Editorial Reviews and
DVD Information about
Astro Boy - Ultra Collector's Edition DVD Set 1
Amazon.com
Astro Boy was not the first Japanese animated series, as some fans have claimed, but it was the first with an ongoing storyline--and the first to air in the U.S. Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989) began Tetsuwan Atom (literally "Iron-arm Atom") as a manga in 1952, then adapted it to a TV series that debuted in January 1963. NBC Films bought the rights to about half of the 193 episodes and edited them for American viewers. Astro Boy premiered in the U.S. in September 1963, and ran on local stations through 1972. The story is well-known to anime fans: After the death of his son Astor (Tobio in Japanese), Dr. Boyton (Dr. Tenma) builds a 100,000-horsepower super-robot to replace him. But a robot can never grow and truly replace Astor, so the scientist sells him to a cruel circus owner. Dr. Packadermus J. Elefun (Dr. Ochanomizu) rescues Astro and helps him become a fighter against crime and injustice. The original English-language masters were destroyed in 1975, when Tezuka's Mushi Productions went bankrupt. For the Ultra Collector's Edition, Right Stuf tracked down the best surviving voice elements and combined them with video from the original Japanese negatives. Not surprisingly, the sound quality varies on the discs, but barring the discovery of additional material in some forgotten vault, this is the closest to a definitive Astro Boy English speakers will see. Tezuka wrote some of the scripts and co-directed the 1980 remake (Astro Boy Collection Box Set); the 2003 incarnation combined drawn and CG animation (Astro Boy: The Complete Series). But the stiff, black-and-white original remains the truest version of Tezuka's watershed creation. Extras include: the first part of an interview with producer Fred Ladd; two episodes in Japanese with subtitles; small galleries of character art and merchandise; "The History of Astro Boy" in booklet form; and a biography of Tezuka. (Unrated, suitable for ages 7 and older: violence, alcohol use) --Charles Solomon
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Customer Reviews for
Astro Boy - Ultra Collector's Edition DVD Set 1
Astro Boy Ultra Collector's Edition DVD Set 1
Astro Boy - Ultra Collector's Edition DVD Set 1
This is a beautifully packaged and presented DVD set, which has obviously been put together with great care. The episodes are fantastic, and it is interesting to see how the story lines were morphed in the creation of later series.
The robot/human rights issues are if anything more pronounced in the older series reproduced here.
A warning, these dvds did not play on my multi-region player in Australia. This is something Amazon warned me about, so I was prepared for it. However, I was able to get around this using a certain back-up utility:-).
Great job, and on to Set 2!Astro Boy - Ultra Collector's Edition DVD Set 1
Astro Boy returns!
I don't know if anyone under a certain age would really be able to appreciate this set, but for someone like me who saw and loved these as a kid, this is a long awaited release. Sure it's "only" in black and white, and the sound on some of the episodes leaves something to be desired, but these cartoons have something a lot of todays animated shows for kids lack and that's HEART! I had also forgotton the surprising amount of adult themes in some of the stories. The role of technology, human-robot relations, and whether robots are really " alive ". A lot of ideas that would much later be developed to a greater degree, of course, in movies like " Blade Runner ". And characters actually die on occasion. Plus there are plenty of cool robots, monsters, aliens and gangsters that look like they stepped out of an old Warner Brothers movie! And to top it off, the upbeat Astro Boy theme music. So, if you're expecting " Ghost in the Shell " style animation...look elsewhere. But if you are an old die-hard Astro Boy fan, you are going to love this, faults and all!Astro Boy - Ultra Collector's Edition DVD Set 1
I feel like a boy again!
Hello Astro Boy fans!
I was about 7 years old when this series first aired on television. Being raised in a middle class family, in 1963, we had only one television. Everything was in black and white and there were only 7 channels on the VHF air waves. Cable didn't exist and the internet was the subject for magazines like "Popular Science" or comic books: It simply didn't exist. Color had not really come out yet and when it did come out, you had to be very rich to afford a color TV. The channels our black and white set could recieve were 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 & 13. Channel 2 was CBS; Channel 4 was NBC; Channel 5 was KTLA; Channel 7 was ABC; Channel 9 was KHJ; Channel 11 was KTTV and Channel 13 was KCOP.
That was it back then. We didn't have desk top computers or any of the high tech gadgets young people take for granted these days. Most of these technological changes came after 1981.
The best anyone personally had, in the way of a calculating device, was either an abacus or a slide rule back in those days. (lol) I remember sharing this with a group of friends in my mid twenties, while sitting next to me was a beautiful, 10 year old boy, who looked up at me, with Astro Boy eyes, asking "What's a slide rule?". Boy it sure made me feel old, after a quarter of a century of living, being asked the question. I guess you can tell when you are getting older, once you start to use the words; "Do you remember when". I do that allot at 50 years of age these days. (chuckling)
The really big computers; I did get to see as a boy. Those units took up an entire building with their vacuum tube/transitors. Next to how things look today, you might say we looked rather backwards in those days next to today's technology; but it was a magical time to be alive in regardless. You can watch the movie "Destination Moon" and get a pretty good idea how rheostats, dials and gauges looked back when I was a boy. In fact I use to take apart old abandoned radios that had been thrown away near some old railroad tracks where we use to live, just to salvage their old parts to help me learn how they worked: This was before Radio Shack offered kits to teach young boys, like me, how such things worked. In fact, back in those times; Heathkit was the name if you wanted to buy do it yourself components while teaching yourself electronics.
From 1981 on; I watched as our whole society started to change into the world of Astro Boy! Even the planning being done for cars, that will run themselves without drivers in the not so distant future, is well in the works these days, just as Osamu Tezuka forsaw back in his day. I suspect someday soon, the real Tobio will be born to ride in one of those cars; given the direction technology is taking mankind. I also can see the day when artificial intelligence will be more real than anyone ever imagined, providing mankind doesn't destroy itself getting there.
The original 1963 Astro Boy, not only taught us great values growing up, concerning righteousness and kindness toward each other, but it paved the way showing us what our future might look like and it appears Osamu Tezuka hit allot of things right on the mark since then. The laws that make up the human heart, of course, never changes: Those are timeless and Osuma did a grand job covering the variables of good vs evil; not to mention the preciousness of human life in his work.
These anime's are nothing but uplifting to watch. You go to bed having nothing but good dreams when you watch this old series. These days; there is little on TV, let alone in the theatre's, that leaves you with this kind of feeling; with so much being darkness in all our movies these days. In fact, when my cousin recently took me to a nearby DVD store, all I could see with the covers of all the DVD's, that lined the shelves, was artwork that was always dark and foreboding. At my age, you see things allot more clearly than the young do and boy I could hardly wait to get out of that store. Very little was uplifting on the shelves or worth buying in my view. For the most part, I keep my buying assigned to the internet these days, while being careful what to chose to add to my library and I love shopping on Amazon because of its review section.
I carefully select what is to go in my library and for something to be considered, it must have a good story line that teaches a good moral or gives a profound revelation about human nature. It must also have good character development as well. I don't mind the clash beteen good and evil; but I do love a happy ending. Cecil B. Demil was right when he said; "You can show all the evil you want on the silver screen, but make sure good wins out over evil or your audience will hate you."
I don't know of any film, which has broken that rule, that has survived in anyone's memory. Even the Harry Potter films operate from a simple premise of good vs evil and very successfully I might add. The premise Jo Rawlings is using is very simple: Dumbledore is God; Voldermort is the Devil; Hermoine, Ron and Harry are the soul; (the mind, the heart and the will) with Hogworts being their spiritual realm of operation or the Universe. Gene Roddenberry knew the same formula with Star Trek. Spock, McCoy and Kirk are the soul; (the mind, the heart and the will) travelling in a body; (the star ship Enterprise) suspended between the good and evil of the Universe or Spiritual realm of God.
In short, you can't get away from the good and evil aspects of free will in God's Universe, but if the good was not always winning out, then the Universe, it seems to me, would have destoyed itself a long time ago, especially this world. Our kids need this message of hope and the old Astro Boy series brings that home.
While the 1983 and 2004 remakes are different from the 1963 original; those works should not be compared to the 1963 original, although I do see the 1983 remake followed allot of the original 1963 story lines. In fact, I think the 1983 remake was a little more "cutesy", than the 1963 formulation; but I still enjoyed it. 1983 and 2004 were different times and those works are great in their own right. I especially loved the 2004 remake. Very intense and more together in terms of the major story behind Astro; which is the natural world vs. the synthetic world our science has unleashed, since the first A-Bomb was dropped and how the two clash looking for coexistence. How it all turns out, it seems only Astro knows in the end.
While the 1975 master reels were destroyed, I think the folks who did all they could to round up master copies, while syncing up the sound, did a great job; all things considered. Only about three episodes have sound quality that sounds like the recording was recorded in a glass jar, but otherwise the rest of the audio is just great. Looks almost new for the most part.
The design work on the box is just fine: Very tight package. Even the booklet that comes with the set gives a good history behind the whole Astro Boy phenomenon. The lithographic printing is excellent for both box cover and booklet I might add. There is even an extra disk which includes the first of a two part interview with Fred Ladd, who tells a little more of how Astro Boy made it to the United States from its original Japanese audience and boy am I sure glad it did. It sure helped my childhood along. My thanks to the late Osamu Tezaka for his gift to all us kids and his vision of what could be a great future one day.
All in all, it's all worth the price of admission. This is gret for the whole family. Delivery was on time. No complaints! Thanks Amazon for making this available to my generation again. I should think kids of today would enjoy the old series, like we did as kids; that is when they are not too busy being blown away by the 2004 remake of Astro. (chuckling)
Astro Boy - Ultra Collector's Edition DVD Set 1
ASTRO BOY BOMBS AWAY!
Awesome set! Some episodes show age,but it is really good to see these cartoons looking better than ever! It is a bit pricey,but if you look around you can find them much cheaper! You need to buy both sets to have the complete collection of the original Astro Boy.Astro Boy - Ultra Collector's Edition DVD Set 1
A Classic Restored
I watched Astro Boy as a child in the 1960s. Having it on DVD is a dream come true. Right Stuf went to great lengths to find the best surviving duplicate masters they could, splicing in video from the original Japanese masters as necessary to restore the shows. Astro Boy now looks better than ever. The audio is surprisingly good on most of the episodes, however there are a small handful of episodes that sound poor. It's a small issue compared to the value of having this piece of history restored to us. The English dub, featuring Billie Lou Watt as Astro Boy, Ray Owens as Dr. Elefun, and Gilbert Mack as Mr. Pompous is a joy to listen to. It still sounds fresh and lively more than 40 years later. The extras includes the first half of an interview with US Producer Fred Ladd and two of the episodes in Japanese with subtitles. The presentation and artwork is top-notch. This is an essential addition to any anime fan's library.Astro Boy - Ultra Collector's Edition DVD Set 1
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