Battle of the Planets: The New Exploits of G-Force

In 2003, Sandy Frank made plans for a new version of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, with its beginning as Battle of the Planets: The Movie. Further development resulted it being titled The New Adventures of G-Force and changed again to Battle of the Planets: The New Exploits of G-Force. It was to use the 20 episodes of Gatchaman that they originally didn't get to utilize, as well as redubs of at least 32 other episodes, and akin to the original adaptation, feature new animation.

History

In the little that is known of this version, Keyop would have reverted to Jinpei's original origin of being an average kid, and the 7-Zark-7 segments would be done in CGI (a test by Los Angeles-based JulesWorld Animation exists for evidence of what was planned in that area). There would also have been somewhat relaxed standards on violence and carnage, and the characters were said to be "stronger" in personality than before.

It was decided that the Vancouver-based Ocean Studios would handle the ADR production, as the original actors had either passed away or were considered too old to reprise their roles. Canadian law also dictated that since the series was being produced in Canada, the voice acting had to be done there as well. One pilot was dubbed, which was an updated version of "The Sea Dragon", and had two different forms: one with dialogue and editing geared more towards action and adventure, and the other a more comedic telling.

Sandy Frank had various plans of marketing this version, with one aim to get it airing on Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang in spring 2004, along with Battle of the Planets: The Movie. He had also been in talks with major studios such as Warner Bros. and Disney over an all-new animated production not utilizing the Gatchaman footage, in hopes of putting it out by 2005.

However, Sandy Frank ultimately opted to not go ahead with the New Exploits/Adventures series, believing it would be too expensive to produce and not wanting to risk it flopping (as well as a lack of interest from networks). All plans for this resurgence of Battle of the Planets were replaced with the ADV Films uncut dub DVD releases of Gatchaman.

Gallery

7-Zark-7 test CG animation by JulesWorld.

Battle of the Planets CGI

Battle of the Planets CGI - Phoenix

Battle of the Planets CGI - G-Force

Voice Cast

• Zoltar: Trevor Devall
• Princess: Nicole Oliver

Other actors credited for the pilot but not yet identified to roles include: Scott Campbell, Michael Dobson, Samuel Vincent, French Tickner, and Richard Newman.