While fans still await the original black-and-white ASTRO BOY series from 1963, the 83 color remake of Osamu Tezukas iconic work will have to suffice. ASTRO BOY COLLECTION BOX SET (Manga Ent., $39.98) contains 51 episodes spread across eight DVDs, with both the English language dialogue, and, for the first time, the original Japanese audio tracks.
A fanciful combination of PINOCCHIO and SUPERMAN, ASTRO BOY conveys a timely message about the triumph of kindness, compassion and selflessness in the face of discrimination and human prejudice: a message Tezuka tried to communicate not only to the children of the world, but also to their parents. Its obvious to see the series enduring influence on POKEMON, FULL METAL ALCHEMIST, YU-GI-OH!, COWBOY BEBOP and DRAGONBALL Z, among others.
The story of ASTRO BOY takes place in April 2030, when a brilliant robotics engineer named Dr. Boynton looses his son Toby in a tragic car accident. Distraught over his death, the dedicated but heart-broken scientist uses his technical expertise to construct a robot in the boys image. But all was not as hed hoped, for the scientist soon realized that the robot could never grow into a human being capable of filing the void in his heart.
Abandoned to the care of Hamegg, the cruel ringmaster of a carnival where androids are forced to fight each other, Astro Boy is rescued by the kindly Dr. Elefun, an androids rights activist who adopts the boy robot and guides him in the use of his special powers to aid and protect mankind.
Bonus features include:* Two original Japanese episodes with English subtitles* Alternative angle opening storyboard sequence* Original character art gallery* Textless opening & closing sequences featuring song subtitles & original Japanese songs* Orignal Manga cover artwork gallery* Japanese vs. English episode comparisons (deleted scenes) featuring exclusive footage from the original Japanese episodes with English subtitles* Character profiles* Exclusive 24-page booklet
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
