Force Five
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| Force Five | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Mike Haller Lynn Garrison Collins Walker |
| Directed by | Jim Terry Collins Walker |
| Country of origin | United States Japan |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 130 (286 in original versions) |
| Production | |
| Producer | Jim Terry |
| Running time | 20-25 minutes |
| Production companies | Jim Terry Productions Toei Animation |
| Original release | |
| Network | first-run syndication |
| Release | 1979 – 1989 |
Force Five was an American adaptation of five different anime television series. In the United States, this series was primarily shown only in New England, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, though it did make brief appearances in other markets, such as Dallas, Texas and San Jose, California on KICU-TV 36. It was also shown in Toronto, Canada on CFMT channel 47 and in Asia on Star Plus during the 1990s. It was produced by Jim Terry and his company American Way, and it consisted of five imported Japanese giant robot serials (originally produced in the mid-1970s by Toei Animation) in response to the popularity of the Shogun Warriors toy collection. Mattel was one of the sponsors of the series.
In an anthology style, the five shows were broadcast simultaneously with one episode of each serial assigned a specific weekday. Additionally, all of the shows were edited into two-hour movies and marketed on video tape by Family Home Entertainment. In the UK, the video company Krypton Force released several of these cartoons but under different series titles.
Force Five series
Force Five consisted of the following five series:
- Force Five: Gaiking (26 episodes), adaptation of Divine Demon-Dragon Gaiking (44 episodes)
- Force Five: Dangard Ace (26 episodes), adaptation of Planetary Robot Danguard Ace (56 episodes)[1]
- Force Five: Starvengers (26 episodes), adaptation of Getter Robo G (39 episodes)
- Force Five: Grandizer (26 episodes), adaptation of UFO Robot Grendizer (74 episodes)
- Force Five: Spaceketeers (26 episodes), adaptation of Sci-Fi West Saga Starzinger (73 episodes)
Great Mazinger was supposed to be among the five shows, but the deal to pick up the series fell through, so Starzinger (Spaceketeers) was picked up instead. Gaiking's instrumental version of its theme song was actually re-used to be the ending song for the series, rather than using an original song.
References
- ^ "Danguard Ace: The Movie Collection: DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". Dvdtalk.com. Retrieved 2014-03-16.