The Sci-Fi Fanatic BIG 5: Science Fiction Franchises

In this short life of ours, no matter what science fiction has to offer and throw my way, this writer tends to have his go to series that he enjoys returning to time and again.



Some science fiction concepts, stories, ideas come and go never to register in the synapses again, but there are those that are faithfully returned to as some of the best science fiction comfort food a man or woman could wish for.

The concept of exploration is key and never grows old. Many of these franchise properties have that variable in common.



This is my personal Sci-Fi Fanatic BIG 5: Science Fiction Franchises or properties that seem to have a life of their own and continue to provide enjoyment to me years after they completed their runs as evidenced here at Musings Of A Sci-Fi Fanatic.




1. Star Trek. The most obvious choice for a science fiction fan. The franchise for Star Trek is like Star Wars in terms of abundance. There is just no shortage of material. ST: TOS (1966-1969). ST: TAS (1973-1974). ST:TNG (1987-1994). ST:DS9 (1993-1999). ST: Voyager (1995-2001). ST: Enterprise (2001-2005). ST: Discovery (2017-present). ST: Picard (2020-present).



Like Star Wars, it's fairly relentless and yet in terms of story quality, particularly at this point, Star Trek is head and shoulders above Star Wars for this writer.



Take your pick in terms of television runs and there is plenty for the franchise fan. Star Trek is currently clocking in at eight (8) official TV series. Gene Roddenberry's vision seems infinitely interesting. Sadly, the world of George Lucas has become a rather messy spectacle.



2. Battlestar Galactica. I can't be alone in this camp, but the two TV versions of Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979; 2003-2009) remain treasures. I love them both for very different reasons. One is filled with inspiration and hope, while the other is more often pessimistic, brutal and internally grim when it comes to the human heart. Yet the Glen A Larson original and the Ronald D. Moore reimagining both have their moments of despair and hope.

Without the original we wouldn't have had Moore's work which is important, but without Moore we might not have had this wonderful franchise that makes this list.



Meanwhile, Caprica (2010) and Battlestar Galactica: Blood And Chrome (2012) are good, while not as memorable, but it's time for a return. The books and comic books are excellent as well. Still, I'm ready for a new series or that much fabled, heralded would be film that always seems to be shelved.



Did I mention Galactica 1980 (1980)? OK, maybe that was intentional.

3. Stargate. Ten seasons of the original series, Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007), based on the Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich film coupled with a solid adventure spin-off in Stargate Atlantis (2004-2009) and capped off by the darker, more atmospheric and even cerebral Stargate Universe (2009-2011), this is a property that just got better and better.



There are no shortage of books and comic books to worm your way through either.



4. Space:1999. Just two seasons (1975-1977) of stimulating mind-fucking sci-fi greatness and then nothing. What a shame. But the series has endured and lived on in the form of some wonderfully creative book stories (Powys Media) that any fan of the original series would want to pick up and have on their book shelf resting next to their run of The Expanse. There are some great comic books to seek out there as well.



Alongside Battlestar Galactica the franchise continues to deliver some of the greatest toy collectibles on the market to boot. The Gerry Anderson classic has also been in the mix for a TV remake, but that Eagle has yet to lift off. Nevertheless, when it comes to those Gerry Anderson/ Brian Johnson designs and the series production work it's tough to mess with perfection.



5. Gatchaman/ Battle Of The Planets. The original Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (1972-1974) was one of the best in anime. Simple in its focus, but executed with seeminly uncompromising artistic perfection. The Japanese super hero team adapted from American superhero concepts was then adapted in the USA for Battle Of The Planets (1978-1980).



Gatchaman II (1978-1979)and Gatchaman Fighter (aka Gatchaman F) (1979-1980) followed. A Japanese live action film (2013) was made. Others have been announced and dropped. A reimagined anime OVA (1994) was created from the property. Gold Key comic books (1979-1980) happened. Still, I'm waiting for something as good as the Top Cow comic books (2002-2003) in live action or animation form again. This one remains my dream. Keep dreaming right? Thus it fills my number five spot.



Common variables within these series that draw me back to them beyond the characters is their ship and production designs. Each and every one of these is a feast for the eyes. Space:1999 and Battlestar Galactica may be at the top in this area for me. Science Ninja Team Gatchaman is a close second along with SGU.



This writer wishes he could have included Thunderbirds for its design work and Irwin Allen's Lost In Space. Sadly, the original series of the latter property is the only one that matters and counts for this fan of science fiction. All other iterations including the Netflix series simply pale in comparison. Yet all of the other franchises continue to create varied series or books that remain relevant and stimulating in terms of science fiction adventure.



If I had to choose a franchise ready for reintroduction Space:1999 would be at the top. But I'm just as ready for some more Battlestar Galactica or even another animated Battle Of The Planets. In the meantime, these remain the five best for this writer thus far. G-Force!

Kevin Gifford: On Gatchaman

"If you focus on Gatchaman's sillier elements, it's easy to dismiss it as a bunch of infantile fluff.

 

But there's a far more serious side to it, one that was unheard of in 1972 and is still more deeply developed than a great deal of anime released today.

 

The Science Ninja Team is constantly infighting, and the emotions they're forced to deal with are often quite complex."

 

-Kevin Gifford, Defenders Of The Earth, Newtype USA, May 2005 (p.21)-

Tatsunoko Productions: A Brief History Of

"... Just like in Seven Samurai, we gathered people from all sorts of fields. It was a time when, for the most part, if you could draw, if you said you wanted to make things in a group, if you liked art, you could participate in animation."

 

-Ippei Kuri, Newtype USA, [Inside] Tatsunoko Production, August 2004 (p.16)-

Heavily influenced by American comic book superheroes, not to mention martial arts films, a trio of talented brothers forged and founded what would become Tatsunoko Productions in October 1962. Artist Tatsuo Yoshida, scriptwriter Kenji Yoshida and Toyoharu Yoshida (better known by pen name Ippei Kuri) laid the framework for the still active and thriving Tatsunoko.

The studio's first statement came with Space Ace (1965) followed by Mach Go Go Go (1967-1968), fondly remembered as Speed Racer in America.



Tatsunoko, represented by a seahorse symbol, would become famous for productions like Time Bokan (1975-1976) and Tekkaman: The Space Knight (1975).

The three productions that meant the most to us here in the United States on a grander scale were likely Mach Go Go Go or Speed Racer, Kagaku Ninja-Tai Gatchaman (or Science Ninja Team Gatchaman) (1972-1974), infamously and famously edited stateside as Battle Of The Planets (1978) and finally Casshan (1973-1974).



Tatsunoko took the costumed hero of American comic books and maintained a generally realistic physique and musculature and even added a popular feminine heroine capable of much ass-kicking of her own for the ongoing Gatchaman franchise.

Gatchaman II (1978-1979) and Gatchaman F or Gatchaman Fighter (1979-1980) would follow suit.

Tatsunoko also infused a good deal of emotional depth and passion into its characters.



Gatchaman II and Gatchaman F were derided slightly later. Sadly, many felt the saga of Gatchaman that followed the original first series became predictable and/or overly simplistic when compared. Of course producing 105 episodes of a TV series can certainly have that detrimental effect particularly when Tatsunoko and other companies were hard-pressed to stray far from original formulas. Neverhtheless while Tatsunoko changed up the series with different mecha and variations on villains, the animation was generally not regarded as highly as it was under the guidance of founder Tatsuo Yoshida. *// Unfortunately Yoshida passed away in 1977 a year before Gatchaman II and Gatchaman F were to see fruition. Left in the care of his brothers, a significant guiding light on that series had been silenced with his death.



Still, Tatsunoko would be one of the great forces in anime to generate attention and grow its popularity internationally.

A big inspiration for anime TV Tatsunoko would be a financial backer to the popular Macross (1982) series also edited and brought famously to America as the wildly popular (with kids) Robotech (1985) also a superior robot series to the likes of copy cat works such as Transformers.



Later, Tatsunoko would revisit its popular properties like Gatchaman and Casshan with new interpretations. Using the employ of character designer Yasuomi Umetsu, who Robot Carnival's extraordinary Presence, Casshan Robot Hunter (1993) and Gatchaman (1994) were recrafted and reborn for a new generation and met with modest success.

But it was the series from the 1970s by Tatsunoko that has left its most enduring mark and legacy, at least for me personally.



Science Ninja Team Gatchaman was directed by Hisayuki Toriumi (1941-2009). Toriumi was a remarkable talent for Tatsunoko and his input should not be understated. His work had a profound influence on all three components of the Gatchaman franchise. But Toriumi would one day co-write Dallos (1983) with Mamoru Oshii and direct Area 88 (1985) vacating Tatsunoko in 1979 and helping to found Studio Pierrot that same year. But Toriumi was there for Tatsunoko from the start even working on Speed Racer. He was indeed a gifted animator.



Today Tatsunoko is owned by Nippon Television and others including Production I.G. still making anime. For me, they were certainly one of the formative best in the field.

 

Takashi Oshiguchi: On Tatsunoko Animation

"It's my belief that Tatsunoko animation was always on the search for the depths of human drama. Tatsunoko's animated productions are a reflection of the desires and exacting standards of its founder, Tatsuo Yoshida, and animation of that quality can never become outdated."

 

-Animerica, Vol.7, No.5, p.68, 1999-

Amen Takashi. Indeed Tatsunoko Productions continued to excel in its animating style moving from Mach Go Go Go (Speed Racer) (1967-1968) to Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (Battle Of The Planets) (1972-1974) and its extending franchise as well as Casshan (1973-1974), Macross (1982-1983; Robotech) on production, input on Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995-1996) and beyond. Yoshida left an enduring legacy for the highest anime standards of excellence.



These aforementioned earlier series really demonstrate a high level of quality.




To offer an example, the hand drawn close cels of hands and gears, stick shifts, goggles, etc. can be seen as a running thread throughout these shows. The level of detail and thick black marker in shots is artistically stunning. The hands are a great example of that. They are so distinctively Tatsunoko we should dub the animation style the Tatsunoko glove and shift. You can spot the close ups with Go Mifune in Speed Racer, Mark or Jason in Battle Of The Planets when driving their respective vehicles and so on.



As we cover Battle Of The Planets' entire run we are reminded of the timeless quality of a series that hit the airwaves over forty years ago in its original form. It's just incredible the level of artistry and pride and care that went into these shows.

Science Fiction Non-Fiction: Hofius And Khoury (Gatchaman)

"The characters were distinctive, having depth along with individual personal quirks.  This was a show where the characters were real; they had to have a responsibility for their actions because otherwise innocent people could pay a violent end for their consequences.  It was the show that broke the mold for anime and made it more mature and more exciting...."

 

-Jason Hofius and George Khoury, G-Force Animated: The Official Battle Of The Planets Guidebook (p.10)-

 

Gatchaman (1972-1974) was the real deal and though Battle Of The Planets (1978) was, for all intents and purposes stateside, a watered-down version of the Japanese original minus much of the more thrilling, graphic violence, surprising for a cartoon now more than forty years old, Battle Of The Planets still retained much of the emotional punch and depth.  It was the dramatic arcs and small touches to its characters that was never lost on kids.  The violence may have been reduced, but the overactive imaginations of children everywhere filled in all of the gaps.

40 years!  Can you believe it?

 

Science Fiction Non-Fiction: Alex Ross (Battle Of The Planets) II

"I loved the designs of the characters - the translucent beaks and sleekness of the costumes, the fact that they had the thigh-high boots. Nothing was really going on like that in American super-hero design at the time.  It was a true departure."

-Alex Ross, G-Force: Animated: The Official Battle Of The Planets Guidebook-

The influence of this series on American kids everywhere resulted in the indoctrination of kids like Alex Ross to the world of Japanese anime Tatsunoko-style.  An then one day those same kids would rise up like the fiery Phoenix and become artists and writers in their own right.  In some cases, as with Ross, some would deliver their very own stunning interpretations of these very Japanese heroes.

Ross not only painted some of the most impressive G-Force images ever made but spearheaded the campaign needed to bring a new comic book to life via Top Cow decades after the brief run by Gold Key and artist Winslow Mortimer.

Ross was bringing the very things he loved from his childhood back to life for a new generation.

The power over kids resulted in people like myself returning to the series and delivering it the kind of tribute it deserved long, long ago.  And efforts to immortalize this classic anime and pay it homage continue even today some forty years on right here at Musings Of A Sci-Fi Fanatic.

Science Fiction Non-Fiction: Alex Ross (Battle Of The Planets)

Just so I don't appear the only Battle Of The Planets crazed lunatic, though that's probably true, I'm not the only one with unbridled affection for the series...

"The show seemed much more like the comics I read; a lot more thought out, a lot more drama, a lot more seriousness and the action to the show. Even though it was heavily edited, it was a lot more vivid; vivid with the violence, vivid with the intensity of the characters. Just the expressions on the characters would be so intense to make you feel like, 'Wow! This is really different!'."
 

-Alex Ross, G:Force: Animated: The Official Battle Of The Planets Guidebook, (p.92)-

And of course Ross took that vivid approach and brought it to the new, much more graphic Top Cow comic books release (2002-2003). Even though the book was adorned with the title, Battle Of The Planets (1978), those comic books were a whole lot more violent and much more in step with the likes of Gatchaman (1972). But it went beyond that as well.

As Ross notes, as kids, the Battle Of The Planets edition of Gatchaman still managed to hit all the right notes and retain much of the emotional intensity of the original Gatchaman. To a certain degree Sandy Frank took it a step further on a dramatic level by infusing his characters with that wonderful voice cast led by Casey Kasem. They actually brought another level of depth to Battle Of The Planets that really would have been lost without them as evidenced by other incarnations of Gatchaman and far inferior voice casting.

Hoyt Curtin (1922-2000) & Battle Of The Planets Theme

"... The music of Battle Of The Planets is a significant part of the magic to the appeal of the show. The lovely sound of the harmonies composed by Hoyt Curtin and Bob Sakuma transported the children to a world of rousing adventure and uncanny excitement. When the music was compounded with the show's beautiful animation and dramatic storylines, it proved to be an exhilarating addiction. The organic tonalities of the Battle soundtrack gave it scope, and contributed to the epic storyline's romanticism."

  

-G-Force: Animated- The Official Battle Of The Planets Guidebook (p.60)-

Kicking off both Battle Of The Planets (1978) and Gatchaman (1972) in grand fashion was composer Hoyt Curtin and Bob Sakuma respectively.

Like any unforgettable theme song that does its job and does it right, these themes set the tone for their respective series. Hoyt Curtin (1922-2000) stepped up and in big with his complement to the series for Battle Of The Planets. There isn't a phoned in note to be heard. It's big, bold and memorably brilliant.



The theme song to the series was as powerful, exhilarating and heroically uplifting as they come. The theme itself also speaks volumes about Battle Of The Planets in that the theme actually matched the staying power and original strength of its Japanese counterpart by Sakuma. The Gatchaman theme song, by then young composer Bob Sakuma, was indeed impressive and, equally so, has easily stood the test of time when it comes to theme song classics in its own right. Sakuma relied heavily on horns whereby Curtin turned to synthesizers for a more futuristic appeal. Synthesizers can sometimes prove fatal or date the material wildly, but Curtin managed to walk the line and his theme for Battle Of The Planets holds up remarkably well.



In fact, in designing the theme, Curtin listened to much of the music from Gatchaman before composing his own score which is an approach not always taken. But Curtin was concerned with paying deference to the score of the original composer and wanted to infuse the re-edited Gatchaman series transformed for Battle Of The Planets with compositions that married well to the original Sakuma scoring.

Sandy Frank was also fortunate to land the talents of Curtin who was contracted with Hannah-Barbera producing a long run of terrific theme music to shows like my favorite Jonny Quest (1964-1965) as well as Josie And The Pussycats, Superfriends and other childhood notables like The Flinstones, Top Cat and The Jetsons.



Fortunately for Battle Of The Planets the talent culled for the series resulted in equally stunning music in all its theme song glory establishing a simple narrative setting up the series while also delivering a magnificent theme composition. In the vein of The Incredible Hulk theme opener the narration works for this series too.

For those who enjoy waxing nostalgic here are the few lyrics to the 90 second theme song.

"Battle Of The Planets. G-Force. Five incredible young people with super powers. And watching over them from Center Neptune, 7-Zark-7. Watching, warning against surprise attacks by alien galaxies from beyond space. G-Force. Fearless young orphans protecting Earth's entire galaxy. Always five acting as one. Dedicated. Inseparable. Invincible."

And after the initial episode the opening was modified to a new narration as follows:

"Battle Of The Planets. G-Force. Princess. Tiny. Keyop. Mark. Jason. And watching over them from Center Neptune, their computerized coordinator 7-Zark-7. Watching, warning against surprise attacks by alien galaxies from beyond space. G-Force. Fearless young orphans protecting Earth's entire galaxy. Always five acting as one. Dedicated. Inseparable. Invincible."

As both a fan of Gatchaman and Battle Of The Planets I'm not sure which theme I enjoy more. The fact that I find both to be equally strong speaks to the quality of effort that went into both series. Each theme song sets the tone for the kind of quality production that went into these respective series.

To compare for yourself first listen to the theme for Gatchaman.



And now the theme to kick off the series Battle Of The Planets.  It's also worth noting that the screen scroll doesn't actually get established until Episode 3, The Space Mummy. Before that the logo didn't scroll in Episode 2 and in Episode 1, the logo is altogether different in font.