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This episode has several important subplots in it; I will discuss them as they occur.

Broadcast 11/05/1966, My notes about the CHRONICLES give only vague dates: 12/24/1967 to 1968/09, but UNIT 7 has dates for ever page. I will check it later.




Upon visiting the ROBOT MUSEUM, Atom & Uran notice an odd thing:


It seems that someone stole the exhibit from this case!


But the guard assures them that there was nothing there in the 1st place (so I am guessing).


















As far as I can tell, somebody gave Atom a map to a place where someone else could tell him about Baily.






I believe the elephant (or heffalump for the Pooh fans) told the kids about Atom's past in the robot circus, & Bailey's life also. So, the next few images are visualizations of those events:


Funny, I thought a cannonball robot did this act.




This is the robot assembled from the parts smuggled into the country by the bad guys & gal in #13, EYES OF CHRIST. I do not know why they remade these scenes, as they certainly had the films & cels from episode #1. Maybe this robot's contract called for his appearance in another episode.




Likewise with this Roman Legionnaire robot, who 1st appeared in #40 Neo Caesar (The Abominable Snowman).



















Hamegg is angry that Atom's performance was not quite what he had expected.








Enter Bailey: he is another of the performers.



The next sequence is still the elephant's retelling, but somehow Atom is free of Hamegg.



"One, please."

"Sorry, robots are not welcome here."

Like the manga version, when Atom is going around with Shin's daughter, Surume, and is denied entrance, so too, here. EDIT In the manga, Atom & Surume witness guards throwing a robot out on 02/02/1968. Atom is tossed out on the very next page (02/03/1968). Thus, while the anime is usually based on manga, here it is the other way.




Apparently, Atom was not so pro-human that he was non-violent toward them.








Though violent here, his attitude would soon change.

Wow!! This is one wild episode!! Isn't Bailey a character from the manga (after Atom "returns" and that guy brings him to the US to show him how poorly robots are treated)?

I'm saving my money - I MUST have those Japanese episodes from the 60's!! Truly that was the most fully developed series of the animated Astro Boy body of work. I'd like to understand some day which eps have Atom/Uran and which also have Cobalt and even Chitan.

I get a kick out of seeing 1999 and thinking - "Gee that was a long time ago!" And some of our younger members were just babies then!!

I 1st bought boxed set #2, as it had more episodes excluded from the English set. At that time, the only English episodes were on VHS, though. I had 18 tapes (still do).

So, now Atom has stormed away from the amusement park.



"Somebody save my baby!"


"This is a job for "






After a job well done, the hero expects some praise, but--




Incensed that this robot wants some thanks, for doing what robots are supposed to do, the crowd turns on the hero. Compare this to #77, Cape Town Lullaby (68, Hooligan Whodunit), when saved the town from stampeding elephants.









So ends this segment, but there will be another.

I start this segment with the text of an email from STRANGEWINGS:

I've watched the Bailey episode once again, and I try to share what my current understanding of the language was able to pick up.As from what I understood,

Bailey begged Hamegg to set all of his broken robots free for reparation, and was asked to release them from his circus afterwards. Hamegg, however, declined Bailey's wish.Atom, being the star of Hamegg's circus, now threatened to leave the circus if Hamegg didn't let the robots go. This time, Hamegg proposed 3 conditions, which in fact are 3 challenges Bailey had to conquer in order for Bailey's wish to be granted. Hamegg was certain that Bailey would fail anyway in each of the 3 tasks.

I will add more text as appropriate.

Atom helped Bailey through the first 2 tasks, but Hamegg wasn't happy at all with Bailey receiving any help from Atom. Thus, Hamegg removed Atom's energy supply to make sure Bailey was on his own at task #3.

(As I understood, task #3 was about counting either all the words or letters on each of the books' pages, within a given time period).While Bailey was counting through the pages, Dr. Ochanomizu turned up, recognizing the futility of Bailey's intent, since Dr. Ochanomizu instantly understood that Bailey's electronic brain wasn't able to make it in time. Ochanomizu therefore suggested to exchange Atom's electronic brain with Bailey's. Once Bailey was equipped with Atom's brain, Bailey counted at incredible speed through the books' pages.Bailey eventually accomplished the 3rd challenge in time, so Hamegg gave in and agreed to set the robots free for repair.

Afterwards, both Atom and Bailey, alongside with the repaired robots, founded a new robot circus. Hamegg, of course, didn't like the idea of having a competitor next to his own circus, and sent his henchmen after them. All of Hamegg's crooks, however, came back by return of mail conveniently accumulated in a box by Atom.

Later in the episode, Bailey applied for citizenship at the city hall, causing a riot of the human citizens against robots who claim to have the same rights as humans. Bailey got destroyed beyond repair.

EDIT I just checked UNIT 7's CHRONICLES volume, & Taba Koh comes to borrow Atom on 06/29/1968. 7/9, Bailey goes to the CITY OFFICE (written in English).


"That [u]robot[/b] has just registered for human rights!"


EDIT 7/13/1968, Bailey walks out of the officeinto the street, & is smashed by the humans.







"So much for robots' equal rights!"

EDIT 07/14/1968, at the very last panel on the page, a big guy rips Bailey's papers to shreds.


So ends the elephant's story of Bailey.

At the episode's end, when Atom and Uran asked Dr. Ochanomizu about the whereabouts of Bailey, Ochanomizu pointed at Atom's chest saying that Atom always was carrying Bailey inside of him. In fact, Atom was equipped with Bailey's electronic power supply. (That's about what I could "get". Surely I can't give any guarantee about the accuracy of what I heard, but I think it should be about that. It isn't quite easy to understand Japanese spoken this fast. There's still a vast vocabulary we haven't treated yet in class).

So, Atom has Parts from Uran; her jets (83, Strange Bird, Garuda (74, Dunder, Bird of Doom)), other parts (104, Devil’s Balloon), & Cobalt also offers his own parts, but my notes lack details.

Thanks to STRANGEWINGS for his own impression of this episode!

thanks, Jeffbert - I had never seen "Dunder, Bird of Doom" (I thought I had, but had never seen Uran with jets) so I just popped it in and watched it. Never did understand why she wasn't jet-propelled, too. You would think the MOS would have more than a single back-up pair of jets for Atom, though!

And thanks, Strangewings for your generous translation work!

Thank you jeffbert, and yes, thank you Strange Wings as well!

And for some reason I thought that plot in the 1980 episode "Save the Classmate" was original....

Hi, Jeffbert! Thanks again for another exciting episode post.
One thing though, when you mention the broadcast date of "Bailey's Adventure" (aka "Bailey's Legend") and the publication date of "The Tragedy of Bailey", I can't help but point out that the story could have been set up as one to appear in both media and the difference in the appearance of the story in the different media is probably because of the time it is set to be printed (i.e. Tezuka may have finished the story and had it ready, long before it was published) and the timing of when an episode is needed for broadcast. But I still admit that your assertion of a manga story based on an anime episode has merit.

@AprilSeven! A reminder! If you do get the Japanese DVDs of the original series remember that DVDs from Japan do not necessarily play in US DVD players While they can probably play on your computer you may need to get a region free DVD player. Maybe you will get them for next Christmas!

Oh yes I mustn't forget the contributions of Strange Wings--Thanks much (or should I say Arigato gozaimasu!)

I

Say, if they'll play on my computer that would be fine (I've been watching all my DVD's here anyhow. It's HD, and a 23" screen so that's not too bad)!!

And thanks for the tip about get box#2 first, Jeffbert.

BTW I just checked, and yes, there is a manga story called "The Tragedy of Baily" in Dark Horse #7. It's a different story, but Baily's fate is the same. In this version, the man who helped fund Atom's construction takes him for a 24 hour visit, and during that time, he brings Atom to L.A., and shows him how the world discriminates against robots, and Baily's decision to attempt to become a citizen. No circus or anything.

I find it amazing how much the story-lines change!

Bailey's story always tempts me to go to some anger management classes... Those Inglorious racist, fascist ´+ñçñç+ñ, blah!

Yes, AprilSeven, I was indirectly the content in vol. 20; though I have yet to check to see if the Akita Shonen (& hence, D Horse) version had cut any from the original story.

BTW, unless you have a very old DVD drive (& I do not believe there are too many, if any) you will need something like ANYDVD to circumvent the region restrictions. That is, unless you devote a certain drive to region 2.