Solar Sailor is a Galactor from the US. He's been watching Gatchaman and BOTP for many years. It's great to see you here, Solar Sailor! Tell us a little about yourself and how you came to discover Gatchaman!

Solar Sailor! Please feel free to tell us about yourself!

Bienvenido Solar Sailor! Hope you have fun time here

Welcome Solar Sailor - it's great to have you with us and joining in the conversations. Pull up a chair and join the party!

Welcome, Solar Sailor!

Welcome, Solar Sailor! Your name feels familiar -the IMDB message boards?

Welcome Solar Sailor. I see you have been busy getting to know your way around the board and even posting some comments and questions. I hope you enjoy your time here.

Welcome Solar Sailor! I hope you have as much fun here as I have. Looking forward to getting to know you.

Originally posted by lborgia88 Welcome, Solar Sailor! Your name feels familiar -the IMDB message boards?

Yep, for better or worse, that would be me! Thanks every one for the welcome. I just saw this thread and I don't have time to post much at the moment, but I will be back to say more. Thanks again for the warm welcome. So far, this board has been really nice, enjoyable, and free of all the mean-spiritedness of IMDb. It reminds me of how Batman On Film used to be back in the days before the reboot by Chris Nolan. It was warm, enjoyable, and fun. Of course, it got too big and lost it's charm. It's nice to find such a forum again! Truly! And yes, I had to choose Galactor. I have always been a "villains" type of guy, even when I was young! When I was 7 years old, I was so worried that Darth vader was going to get killed by the mean old Obi-wan!

Just wondering, Solar Sailor... where did your name come from? It's reminding me of an old DS9 episode where Sisko and Jake use a Bajoran ship with solar sails to cross the galaxy...

Welcome Solar Sailor!! I hope you have a bunch of fun here.

Originally posted by Transmute Jun Just wondering, Solar Sailor... where did your name come from? It's reminding me of an old DS9 episode where Sisko and Jake use a Bajoran ship with solar sails to cross the galaxy...

Well, I have never seen that episode of DS9, so that is obviously not it. My name is actually based on the 1982 movie TRON, the ship called the Solar Sailer that travels that unending energy beam to their destination. Anyhow, I just turned 41 years old. I live in Cullman, Alabama and have all of my life. I got a late start at college, deciding to go back a few years ago. I am working towards a Bachelor's Degree in Education, Social Science. It seems to be taking forever to get that four year degree, but I do what I can. It'll be worth it when all is said and done. I do not wish to stay in Alabama, though. It will always be home, but I would like the opportunity to live elsewhere in the states. I have always had a hankering for Oregon for some strange reason, so who knows what the future will hold! as I have mentioned in other threads, I grew up on Battle of the Planets and loved every second of it. In adulthood, it was relegated to the past and many years went by where I had sort of forgotten about it. Then I discovered the Gatchaman OVA around 1998 when a friend rented an anime that advertised it at the start. I sat there having flashbacks to Battle of the Planets. Was this Gatchaman related to the show, or inspired by it? I was intrigued and bought the VHS releases. This was definitely linked to the show of my childhood. I would go to the library and use the internet, where I discovered all sorts of great resources and information about the world of Gatchaman. I couldn't believe that the series was so different from Battle of the Planets, but in my reading it suddenly made sense why these alien planets always looked just like Earth, right down to the airports! That used to always make me wonder when I was a kid. It never dawned on me that what I was watching was not the original! I had no concept of dubs, haha! The mystery of Berg katse even explained the whole "is Zoltar a woman" issue from The Alien Bigfoot episode. Anyhow, I wanted to see Gatchaman very much, but it was not available. I eventually tracked down some bootleg DVD sets of the entire series that were made from the laserdiscs and subtitled by the Chinese with hilarious results. Still, the subs were good enough that I could understand what was going on. Go Scientific Paladins! Bwahahahaha! I bought 6 DVDs of Battle of the Planets by Rhino that had good Gatchaman episodes on them with nice subtitle work, and was able to compare how different the two versions was. I own two fanmade VHS tapes, one containing the last few episodes of Gatchaman II, and one containing the first few episodes of Gatchaman Fighter. The fan subtitles are decent. Sadly, this is all I have ever gotten to see of the two sequel series. When AD Vision released the new Gatchaman DVDs, I ran out and bought them up. I really enjoyed the new English cast and thought they translated the episodes quite well overall. Personally, I like their little jokes here and there, and I enjoyed their silly 70s lingo. I think they did well. My only complaint would be the silly voices used for Galactor commanders and such as the series went on, but I guess nothing is perfect. I had really hoped AD Vision would utilize the same cast for Gatchaman II, but it has never happened. Oh well, I am very happy to finally have a good U.S. release of the series I so desperatly wanted to see.

Thanks for the explanation of your name! I was wondering! You're not the only one who was hoping ADV would do Gatchaman II and Fighter as well! But sad to say, that's not likely to happen now for many reasons, not the least of which is ADV's financial woes. If you're willing to subject yourself to Eagle Riders, you can catch most of Gatchaman II and a nice chunk of Gatchaman Fighter that way. I know there are still people selling bootlegs of the entire series (since it was never commercially released in any English-speaking country). LOL, Scientific Paladins? That's awesome! It would also explain Ken's light saber... uh... sword.... in Gatchaman Fighter! Now all they need are shields and horses.... Most of us here are similar to you, Solar Sailor, in that we watched BOTP as kids and then discovered Gatchaman as adults. There are other groups here as well though, including people who grew up on Gatchaman, and people who discovered Gatchaman through G-Force or the Tatsunoko vs. Capcom Game. We're a fairly inclusive group, as long as you love the show.

Welcome!!!