The "Anime Space Race" created by Battle Of The Planets

[Cure DragonEagle 255]

Battle Of The Planets was an iconic show but one of the biggest legacies it has that hasnt been brought up is the "Anime Space Race" it created. When it aired, at the red hot heat of Star Wars it created a bigger demand for outer space shows in the USA. The biggest of these being Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato) which had the company that brought it brag "Most Space shows are really repackaged and edited super hero shows (directly criticizing Battle) but our show is outright set on space!"

[Stardust]

Technically we could argue it did have to do with outer space to a degree. It dealt with an alien entity coming to our planet to take over for their planet. Messing with twins and forcing them to merge, and then hanging out for about 15 or so years waiting for said merged twins to grow up some and make the poor mutant his puppet. All while building up Galactor.
Then at the end of it all, he tells Katse see ya, I lied to you, and blasts off into outer space. Only to return and ruin some other poor child's life.

[Cure DragonEagle 255]

Technically we could argue it did have to do with outer space to a degree. It dealt with an alien entity coming to our planet to take over for their planet. Messing with twins and forcing them to merge, and then hanging out for about 15 or so years waiting for said merged twins to grow up some and make the poor mutant his puppet. All while building up Galactor.
Then at the end of it all, he tells Katse see ya, I lied to you, and blasts off into outer space. Only to return and ruin some other poor child's life.

Too bad Battle cut all of that out lol. Gatchaman has that backstory and ending but not Battle. The only addendum I would tell that Starblazers guy "There is an space alien but the reveal was cut out!"

[Stardust]

True enough. At that time having an individual that carried both sex parts and can change at will was just something American minds weren't ready for apparently. Same reason why ten years later Sailor Neptune and Uranus we're dubbed as cousins.
I appreciated it when they re did Sailor Moon and not only took away the cousins crap, but had Uranus be non-binary.

[The Other Jason]

Hi Cure DragonEagle,

Battle Of The Planets was an iconic show but one of the biggest legacies it has that hasnt been brought up is the "Anime Space Race" it created. When it aired, at the red hot heat of Star Wars it created a bigger demand for outer space shows in the USA. The biggest of these being Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato) which had the company that brought it brag "Most Space shows are really repackaged and edited super hero shows (directly criticizing Battle) but our show is outright set on space!"

After Star Wars re-ignited the interest in the genre, there were going to be a lot of space-based follow-up projects no matter what. But Sandy Frank’s Battle of the Planets beat most of them to air. His unreal sales success was noticed by other North American program buyers, as well as where he got his content. It proved Japanese animation was a viable option again.

There was an earlier dubbed version of the Yamato feature film that got syndicated to some parts of the US in 1978, It beat Battle to air by more than half a year. But despite its content, it didn’t seem to have created much of a stir. It was offered to the US under different circumstances though, and didn’t have Sandy’s push behind it.

Without Battle, I really wonder how long it would have taken for anyone else to take notice of things from Japan. Surely, I think Japanese studios would have pushed their space-based programming harder after Star Wars. So something likely would have happened. But how soon? Without Battle, would Yamato have been chosen as the first post-Star Wars Japanese series to be developed, or would another series have capitalized on it?

If that was an actual statement from the promoters of Star Blazers… well, they weren’t wrong!

[LadyMallanox]

I’m not sure if the original “Starvengers” (Getter Robo G) is actually a space show or not because I’ve only watched a couple episodes of the original Getter Robo (according to Google it is), but, there’s another 70’s space anime!

The original Getter Robo was actually probably inspired by Gatchaman, it has the whole combining mecha thing (it actually utilizes this idea MORE than Gatchaman) and the 3 guys, one girl, and a little kid team build (though, it mostly focuses on the main 3 guys

Spoiler

and the one more like Ryu dies instead of the guy who’s more like Joe.

)

[Cure DragonEagle 255]

Hi Cure DragonEagle,

Battle Of The Planets was an iconic show but one of the biggest legacies it has that hasnt been brought up is the "Anime Space Race" it created. When it aired, at the red hot heat of Star Wars it created a bigger demand for outer space shows in the USA. The biggest of these being Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato) which had the company that brought it brag "Most Space shows are really repackaged and edited super hero shows (directly criticizing Battle) but our show is outright set on space!"

After Star Wars re-ignited the interest in the genre, there were going to be a lot of space-based follow-up projects no matter what. But Sandy Frank’s Battle of the Planets beat most of them to air. His unreal sales success was noticed by other North American program buyers, as well as where he got his content. It proved Japanese animation was a viable option again.

There was an earlier dubbed version of the Yamato feature film that got syndicated to some parts of the US in 1978, It beat Battle to air by more than half a year. But despite its content, it didn’t seem to have created much of a stir. It was offered to the US under different circumstances though, and didn’t have Sandy’s push behind it.

Without Battle, I really wonder how long it would have taken for anyone else to take notice of things from Japan. Surely, I think Japanese studios would have pushed their space-based programming harder after Star Wars. So something likely would have happened. But how soon? Without Battle, would Yamato have been chosen as the first post-Star Wars Japanese series to be developed, or would another series have capitalized on it?

If that was an actual statement from the promoters of Star Blazers… well, they weren’t wrong!

Well, I do know Battle was absolutely iconic and I did see how well it did in ratings. But so far I havent had that "Oh wow this show is HUGE!" flex moment. Like Voltron sold all those those and defined a generation and was a number one hit, but it never occurred to me just how huge until I saw that Disneyland trip WEP did with Make A Wish. That was the moment I KNEW kids absolutely LOVED Voltron.

Also I cant get enough of your wit, Other Jason, you are great. And you are right.

[The Other Jason]

Well, I do know Battle was absolutely iconic and I did see how well it did in ratings. But so far I havent had that "Oh wow this show is HUGE!" flex moment. Like Voltron sold all those those and defined a generation and was a number one hit, but it never occurred to me just how huge until I saw that Disneyland trip WEP did with Make A Wish. That was the moment I KNEW kids absolutely LOVED Voltron.

Also I cant get enough of your wit, Other Jason, you are great. And you are right.

There are a few reasons why Battle may not be as vividly remembered as some of the other late 70s - 90s cartoon series. It may simply be that the series was a couple years too early to capitalize on certain trends. By the time they were fully-realized, Battle had become rather passé.

Like it or not, many of the most memorable and well-loved shows that started in the 80s were heavily tied into toy lines. Various toy companies put their weight behind shows like G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Voltron, Transformers, My Little Pony, etc.

Battle, however, came in an era where merchandising regulations for children’s television programming were different. Merchandising deals themed on such programs were allowed, but they largely could not be cross-promoted with one another. That changed in 1981, and the following season brought the first of the above-mentioned shows (and more).

Battle was also spent far too quickly. It ran all 85 of its new episodes in about five months. The rest of its contract window, the maximum of which was five years, was filled with re-runs. Kids may have watched for all five years (if it remained in their market) hoping for new episodes that were never coming.

It may have had a more lasting impact had it been divided up into at least two seasons of new episodes. With two years of new programming, then more promotion and merchandising deals could have been made between the seasons, New items could have potentially been available when the second batch of new episodes started. Even if they couldn’t have explicitly promoted them during the show, kids would have found out about anything that was being made. But two seasons, or maybe even more, would have meant more viewers for a longer time with new content and who knows what may have developed?

Battle was a huge success out of the gate, but after all the new episodes were gone, there was nothing else to follow up. So kids were attracted to newer different programs.

Finally, I think Sandy Frank was unprepared for Battle’s success. At least past the point of his sales to television station programming buyers. Which really, due to his previous experience, was the main point of what he was doing. Those sales were all that mattered.

Battle was his first new-to-air series and it was a kid’s one at that. He didn’t have the experience to know he should have negotiated merchandising deals way before it hit the air. He focused on TV sales first, then merchandising. He should have had a dedicated team taking care of the tie-in agreements while he was getting the programming sales completed. By his accounts to me, it didn't happen like that. His TV sales success alone could have attracted major licensing partners from the earliest stages. But he started a bit too late to merchandise the series, with most items appearing in 1979 after all the new series content was already aired.

Early fans who wrote in received things like promotional flyers that Frank made for trade show appearances, mailing labels, stationery and other rather… well, dull items. They were more for Sandy Frank’s own company use than for fans. Ideally, he would have had promo photos/prints, posters, sticker sheets, buttons/pins, notebooks or any number of other inexpensive hand-outs made up by licensing partners to send back to eager fans. He did eventually send out some nice things like comics, but again, it was after the series had already shown all of its new content.

I know it’s a fondly-remembered series for those of us who grew up with it (and there were many). But, with so many series from that era, the merchandise helped shape a lot of the enjoyment for kids. Maybe that's good, maybe not. Toys and such were also not always the sole factor for kids to love and remember a program. Although, without all the goodies that other toy-driven series had, Battle’s not as easy to look back on with that same nostalgic angle.


Additional thoughts, anyone?