Astro Boy (1963) Coming Soon

[shawnek]

Just thought that I would drop in to let everyone know that 1963's original Astro Boy is finally coming back - better than ever. TRSI and Madman Entertainment have been working on the Astro Boy restoration project for some time now, and finally, we're getting close to completion!

The first set (1-52) should debut in Q1 2006 in US/Canada. We're busily working on the second set (53-104) which should be released shortly thereafter. It does appear that we will have materials for ALL 104 episodes. Some episodes the quality of the audio isn't necessarily as high as I would like, but certainly none are in terrible shape. As many of you know, the original English negatives were destroyed some years ago, so we have had to go to secondary sources on many of these programs.

I want to thank the fanbase for your help for those of you who emailed me about episodes that you had or knew where we might look. I certainly hope that you will be pleased with the results.

Watch http://www.rightstuf.com for updates.

Also, please note that our release of the full set of "Kimba, the White Lion" (1965) is shipping now! Kimba has received the same treatment as Astro Boy, with all 52 episodes digitally restored!

Best regards,

Shawne Kleckner
President/CEO
The Right Stuf Inc.

[jeffbert]

As a fan of Astroboy in all four incarnations (manga, 60s, 80s, & 2003), I can say that some of us were a bit disappointed with the recent English DVD of the 80s version. There was a bit of confusion over the inclusion of episodes 1 & 2 of the original Japanese version with subtitles in the set's extras. Well, there were no such extras found in the set, & the deleted scenes section was also rather disappointing. Moreover, we were all quite disappointed with the English version of 2003.

What are the extras, if any in the upcoming 1960s release?

[Danny]

As an owner of the Australian Madman Astroboy 80's Deluxe collection I am far from dissappointed. In fact I am extremely pleased. I believe if it the best way to see the 80's series. I will be ordering the R1 set next year because it contains the one thing that the madman release lacks. That is Japaneese w/ english subs for the 51 english edit episodes.

For those that wish to know, Collection One of Astroboy 60's is already on the shelves here in Australia from Madman. I have not yet purchased the set as I am waiting for Collection Two to be released so I can buy them together.

I have seen Collection One in the stores and the tin is made to match with the 80's tin. The shape and style are exactly the same, but the visual differences are:
- The Tin is Silver
- Astro's head is "black and white"
- The font for the text is the "electro" looking font from the 60's series.
- The underside of the tin has a few images of astro in different poses.
Overall it is a beautifully crafted tin on a par with the madman's 80's tin.

I have not seen or heard too much about the content but it does seem like (despite most fans hopes) that it is only the english episodes (the 104 dubbed episodes) that will be in this across the two parts. "Slykura", madman's representative on the Madman forum, has mentioned that for the second set they are trying to include the original japaneese final episode (w/ eng subs) as an extra, but the final content is yet to be verified.

Until someone releases the 60's, 80's and 03 series in unedited original japaneese w/ english subs I will be content, nay very happy, with that we have.

As for the manga.. I have never seen it! Is it even still in print? If so could anyone tell me where I could get it? I would prefer to get it here in Australia, but I will import it if it is necessary.

[O2Destroyer]

This is fantastic news! I was hesitating on picking up madman's box just because of the price (and while I have a region free player, it means I have to lug the player around if I want to watch the dvds elsewhere).

Congratulations Right Stuf on your commitment to this and the Kimba set (mine is in the mail). Hopefully you will see to the release of other works by Tezuka in the near future!

[Astro Forever]

I don't know for Australia, but Darkhorse still publishes them in the US as far as I know.... Jeffbert started a topic a while ago, there was a link in which we could read the first few pages and read what the stories included were. I'm in a hurry, so I'll let you search for it!

[Astro Forever]

Here is the topic I was talking about: Dark Horse previews of manga

[Atoman]

It's good that the Right Stuf managed to include all 104 English dubs in 2 box sets(52 eps. each). I'll have to write the Right Stuf and ask if they'll be later offering the non-translated episodes(eps.105-193) in Japanese with English subs, that would be awesome. I'd buy it, how about you?

[shawnek]

Originally posted by jeffbert@Dec 4 2005, 01:41 AM
What are the extras, if any in the upcoming 1960s release?

Set 1 will be an 11 DVD set. The 11th disc is a DVD of extras, which will include: Part 1 of an interview with series producer Fred Ladd, Original Japanese Episode #1 (with English subtitles), Original Character Art Gallery, Merchandise Gallery.

There will also be a Collector's Booklet included with the release.

[shawnek]

Originally posted by Danny@Dec 4 2005, 08:23 AM

I have not seen or heard too much about the content but it does seem like (despite most fans hopes) that it is only the english episodes (the 104 dubbed episodes) that will be in this across the two parts. "Slykura", madman's representative on the Madman forum, has mentioned that for the second set they are trying to include the original japaneese final episode (w/ eng subs) as an extra, but the final content is yet to be verified.

Yes, we are releasing the English episodes only. The number of edits on these programs is extensive.

The fact that we have been able to recover all 104 of these in English is nothing short of astonishing. Some audio will be of slightly inferior grade, but nothing that likely will detract from your enjoyment of the show.

We are including on set 2 the "lost" episode of "Beast from 20,000 fathoms" with a recently recovered Japanese soundtrack and Japanese commentary track (with English subtitles) as well as the final episode, in Japanese with English subtitles.

There are some other neat items on the 2nd set as well, once everything is finalized, I will drop another post here.

The first US release is set (at present) for 3/28/06. Madman has released the first set in Australia already, and the second sets should soon follow.

Enjoy!

Shawne Kleckner
Right Stuf
http://www.rightstuf.com

[Atoman]

Yes it's great that you restored the 104 English dubs. Thanks for that, but what about the remaining 89 untraslated Japanese episodes? It would be nice to have those with subs. I have them all without subs and they're worth translating. If you released those too, I'd buy them and so would most English speaking people here. Please?