What are those THINGS in the opening?!?

[Astro Forever]

Well, Tezuka appears himself in the last episode of the 1980 series (in the Japanese order), so it makes it looks like it was planned this way all along. There was something special for the last episode, it's just that it wasn't translated in English, and there was no continuous story anyway (except with Atlas, and there was an ending to it), so I wouldn't say it ended abruptly. It ends with Astro flying away after a little word to the audience, which is, if I recall correctly, the only time he does that in the entire series. Plus, there are 52 episodes, so obviously the series was made to last exactly one year. And it seems too strange to me to have an opening credit with almost all characters from a "2nd season". So unless somebody has new information, I personally don't think the series was supposed to last longer.