This is a pretty nice resource, very large and somewhat intimidating. It's going to take some time to look through everything. :)
My wife was born in 1970 so the cartoon she is "not remembering" had to have been from the late 70's or early 80's. All she can remember is that it was about some kids who would turn into various bird like creatures and unite for a cause. Does that sound familiar?
On a side note, and perhaps this resource has it but I haven't found it yet, is there somewhere that has, say, a list of all cartoons aired during a given year or by decade? Any help is most appreciated!
:)
(This post was edited by bmode on Aug 13, 2005, 10:13 PM)
Kids become birdlike creatures, unite for cause
[In reply to]
This question pops up pretty frequently.(About two or three times a month). It seems to be a lot of peoples first exposure to anime, right along with Speed Racer, and Kimba the Lion. I wouldn't be surprised if she was remembering
Battle of the Planets was a sci-fi cartoon with the now familiar five team member theme. Mark, (the leader-dressed as a hawk/falcon?), Jason,(rebellious second in command- a raven), Princess (obligatory female in white and pink- possibly a swan), Tiny (the big guy pilot- an owl) and Keyop (the artificially cloned youngest member with a speech impediment. Hmmmm not sure, but I always thought maybe a cuckoo)
The five young heroes form a superskilled strike team whose mission was to defend the Earth and allied planets from Spectra's evil forces led by Zoltar.
Each episode Spectra would send a giant robotic monster to lay waste to a city to prepare it for conquest, and G-Force would be sent from their crescent shaped island secret base to meet the challenge. When the team was outnumbered in hand to hand combat they could form a pyramid(cheerleader style) and twirl until they created a whirlwind. The raging whirlwind would knock anything flat within range. When they were in a dire situation while in their ship the Phoenix, their last resort would be the Firey Phoenix. They'd push the ship's fusion engines past their breaking point and the entire ship would transform into an invincible fiery bird made of plasma.
Actually the BDCB has a feature like that. Once you look up an entry in the database, you can click on the release year and you can look through all of the cartoons released that year..
Straydawg
(This post was edited by eminovitz on Aug 13, 2005, 9:53 PM)
Re: Kids become birdlike creatures, unite for cause
[In reply to]
The Japanese title "Gatchaman" means "Goose Man"...hence the bird-motif uniforms for the G-Force team.
The original Japanese "Gatchman" shows were very graphically violent. When the series was dubbed in English for the US broadcasts, the violence was edited out and original animated scenes of robot 7-Zark-7 at the G-Force Center Neptune headquarters were added to introduce the episode of the day and to fill the half hour running time out. 7-Zark-7 never appeared in the original Japan series.
voices for the 70s "Battle of the Planets":
Mark the leader (white uniform eagle): Casey Kasem Jason the second in command (dark blue hawk): Ronnie Schell Princess (pink swan): Janet Waldo Keyop (tan goose)/7-Zark-7: Alan Young Tiny (green owl)/Chief Anderson: Alan Dinehart Jr (also voice director for series) Zoltar the bad guy/Spectra: Keye Luke Narrator of opening sequence/various voices: William Woodson
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"Don't chew gum on camera. Don't whistle. You may kiss Bob Barker but please don't kill him." -announcer Johnny Olson briefing the audience of potential contestants for "The Price is Right"
(This post was edited by artytoons on Aug 15, 2005, 1:01 PM)
Re: Kids birdlike creatures (Battle of the Planets)
[In reply to]
In the near future, the world is menaced by a criminal organization known only as the Galactor Syndicate. Led by Berg Katse, who answers to a mysterious entity known as Overlord X, Galactor's monster mechs threathen the International Science Organization's (ISO) plans to create a pollution-free energy source. To combat the menace of Galactor, Dr. Kozaburo Nambu decides that the time has come to bring in the ISO's secret weapon: five bird-garbed youths trained in the ways of the ninja and armed with the most remarkable weaponry science can produce. These five are the Science Ninja Team! Led by Ken the Eagle (also known as Gatchaman), a bold leader type, the team includes Joe the Condor, a rebel out for revenge against Galactor, Jun the Swan, communications and demolitions expert, Jinpei the Swallow, Jun's adopted kid brother and just as skilled as the others, and Ryu the Horned Owl, a brawny sort who not only is the pilot of the God Phoenix, he is also the only one of the five with living family. Together, these five are the world's only hope against Galactor.
I love G-Force/Battle of the Planets, and indeed, it was my first exposure to Anime. It is currently getting a very nice comic book treatment stateside. I wonder if the original poster could have been thinking about Silverhawks, even though this cartoon didn't come around until the mid 80's.
In the Japanese version, all of the battles took place on Earth, which would explain the similarities of the terran features on each planet, as well as the human appearing enemy pilots. This tidbit from: http://www.absoluteanime.com/g-force/ Why did Keyop make those funny noises? Some of us kids saw past the explanation that Keyop was a test tube experiment and guessed that the original character just had a lot to say, maybe some of it even naughty. (We were right!)
(This post was edited by Coolmunk on Sep 26, 2005, 10:48 AM)
not sure, but I always thought maybe a cuckoo) 
