b r a v e c r e a t u r e s

With a name like G Force it just had to be good - Battle of the Planets was one of my all time favorite cartoons when growning up. It and Doctor Who were the two programs I would fight tooth and claw to watch. My sister stood no chance against my adolecent-mo powers when it came down to it.

I am going to partiually quote Wikipedia here, cause they do a great job of summing the show up 

Battle of the Planets casts five young people as G-Force, consisting of Mark, Jason, Princess, Keyop, and Tiny. G-Force protects Earth from planet Spectra and other attacks from 'beyond space'. Their main ship is The Phoenix, which can deploy four smaller vehicles, each operated by one team member.

A regular plot feature was the deus ex machina transformation of The Phoenix into a flaming bird-shaped craft able to handle virtually any exceptional situation by functioning something like a large blowtorch. The Phoenix's primary weapon was a large supply of rockets. It also occasionally flaunted a powerful solar-powered energy blaster, although the team usually had the misfortune of choosing very cloudy days to use it and fell back on the flaming bird thingie.

Battle of the Palents was very Japanese in it construction and themeing (why does an alient enemy need to make all of its wepons look and operate like earth animals - mythological or otherwise. I never got that), but somehow very American in its moral context. Tedious at times, but as a 10 year old it was like ambrosia.

Although I must admit that I never understood why the aliens from Spectra, in particularly the strangely hermaphroditic "Zoltan", could always lose even though they had such great outfits.

On a similarly homo-theme, I must admit I always wondered why Mark and Jason didnt get together. There was a REALLY high level of visible sexual tension between them. Apparently this, along with graphic violence, profanity and transgenderism was excised from the original Japanese series when it was preped for US and then Australian markets. 

I also had a thing for Marks hawk shaped boomarang doovy, which interestingly enough was echoed years later (and possibly unconciously) in the Spice Girls film clip for "Say You'll be there ", which fyi was the thing that made me appreciate how perfectly and delciously aweful the SG's were. Given the film clips combination of bad outfits, too much make up, cheesy kung fu moves and Vitoria Beckhams trademark rhythmless posturing, its amazing its tongue in cheek self depreciation 

When you look at it, its not all that astounding that all of these things are linked by my some what campy taste, now is it.

YAdda