through back threads on the various fora. I asked a question about surnames that led to interesting trivia about Dr. Nambu's name (depending on the symbols, Kozaburo can mean 'diligent third son'). I've written my share of fanfics (under the same name I use here.) Yeah, Zark is -- creepy. I don't think the scriptwriters really thought through the implications of the character. Stay and enjoy!

Welcome Freddok. Ooo sounds like you had a lot of the same favs I had growing up. Speed Racer was a definite before Battle of the Planets came on the scene and loved loved loved Star Blazers. Only time I got to see it was when I was visiting my Grandmother in Northern KY. That is until a friend of mine got me hooked on the APA Bird Scramble and even sent me tapes to see it from the beginning. Can't wait to see your fanfics. I love reading fanfics. You're lucky there are a lot of talented writers at this site you'll love their stories too. UW, Maddie and Springie are defniitely a few of them. I've only been at this site since July and I definitely love hanging out here. Hope you do too.

from Oz I agree about 7-Zark-7, and1-Rover-1 will never be excepted to my pack looking forward to hearing from you freddok

Welcome, Freddo -nice to meet you!

Hi Freddock! It's great to see you here! You're certainly not alone in having loved BOTP for decades! It's amazing how the show simply captured our hearts and kept us fascinated for decades! Of course, it doesn't hurt, discovering Gachaman and enjoying the show in a whole new way! If you have tech questions, you could post them in the Gatchaman forum (as in, for the Gatchaman show) or in the General Section. And if they end up in the wrong place by accident, no one is really going to mind. We're just happy to discuss! I hope you enjoy yourself here, and that our enjoyment of the show only strengthens your own!

A big Freddock! You surely came to the right place! As many now know, my story is a teeny weeny different from yours, as I've grown up watching Gatchaman instead of BotP! I had only watched a couple of BotP episodes before discovering the real Gatchaman in the '80's on Italian channels, and I was totally hooked by it! Even then, at such a tender age, I knew 7-Zark-7 was no good and I was very happy to have been able to discover the real thing, which enabled me to forget all about that horrid tin!!! Having said the above, I don't mind reading BotP related fanfics! As long as I can concentrate on the main characters I'm okay ... even though I always have the tendency of comparing them to the Gatchaman main characters! As Pufles very rightly said, you'll find many awesome, and talented writers here, and you're more than welcome to add in your work! Maybe, if you'll stick with this bunch of ours, you'll also be intrigued to write more Gatchaman fanfics !! Your favourite characters match mine (highlighting the Eagle as hero, and Egobossler as villain!), not leaving out Star Blazers and the other anime you've mentioned! Oh, you're taking me waaaaay back with those good old memories!

Hi, all..... Thanks for the nice welcome. Very glad for the input, the nice greetings, the Zark hate (LOL) and the character and series opinions. Interesting to see that my story is sort of close to those of others. I've posted my tech question (questions on the size and capabilities of Center Neptune/Crescent Coral) already in another thread. I also have some links to my stuff here: My BOTP story on fanfic.net (in progress: I am working on writing Ch. 5 of it now) http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4587960/1/Plausible_Deniability (Note: rating will be going up from T to M for some stuff included in Ch. 5) (story includes crossover elements with both Star Blazers and Doctor Who...yes, I am somewhat strange) And, my fanfic website. I have a pretty good amount of writers and artists up. Primarily an SB/Yamato site now, I also have some of my Speed Racer/Dr Who crossovers up there, will post my BOTP stuff there soon, and would not be adverse to adding pure BOTP and Gatch stuff to my site.... http://visions.comet-empire.com/ Enjoy, have fun, etc.... FREDDO PS-thanks again for the warm welcome!

Welcome Freddok! I just answered your questions as best as I could. However, I'll add this bit of advice: when writing fanfic -- go light on the tech stuff except when needed for character or plot building, or to help the reader visualize something that they are not familiar with.

Amethyst: Thanks both for the response...and the advice to go light on the tech stuff. I'll try to keep that in mind as I work on this fic.

Also, thanks to Clouddancer and Transmute Jun for what you have provided in response to my questions. FREDDO

sorry to be so late but welcome Freddock , it's great to have more fans here!