Movie Trailer – Gatchaman (2013) aka Battle of the Planets. Even though this trailer isn’t exactly the bee’s knees I have to say that it brought back a wave of nostalgia as I remembered those days in the early 1980s watching the Americanized version of Gatchaman called Battle of the Planets on my fuzzy television screen. I found it cheesy back then and even more now yet there’s certainly something endearing about watching men and women in kooky outfits that make them look like cool flying feathered birds. What kid can resist a cartoon about a superhero ninja team that uses a spiffy spaceship that routinely turns into a flaming Phoenix while fighting a terrorist group bent on controlling Earth’s resources? Hey, they were eco-friendly way before everyone else was!
I can’t say that this trailer is filling me with much confidence yet at least the Japanese are trying to reboot their own entertainment properties for a new generation of fans. It sort of worked with the live action Space Battleship Yamato but they really hit it out of the park with last year’s Rurouni Kenshin that was a real surprise as it nailed the tone of both the original anime and manga source material. Unfortunately, this trailer really accentuates one element of Japanese movie trailers that I have grown to despise over the years which is the inclusion of a pop song, this time featuring a group named Bump Of Chicken, that almost always feels like it has no relation to the narrative at hand. I might be exaggerating a bit but it is incredibly vexing to be watching intense action or even a melodramatic sequence of shots when out of nowhere a bubblegum pop songs blares out of the speakers ruining whatever mood was previously established. I get that the Japanese entertainment industry loves promoting these songs to the target audience but I sincerely doubt that many will immediately want to watch the film based solely on a catchy pop tune.
Video: Movie Trailer – Gatchaman (2013) aka Battle of the Planets
Can you imagine watching the trailer to Star Trek Into Darkness and just as John Harrison begins to shoot everyone inside Starfleet HQ a Justin Bieber song like “As Long As You Love Me” drowns out the soundtrack? I get shivers down my spine just thinking about that scenario. Admittedly, this trailer makes the movie look like a more expensive Power Rangers installment but I hope those involved understand enough of what made the show so popular and pay respect to the source material. Also, I’m guardedly optimistic that they don’t bite off more than they can chew which was one huge problem with the Yamato movie that attempted to condense the entire first season of the anime show into a two hour feature film resulting in a wholly illogical second half that made the trip from Earth to Iscandar and back seem as easy as a stroll around the block.
