Editor's Note

SCIENCE NINJA TEAM ASPIRIN
or Dare da! Dare da! Dare da!

Five people and about five thousand names. Depending on who you ask, they are Ken, Joe, Jun, Ryu and Jinpei. Or Mark, Jason, Princess, Tiny, and Keyop. Or Ace, Dirk, Agatha, Hootie, and Pewee. Or Hunter, Joe, Kelly, Ollie, and Mickey. Or...

If you've been living under a rock for the last 20 years, you might not know any of these names. SCIENCE NINJA TEAM GATCHAMAN. BATTLE OF THE PLANETS, G-FORCE, and THE EAGLE RIDERS. Several incarnations of the same show. But are they all the same? Who knows? Who cares?

It seems ironic to me that some shows which are phenomenal successes in other parts of the world can't break into American television, yet some shows get re-made over and over. I remember BATTLE OF THE PLANETS and as a kid, I thought it was pretty cool. As I grew older and discovered the original, though, it paled in comparison.

And this weekend I was (mis)fortunate enough to catch episodes of both G-FORCE and GATCHAMAN'S newest incarnation, EAGLE RIDERS. Both struck me as wholly unimpressive, with the exception that there was at least no 7-Zark-7. In G-FORCE, Galactor is the same evil organization as always, right down to their obsession with the clothes of the seventies. Although they ignore the fact that Berg Katze is really a woman, perhaps trying too hard to make him sound macho with his low and computer-enhanced gravelly voice. (As if those skinny legs and the keen fashion sense don't give it away! Come on.)

Produced by Saban, the people who are fast becoming expert at chopping up Japanese shows to make "new" American Entertainment (POWER RANGERS, etc.), EAGLE RIDERS at least makes an attempt to be different from its predecessors because it uses GATCHAMAN II and GATCHAMAN FIGHTER as source material. Thus, while the characters are the same, the GodPhoenix has undergone an ugly (and tragic) redesign and is now essentially an upside-down paper airplane.

If they turn GATCHAMAN into one more english show, the characters will need therapy for their multiple personality disorders. Looking back at the original opening to GATCHAMAN, the first words of "Dare da! Dare da! Dare da!" ("Who is it! Who is it! Who is it!") now seem almost prophetic, and I wonder if the characters ask themselves this very question. Seeing more than one of these incarnations within a 24 hour period is akin to having severe head trauma.

Don't get me wrong. I like GATCHAMAN. But if there is room for three versions of GATCHAMAN on U.S. television, there must be room for other anime programs. The difficulty, of course, is the politics of children's television. However, having spent some time sampling the fare of the Cartoon Network and the rest of the shows in syndication, I can say that it would be really nice to see more anime on television. If three english version of GATCHAMAN, a show that is 20 years old, can compete with the stuff on television today, there's certainly room for more variety in the anime on American television. Because, let's face it, they're going to run out of names sooner or later.

Ex animo,

Charles McCarter
Publisher/Editor in Chief

Charles McCarter

Keith Rhee

Chad Kime

Peter Cahill
Roderick Lee
Charles McCarter

Peter Cahill
Eugene Cheng
Ken Cho
Eri Izawa
Mark Johnson
Roderick Lee
Egan Loo
Charles McCarter
Maria Muñoz
Taku Otsuka
Keith Rhee
Orin Starchaser

Geir Friestad
Chris Kohler
Tom Larsen
Eugene Moon
Keith Rhee

David Van Cleef
Jim Elliott
Scott Frazier
David Ho
Jon Souza

Eric "Scanner" Luce

The SPJA (Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation) and OBJECTIVE CONSULTING INC. for donating server space and making this magazine possible.

If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please send them to ex@apricot.com.

All contents submitted to EX are submitted and published on the basis of full assignment of copyright, unless otherwise agreed in advance and in writing.

EX recognizes all copyrights and trademarks. Where possible, we acknowledge the copyright holder. Please contact us if we haven't credited your copyright and we'll correct any oversight.