Kevin Munroe's Gatchaman movie thread

[gobo]

Could someone sticky this please? And, tidy this place up. Kev could be here any second!

[DrSpengler]

Oh. I thought you had some news or something.

Anyhow, I kinda wish they'd call it "Battle of the Planets". A much more epic title for a feature film and likely the version of Gatchaman the new movie will be drawing from the most.

Could be good. Hope they include the Iron Terapin since it was one of the cooler robots they fought in the show.

And please for the love of God, no Zark.

[Fledermaus]

Well, it's a month old but no one here seemed to take notice.

Anyone else excited that Paul Dini is writing the script?

Originally Posted by Superherohype.com

Paul Dini Penning Gatchaman
Source: Imagi Animation Studios
September 21, 2007


Paul Dini has been signed to collaborate on the screenplay for Imagi Animation Studios' upcoming CG-animated motion picture, Gatchaman. Announcement was made by Francis Kao, Co-CEO & Chief Creative Officer.

"We are excited to have Paul on our talented 'Gatchaman' team," said Kao. "His extensive background in animation and superhero comics will contribute greatly to this ambitious action movie."

"The original series was one of the classics of early anime, and the film will be very true to the Japanese source material," said Dini. "As a studio, Imagi is constantly breaking the boundaries of animated adventure. Not only are their action sequences amazing, but their characters are driven, complex and play for life-or-death stakes. It's a great environment for a writer with a rather dark take on animation."

Writer/producer Paul Dini's career spans animation ("Batman: The Animated Series"), television ("Lost") and comics ("Detective," "The World's Greatest Superheroes"). The winner of multiple Emmy, Eisner and Writers Guild of America Awards, Dini is also currently masterminding the DC Comics 2007 weekly series "Countdown." His creations "Jingle Belle" and "Mutant, Texas" continue to appear frequently from Dark Horse, Oni Press and other publishers. Dini and his wife, magician Misty Lee, have also launched a popular series of Internet shorts featuring their puppet creation, Little Rashy.

Gatchaman is based on the successful Japanese franchise created in the early 1970s by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida. Aired in the U.S. as Battle of the Planets and G-Force, the TV series soon became one of the top syndicated shows.

Scheduled for release in early 2009, Gatchaman is a big, effects-rich movie set in a future world grappling with environmental and technological issues. The story focuses on five reluctant heroes whose remarkable genetic code makes them Earth's only hope of defeating extra-terrestrial invaders.

Kevin Munroe (TMNT) is the director of Gatchaman, being produced by Lynne Southerland.

Besides the fact that there's a very experienced writer on board, it seems indeed like what Kevin was saying earlier about "upping the ante" in animation is true, and that makes me so happy. May this movie bring animation (or rather, well-done animated films for mainstream Americans) up out of its childish branding as "genre" rather than "medium."

[DrSpengler]

Paul Dini!?

I'm sold.

So far it looks to have a pretty solid set of ingredients going for it. Dini's writing, Munroe's direction and Imagi's animation. It'll take something serious to mess this up.

I'm also glad that mainstream CG animation is finally moving out of the "LOL let's get celebrities to voice animals and fairy tale creatures because that's all CG is good for!" movies. If I have to suffer through one more Shrek clone or Pixar wannabe I'll probably hang myself.

Good to see a studio trying something new with theatrical CG animation.

[GK Punk]

Originally Posted by DrSpengler

Anyhow, I kinda wish they'd call it "Battle of the Planets". A much more epic title for a feature film and likely the version of Gatchaman the new movie will be drawing from the most.
.

I honestly hope it draws nothing from the Battle of the Planets version. That was the worst version of the show. They should just base it on Gatchaman. Or G-Force adaption (which was basically the Gatchaman version anyway.)

[DrSpengler]

Well, by "draw from the most" I mean stuff like character names and what-not, as they're the most iconic for American audiences.

Keep in mind, there are four different sets of names for the characters here in the US. There's the Battle of the Planets names, the G-Force names, the Eagle Riders names and the Gatchaman names. It's all pretty convuluted, to put it lightly.

I think we may have had this conversation before, but I'm hoping for something akin to the Top Cow Battle of the Planets comic, which was sort of an "Ultimate Battle of the Planets" adaptation. They took stuff from various versions of the show and left behind the less desirable elements (such as Zark, Rover and Keyop's speech impediment), and save for a few WTF moments (Keyop sleeps in a giant womb?), turned out pretty good.

[GK Punk]

I think you are right, I'm almost positive we have had this conversation before
I should post pics of my Cy-Girls Gatchaman Jun doll again now.

[Drtooth]

Originally Posted by DrSpengler

Paul Dini!?

I'm sold.

Me too, and I only saw one episode of Gatchaman! Paul freaking Dini? The guy who was the head writer of some of the best things Warners has done in the 90's? Oh yeah!

[Dragon Turtle]

An interview with Kevin Monroe.



http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option...3966&Itemid=99

[gobo]

I'm surprised he gave up on Gatchaman. He used to be so enthusistic about it when asked...

[Dragon Turtle]

Originally Posted by gobo

I'm surprised he gave up on Gatchaman. He used to be so enthusistic about it when asked...

Did he give up or was he booted off?

[Roseangelo]

Yeah, I think it's unfair to jump to any conclusions about the situation, especially without hearing anything directly from Kevin.

[AquaParade]

That's interesting...I hope he didn't get booted, he seemed like a real nice guy...even took the time to come here to the forums to answer our questions about tmnt...I'm still interested in this movie though, but I've never seen any Gatchaman stuff...what would be the easiest way to approach this series? The best way to get the best stories out of it? I only ask because you guys say there are so many versions...

[gobo]

Technically, he did 'give up', but that's not to say he went without a fight. So, I apologize if it sounded like I was saying he lost interest and quit or something.

[Drtooth]

Ugh! I just hope this movie goes forward and they still use Paul Dini's script. I heard they're having problems with Astroboy as well. Man, if these 2 films don't get produced, we can kiss any chance of financial backing for TMNT 2k7 2 goodbye.

[Dragon Turtle]

Originally Posted by LeoInRed

That's interesting...I hope he didn't get booted, he seemed like a real nice guy...even took the time to come here to the forums to answer our questions about tmnt...I'm still interested in this movie though, but I've never seen any Gatchaman stuff...what would be the easiest way to approach this series? The best way to get the best stories out of it? I only ask because you guys say there are so many versions...

You can check out the original Gatchaman series on dvd, which will be the best one to check out in terms of which series will most closely follow the movie.


Here is a nice Gatchaman site for more info:

http://www.chronicsite.com/gatchaman/

Originally Posted by gobo

Technically, he did 'give up', but that's not to say he went without a fight. So, I apologize if it sounded like I was saying he lost interest and quit or something.

No apology needed, until more details are released from either Imagi or Monroe no one knows for sure what happened, although it does seem like a quick turn around for Monroe, if Dylan Dog is set to start shooting in just two months.

[Drtooth]

I shoulda known 2 movies based off of Tatsunoko Productions animes were too good to be true. oh well, at least Speed Racer's coming out next month.

Kills any kinda hope for me we'll see any decent American interrest in Time Bokan and the like.

[Dragon Turtle]

This may shed some light on Kevin Monroe's recent departure from Imagi/Gatchaman:


Near the end of God of War 2, it was definitely time to do something different. I learned from a good friend Charles Lee that Imagi was making "Gatchaman". This was a dream project for me ever since I was a little kid running in the back streets of Taiwan as G1 (the leader of the Gatchaman team), protecting our neighborhood from alien invasion. This old 70's cartoon was called "Battle of the Planets" in the US, or G-Force. I loved it... I got to help envision Gatchaman for our times. I joined Imagi for about a year and a half---worked on some "look of picture" images, but mostly spent time designing the characters. The original vision for the film was fun and a bit edgy---appealed to me. The project's been through lots of changes, rewrites (like any film), ended up with a different director recently. The vision's changed since I first joined, and seems to be going towards a younger Power Rangers audience---I wanted to see a Gatchaman that I would love to see, and didn't want to see it go this direction, so I departed from Imagi and took an Art Directing/Character Designing gig on Thundercats.


This blog belongs to Charlie Wen:

http://charliewen.typepad.com/

[AquaParade]

Really really interesting. Thanks for posting.

[Fledermaus]

Someday, Kevin. Someday, this country of philistines will get over its "animation is for kiddies" disease. Someday, there will be a "grownup" animated film that's actual ANIMATION, not motion-crapture Beowulf... nor a glorified videogame like Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within.

That was disappointing to read, but understandable. Audiences just aren't ready yet. Our culture isn't there. No one with power is willing to risk it. No one with experience is willing to help lead the way.

Damn, superherohype is down -- my source of power! Okay, so anyone who knows enlighten me:

My first question: is Paul Dini still writing this? I can't believe he'd reduce this movie to 7-year-old fodder. He's above that.

My other question is... Lynne Southerland, co-director of Mulan 2 (...) was also signed on for this movie. I wonder... is anyone else helping out at this point?