Note: We didn't forget to talk about Eagle Riders. It is a different show based on Gatchaman II and Gatchaman Fighter that were combined. It is a different thing that will probably get its own episode at some point. We also didn't forget to talk about Gatchaman Crowds or any of the other Gatchaman series. This episode is about Battle of the Planets.

When Disney announced that they were making a "G-Force" movie in 2009, I was ecstatic! Then when I found out it was about Secret Agent Gerbils, I was mad for a month....

G Force was one of my favorite cartoons growing up. Also Star Blazers, Robotech, Voltron, and Speed Racer. The Japanese knew how to make great cartoons in the 70's.

Probably my favourite animated series of the my childhood in the days before any of us had a clue what "anime" was.

This was one of my absolute favorite cartoons in the early 80s...

I was born in 1976 this is one of my earliest memories of watching any cartoon ever. To say that this series stuck with me would be an understatement.

This was the series that started it all for me. I was born in 72, and I was it’s proven target audience. Throw in Star Blazers, and I was hooked. Robotech rounded it out. Try explaining this too your 12 yo son. Yes, mom was a nerd, way back.....

This and Robotech were my morning rituals before school in the early 80s.

I used to wear my mother's tights, high heel boots and the coffee table's cloth, to watch this. I am now a happily married man, father of two.

I’m 52 now and it was one of my favorite shows and Speed Racer. Thank you for putting this up.

I grew up with Battle of the Planets back in the 70s and I loved it

I watched Battle of the Planets back in the early 80s. Great show.

I watched this when I was a child in England, it was BRILLIANT!

Battle of the Planets was a must-watch after I got home from school. :) I yearned for a Phoenix ship of my own, and tried to build one using LEGO, but failed miserably. :) Ahhh the 70's.... I can still hear the theme song and intro when someone says "Battle of the Planets." :)

my mother bought me the metal lunchbox back in the late 70s. I loved it! wish I still had it.... wish I still had my mom!

I was able to put my kids through college with the military contract replacing the cover to the missile firing button. Thanks Jason.

I just realized that Marc is voiced by Casey Kasem. Did this dude just leap into number one for my childhood influences? Was a fanatic for this show AND american top 40. Thanks Casey !!

G force! You don’t how pissed I was when that guinea pig movie came out with the same name.

If you’re a Voltron fan, or Power Rangers fan you should know all about this show. Great series, “FIERY PHOENIX!!!”

Oh man. I loved this show as a kid. You never see or hear of it anymore. Nice trip down memory lane. Thanks!

Among the “Cultural References” that Americans wouldn’t have gotten, was that of the 5 young characters being orphans. The original writers and animators grew up in a post-WWII world where a large percentage of children were orphaned by the horrors of the war. This was so common, that it became unique to Japanese cultural, unlike any other nation or culture. Early anime is inundated with this affect, with many series from the 70s and 80s sharing this unique element. These series include Space Battleship Yamato (Star Blazers), Robotech (Macross) and Gundam Wing.

They used to run episodes on early morning TV, during summer breaks in the early 80's, here in the UK. This style of animation blew my mind. Until then I'd been watching Roobarb and Custard...

My first taste of anime way back in 1978. I had to wait til high school in the 80s and Robotech to get more. G-Force will forever hold a special place in my heart, and I need to find those toys! And win the Powerball to afford them...😭

O. M. G. I am sooooo thrilled to have found this video. BOTP was my absolute favourite cartoon as a kid in the 70's. I used to play on my backyard trampoline and do flips like Princess. I had a crush on Mark. Thank you for remembering this great cartoon.

I watched Battle of the Planets when it first aired on American TV in September of 1978. I was starting the 8th grade and was at a good age to be interested in it. I realized back then it was on TV due to the immense popularity of the 1977 movie Star Wars, and I also realized back then the 7-Zark-7 character was added in for some reason because it seemed so obvious. I enjoyed watching BotP every weekday morning before school and would discuss it at school with one of my classmates who also watched. Two memorable scenes stood out to me up to today: 1) The episode where the mecha was a giant mummy attacking an airport. Aircraft firing upon the mummy set the bandage wrapped around it's head on fire where it then burned away. The mummy mecha then turned and faced the viewing audience giving you a view of the evil-looking design of this mecha. I felt that was very well done. 2) The unmasking of Zoltar by Mark when the G-Force team had him cornered. When the mask in pulled away, Oh Luminous One appears and all we get to see is Zoltar's extremely long blonde hair reaching down to a** level. I was as surprised to see that as the G-Force team was. Decades later, in 2001, I bought the original Gatchaman series on disc and got to learn the truth about the Zoltar character, called Berg Katse in Gatchaman. I won't tell it here in case I spoil it for somebody who hasn't yet watched it.

I loved the hell outta Battle Of The Planets! Still do!!!

Casey Kasem was Mark? Awesome! Now, on with the countdown...

I remember this... We used to make our own bracelets so we could "transform", playing in the schoolyard. Brought back some nice memories. Thank you!

One of the saddest episodes was when Zoltar released some kind of dandelion seeds into the atmosphere and the seeds grew into giant flowers devouring Princess. I can't remember if Princess was OK after that because I missed that episode (and a friend from school badly told me the script of that episode). Oh, and the music!!! I absolutely loved the intro!!!

I remember seeing this when I was very young (here in the U.S.), and I was fascinated by the show. Then when SilverHawks came out, I thought it was a sort of remake of G-Force.

G-Force was actually my first exposure to this franchise. I loved it then...would watch them all again right now if I could.

4:30 karate chopping 7 zark 7. This guy is a frickin genius. I LOVE the video AND your delivery. And thank God for G force. What a beautiful childhood it gave us.

Battle of the planets was one of my favorite cartoons growing up.

Fun fact: In South Korea during the period the Korean government completely censored Japanese media, there existed 3 or 4 Gatchaman knockoffs, the most famous of which was a pirate animated movie called "Eagle 5 Brothers" that stole character models and story elements from Gatchaman. In fact, for a long time, Gatchaman was known in South Korea as "Eagle 5 Brothers" and when the show was pirated by Korean VHS distributors and dubbed in Korean it was a huge hit under that title and had various bootlegged kits and toys to go alongside these VHS'. These were either custom made toys (often kitbashed from other stolen IP's) and South Korean companies like Academy and Popeye Plastics even sometimes reverse engineering parts from existing Gatchaman toys and built these duplicate parts back together and redistributed these identical bootlegs. Many South Koreans from that generation still are unaware that Gatchaman was a Japanese tv show. Even more hilarious is that Academy Plastics (who made bootleg Gatchaman toys in the 80's) is now making officially licensed Gatchaman toys for the adult collector market in South Korea.

BOTP & Star Blazers after school on our 13” black & white TV... just about the best thing ever growing up 😌 Thx Dan & Greg! You guys always know how to make me wish i was a kid again 😋

I remember watching this in the UK on Saturday mornings in the 80's ! Totally loved it ! 😎👍🏻

I loved Battle of the Planets when I was a kid! It was one of my favorite cartoons! I’m so glad I purchased the entire series box set on blu ray of Gatchaman, years ago, to finally see the episodes the way they were originally made.

I know this as "Fuerza G" from growing up in Mexico in the 80s. I own most the Diamond toys as well as the 12". Love this series. Thank you.

I have never clicked on a KZfaq video so fast after getting the notification alert.

Wow! I used to love BATTLE OF THE PLANETS as a kid and thought, “That robot with wings sure looks a lot like R2-D2,” but never thought it was more than a coincidence. I remember having a model kit of their spaceship. Thanks so much for doing this video. I had no idea the show had such an extensive history.

Maaaan... I used to get so many whacks from the nuns in 1977-78 for constantly doodling the Phoenix. Back then there was really nothing for a still picture to copy, everything was straight from memory of the show I had just watched. Every smack and paddling was worth the time spent in imagination. Great trip down memory lane, thank you!

1:44 proves this guy can read my mind ahead of time, that MST3K song is the first thing that popped into my head when he mentioned Sandy Frank

I only knew this show as G-Force during its run on Cartoon Network

Found this late. Battle of the Planets was one of my favourite shows as a kid. I remember waking up early Saturday morning to watch.

The last episode I remember watching when I was a kid, Princess was being swallowed by a giant flower and I have no idea what happened because it wasn't shown again. It disturbed me for years.

It had the best cartoon opening theme ever the music the narration. It just grabbed you, when it came on I didn't move till it was over

BATTLE OF THE PLANETS was one of the greatest cartoons ever and inspired VOLTRON, POWER RANGERS and many more and created the Five Member Template of the Leader, the Loner, the Girl, the Big Guy and the Little Guy!

One thing he missed, among the voice actors was Keye Luke. He was the voice of Zoltar. Quite a guy; his IMDB page goes from 1934 to 1990.

Thank you so much for recognizing Hoyt Curtin. He's an underappreciated national treasure.

I never saw the Starwars influence in BOTP but always loved the Batman-esque detective/ninja aspect! I'll always remember it as Gforce even though it underwent numerous name changes like Eagle Riders, Gatchaman, Battle of the Planets, etc.

Grew up loving Battle of the Planets and thought “G-Force” and “Eagle Riders,” we’re evil bastardizations that weren’t worth my time. It wasn’t till the late 90s that I discovered Gatchaman and the whole history behind the title. I can’t watch any other version but the Japanese original now, but can appreciate Sandy Frank for introducing it to an American audience. Thanks for going into the history of this show.

Hi Dan, love the channel - recent subscriber and I've been going through your back catalogue of videos - all awesome. But ! I nearly spat my beer out when you said no action figures for Battle of The Planets back in the day ! Here in Europe (I'm in the UK) there were a series of "bend-ems" style flexible figures with vinyl capes and hard plastic clear visors that were made by a French company "Orli Jouet" - I had Marc and Jason when I was a kid and now how a full set of mint originals in my collection. Anyways, they're very cool figures and I just wanted to give them a shout out in case you weren't aware of their existance ! Great channel, great vids, take care !

Loved BOTP as a kid ..... Great to see it has not been fully forgotten..Great Video .. Thank you

Every Thursday of the week I look forward to Toy Galaxy posting a video. This is consistent to send me into the weekend with a smile and good old memories.

This was my jam! I can remember playing this with friends when I was tiny! The girls would fight over who got to be princess.

I love that cartoon it is one of my favorites I remember every afternoon after school running home just to catch it on TV.

Blew my mind when I was a kid. It's all we talked about in school. Utterly brilliant and way better then the stuff that came after.

Yep grew up with G force and was totally confused when I first heard about Gatchaman and Battle of the Planets. Cant wait for next week to hear more.

Extra points for the Sandy Frank song from MST3K! Huzzah!

This was great, but my favorite when I was a kid was Starblazers. 7am every morning before school. I wish they hadn't edited the American versions the way they did.

Wow! I was so happy to see this as well as read the comments. I was not the only one who used to come home from school and do my homework immediately so I had the time before dinner to watch both Battle of the Planets and Star Blazers! I was born in 1968 and these two cartoons had a huge impact on me. I always thought they were far superior to Star Wars. Thanks again!

Oh hey! I drew the BotP comic series by Top Cow back in the early 2000s =) It was fun working with Munier and Alex Ross and it was a dream come true as I grew up watching G-Force: Guardians of Space.

This was my first exposure to anime. And I never looked back.

I've been looking for this for 8 years but couldn't remember the name! I'm 47 and LOVED this cartoon! Thank you!

Halloween of 1979, my aunt made me a Jason costume and my friend had a Mark costume made by his aunt's (Celia Cruz) tailor. For obvious reasons, my friends costume was more polished, but I LOVED mine! Plus, his father was able to get G-Force styled plastic boomerangs made for us! Thanks for explaining why no merchandise was ever made! Great video!!

It was the first anime I ever saw, that was back in 1978. When I finally saw Gatchaman(many decades later) I found it lacking.

I love hearing about the differences in "show impact" between countries. Here in Australia, BOTP was an absolute phenomenon, significantly more well-known and more popular than GI Joe (which never really got a solid foothold here) and, for a time, Transformers and MOTU as well. Part of that, I believe, is due to the fact it aired on the nation's public broadcaster (the only channel every household was guaranteed to receive in the late 70s and early 80s) and was, basically, left on repeat for what felt like a decade. Aussies of that vintage may not remember the name "Battle of the Planets" but they will 100 per cent know either G-Force or "those bird guys with the fire spaceship".

I remember this show. Along with Star Blazers, it was so and fascinating different than any other animated shows that I had grown up with to that point.

I remember watching this in re-runs in the very early 80s on Saturday mornings at like 5am as a small child and loving it.

Its funny my favorite from my time was robotech, my older brother loved battle of the planets. Sending this vid to him, he's gonna flip

I remember wanting action figures but never finding any, I even made “suits” for other action figures that were my Battle of the Planets 😂 I got that Witchblade crossover and it’s good 🤔 Great video Mr Larson, Producer Greg 👍🏽✌🏽

This channel is in my personal top 10 on youtube. The work and personality you put into it is amazing. Thank you!

Enjoyed the Battle of The Planets on Global Television as a child from Ontario, Canada.

Loved this show! I remember running home in 1st and 2nd grade to watch this after school

I loved this show as a child. But I just can't watch it after seeing the original unedited Gatchaman.

We called it G-Force, I never knew it had other titles until I was an adult. My friends and I loved G-Force. We would imitate the characters and re-enact the scenes. Great childhood memories when it comes to G-Force. I always thought Jason was more of a leader than Mark, Oh well. G-Force 💪🏾💯

PROPS for covering BOTP!!

Please do Force Five, Grandizer, Danguard Ace and Starblazers. Love this channel :)

There was also a Battle of the Planets video game released in the UK in the early '80s, and a friend of mine was also working on a PS2 Battle of the Planets game in the mid '00s, (It might have been Climax Studios developing it) but was sadly cancelled. The artwork was leaked years ago.

I remember going in toy shops looking for these in the 80’s, And sadly not finding any. I also remember the confusion between the names when trying to find a copy of the show in the late 90’s early 2000’s. Thanks for the video :)

I loved this show as a kid! I was born in 74 and it seems like it was the late 70s early 80s that I watched it. Keyop was my favorite character.

I grew with Battle of the planets, and back then they even sold some short comic books of the episodes. I believe they were imports from Spain. Good times.

Interesting to see also footage from Speed Racer, without mentioning that Tatsunoko Productions also created it as well as Gatchaman. Honestly, a series about the marketing dream that is Tatsunoko Pro would probably be fascinating. Just how many marketable franchises can one company not named Disney create?

Born in 1972, watched this in the UK, it was an important and seminal kids tv show for me, one of my all time faves, and the show that inspired my interest in manga growing up.

I was 9 when I discovered Battle of the Planets in 1980. I was completely blown away by it AND Star Blazers. When I discovered G-Force in my teens I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. Your video on "the confusing history of G-Force" is aptly titled. By the 90's I had learned the history of Gatchaman and Yamato -not to mention Macross and all of the other meta japanimation of the '70's- I was literally mad for years that I fell in love with a bastardized version of a classic. I had been duped! Casey Casem? Seriously?! But I grew to appreciate the sheer genius of the source material and when the Gatchaman OVA came to the USA I was able to turn a whole new group of friends on this very unique and satisfying gem. Love your videos, Man!

Talks about the impact of Star Wars in the entertainment industry,shows footage from ''The Man who saved the World'' AKA ''Turkish Star Wars''. Well played Sir,well played.

The weird sounds Keyop makes when he's talking are when he's cursing ! Children cursing isnt looked upon the same way in Japan as it is in america . When they dubbed the show into englsh they had to come up with something as Keyop seems to curse almost every other word so the weird sounds were invented for him to say . This is what they mean by the adult language problems they had to deal with to make the show TV friendly for a US audience. Great episode , I used to love watching this as a kid , TY for creating this .

When I was just a kid I loved Battle of the planets. I remember watching it before school and after school never missing a day.

The original episodes of Gotchaman are on iTunes and dubbed!! They are awesome!!

Loved the god phoenix advert, just picked one up recently, they are a thing of beauty.

Born in 1972, this was by far my most favorite series back then. I had to run back from school, and when it was on, no one was allowed near the TV. I was such a nerd, I had even made space maps, and we had made a G- Force group at school and we were acting out the episodes during the breaks (hence we needed maps). I still have some merchandising somewhere. I had some coloring books with matching pens, and the whole series of comic books. I have to dig deep for those!

I remember watching this for the first time when I was a kid in the 90's. It was late, I couldn't sleep, and I wanted to have more fun because I was at my cousin's house. I also remember a Megas XLR episode where there was a parody of the G Force characters. It was one of the best episodes.

First ever cartoon I fell in love with when I was 4

Used to love this show growing up 👍

OMG I LOVED this show! Thank you for the video!

In the late 80's, while in elementary school, there was a Phoenix model available as a prize for selling cookies. It came with mini vehicles that fit inside and , for a long time, was my Favorite toy. As for the show, I loved Battle of the Planets, but hated the 7 Zark 7 scenes. Other favorites were Speed Racer, Star Blazers, Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years and Robotech. Later, I found the sources of these shows, and loved them even more. Localizations, even Heavily Flawed ones, opened the door to an amazing world of animated story telling and I appreciate that.

I never watched this show, but I always thought the character designs looked good. I like the bird themed look.

Thank you for this video! I had always had distinct memories of these characters (and those ships!) in my brain that I no doubt saw in syndication (maybe on one of the stations in Washington DC that I got hundreds of miles away on cable for a spell), but I never could put my finger on it later after they disappeared, so now I have another rabbit hole to go down. Yeah... six or seven year old me didn't get why they didn't have toys for all those cool vehicles in stores! I know I drew that blue ship (the Phoenix, yes?) on a notebook a few times.The lack of mass made cultural detritus made that one an easy thing to lose by a formative mind in the deluge of "new" (respun?) things like "Transformers". Oh, being a child that turned 7 in 1980. What a toy store of interesting stuff to grow up in.

I have to say.. that BOTP was my First introduction to Anime.. never looked back since.. I am in my 40s and still gives me Chills seeing the Intro to This .. Awesome you made a Video on this , Good going

I remember getting up and watching this at 5:30 in the morning as a kid. I must have really enjoyed it to do that.