Hi all! Sentai Filmworks has announced that they will be releasing the 1978 Gatchaman movie on Blu-ray and DVD come November 17th. The film will come with both Japanese and English audio tracks, and optional English subtitles. It has a suggested retail price of $29.98 for the DVD, and $39.98 for the Blu-ray. Beyond these few details, there isn't much information regarding the release yet. While they haven't said anything, it seems likely that they will use the same voice cast that did the ADV Gatchaman dub, as they did reassemble that team to dub the OAVs when those Sentai released those in 2013. For those who are unfamiliar with this movie, the film is a condensed version of some of the major stories from the original Gatchaman TV series; specifically the first episode of the series, the death of Red Impulse stories, and the series finale. The film was released in Japan during the summer of 1978 as a way to help get the audience back up to speed on Gatchaman as part of the build up to the release of Gatchaman II that October. This is the first time that this film has been released in North America. Just to be clear, this is not the live action Gatchaman movie that came out in Japan in August of 2013, but rather an animated film created by Tatsunoko in 1978 using footage from the TV series. James

They did a great job on that movie, it was kind of a perfect summation of the series for the major arcs. Nice to see it coming out.

Something to look forward to!

awww, any chance it could be made available to UK/Europe/worldwide audiences too?

Cool! I've been wanting to get my hands on this for a long time.

Wow, never thought this would be put on disc. Amazon has it for pre-order, so does RightStuf. The discs are cheaper at RS $19.49 for the DVD, and $25.99 for the Blu-ray. Plus sometimes RS gets their stock before the release date, so you get it earlier if you pre-order. Just wish we could get Gatch II & F, but I'm not holding my breath. I think Saban owns those rights, if I'm not mistaken.

Cool, thank you! Going to Amazon now!

I can't find anywhere where it says whether the discs will work in UK or Europe, but with a bit of help from CW, I've sent a message to Sentai themselves asking if it will be available if any of our other European friends would do likewise I'm sure they will take notice. http://www.sentaifilmworks.com/Contact

I don't see a Region listing either. Hope you hear something soon! The Gatchaman series Blu-Ray said Region A, but I don't know if it was playable in Region B. Sometimes BR's are region free regardless of region listing, other times they are truly region free (and stated that way on the package), other times region locked. Annoying for sure.

I just pre-ordered mine from Amazon. I'm sure that by the time the DVD is actually released, the price will come down, especially since Amazon always tries to be the lowest price.

I pre-ordered mine from Rightstuf.

Hi all!

Originally posted by Redbird Wow, never thought this would be put on disc.

I'd have bet that the live action movie would have been released here long before this movie would be. Guess it's a good thing that I never placed that bet!

[i]Just wish we could get Gatch II & F, but I'm not holding my breath. I think Saban owns those rights, if I'm not mistaken.

From what I understand, the rights for Gatchaman II and Gatchaman Fighter reverted to Tatsunoko a while back. At that time, Saban/Disney retained only the rights to the elements that were unique to Eagle Riders (The names, logos, audio from the episodes, and other things like that), but had no rights to the underlying visual elements that went with it. Sandy Frank was in a similar situation with BotP and G-Force for a few years after the rights to Gatchaman reverted to Tatsunoko. I do not know if the rights situation has changed at all over the last few years. It's possible that Tatsunoko bought out the rights for the Eagle Riders material, just as they did with Sandy Frank for BotP and G-Force. But it is equally possible that Saban and Disney still possess all of that material. Regardless, Saban/Disney has no effect on someone licensing Gatchaman II and/or Gatchaman Fighter to release here. Tatsunoko is the only entity they'd have to deal with for that license. James

Thank you for clearing that up for us James. We're lucky to have you around to help us keep the records straight! Will be interesting to see if anything ever happens regarding Gatch II & F. I'm not too keen on the second and third series as the original is my favorite, but it would be nice to have the whole series available with English subtitles, etc.

Good to know!

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Crossing fingers on GII and GF!

Originally posted by ChrisW Crossing fingers on GII and GF!

Me too!

Wow, thank you so much for that information Jason! Again I'll say we're lucky to have board members who can steer us in the right direction. KT if the disc is not region 2 or B, one thing that might help you is an All Region DVD/Blu-ray Player. I have one myself. This would enable you to play any DVD/Blu-ray from anywhere, no more worries about playback issues.

This is great to hear! However, I'm not sure they would need ADV to do the audio. IIRC, other than a bit of narration (at the beginning?) the video used in the movie is from the show, so they could just use the audio already recorded.

Hola everyone! I really hope that we can get the series dubbed in English.....or at least with subtitles. Recently, I purchased Gatchaman II in Japan and Gatchaman F in Taiwan. Both with Japanese language and no subtitles what to do? KT, this is a suggestion for you. Maybe you can buy a DVD player that its multi-regional. Here in Malaysia all of them are and they are quite affordable. With that, you don't have to worry about the region. My DVDs are from all over the world and have no issues with the regions. Hope this help! The other Jason, thank you so so much for the info. Please keep us update! Looking forward for the movie release! Hugs to all!

For those who are interested, I received my Blu-ray today. It is a Region A disc. The audio tracks are Japanese language with English subs, or English language. And yes the English version is the newer English one with Brian Jepson, etc. Hope this info helps!

Nice, Redbird! Hope you enjoy it!

Very nice! Glad they're using the new ADV audio for the English track!

I just got mine in the mail today. What a nice thing to come home to after a hectic day at school.