Gigantor: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:28, 24 February 2020

Revision as of 21:30, 24 February 2020

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In 1963, [[Fred Ladd]], while working on the animated feature ''[[Pinocchio in Outer Space]]'' and on the animated TV series ''[[The Big World of Little Adam]]'' had seen artwork of Mitsuteru Yokoyama presenting a giant robot remote-controlled by a young boy. The Tokyo-based artist had designed the robot for a Japanese shōnen [[manga]] series ''[[Tetsujin-28]]'' and later a black-and-white animated TV series called ''[[Tetsujin 28-go]]''.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}}

Ladd, who had produced the successful international, English-language adaptation of ''[[Astro Boy (1963 TV series)|AstroboyAstro Boy]]'', and [[Al Singer]] formed a corporation called Delphi Associates, Inc. in order to produce and distribute an English-language version of ''Tetsujin 28-gō''. They took only 52 episodes of the black-and-white Japanese series for the American market and renamed the series ''Gigantor''. [[Peter Fernandez]] wrote much of the English script and participated in the dubbing. The series became an immediate hit with juvenile audiences, though adult reactions were sometimes hostile.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}}

Despite the fact that the ''Tetsujin 28-go'' manga (which debuted in 1956) predates the [[Marvel Comics]] character [[Iron Man]] (who debuted in 1963), ''Tetsujin 28-go'' (which literally means "Iron Man No. 28") could not be released as ''Iron Man'' in North America due to the Marvel character Iron Man appearing in that market before ''Tetsujin'' debuted there, so the series was renamed ''Gigantor'' for the American version.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Erickson |first1=Hal |title=Television cartoon shows: an illustrated encyclopedia, 1949 through 1993 |date=1995 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786400294 |pages=232 & 324 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ACLuAAAAMAAJ |quote=The character names were then "westernized": Dr. Kaneda became Dr. Sparks; his son Shotaro became Jimmy; and finally, since there already was an "Iron Man" on the market (see Marvel Superheroes), Tetsujin 28GO was not translated as Iron Man No. 28 but completely rechristened as Gigantor.}}</ref>