Editing Battle of the Planets (section)

==Plot==
''Battle of the Planets'' cast five young people as G-Force, consisting of Mark, Jason, Princess, Keyop, and Tiny. G-Force protects Earth from the planet Spectra and other attacks from beyond space. The most prominent field commander of the Spectra forces was a villainous, masked individual known as Zoltar. Zoltar would receive his orders directly from a being he would refer to as the "Luminous One". The Luminous One would appear as a ghost-like, disembodied, floating head. Who, or what, this being actually was, is never explained in any detail throughout the series.

The main ship of the G-Force team was called the ''Phoenix'', which could carry, transport, and deploy four smaller vehicles, each operated by one team member. The four vehicles included a futuristic race car with various hidden weapons driven by Jason; this vehicle was concealed within the Phoenix's nosecone. The "galacti-cycle", a futuristic motorcycle Princess rode, was stored within the left-wing capsule of the Phoenix. Keyop's "Space Bubble", an all-terrain, tank-like vehicle capable of [[VTOL]] as well as being a submersible craft, was held in the right storage capsule of the Phoenix. And lastly, a futuristic jet fighter Mark pilots was stored in the top rear section of the Phoenix command island structure, and which used its tail fin to make up the center tail fin of the Phoenix. The fifth crew member, Tiny, was assigned to pilot the ''Phoenix'' rather than one of the detachable craft.

A regularly featured plot device was the transformation of the Phoenix into a flaming bird-shaped craft able to handle virtually any exceptional situation for a brief period by essentially turning itself into pure energy called the Fiery Phoenix. The ''Phoenix''{{'s}} primary weapon was a supply of rockets called "TBX missiles" in the series. It also occasionally flaunted a powerful solar-powered energy blaster, although the team had the misfortune of choosing very cloudy days to use it.

The G-Force team themselves would use a combination of martial arts skills, ninja-like weapons, and their "cerebonic" powers to dispatch hordes of enemy soldiers and overcome other obstacles. Their bird-like costumes include wing-like capes that could fan out and function nearly identically to [[parachute]]s and/or [[wingsuit]]s, enabling the G-Force members to drift or glide down to safety from heights that would otherwise prove fatal.

The G-Force members stay in contact through a wrist-band communicator device which also serves as a way for them to change or "transmute" instantly from their civilian clothes into their G-Force uniforms, and back again. Other weapons seen displayed by various team members include Mark's sonic [[boomerang]], a bird-shaped boomerang with razor-sharp wings; Jason's and Tiny's multi-purpose gadget guns, which can be outfitted with grappling hook and line, drill bits, etc.; and Keyop's and Princess's yo-yo bombs, which could be used as bolas, darts, and explosive devices. Other weapons include feathers with a sharpened steel quill that could be used as deadly throwing darts and mini-grenades shaped like ball bearings with spike studs.

=== Key changes in the adaptation ===
The ''Battle of the Planets'' adaptation differs significantly from ''Gatchaman''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mania.com/battle-planets-vol-2_article_81192.html |title=Battle of the Planets Vol. #2 |publisher=Mania.com |access-date=2013-09-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223150759/http://www.mania.com/battle-planets-vol-2_article_81192.html |archive-date=2014-02-23 }}</ref> The difference is due to heavy editing made to make the show appealing to the audience in the United States by removing controversial elements (i.e. graphic violence, profanity, and a gender changing mutant) while adding elements reminiscent of the feature film ''[[Star Wars (film)|Star Wars]]'', which was popular at the time. In fact, the name "Battle of the Planets" was an attempt to associate itself with the popularity of ''Star Wars''. While the original ''Gatchaman'' was earthbound, dark-toned, and environmentally themed, the adaptation morphed it into a less violent outer space show with [[robot]] characters, although some environmental themes were kept, and this is also why the other planets to which G-Force traveled on missions looked very much like Earth. Setting, violence, objectionable language, and certain character fatalities were altered or eliminated by cutting scenes, dubbing, and explanatory [[voice-over]]s (for instance, claiming that the city had been evacuated before a battle scene that would show the incidental destruction of buildings and houses, as well as explaining away the destruction of the Earth armies and air forces as being robot tanks and fighter planes).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/battle/trivia.shtml|title=BBC - Cult - Classic TV - Battle of the Planets|work=[[bbc.co.uk]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527201038/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/battle/trivia.shtml|archive-date=27 May 2008|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=search&sval=battle+of+the+planets&article_no=938&page=2|title=New from Japan: Anime Film Reviews|access-date=25 June 2008|work=[[Animation World Network]]|date=28 December 2001}}</ref>

One of the most notable changes in the ''BotP'' adaptation involves the character Keyop (Jinpei in ''Gatchaman''), who picked up a bizarre verbal [[tic]] of stuttering, chirping, and burbling every time he started to speak. There was a longstanding fan rumor that this was done because the original character spoke using much profanity and that Keyop's excess mouth motion would cover up deleting the words. This was not true, as demonstrated by the existence of an unedited ''Gatchaman'' version released by [[ADV Films]] in the US, in which Jinpei rarely, if ever, used profanity. The in-story explanation for Keyop's unique manner of speech is that he is an artificial life form with a speech impediment because of slightly defective genetic engineering.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Agv8Lfp4DvUC&pg=PA53 |title=G-Force Animated - Jason Hofius, George Khoury, Alex Ross - Google Boeken |date=2002-12-15 |isbn=9781893905184 |access-date=2012-03-16|last1=Hofius |first1=Jason |last2=Khoury |first2=George |publisher=TwoMorrows }}</ref>

The main villain, known as Zoltar in ''BotP'', had an unusual background due to the gender changing [[mutant]] nature of the original Berg Katse character. In an episode where Katse's female half was featured (''BotP'' title: "The Galaxy Girls"), she was introduced as a separate character, Zoltar's sister, for ''BotP''. (A hint of her actual nature was retained in the name she used when masquerading as a human, Mala Latroz—"Latroz" is an anagram of "Zoltar".)<ref name="books.google.com"/>

To compensate for the other differences, a robot named 7-Zark-7—who watched over G-Force from their base, Center Neptune—performed explanatory voiceovers and light comic relief, which not only padded the time lost from editing but also filled in the gaps in the storyline. This device bears the influence of contemporary ''Star Wars'' film, with 7-Zark-7 having a visual appearance not dissimilar from [[R2-D2]], and a somewhat [[Camp (style)|camp]] personality in the style of [[C-3PO]]. Notionally, 7-Zark-7 ran the undersea monitoring station Center Neptune, from where he received information regarding incoming threats to Earth and relayed that information to G-Force. Zark and other added characters, such as 1-Rover-1, Zark's robotic dog (who could hover from one side of the control room to the other by spinning his tail like a [[propeller]], [[Muttley]]-style) and Susan (the early-warning computer whose sultry feminine voice often sent Zark into [[Ecstasy (emotion)|ecstasy]]) added to the cartoon's youth appeal. Some additional footage was also animated showing G-Force members Mark and Princess (using their ''Gatchaman'' [[model sheet]]s) interacting with Zark, as well putting an image of Mark on a video screen in the control room, helping his addition blend more smoothly into the existing ''Gatchaman'' footage (although there is a clear difference in quality between the Zark and the ''Gatchaman'' animation).

===Character variations===
;{{anchor|Team variations across different versions}}Team variations in different versions

{| class=wikitable
|- valign=bottom
! ''Gatchaman'' !! ''Battle of the Planets'' !! ''G-Force'' !! ''Eagle Riders'' !! [[Original video animation|OVA]] (Harmony Gold dub)!! Rank !! Bird Uniform !! Weapon !! Mecha !! Voice actor (''Gatchaman'') !! Voice actor (''Gatchaman'' OVA)  !! Voice actor (''BotP'') !! Voice actor (''G-Force'') !! Voice actor (Harmony Gold OVA dub) !! Voice actor (''Eagle Riders'') !! Voice actor (ADV TV/Sentai OVA dub)
|-
| Ken Washio ||'''Mark''' || Ace Goodheart || Hunter Harris || Ken the Eagle|| G1 || Eagle || Razor boomerang || Airplane || [[Katsuji Mori]] || [[Masaya Onosaka]] || [[Casey Kasem]] || Sam Fontana || [[Eddie Frierson]] || [[Richard Cansino]] || [[Leraldo Anzaldua]]
|-
| George "Joe" Asakura ||'''Jason''' || Dirk Daring || Joe Thax || Joe the Condor|| G2 || Condor || Pistol || Race Car || [[Isao Sasaki]] || [[Kōji Ishii]] || [[Ronnie Schell]] || [[Cam Clarke]] || [[Richard Cansino]] || [[Bryan Cranston]] || [[Brian Jepson]]
|-
| Jun ||'''Princess''' || Agatha "Aggie" June || Kelly Jennar || June the Swan|| G3 || Swan || Yo-yo || Motorcycle || [[Kazuko Sugiyama]] || [[Michiko Neya]] || [[Janet Waldo]] || [[Barbara Goodson]] || Lara Cody || [[Heidi Noelle Lenhart]] || [[Kim Prause]]
|-
| Jinpei ||'''Keyop''' || Pee Wee || Mickey Dugan ||Jimmy the Falcon|| G4 || Swallow || Bolo || Dune Buggy || [[Yoku Shioya]] || [[Rica Matsumoto]] || [[Alan Young]] || Barbara Goodson ||[[Mona Marshall]] || Mona Marshall || [[Luci Christian]]
|-
| Ryu Nakanishi ||'''Tiny Harper''' || Hoot "Hooty" Owl || Ollie Keeawani ||Rocky the Owl|| G5 || Owl || Pistol || God Phoenix || [[Shingo Kanemoto]] || [[Fumihiko Tachiki]] || Alan Dinehart || [[Jan Rabson]]/ [[Gregg Berger]] || [[Richard Epcar]] || [[Paul Schrier]] || [[Victor Carsrud]]
|}

;Character variations across different versions
{| class=wikitable
|- valign=bottom
! ''Gatchaman'' !! ''Battle of the Planets'' !! ''G-Force'' !! ''Eagle Riders'' !! [[Original video animation|OVA]] (Harmony Gold Dub) !! Voice actor (''Gatchaman'') !! Voice actor (''Gatchaman'' OVA)  !! Voice actor (''BotP'') !! Voice actor (''G-Force'') !! Voice actor (''Eagle Riders'') !! Voice actor (Harmony Gold OVA dub) !! Voice actor (ADV TV/Sentai OVA dub)
|-
| Dr. Kozaburo Nambu-hakase || '''Chief Anderson''' || Dr. Benjamin Brighthead || Dr. Thaddeus Keane || Dr. Kozaburo Nambu || Tōru Ōhira || [[Jan Rabson]]/[[Gregg Berger]] || [[Alan Dinehart]] || [[Ikuya Sawaki]] || [[Michael McConnohie]] || [[Greg O'Neill]] || [[Andy McAvin]]
|-
| ISO Director Anderson || '''President Kane''' || Anderson / Cmdr. Todd (some episodes) || Anderson || Director Anderson || [[Teiji Ōmiya]] || [[Jan Rabson]]/[[Gregg Berger]] || [[Alan Young]] || [[Yonehiko Kitagawa]] || [[Michael Forest]] || || Marty Fleck
|-
| Red Impulse / Kentaro Washio || '''Col. Cronos''' || Red Impulse / Kendrick Goodheart || Red Impulse / Harley Harris || Red Spectre / Kentaro Washio || [[Cam Clarke]] || Bob Papenbrook|| [[Keye Luke]] || [[Unshō Ishizuka]]|| || John Tyson
|-
| Berg Katse || '''Zoltar''' || Galactor || Lukan || Solaris || Mikio Terashima || [[Bill Capizzi]] || [[Keye Luke]] || [[Kaneto Shiozawa]] || [[R. Martin Klein]] || || [[Edwin Neal]]
|-
| Sosai (Leader) X || '''O Luminous One''' / '''The Great Spirit''' || Computor || Cybercom || Lord Zortek || Nobuo Tanaka || [[Jan Rabson]]/[[Gregg Berger]] || [[Keye Luke]] || Nobuo Tanaka || Ralph Votrais || [[Peter Spellos]] || [[Charles C. Campbell (voice actor)|Winston Parish]]
|-
| Gel Sadra || || || Mallanox || || [[Masaru Ikeda]] || || || || || || [[R. Martin Klein]] 
|-
| Sylvie Pandora-hakase || || Dr. Sylvie Pandora|| Dr. Francine Aikens || || Miyuka Ieda || || || || || || Lara Cody
|-
| Announcer || || || || || || [[Norm Prescott]]|| [[William Woodson]] (Main) / [[Alan Young]] (Zark) || Hideo Kinoshita/[[Shūsei Nakamura]]|| || || [[George Manley]]
|}

;Other notable changes
{| class=wikitable style="text-align: center;"
|-
! width=150 | Variations
! width=150 | ''Gatchaman'' (Japanese)
! width=150 | ''Battle of the Planets''
! width=150 | ''Guardians of Space''
! width=150 | ''Eagle Riders''
! width=200 | OVA (English, Harmony Gold)
! width=150 | ''Gatchaman'' (English)
|-
! Identity change command
| Bird, go!‡
| Transmute!
| G-Force, transform!
| Eagle Mode, now!
|
{| border="0"
|- valign="top"
| ''Ken''
| Eagle One, transform!
|- valign="top"
| ''Joe''
| Shapeshift, Condor!
|- valign="top"
| ''June''
| Swan Mode, now!
|- valign="top"
| ''Jimmy''
| &nbsp;Falcon Tracker, transform!
|}
| Bird, go!
|-
! Enemy planet
| Selectol
| Spectra
| Galactor
| Vorak
| Galactor
| Selectol
|-
! Enemy civilization
| Galactor (Gyarakutā)
| Spectra
| Galactor
| Vorak
| Galactor
| Galactor
|}
‡The original Japanese-language version of ''Gatchaman'' contains a small amount of English.