It is popping up from a lot of Ebay sellers, and it is a Malaysian product. I have not yet received it, but it was only $15 with free shipping and it has English subtitles. I am not sure if this is an official release in Malaysia, or if it is a bootleg. I have no idea about the quality of the English subtitles either, though I hope they are decent enough for me to get the gist of the movie. It's Region 0. Years ago, I ordered three box sets of the original 105 episode of Gatchaman from China, bootlegs with hilarious English subtitles. What can you expect when the Chinese are translating Japanese into English!!! Anyhow, they were good enough for me to get what was going on fairly well. I still have those sets, as they were quite nice for bootlegs. Anyhow, I did purchase the American release that came later on. If they release an American version, I am more than happy to do my part and buy the official product. I turn to other sources when nothing is directly available here in the states. In any case, I hope it is a decent copy! I look forward to seeing the film for myself. I understand that it has gotten a lukewarm reception, but I still want to give it a shot!

I hope it's a good version, SS.

I'm waiting to see what you all think of the subtitles. Looking forward to the reviews!

I'll definitely come back and let you know how good or bad the quality of this Malaysian release is. I just want a good DVD picture and some English subs that are good enough to allow me to understand what is going on. It's slow shipping, though, so it may take a few weeks to actually receive the DVD, but here's hoping to sooner rather than later.

I bought one, too! They said I should get it some time this week! I'll just be happy to have the general idea of what they are saying...

Mine got shipped last week sometime, so we'll have to see what it is like when it arrives!

Man, I love your dedication...

Can't wait to hear what you gals think! Wish we all lived close enough for a viewing party.

Originally posted by jublke Can't wait to hear what you gals think! Wish we all lived close enough for a viewing party.

That would be so much fun! Love it or hate it, I'd love to get to watch it together with you all and then we could debate it to death! Tracking info shows that my copy is still sitting in Germany. Hmmm, maybe they just haven't updated in the last eight days. At this rate, all of you will get your copy before I get mine.

Mine arrived today... I just watched it. The English is ok...it's enough to understand what is going on. I enjoyed watching it in Japanese a couple if months ago when I visited TJ, but the subtitles really cleared some things up for me! I believe it was a worthwhile purchase!

Put a clip on YouTube.... lol

Originally posted by Springie Mine arrived today... I just watched it. The English is ok...it's enough to understand what is going on. I enjoyed watching it in Japanese a couple if months ago when I visited TJ, but the subtitles really cleared some things up for me! I believe it was a worthwhile purchase!

Thanks for sharing. I must have ordered mine from the slowest shipper available, LOL!

Mine's not here yet, but Springie, I'm glad to hear that yours is good!

Some of the translations made me laugh...I had to try to figure out what they meant, but for the most part I understood it. There's more Jun/ Ken talk than I first thought... She's pretty open about her feelings for him! The old " Jun can't cook" joke gets tossed around quite a bit, too... Nambu said, " I pray for your success" at least once. Jinpei made a couple of funnies by calling out, " Science Ninja Techniques" I wish Ken and Joe had fraught over "the red button" at least once! I would have liked a few more original Gatch references, though...and I wish they had used the original music, too.

Originally posted by Toneman Put a clip on YouTube.... lol

If I can figure out how to do it, I will! I bet it won't be long before we see clips, now that the English version is out!

Mine just arrived -- YAY!!!

Koreans rate the movie extremely bad so I did not even tried to watch it but many people in here seem like enjoying it. Hm... Especially they are frustrated about Jun. Bloggers criticize her that she is always craving the chance to have sex with Ken and it is her only interest. There is a Korean expression- 8th grade disease It means an adolescent(or even adult) who always tries to stay COOL like a hero/heroine of comics/movie/light novels but still enveloped in palpable childishness. So many reviews are saying that the movie is made by 8th grade disease patients who need to be thrown into the intensive care unit immediately. I even saw an article title in the movie magazine- . Do you really think it is worth to watch? I'm not watching it to avoid headache guaranteed by Korean bloggers. lol

Rachel, the reviews I've read were mixed -- some liked it and others didn't. I was looking forward to a release with English subtitles so I could see for myself if this movie is any good. If it isn't any good, then I'll have plenty of things to make fun of!

EW Yeah actually I'm curious about it now, maybe I could find plenty of things to make fun of as you said. Well, it's only a matter of 3.5 dollars for a go. I'm just afraid that of seeing $80,000,000 dollars blown up in the air. I bet if I they produced 2D remake animation with that budget, they're not under threat of bankruptcy.

I don't think the movie is as terrible as people have been saying (keep in mind, I haven't seen the English translations yet, so I've just watched the Japanese version) but I think it suffers from high expectations. There are so many fans who were hoping for a great movie, something to rekindle interest in the original Gatchaman (and not this horrible Crowds thing that uses the Gatchaman name to trick you into watching a completely unrelated show) that people were sorely disappointed when the movie was lacking. There is definitely departure from the original in terms of plot/storyline, and from what I have heard, the acting was rather wooden (not that I can tell when I can't understand what the actors are saying). Other people are upset by the poor CGI in some scenes. But it's definitely watchable and recognizable. I think in time, it will settle down as something Gatchaman fans accept and can even enjoy on occasion (just like the OAVs) but it's not going to be setting any new precedents or rekindling interest in the original show.

I guess you could say I do things backwards to you, TJ -- I first watched with the English subtitles. As far as movies go, I'd say it was fair-to-middlin' -- it wasn't the best I'd ever seen, but it wasn't really bad either. In fact, the writer in me like some of the ideas that were used. (When I first saw the Galactor troops, for example. At the very least, those things could really intimidate, when used by the right commanders!) As far as the subbing goes -- I'd say it's okay. You can tell the translators had learned English as a second language and didn't have a whole lot of experience actually speaking with native speakers, but it generally didn't interfere with understanding the dialogue. (I say generally -- there was one bit, when the ISO building was under threat near the beginning of the movie, where I had to stop to suss out what was being said. While the word-by-word translation might have been correct, the syntax was nothing that occurs in English.) But there was one thing that bugged me to no end -- THEY PUT ENGLISH SUBTITLES IN THE SCENES WHERE ENGLISH WAS BEING SPOKEN, AND THE SUBS DIDN'T MATCH THE SPOKEN WORDS! The meanings matched, but those subs were completely pointless. (They even put subtitles beneath a banner written in English, and the subs didn't match there, either!) While this would not be my choice for introducing somebody to Gatchaman, the optimist in me hopes this might compel someone with the right clout to bring back the real Gatchaman.

It sounds like it might be worth picking up to at least. I remember talking to a US movie exec who's a Gatchaman fan who had taken notice when the rights were being shopped around. He said he had 2 major concerns: he wasn't sure he could make it look cool enough, and he was afraid that there were maybe five of us out there who'd be interested. *sigh* (I assume he was considering American audiences.) Given how much Hollywood, at least, is ruled today by numbers and targeting huge fan bases, it's a tough sell to investors, especially given the fact that it would require special effects. It'd be interesting if someone like Marvel Studios could be talked into buying the live action rights. Gatchaman was inspired by US superhero comics, in part, and Marvel seems very into authenticity and depth in what they've been producing for movies and TV. I bet they could do a fantastic job if they were willing to focus on the original Japanese version. I suspect they're only making things for their own properties, though. I'd certainly be happy with an updated animated version, though! A real one, not a bait and switch like Crowds. It would be nice if someone at Tatsunoko would take a serious shot.

Well, unfortunately everything today is all about "recreating" things. Making it "fresh" and bringing it to a new audience. The old school fans (of any fandom) always get shafted. I have a feeling they look upon us as an anomaly, like the dodo or something. I guess it's to be expected because it's all about money... (IMHO, the only re-imagining that I can think of that was better than the original, was Battlestar Galactica. And yes, I loved the original as a kid.)

I agree with you, RB. But you'd think that, with the high percentage of "reboot" failures (Knight Rider, The Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman -- which was so bad it was canceled before it even aired -- to name a few), the Hollywood execs would've learned that there's value in "old school".

Hollywood is pretty broken in the way it funds things these days, especially the really expensive movies. Also, since films are made with large teams of people with different specialties/functions, I think that "reboots" and other stuff with older properties really need someone with vision who's also a strong fan, and has enough power amongst the collective to keep it on track. I say with vision because even a strong fan can make really bad decisions when adapting and/or updating something. You can't just pick it up as is and put it on the screen. Changes have to be made for different mediums. It can also be hard to put a finger on what exactly made the original special. I really liked both the original Battlestar Galactica and the new one. I'm not sure if you saw the A-Team movie but I have to admit that they pretty much nailed the A-Team vibe and the vibe of the characters. Thundercats 2012 (was that the name? the Thundercats animated reboot) was really good, with much better plotting and characterization than the original, to be honest. Battle of the Planets had so many interesting ideas that I'd love to see that rebooted in a serious fashion. I'd still want them to honour the general looks/etc of the original characters, though. The comics were okay, it's too bad things went wrong on that front and they got canceled. I wonder if BOTP would be a little easier to reboot without fan revolt than Gatchaman because BOTP had so many weird issues due to its using footage from another show without really understanding the other show. One some level you do have to bring something new when you make a new version of something. It's WHAT you bring that's new and what you keep, etc., that makes all the difference. It's a pretty difficult endeavour. That doesn't mean I forgive people who mess up stuff I love, though.