"Battle of the Planets! G-Force, five incredible young people with superpowers! And watching over them from Center Neptune, 7-Zark-7! Watching, warning against surprise attacks by alien galaxies from beyond space. G-Force! Fearless young orphans, protecting Earth's entire galaxy. Always five, acting as one. Dedicated! Inseparable! Invincible!"
-- Narration from Battle of the Planets credits
As a rapidly-decaying member of Generation X, one of my fondest-remembered joys from childhood in the late 1970s was from coming home from elementary school every day in time to watch the Japanese anime import Battle of the Planets on my local independent TV station WUAB-43 out of Cleveland.
In an attempt to capitalize on the huge sci-fi pop culture boom created by Star Wars, the series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman was repackaged for American audiences by Sandy Frank Entertainment. The five lead characters were renamed Mark, Jason, Princess, Keyop and Tiny, and some story elements were replaced with footage of a new R2-D2-like robot named 7-Zark-7. 10-year-old Charles could care less, however, and simply enjoyed each "new" episode.
Well, at long last, it looks as though I'm finally going to get to see Battle of the Planets (Okay, fine, Gatchaman) in a live-action adaptation. The movie, directed by Toya Sato, stars Tori Matsuzaka as Ken Washio (Mark), Gō Ayano as George Asakura (Jason), Ayame Gouriki as Jun Ohtsuki (Princess), Tatsuomi Hamada as Jinpei Ohtsuki (Keyop) and as Ryohei Suzuki as Ryu Nakanishi (Tiny). Here's are images from the movie's official website, spotlighting each character:
Yeah, I have no idea what "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" means either.
In any case, here's the teaser trailer for the movie, which is scheduled to arrive on August 24, 2013...