Giant Robo, or (????????, Jaianto Robo), known as Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot in the United States, is a manga and tokusatsu series created by Mitsuteru Yokoyama. It is similar to Yokoyama's Tetsujin 28-go (known as Gigantor in the US), but Giant Robo has more elements of fantasy.
The original 26-episode tokusatsu TV series, produced by the Toei Company, aired on NET (later renamed TV Asahi) from October 11, 1967 to April 1, 1968. The English-dubbed American version of the series, developed by Reuben Guberman for American television, was produced by American International Television and directed by Manuel San Fernando (with Salvatore Billitteri as line producer).
Video Giant Robo (tokusatsu)
Plot
Earth is invaded by an interstellar terrorist group, Big Fire (the Gargoyle Gang in the American version), led by Emperor Guillotine. Guillotine spends most of his time in a multicolored space ship hidden at the bottom of an Earth ocean, from which he issues his orders.
The group has been capturing scientists to create an army of monsters to help them conquer Earth. A boy named Daisaku Kusama (Johnny Sokko (acted out in the original series by Mitsunobu Kaneko, with actress Bobbie Byers providing his English-language dialogue)) and a young man named J?r? Minami (Jerry Mano, a member of the secret peacekeeping organization Unicorn) are shipwrecked on an island after their ship is attacked by Dracolon (a sea monster) and captured by Big Fire. They end up in an elevator leading to a complex where a Pharaoh-like giant robot is being built by captive scientist Lucius Guardian, who gives Daisaku and J?r? its control device. Guardian helps them escape before he is shot to death; before he dies, he triggers an atomic bomb which destroys the base. The explosion activates the robot, which obeys only Daisaku. The boy is invited by J?r? and his chief, Azuma, to join Unicorn and fight Big Fire with Giant Robo.
Maps Giant Robo (tokusatsu)
Cast
- Mitsunobu Kaneko (as Daisaku Kusama/Johnny Sokko)
- Toshiyuki Tsuchiyama
- Koichi Chiba
- Akio Ito
- Shozaburo Date
- Tomomi Kuwabara
- Hirohiko Sato
- Yumiko Katayama
American voice actors
- Bobbie Byers
- Ted Rusoff
- Jerry Burke
- Rueben Guberman
Characters
The Gargoyle Gang
In the American version of the series, the Gargoyle Gang is an ambitious, but incompetent, terrorist group with a high mortality rate. They wear Soviet and Wehrmacht military uniforms, Central American guerrilla clothing and Italian designer sunglasses. The members of the gang all have explosive devices implanted in their bodies that are to be detonated instantly if they are captured.
Monsters
In each episode, the Gargoyle Gang sends a monster to attack its enemies (the Japanese version's names are listed first, followed by the American version's):
- Dakolar (Dracolon): Appears in episodes 1 and 11; swims, has tentacle arms and spits sand.
- Globar (Nucleon and The Radion Globe): Appears in episodes 2 and 20; resembles a walking limpet mine.
- The Satan Rose (The Gargoyle Vine): Appears in episodes 3 and 17; powers include fast growth, constricting tentacle-like vines, suction flowers and lava bombs.
- Lygon: Appears in episodes 4 and 10; powers include a forehead horn drill, mouth flames, a wrecking ball and swimming.
- Gangar: Appears in episodes 5 and 18; powers include flight, missiles and a rope.
- Dorogon (Dragon and Stalker): Appears in episodes 6 and 21; powers include flight, swimming, missiles, invisibility and the abilities to consume aircraft and ocean vessels and grow and shrink in size (the last with the aid of a special device).
- Ikageras (Scalion): Appears in episodes 7 and 26; powers include swimming, hurricane winds and acid spray.
- Doublion: Appears in episode 8; powers include head rotation, a sticky petroleum-based liquid and mouth flames.
- Sparky (Tentaclon): Appears in episodes 9 and 22; powers include levitation, electric tentacles and rays.
- Unbalan (Amberon): Appears in episode 12; powers include self-mummification, resistance to electricity and photosynthesis.
- Gammons (Opticon in the episode, Opticorn in the episode's title): Appears in episodes 13 and 26; powers include levitation, retractable legs, a vacuum, a searchlight and an energy ray.
- Iron Power (Iron Jawbone): Appears in episode 14; powers include flight, sharp teeth and body separation.
- Icelar (Igganog): Appears in episodes 15, 24 and 26; powers include burrowing, freezing winds and low body temperature.
- GR-2 (Torozon): Appears in episodes 16 and 19; powers include an electric head boomerang, burrowing and eye lasers.
- Calamity (Cleopat): Appears in episode 22; made with armor that reacts to long-range attacks.
- Hydrazona: Appears in episode 24; powers include an acidic body, freezing breath and swimming.
- Drakulon: Appears in episode 25; powers include size-changing, vampirism, a shield and a rapier.
Emperor Guillotine
Guillotine is a blue-skinned alien who has tentacles extending from the bottom of his head. He wears a long robe, carries a staff with a white orb at one end and can grow to a great height, which he does only in the final episode of the series.
Guillotine leaves day-to-day matters in the hands of various commanders:
- Spider, a human who is killed by a spray of acid from Ikageras' (Scalion's) mouth
- Doctor Over (Doctor Botanus), a silver-skinned alien capable of teleportation
- Red Cobra (Fangar, Dangor the Executioner), a bizarre alien
- Black Dia (Harlequin), a human who is fascinated with playing-card suits
- The Space Mummy, an alien resembling a clothed Egyptian mummy
- Mr. Gold (The Golden Knight), a golden-armored knight
- Doctor Eingali, an evil alien responsible for the creation of a Daisaku Kusuma android that briefly controls Giant Robo before its destruction
- Drakulon, an evil alien vampire; he becomes gigantic in order to fight Giant Robo
Arsenal
Giant Robo has a number of weapons, including finger missiles, a back missile, a bazooka cannon, radion eye beams, a flying-V missile, a flamethrower and electric wires.
Alternate versions
The series, first broadcast in the United States in 1969 by AIP-TV, peaked in distribution from 1971 to 1974 and was in syndication through the early 1980s. Giant Robo was broadcast in India from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. It also aired during the early 1970s in Australia, Brazil and various parts of Southeast Asia and Latin America.
In 1970, footage from episodes 1, 2, 10, 17 and 26 was edited together and released by AIP-TV as a 100-minute made-for-TV film called Voyage into Space. A 10-minute highlight version of Voyage into Space was created for the Super 8 home-movie market during the early 1970s by Ken Films.
Home media releases
Toei Video released the series on LaserDisc in Japan during the 1990s. It is also available on DVD. In 1996, the series was re-released through distribution by Orion Home Video, containing eight episodes (in production order) on four volumes (two episodes on each videocassette). On March 26, 2013, Shout! Factory released the 26-episode, four-disc Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.
Controversy
Although the series was violent by 1960s American standards for children's programming, in Japan it was no more violent than other tokusatsu TV series airing at the time. Gunfights are staples of each episode and the show's two child leads (Johnny Sokko and Mari Hanson) were frequently seen shooting with the other Unicorn agents. In one episode, Johnny and Mari are captured and tied to trees by Gargoyle and are within seconds of being executed by a firing squad when they are rescued by Unicorn agents. Nearly every Japanese anime exported to the United States during that period was edited for violence, but in Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot, only a minimum of violence was removed. In addition to dubbing American voice actors for the American version, many of the show's sound effects were remixed or re-recorded.
Episodes
The following episode titles were transcribed from the on-screen title cards of the American version. They are in their original Japanese and American broadcast order, verified by previews for the next episode at the end of each one:
Related series
GR: Giant Robo (GR ????????, GR: Jaianto Robo) is an animated TV series written by Chiaki Konaka (Serial Experiments Lain, The Big O) and directed by Masahiko Murata (Jinki:EXTEND, Mazinkaiser). At the dawn of the 21st century, Earth is overrun by giant robots. Daisaku Kusama encounters the titular Robo in a ruin in Okinawa. Beckoned by forces he cannot understand, Daisaku is made to bond, body and spirit, with the ancient weapon and defend his homeland from the incoming evil.
In popular culture
Frank H. Wu, a Johnny Sokko fan as a child, describes several episodes of the show in his book Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White.
Guitarist Buckethead named his early band and second studio album after the series, including several references to characters and events from the TV series in his music.
Punk band The Vandals recorded "Big Bro vs. Johnny Sako" on their 1984 album When in Rome Do as The Vandals.
References
External links
- Johnnysokko.com
- The Johnny Sokko Forum - Started on May 16, 2008
- A Complete Guide to Toei's 1960s Sci/Fi Series by Keith Sewell
- Giant Robo (tokusatsu) (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot on IMDb
- Episode synopses at SciFi Japan TV
- Yumiko Katayama blog ??????70's ??????????
Source of article : Wikipedia
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