Thoughts about the last episode of the Astro Boy 1960 series

[Ghost]

Well this one of my first posts. Just watched the episode The Greatest Adventure on Earth again. For those that don't know this was the final episode in the 1960 Astro boy series. This and a few others were not aired outside of Japan and this episode was never dubbed in English. (I'm not sure if it was dubbed in any other language.) Not too sure why it wasn't aired in other countries but I know that wasn't in the US because Astro dies at the end of the episode. They didn't want this because children watched it back then and they thought it wouldn't appeal to them or make them sad or something like that. (Which is stupid in my opinion.) However you can find it on YouTube in English subtitles.


This episode I thought was very surprising. It's the only time I've Astro actually die. Astro had to drive a rocket into the sun that was dying. The only way it would hit is if he manually drove it into sun and Astro died and which the series ended. But most of you already know that he didn't die technically.


Tezuka received a lot of feedback from fans asking if Astro did die and what was going to happen. He continued where the show ended in the manga and Astro was saved and rebuilt by Aliens and accidentally sent him back to 1960's when they tried to send him back to Earth.


Like I said I didn't start reading the manga until recently and I haven't read the manga where he is in the 1960's. So if anyone can tell me anything about the continued manga feel free to let me know. I also wanted to hear what other people thought of the ending to this episode.


I personally liked the ending. I don't mind having the main character of a story die unless the character's death has no meaning and is basically a victim. If a hero is going to die it has to have a good purpose. Astro died to protect the Earth, and the one's he loved. That is how a hero should die is giving their life to save others. For the greater good.


Really want to hear what people thought of this episode.

[jeffbert]

Self-sacrifice was one theme that Tezuka used in many series or stories. But, after reading Fred Shodt's, & Fred Ladd's books, those & Onada Power's God of Comics, I believe that the English version was lucky to get more than 52 episodes, 193 eps were all that were to be made from the very start, & as Tezuka lost control over the series, he may have killed Atom in frustration.

[Dr. Jerk]

Self-sacrifice was one theme that Tezuka used in many series or stories. But, after reading Fred Shodt's, & Fred Ladd's books, those & Onada Power's God of Comics, I believe that the English version was lucky to get more than 52 episodes, 193 eps were all that were to be made from the very start, & as Tezuka lost control over the series, he may have killed Atom in frustration.

If he did lost control of the series, then I am not sure if he was the one who initially had Astro Boy die in that final episode. Unless you referred to the manga which he did had control over, which the series was trying to adapt from.

It does make sense why they didn't air it overseas. Back then, it was mostly younger children who watched cartoons, and they wouldn't be able to comprehend nor be able to handle the theme of death. Take the Land Before Time movie, Littlefoot's mother was originally just going to die without the little dinosaur getting any reassurance, but that one scene where he did got it was added to make the mother's death a little less upsetting to younger kids. Or something...

But hey, at least we have subs now.

[ASTROBUDDY]

[QUOTE=jeffbert;105424]Self-sacrifice was one theme that Tezuka used in many series or stories. But, after reading Fred Shodt's, & Fred Ladd's books, those & Onada Power's God of Comics, I believe that the English version was lucky to get more than 52 episodes, 193 eps were all that were to be made from the very start, & as Tezuka lost control over the series, he may have killed Atom in frustration.

If he did lost control of the series, then I am not sure if he was the one who initially had Astro Boy die in that final episode. Unless you referred to the manga which he did had control over, which the series was trying to adapt from. It does make sense why they didn't air it overseas. Back then, it was mostly younger children who watched cartoons, and they wouldn't be able to comprehend nor be able to handle the theme of death. Take the Land Before Time movie, Littlefoot's mother was originally just going to die without the little dinosaur getting any reassurance, but that one scene where he did got it was added to make the mother's death a little less upsetting to younger kids. Or something... But hey, at least we have subs now.[/QUOTE]

Okay a very interesting topic! To understand why ep. # 193 would never have made it into the English dubbed package is quite simple! Broadcasters in the US would like to sell an upbeat heroic adventure series! To have the hero die is definitely not upbeat!

There are many reasons why Tezuka killed off Astro Boy! One, according to the Astro Boy Episode Guide, is that the Japanese have a philosophy that when a life story is told, the story must end with that life's end. Tezuka is also said to have been in the same position that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was when he killed off Sherlock Holmes. After writing and drawing Astro Boy's adventures for over ten years Tezuka was not having fun doing so. So with episode# 193 Astro Boy meets his "final reward"! So like Conan Doyle who had to resurrect Holmes when the public demanded it, Tezuka did the same for Astro Boy in what was originally published as a newspaper serial. (Which are published in Dark Horses' Astro Boy volumes 6, 7, & 8.) Except that because the stories (known as: Astro Boy Tales) were being published in a newspaper, he could and did deal with topics he did not cover in the manga!

I

[Alittleacorn]

My thoughts on the last episode of the 1960 series can be summarized in this song

[AprilSeven]

I was so excited to finally see this "final" episode of the original series (note: that's where the current "Caption the picture" image came from!)

It's not that I wanted to see Astro die, but better understand the storyline as Tezuka envisioned it. I thought it was an amazing work. First of all the humor and "natural-ness" of the dialogue and visual gags were at a fantastic level of sophistication. I liken it to reading early "Peanuts" cartoon strips, and comparing that with "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" - Charles Schultz had completely developed and mastered his characters. This is what I see in episode 193 of Astro Boy.

From the very start, even though you can "see" where the storyline was headed, there is an element of cheerfulness and optimism. Astro is so fearless and boundless in his love for his family, friends and planet (his comments about how beautiful Earth looks from space made me cry) -- there's not an ounce of remorse in his words. The story "ends" with a sense of admiration for Astro that simply can't be improved upon.

The characters grieve, but resolve to carry on in his honor, as he would want them to. THEN Tezuka has a kind of "curtain call" for all the "actors" -- and it lifts the whole mood up and away from the tragedy to where you see it was all a "play" -- Astro takes his bows and flies around with Uran. Soo.... IS he "dead?" Tezuka does NOT shut the casket!

I love the fact that Astro/Atom's story has been tweaked/updated a number of times -- and I believe it will continue to be so as we move forward in time and get closer and closer Tezuka's imagined future becoming a reality.

One forum member, Tawashi Bus Hat, has a great blog page with links to place where there's lots of info regarding the original manga, and more here's her link -- I HIGHLY recommend it!

http://thetawashibushat.blogspot.com/

[Dr. Jerk]

[QUOTE=Dr. Jerk;105425][QUOTE=jeffbert;105424]Self-sacrifice was one theme that Tezuka used in many series or stories. But, after reading Fred Shodt's, & Fred Ladd's books, those & Onada Power's God of Comics, I believe that the English version was lucky to get more than 52 episodes, 193 eps were all that were to be made from the very start, & as Tezuka lost control over the series, he may have killed Atom in frustration.

If he did lost control of the series, then I am not sure if he was the one who initially had Astro Boy die in that final episode. Unless you referred to the manga which he did had control over, which the series was trying to adapt from. It does make sense why they didn't air it overseas. Back then, it was mostly younger children who watched cartoons, and they wouldn't be able to comprehend nor be able to handle the theme of death. Take the Land Before Time movie, Littlefoot's mother was originally just going to die without the little dinosaur getting any reassurance, but that one scene where he did got it was added to make the mother's death a little less upsetting to younger kids. Or something... But hey, at least we have subs now.[/QUOTE]

Okay a very interesting topic! To understand why ep. # 193 would never have made it into the English dubbed package is quite simple! Broadcasters in the US would like to sell an upbeat heroic adventure series! To have the hero die is definitely not upbeat!

There are many reasons why Tezuka killed off Astro Boy! One, according to the Astro Boy Episode Guide, is that the Japanese have a philosophy that when a life story is told, the story must end with that life's end. Tezuka is also said to have been in the same position that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was when he killed off Sherlock Holmes. After writing and drawing Astro Boy's adventures for over ten years Tezuka was not having fun doing so. So with episode# 193 Astro Boy meets his "final reward"! So like Conan Doyle who had to resurrect Holmes when the public demanded it, Tezuka did the same for Astro Boy in what was originally published as a newspaper serial. (Which are published in Dark Horses' Astro Boy volumes 6, 7, & 8.) Except that because the stories (known as: Astro Boy Tales) were being published in a newspaper, he could and did deal with topics he did not cover in the manga!

I [/QUOTE]

I kinda already knew that, but you did explain it better.

Really though, there could have been a number of reasons why it wasn't aired overseas, that just being one of them.

[Ghost]

Nice responses. I wanted to know what people thought of this thanks to everyone that posted their thoughts on this topic. I was also interested in a manga that Tezuka wrote called the Angel of Vietnam. Since Astro technically didn't die at the end and got sent back the 1960's in the manga he got involved in the Vietnam war. Lately I've been interested in anything Vietnam (partly because of Call of Duty Black Ops.) Recommend looking at it if anyone can get the chance to read it. I have this manga thanks to Tawashi Bus Hat but I haven't read it yet. I'll probably post more threads like this in the future. Thanks for the feedback guys

[Androids101]

Also if the Japenese kids watched it and there weren't any issues, why can't the US kids?!

[Dr. Jerk]

Also if the Japenese kids watched it and there weren't any issues, why can't the US kids?!

Different opinions, different outlooks on things, for each different country.