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Unlike most Battle of the Planets lists that present episodes in their Gatchaman running order, this site will present them
in Sandy Frank Entertainment's original suggested running order.
This viewing order was sent
by Sandy Frank to buyers who purchased all
eighty-five episodes of the program. However, it is entirely possible one viewer can remember the series in a completely different order than another. Station buyers were under no obligation to follow Frank's suggested running order, and distribution anomalies also crept in that altered airing order.
Other episode order lists exist for stations that picked up fewer than the full eighty-five episode run, or the actual North American airing order. But seeing as there is an order that Sandy Frank prefrerred, it is the one I feel most comfortable following. Additionally, I feel that the full list very closely follows the series' true production order. Examination of the scripts shows the viewing order presented here to be highly consistent with notes and directions contained within. Whenever a script makes note of "new animation" or "new music," that also seems to be consistent with the suggested viewing order's first appearance of the material. There are many examples of that occurring throughout the run of the series, with only a couple minor anomalies.
The column to the
left is broken down into the original seventeen week run for Battle
of the Planets. A quick note on production numbers; The Battle of the Planets producers used the Gatchaman episode numbers for their own production numbers. I have chosen to follow suit and refer to the episodes by production number throughout the site. For example, when referring to the second aired Battle of the Planets episode, "Siege of the Squids," it will be represented by its production number, 36. I got used to dealing with the episodes this way in day-to-day work, and I hope it doesn't present an additional point of confusion for anyone following the guide.
In addition to the seventeen weeks listed to the left, there are also links for all the episodes on one page (in Sandy Frank's order), all the episodes in alphabetical order, the North American Schedule "A" airing order and comparisons of various airing orders from the US and around the world.
Here is an explanation of what you will find on each episode's page:
- Episode Title
- Title Card - Frame grab of the episode's original title card
- Writer - Presented when known
- Alternate Title(s) - Presented when known
- Production Number - The number used by the crew when creating the episode
- Airing Number - Where the episode was to air in Sandy Frank's suggested running order
- Completion Date- When work on the episode was completed and it was delivered to have prints made
- Preview/Trailer - Does the episode begin with a pre-story preview or end with a post-story trailer? Most episodes of Battle of the Planets have one or the other. Click the
link to learn about the different versions
- Credits - Which
version of the credits does the particular episode have? Click the
link to learn about the different versions
- TItle Cards - Which version of the title card does the particular episode have? Click the link to learn about the different versions
- Official episode synopsis - These links present Sandy Frank's official synopsis for each episode. When known, alternate official versions are also included. These synopses are presented as written, with no corrections made.
- Plans - A symbol for each organization ( or  ) with a brief description of their goal(s) for the episode
- Symbols - Symbols when any of the following are found in an episode:
The amount of a particular symbol indicates how many times each item occurs in the episode. If "Big Ten" was said three times in an episode, there will be three symbols
- Synopsis - A moderately
detailed synopsis for each episode, including key plot points
and any important information to help understand the characters
better. These synopses give the entire plot of a given episode, so be wary if you don't like "spoilers"
- Galaxy Security Report - A brief file on Spectra's monster machines. This includes type of machine, origin, sighting location, weaponry and ultimate fate of the machine
- "In This Episode We Learn:" - Any interesting revelations within the episode or behind-the-scenes notes can be found here
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