Gatchaman: Battaglia dei Pianeti

Gatchaman: Battaglia dei Pianeti ("Gatchaman: Battle of the Planets") was a 1980s Italian dubbing of Tatsunoko's Science Ninja Team Gatchaman franchise. It bears a unique situation in having utilized all 105 episodes of the first series, but mainly using the English Battle of the Planets scripts and materials as a base.

The same title would be used for branding Gatchaman II and Fighter when they aired in the country, though they were freshly adapted for Italy and not based on any pre-existing English version. Even without the Battle of the Planets material, the same song (referencing 7-Zark-7) would still be used for its opening as well.

The idea of a combined title would briefly be in consideration for Tatsunoko's failed co-production and remake of Gatchaman that was to air in the late 2010s; this project was known in a press release as Battle of the Planets: Phoenix Ninjas, but had at one point carried the title of Gatchaman: Battle of the Planets.

Overview

While first licensed to Italy in 1977, it took a while for the adaptation to get started in part due to Tatsunoko's deal with Sandy Frank happening shortly thereafter and Battle of the Planets being ready for sale first and made to be the worldwide license. A deal was struck for the Italian version to source from Sandy Frank's version for the episodes that had been already adapted into English, but the other 20 episodes of Gatchaman would be licensed directly from Tatsunoko. Both packages would air under the same title and production crew, but would be separate licensing deals as part of Tatsunoko and Sandy Frank's 50/50 control over Gatchaman in Italy.

The dub of the first series began broadcast on TVE/Channel 5 on September 28, 1980 and the contract allowed for it to be aired in the country up to June 1987. The airing of the non-Battle of the Planets sourced episodes began in December 1981 and they would run on Channel 5 up through May of 1987.

The expiration of the broadcasting would coincide with Sandy Frank, through Turner Program Services, offering G-Force: Guardians of Space as the new worldwide adaptation of Gatchaman. However, there is no record of Italy having been included in part of this deal or any Italian "G-Force" having happened after.

Gatchaman II and Fighter would be licensed and broadcast in a separate deal on the channel Italia1 through 1983, with a different cast and production crew while keeping the names of the team from before. Strangely enough, Italy would also receive alternative versions of the sequels through different circumstances; The Ten Magnificent Heroes in 1983 would present a dub of the Korean compilation film of II, and in 2003 an Italian dub of Eagle Riders would be made.

Key Changes in the Adaptation

First Series

• While the G-Force team mostly kept their Gatchaman names, the Swan is referred to as Pretty Jun/Pretty Jane, with the spelling varying through merchandise.
• 7-Zark-7, 1-Rover-1, and Susan exist within the episodes sourced from Battle of the Planets, with those carrying over the same scripts and censorship that were present in English.
• The enemy characters that had been adapted into Battle of the Planets would retain their English names, such as Katse being Zoltar, Galactor referred to as Spectra, and X being "The Great Spirit".
• ISO characters such as Dr. Nambu and Director Anderson would be referred to the English names of Chief Anderson and President Kane.

Second and Third Series

• Dr. Nambu and Anderson's names were reverted to the originals, due to no longer being beholden to the Sandy Frank localization, though Anderson's title was translated as "President".
• Gel Sadra has their name spelled as Ghelsadra, and is treated as an unambiguous female character; she is referred to as a woman, her child self (now named Debbie Pandra) is specified as a daughter, and she was cast with a woman in the role.
• Berg Katse, when referenced in the second series, is referred to as Captain Ratse in a case of censorship due to Katse sounding similar to the profanity "cazzo".
• Leader X (and Z) is now referred to by his original name.
• Getz, or rather the Galactor fake present in the first two episodes, has his Bird Style name re-arranged to be in the same pattern as the rest; "Getz the Hawk" (Getz il Falco) rather than "Hawk Getz".
• Chief Kamo in Fighter is renamed Engineer Ralph, with the nickname "Big Mustache" (Big Baffo).
• Count Egobossler's name is spelled Count Ego Bozler.

Episode List

First Series

This series aired in the standard Gatchaman order, which can create confusion in particular with the 85 episodes that were sourced from Sandy Frank's reversioning and the way they were adapted in their own order.

Only 83 of the 85 episodes from the Battle of the Planets adaptation are available on home media, with most of the rest of the show considered to be lost due to the lack of their Italian masters. The missing 22 episodes are considered to be valued by collectors, particularly the ones that were adapted straight from the Gatchaman plots.

The eleven DVD volumes from Yamato Video, however, do include the Italian dubs of episodes 103 and 105 as extras; these show that the non-Battle of the Planets sourced stories had their own special Italian title cards with the Gatchaman Bird Stye symbol. It would appear that these episodes were only able to be included as extras in the first place due to the expiration of Sandy Frank's worldwide contract in 2007, allowing for Yamato Video to acknowledge that there were more episodes that had available masters outside the Battle of the Planets ones.

The available Battle of the Planets episodes on the DVDs also contain the original English audio tracks.

1. Allarme rosso per i Silos (Gatchaman Versus Turtle King)
2. Il salvataggio degli astronauti (The Monstrous Aircraft Carrier Appears)
3. Incidenti aerei a Zarkadia
4. Lo scorpione spazial
5. Il mistero del pianeta Mir
6. I lingotti galattici
7. Urgos il pianeta introvabile
8. L'inganno
9. La pioggia di meteoriti
10. Gli insetti computerizzati
11. La scorta spaziale
12. Il mostro goloso
13. (Unknown title)
14. Il segreto della vita
15. Il mostro dai mille occhi
16. Il microfilm misterioso
17. Gli scarabei alieni
18. Grazie Nambu
19. (Unknown title)
20. (Unknown title)
21. Il nuovo capo di Spectra
22. Il drago marino
23. Attrazione magnetica
24. Il suonatore di flauto
25. Il gigante di lava
26. La sospensione di Ryu
27. Il lungo rally
28. (Unknown title)
29. (Unknown title)
30. Il cavalletta fantasma
31. Le soldatesse di Spectra
32. La maledizionen dell'astronave
33. Zark il genio
34. (Unknown title)
35. Lo sceicco di Aburra
36. Due nuovi Gatchaman
37. I superpoteri di Orion
38. (Unknown title)
39. La spore malefiche (1a Parte)
40. La spore malefiche (2a Parte)
41. Musica a tutto volume
42. Il travestimento
43. Le vittime del falco
44. Il pipistrello fotonico
45. Le foche di Sytron
46. Lo zeno bianco
47. Il rapimento
48. Raggi cosmici contro Vega
49. (Unknown title, Battle of the Planets master lost)
50. (Unknown title)
51. La cime del pianeta Odin
52. I pericoli dell'X-3 (1a Parte)
53. I pericoli dell'X-3 (2a Parte)
54. Lo scorpione rosso
55. La minaccia del pescecane
56. (Unknown title)
57. La pistola galattica
58. Il gigante del pianeta Zyr
59. L'isola del naufragio
60. Il ppistrello spaziale
61. La vespa gigante
62. Un'esca mortale
63. Zoltar colpisce ancora
64. (Unknown title)
65. Il furto del cervellone
66. (Unknown title)
67. Il raid della piovra
68. La citta silenziosa
69. Il tempio scomparso
70. La folla dei robot
71. (Unknown title, Battle of the Planets master lost)
72. L'invasione delle locuste
73. La foresta indidiosa
74. Lo stivaletto di Pretty Jun
75. La mantide religiosa
76. Efetto raggio
77. Il tesoro della corona
78. (Unknown title)
79. Il disertore
80. Il grande pavone
81. (Unknown title)
82. (Unknown title)
83. Attaco sotterraneo
84. Tranello fotografico
85. (Unknown title)
86. Le super spie spaziali
87. La freccia di cupido
88. La formula proteinica
89. Attacco al Centro Nettuno
90. L'armadillo
91. L'invasione del Centro Spaziale (1a Parte)
92. L'invasione del Centro Spaziale (2a Parte)
93. La colonia spaziale
94. (Unknown title)
95. Il dio Changu
96. Missione su Venere
97. Missili senza controllo
98. Il disertore
99. La torpedine
100. Il mondo del futuro
101. Spionaggio spaziale
102. (Unknown title)
103. (Unknown title)
104. (Unknown title)
105. (Unknown title)

Second Series

Eleven Gatchaman II episodes were not broadcast on TV, only appearing for the first time in Yamato Video's release.

1. Contrattacco del Generalissimo
2. La piumi misteriosa
3. I Cavalieri neri
4. Il ritorno di Joe
5. I mistiriosi ominidi
6. Il potere della piramide
7. La pianta spaziale
8. Missile Cigno
9. La Tigre del Mare
10. Tempeste di neve all'Equatore
11. Un esercito di corvi neri
12. Il segreto del Dott. Raphael
13. Un amore per Joe
14. Impulso Rosso
15. Ryu dal cuore puro
16. Il delirio di Joe
17. La teoria del Diavolo
18. Una ragazza abbandonata
19. Trappola nello spazio
20. Crisi a Citta G
21. Un compagno di scuola
22. Un terribile disastro
23. Il miglior amico dell'uomo
24. Il segreto di Joe
25. Ulf l'amico bionico
26. Chi e il Dottor Pandra?
27. Il Dottor Nambu
28. La piuma dell'amore
29. Base segreta Himalaya
30. Ryu torna a casa
31. L'aquila
32. Sulle Ande
33. Terremoto artificiale
34. Rio della amazzoni
35. L'eredita del Capitano Ratse
36. Citto sotterranea
37. Ali d'acciaio
38. L'isola del drago
39. Joe il Condor e la Rosa Rossa
40. Generalissimo X in azione
41. Gatchaman contro Ghelsadra
42. Osservatorio astronomico
43. Invasione da Marte
44. La sfida dei Gatchaman
45. Un piano malvagio
46. Il segreto di Ken
47. Uccello di fuoco
48. La grande onda
49. La fine di Condor
50. La madre di Ghelsadra
51. Ghelsadra in lacrime
52. La fine del Generalissimo X

Production Staff

First Series

• Distribution: Filmarte
• Dubbing: Mario Colli, Elio Pandolfi

Voice Cast

The voices for the episodes covered from BOTP can be confirmed, while the rest of the episodes dubbed remain unclear due to most having been unreleased on home video. The voice actors for some characters can already be seen to have alternated in the existing episodes, and the numbering listed is how the episodes are treated on home video due to not counting the non-BOTP adapted stories.

• Ken the Eagle: Francesco Prando
• Joe the Condor: Fabrizio Pucci (episodes 1-67, 69-75, 77), Massimo Venturiello (episodes 68, 76, 78-85)
• Pretty Jun the Swan: Valeria Perilli
• Gimpy the Swallow: Fabrizio Mazzotta
• Ryu the Owl: Maurizio Mattioli (episodes 1-60, 64-67, 70), Giuliano Santi (episodes 61-63, 68 and 69, 71-85)
• Commander Anderson: Giorgio Lopez
• 7-Zark-7: Vittorio Battarra (episodes 1-7, 10),Elio Pandolfi (episodes 8 and 9, 11-85)
• Zoltar: Mario Bosco
• The Great Spirit: Gino Lavagetto (episodes 1-13, 15), Mario Chiocchio (episodes 14, 16-85)
• President Kane: Mario Colli, Elio Pandolfi (episode 85)

Second and Third Series

• Distribution: ITB
• Dubbing: CRC with the collaboration of Play World Film

Voice Cast

• Ken the Eagle: Giovanni Brusatori
• Joe the Condor: Marco Bonetti
• Pretty Jun the Swan: ??? (II), Valeria Perilli (Fighter)
• Gimpy the Swallow: Anna Marchesini
• Ryu the Owl, Dr. Nambu, Engineer Ralph, Mechandol, Kempler: Bruno Cattaneo
• Dr. Pandra: Carla Comaschi
• Ghelsadra: Daniela Gatti
• Leader X/Z, Count Ego Bozler: Gabriele Carrara
• Dr. Raphael: Gabriele Carrara, Nino Scardina
• President Anderson: Giorgio Del Bene
• Narrator: Claudio Trionfi
• Additional Voices: Nino Scardina, Giovanni Brusatori, Gabriella Andreini, Claudio Trionfi, Carlo Allegrini, Beatrice Margiotti