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amethyst

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quote:

Originally posted by Transmute Jun
it was very 'mechanical' and impersonal... NO personality quirks!

Zark would have been fine without the mechanical speech; however we was way too personal and took too much credit for himself (I guess those are personality quirks, but I think some went beyond quirky).

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17-11-2011 17:58

Victoria

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I grew up on G-Force ---> Gatchaman, so this whole Zark and Rover thing left me completely bewildered. I had no idea what was everyone talking about for quite a while. I think I should consider myself happy. (Well, except for that Dirk Daring and Ace Goodheart and Dr. Brighthead thing)

By the way, when I saw that picture of the team in their civvies, I had to think 'Oh look! It's Chewbacca, princess Leia, Luke and Han Solo! In the presence of some... shaved Ewok or something...'

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17-11-2011 18:11

KT1972

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Victoria, you don't know how lucky you are! For most of my childhood, I had Zark like it or not. I often thought he interupted things just as they started to get really exciting. Grrr2 I do think he could have been a lot more bearable if he was just restricted to intro's and signing off roles, and didn't try to take all credit for G-Forces success!

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17-11-2011 18:38

Transmute Jun Transmute Jun is a Female

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quote:

Originally posted by Victoria
By the way, when I saw that picture of the team in their civvies, I had to think 'Oh look! It's Chewbacca, princess Leia, Luke and Han Solo! In the presence of some... shaved Ewok or something...'

That's perfect!!!! thumbsup2

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This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Transmute Jun on 17-11-2011 at 21:44.

17-11-2011 21:44

Becky Rock Becky Rock is a Female

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quote:

Originally posted by Transmute Jun
I'm sure there were MANY copies of R2D2 in various 70s shows. Star Wars was far too popular not to be imitated.

I don't mind Pimer (the Gatch II autopilot). As you say, LB, he served an appropriate purpose (flying the ship, to allow Ryu to get off and go on missions and have his own G-machine) and didnt' talk too often. And when he did talk, it was very 'mechanical' and impersonal... NO personality quirks!

And he certainly didn't make creepy comments about Jun.

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17-11-2011 23:58

KT1972

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I think that the Sandy Frank team were influenced by many Sci-fi shows of the time, 1-rover-1's resemblence to K-9 of Doctor Who springs to mind!
Can anyone spot references to other 70's TV shows they could have "borrowed" from?

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18-11-2011 09:33

Transmute Jun Transmute Jun is a Female

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Well we previously had a discussion about how the 'cerebonics' sounded awfully close to 'bionics' aka the Six Million Dollar Man/Woman.

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18-11-2011 15:11

KT1972

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And did the idea for robotic personalities come from The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy's Marvin the paranoid Android?

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18-11-2011 16:48

amethyst

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quote:

Originally posted by KT1972
And did the idea for robotic personalities come from The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy's Marvin the paranoid Android?

Probably more likely from Hal of the Space Oddessy series or Robot from Lost In Space.

I've read the Hitchiker's books, but it has been a long time, so I googled them not knowing when they came out. Wikipedia shows them based on a radio show that ran in Enland starting in 1978, that it was running concurrently to when BotP was released in the US.

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18-11-2011 17:55

lborgia88

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BOTP's "Intergalactic Federation of Peaceful Planets," squared off against planet Spectra sure does seem like it could have been influenced by Star Trek's "United Federation of Planets," and its dealings with Klingons or Romulans.

18-11-2011 18:17

KT1972

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quote:

Originally posted by amethyst

quote:

Originally posted by KT1972
And did the idea for robotic personalities come from The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy's Marvin the paranoid Android?

So no then! Big Grin

That will teach me to do my homework before posting, although it's a good point that there were a lot of Sci-fi shows around at the time and a few would have been influenced by others.

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18-11-2011 18:31

The Other Jason The Other Jason is a Male

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Hi all,

quote:

Originally posted by KT1972
I think that the Sandy Frank team were influenced by many Sci-fi shows of the time, 1-rover-1's resemblence to K-9 of Doctor Who springs to mind!
Can anyone spot references to other 70's TV shows they could have "borrowed" from?

I can add a hopefully interesting little story about the origins of 1-Rover-1 that was passed along to me by Jameson Brewer. As he and his staff completed episodes of Battle of the Planets, they would send cuts of them to Sandy Frank and some of his consultants for notes.

One of the early episodes they worked on before the series aired was "Orion, Wonder Dog of Space." Jameson remembered a late night conference call with Sandy and the consultants about it where one of them kept insisting that Orion was too big. His point was children preferred small dogs and puppies and he didn't quite "get it" that the Japanese animation couldn't be changed like that. He kept pushing the whole conversation for them to change Orion into a small dog. Obviously, that wasn't going to happen!

But the point was made, and his comments made the staff consider adding a dog. When they later took episodes to be audience tested in front of kids, one of the main questions they asked on their form was whether or not 7-Zark-7 should have a dog. Almost 60% responded "Yes."

So that's the reason 1-Rover -1 is there. One consultant and a slice of the viewing public spoke up. I don't know if his appearance was based on anything in particular though.

And welcome, KT1972, since I didn't say it before!

This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by The Other Jason on 18-11-2011 at 20:34.

18-11-2011 20:33

KT1972

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Thank you the other Jason for that welcome Thanks

I'd often wondered what the point of 1-rover-1 was, because other to hold Zark's towel, he really doesn't do anything. He certainly doesn't add anything to the story IMHO!!!
If anyone can show me any different I'd be happy to hear about it Smile

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18-11-2011 21:17

RIgirl

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Awww .. that's a great story, Jason!

No, Orion was never going to be a small dog, and I can't even imagine how they thought they could change a detail like his size!

I was, however, entirely grateful as an adult that the Sandy Frank producers kept the guise that he was still alive at the end, even if left behind. I was devestated when I watched the end of the "Gatch" version and would have been even more so had I watched that as the naive 10-year-old that I was.

And I must confess that I never minded 1-Rover-1; in fact, I rather liked him ... especially considering that he was fond of dismantling Zark's ready room with his snackie wrenches!

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18-11-2011 22:01

amethyst

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RIgirl, I agree, 1-Rover-1 was definitely less annoying than Zark, but that could just be the fact that I am a dog person, too.

I'm not sure how I would have reacted to Orion's death. By the time I was 8 and watching BotP I had already experienced the loss of two dogs: one we had to put to sleep for back tumors and one we had to give away because she would not stay in the backyard no matter how high the fence and the front yard was not safe, we lived on a busy street.

But this talk of influence has me wondering: Could Zark and Rover have influenced the makers of Star Trek: The Next Generation when they gave Data his cat, Spot?

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18-11-2011 22:26

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RI Girl, I felt the same way about Rover. I didn't mind him. He didn't add anything to the show, but it was nice to see him and be able to watch him rather than some of the stuff that Zark waffled on about.

Plus I always thought it would be fun to have a robot dog at your beck and call, ready to carry things for you or to take messages (or dirty plates to the kitchen) rather then me having to carry them myself. Big Grin

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18-11-2011 22:27

Transmute Jun Transmute Jun is a Female

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I am as far from an 'animal person' as you can get, so I wouldn't have been bothered at all as a kid if Orion had died. However, 1-Rover-1 wasn't a problem for me at all. In fact, I liked him much better than Zark, who talked too much and for too long!

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18-11-2011 22:32

Becky Rock Becky Rock is a Female

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quote:

[i]But this talk of influence has me wondering: Could Zark and Rover have influenced the makers of Star Trek: The Next Generation when they gave Data his cat, Spot?

That's a good question. But at least Spot was real.

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18-11-2011 23:40

Transmute Jun Transmute Jun is a Female

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quote:

Originally posted by Becky Rock
That's a good question. But at least Spot was real.

And had kittens to prove it!

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19-11-2011 01:24

lborgia88

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quote:

Originally posted by The Other Jason
But the point was made, and his comments made the staff consider adding a dog. When they later took episodes to be audience tested in front of kids, one of the main questions they asked on their form was whether or not 7-Zark-7 should have a dog. Almost 60% responded "Yes."

That's some neat info, Jason!

Though if I'd been one of the kids, back then, I'd have said that Zark should have a cat. Cat

19-11-2011 05:56

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