Much more obscure of a cartoon show from my young childhood was a show called G-Force: Battle of the Planets (also known as Gatchaman in Japan). Damn I loved that show. Me and my neighborhood friends would dress up and play G-Force. I was usually Jason (one of the slightly older kids always got to be the leader Mark).
A while ago we got word that they were turning the show into a 3D animated film much along the lines of TMNT. As a matter of fact, it was already announced some time ago that TMNT director Kevin Munroe would indeed be directing it himself. Now it’s being announced that they’ve got themselves a writer… and a pretty good one at that. They got themselves Robert Mark Kamen, the dude who penned The Fifth Element. The following comes from the good folks over at Movieweb:
A veteran writer who has authored 18 produced feature films since 1979, Kamen’s credits include Taps, The Karate Kid and its sequels, A Walk in the Clouds, The Power of One, Lethal Weapon 3, The Professional, The Fifth Element, Kiss of the Dragon, Bandidas, the Transporter movies and the upcoming Taken, starring Liam Neeson. Kamen has enjoyed a writing partnership with the prolific French producer and director Luc Besson for 14 years.
This is good news for Gatchaman. A proven director in the genre (who would have guessed I was going to end up liking TMNT?) and now a solid reputable writer. Good seed and good soil my friends. Maybe I’ll have to make up another cape and beak shaped helmet to run around in again.
I was never much of a fan of the story of Fifth Element, but I’m excited that this is going to be animated.
Well, for my tastes I didn’t like any of the movies that guy penned so I’m not holding out hope that I’ll like G-Force. HA! I’m sure for those that loved the original cartoon it will be a trip down memory lane on the big screen. ENJOY!
I like Fifth Element kind of like how I like my own farts. They stink, but they’re mine.
From this point on, I want to see not one soul from MB to badmouth the Dolph Lundgren “Punisher” film, which Kamen produced and rewrote the script after firing Boaz Yakin for keeping in the skull.
And while the “Transporter” films had some good action in it, let’s not overrate the fmr “Karate Kid” scribe, shall we?
The Power of One ranks in my top ten favourite films EVER.
I can’t wait to see how this diverse and incredible writer takes on GForce!
(PS- I was always Mark)
Yeah…both of them. ;)
I’d bet the film leans right into the Battle of The Planets version if its target market is North America. They’d want to milk the existing fan base.
As long as the script leans towards Gatchaman and away from BOTP (specifically 7-Zark-7 and 1-Rover-1) I’ll be happy.
I adore Gatchaman so i’m very excited about this but i do wonder what the character names are going to be. They were different in every version.
Gatchaman – Ken the eagle, Joe the condor, Jun the swan, Jinpei the swallow, Ryu the owl, Dr Nambu, and the baddie was Berg Katse.
BOTP – Mark, Jason, Princess, Keyop (the kid with tourettes), Tiny, Chief Anderson, and the baddie was Zoltar.
G-Force – Ace Goodheart, Dirk Daring, Agatha Jun, Pee-wee, Hoot Owl, Dr Brighthead, and the baddie was Galactor……
…..which was the name of the bad guy organization in Gatchaman. Plus, in Gatchaman, Galactor were just terrorists and in the others they were invading aliens from Planet Spectra.
Confusing, isn’t it?
Well, one of the guys who penned the Fifth Element. Lets not short change the creative genius of Luc Besson. Thats what the Fifth Element was really built on.