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G-Force God Phoenix

A favorite spaceship from my childhood.

Battle of the Planets was imported to the US by Sandy Frank and grew out of the Star Wars craze of 1977-1979. This was the first US introduction to Japanese anime and was modified to suit the US market.

The characters were bird-themed as well as their iconic spaceship, the Phoenix. 7-Zark-7 was added for some comic relief and the strong resemblance to R2-D2 was certainly no accident. The Phoenix could fly anywhere and operated from an underwater base (also added for the US audience) called Center Neptune.

The teenage Ninja Team was funded by the World Science Organization and the term "Gatchaman" was derived from the sound of mecha units transforming "gacka-gacka" and the "man" suffix was added to mimic US superhero archetypes: Superman, Batman, Spiderman, etc. Each member of the team wore a number on their T-shirt from 1 to 5, with Mark being the leader. Team members had a wristband that transformed them into heroic uniform and mecha.

In the US the "God Phoenix" was just referred to as the "Phoenix", my theory was the craft was named similar to "Godzilla" which managed to migrate OK. ...but as part of the editing to bring over G-Force, I guess the "God" reference was nixed (along with graphic violence and death) to keep parents from changing the channel.

The series aired on after-school TV and was wildly popular with a pre-teen audience looking for more Star Wars adventures.


Unite the G-Force Ninja Science Team and Defend the Galaxy!

G-Force Ninja: Mark "Eagle"
G1 Mecha: Summit Jet
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3159894071

G-Force Ninja: Jason "Condor"
G2 Mecha: Space Racer
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3158955204

G-Force Ninja: June (Princess) "Swan"
G3 Mecha: Galacti-Cycle
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3160543001

G-Force Ninja: Keyop "Swallow"
G4 Mecha: Space Buggy
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3159660979