Why adapt so heavily?

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Psycada
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Why adapt so heavily?

Post: # 226Post Psycada »

I know english dubs of anime tended to change a lot of things back in the day, but Battle of the Planets has a TON of work put into it. Extra characters, new animations, heavy edits- it's a completely different show than Gatchaman. I don't have anything against the adaptation itself, but why go through all the trouble? Even english dubs for Cardcaptor Sakura or Astro Boy 2003 didn't go so far.
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The Other Jason
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Re: Why adapt so heavily?

Post: # 227Post The Other Jason »

Hi Psycada,
Psycada wrote: Sat May 15, 2021 3:38 pm I know english dubs of anime tended to change a lot of things back in the day, but Battle of the Planets has a TON of work put into it. Extra characters, new animations, heavy edits- it's a completely different show than Gatchaman. I don't have anything against the adaptation itself, but why go through all the trouble? Even english dubs for Cardcaptor Sakura or Astro Boy 2003 didn't go so far.
The main reason Battle of the Planets was so heavily edited was due to violence. Gatchaman depicted a lot of action that was not permissible on US television. When it was adapted by Sandy Frank, much of the physical action, explosions that showed people getting shredded, guns being fired at characters, on-screen deaths, etc., had to be removed. To smooth those over (and to attract Star Wars fans), 7-Zark-7 was added. They also used pre-episode previews and a post-episode "Tune in again..." piece to help fill in even more time.

Eight years later, when G-Force: Guardians of Space, the second dub of Gatchaman was produced, the television landscape and permissions had changed a great deal. So its content was allowed to be much more intact than Battle's.

Battle was probably the most heavily edited Japanese animation program to be shown on US television. It came along at just the right - or wrong - time that it was felt the series had to be handled that way. I often wonder what the show would have been like if it had been adapted a few years later.
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Bobkat
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Re: Why adapt so heavily?

Post: # 230Post Bobkat »

Interesting you would mention the timing Jason. I've read quite a bit and there's been discussions on another forum dedicated to a 1970s live-action series. They ran into the same thing! There was a big push by the networks to tone down the violence and the gun play in late 1970s.

The police procedural that the fans discuss on a regular basis was already on its last legs but trying to tone down the violence seemed to be its death knell. Also of note, all the primetime shows of the time were facing the same thing. Some survived, some didn't.
Cure DragonEagle 255
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Re: Why adapt so heavily?

Post: # 231Post Cure DragonEagle 255 »

Have you seen Maple Town? They added a Lady that narrates the episodes 7 Zark 7 style? And I dare to say you have not seen the Kids WB cut of CARDCAPTORS. I normally loathe editing but if its to reach actual children and not anime nerds editing is necesary. And I say this as an anime nerd.

HOWEVER. I do NOT think editing is necessary to APPEAL to children. The show should be cool and interesting enough already ON ITS OWN. What editing was to be done is to allow the widest amount of people to see it. And to make adults approve of the show. Children arent dumb but adults treat them like babies.

One of the most enlightening parts of the history of Battle of the Planets is that it wasnt kids who needed convincing it was viable, it was adults. I know you told me the actual story wasnt like that ,Other Jason, but many adults did doubt Battle Of The Planets would succeed. But in the end it did air and children embraced the show.


Links:

Maple Town


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akSJ1L1AylA&t=23s
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Psycada
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Re: Why adapt so heavily?

Post: # 232Post Psycada »

The main reason Battle of the Planets was so heavily edited was due to violence. Gatchaman depicted a lot of action that was not permissible on US television. When it was adapted by Sandy Frank, much of the physical action, explosions that showed people getting shredded, guns being fired at characters, on-screen deaths, etc., had to be removed. To smooth those over (and to attract Star Wars fans), 7-Zark-7 was added. They also used pre-episode previews and a post-episode "Tune in again..." piece to help fill in even more time.
Ooh, this is all interesting! I have to give them credit, even if the end result was completely different than the original, it's not easy to make everything fit a new story. Looking back at the episodes I've watched that's a LOT of content to have to take out, there always seems to be a good two minutes' worth of pummeling for every episode.

Out of curiosity I found a BotP episode to see what it was like (episode 3 I think, with the giant mummy) the other day, it's honestly not that bad on its own. The team seems to keep up the same banter and I think as a kid I would have really related to Keyop. It's a lot better than the english adaptations/dubs I got as a kid- we only had 4kids and one or two shonen animes on cartoon network. If you were lucky you could stay up and see the better stuff on adult swim, lol.
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