Astro Boy 2003 Series Vol 1 – 5
He’s a boy, he’s a robot, and he brings up some interesting questions, like “Why does Sony hate me?”
Tags: Astro Boy Categories: DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Oct 6th, 2009
Having been a fan of the original 60’s cartoon, I was eager to see how Astro Boy was to fare in the (then) new series that was commissioned to launch in celebration with the character’s birth. Originally, as part of the printed version of the story, Dr. Tenma creates a robot boy partially out of a need for an assistant but also as a labor of love out of his grief for having lost his son – in the year 2003. This of course would change for the animated series that launched, as the vision of the future had not quite come true. Now this version of Astro Boy is set even further in the future, but the story is the same, though some changes have been made.
When American publishers get their corporate hands on a Japanese animated series, their attempts to make it “palatable” to younger viewers almost always winds up crippling the series, dooming it from the start. Astro Boy is a complex take on the Pinocchio fairy tale, and not all cartoons necessarily need to be made to be seen for 7 year olds, despite being broad cast on Saturday mornings.
Such is the case with Astro Boy, Sony decided that this cartoon would benefit from their knowledge of what makes a good animated series and altered the Japanese series for network broadcast. The results are mixed, and it is a testament to the strength of the source material in both printed and animated form, that despite these alterations the series largely succeeds.
There are 50 episodes here, about half of which were never broadcast because the series was cancelled due to low ratings. It’s a shame, really, because had the North American producers simply left things alone, the story would make much more sense for viewers and the characters would be much stronger. Instead we get some weird edits that only serve to confuse the audience rather than make things clearer.
Despite these alterations to the series Astro Boy is fun to watch because it is basically a good series. The essence of what made the original series (and the printed version) so well regarded was its heart and spirit, which are present here. The animation is quite good, wit plenty of production values, a real treat in this modern age for a series that is intended for television broadcast. The characters and environments have a “retro futuristic” look to them and movements are very fluid.
While watching the series, certain plot elements seemed to jump around, which is when I began doing some research into the series. Turns out that indeed Sony shuffled the order of some of the episodes. As if this wasn’t bad enough, various edits have been made. Then there is the issue with the series as presented on DVD. We do not get the original Japanese language version with nice subtitles. Instead we get the English language dub as it was broadcast. And apparently the visuals are cropped, we don’t get the same aspect ratio that the show was originally broadcast at in Japan.
Fortunately, this is the full series of 50 episodes, so fans can get some closure to the storyline. I never have seen the full run of the original 60’s cartoon (being stuck watching it on American broadcast television and not being able to afford the series on DVD) and was highly disappointed when this series was cancelled. Now I’ve seen the series from beginning to end and have to praise Osamu Tezuka for his creation and its warmth. There are questions raised about violence, what it is to be human, loyalty and plenty of other great themes.
Sony, please quit treating North American fans as if they don’t know better. I had hoped that things would be rectified for this round of DVD releases, but that’s not the case. What we get are five volumes with ten episodes each, all as they were originally intended to be broadcast in North America, not actually as initially intended to be broadcast. Just because this series was meant to appeal to kids as well as adults, that doesn’t mean the subject matter has to suffer.
One special feature, “Remaking Astro Boy” is decent but lacks quite the punch one would hope for. The opportunity for a larger featurette looking at the longevity of the fanchise, as well as one on its creator would have been nice. A couple of audio commentaries would have been welcome as well. I know of a few animation experts that would gladly welcome the chance to talk about Astro Boy and this series.
Hopefully when Sony releases the series on Blu-ray (and you know the company will at some point) the original Japanese version of the series will be presented. As it is, we get five individual DVDs at $15 each, for a $75 total. There is a box set from a few years ago that is essentially the same thing, but comes in at half the price (if not less), though you will have trouble finding it. Sony should be ashamed for its presentation of such wonderful material.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
| + Astro Boy is a benchmark in the genre and this is a good "update" | 4.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
| - Sony's tinkering with the series to make it "pallatable" for Western audiences - $15 each? Why not reissue the box set? | |
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Sony needs to fix the problems it has created in bringing the series over to these shores. Until then the score reflects the apprent love lost between Sony and Astro Boy. | |
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Tags: Astro Boy
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Oct 6th, 2009 and is filed under DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
