Say what you like about Michael Bay, then, but he knows how to simplify a story. Youngsters the world over had no idea what was happening from one minute to the next, but enjoyed it regardless due to the spaceships, fighting, robots, vehicles and weird bird costumes. If it all sounds a bit confusing, that’s because it was. They defended the Earth from evil aliens of the planet Spectra, using the Phoenix, their bird-shaped spaceship, and the weaponised vehicles it housed. Mark, Jason, Princess, Keyop and Tiny all had superhuman powers due to ‘cerebonic’ enhancements.

They then cut, added to, and re-edited the episodes to make a series that loosely shared the same story, but with a greater emphasis on space battles, more funny robots, and none of the graphic violence and profane language of the original.īattle Of The Planets, then, followed the tale of five teenage orphans known as G-Force. Western distributors Sandy Frank Entertainment used 85 of the 105 original episodes of the wonderfully-named Japanese anime Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. The history of Battle Of The Planets is a little confusing. He could probably knock it out during his lunch breaks on Transformers 4, too. People riding CGI dinosaurs covered with armour and lasers fighting each other, the script could be mostly growls and explosions and it would still be amazing. It goes without saying that Mr Bay could make this great.

Unfortunately, the actual series wasn’t as awesome as that preceding sentence.

Cartoons on the bay 2012