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Eagle Riders (also officially listed as "Saban's "Eagle Riders") was a 1996 English adaptation of Gatchaman produced by Saban Entertainment, that sourced the two sequel series (Gatchaman II and Gatchaman Fighter) as opposed to the first series, due to the rights being tied up with Sandy Frank. 13 of its episodes aired on syndication on US television in the fall of 1996, while the entirety of the series was aired overseas, particularly in Australia.

The show covers 65 episodes, as that became the standard amount for syndication after Battle of the Planets and G-Force's number of 85. At least 47 Gatchaman II episodes were utilized, along with 18 episodes of Gatchaman Fighter. However, some episodes that covered Fighter were also spliced together, and a few episodes utilized some footage from other episodes that Saban did not adapt in their entirety (see the Changes section and the Episode List). The final episode was sourced from Gatchaman Fighter #15, and ended the series on a cliffhanger.

The dubbing for the series was done in Los Angeles, California and featured a modern pool of voice actors that had been utilized in anime dubs by Saban and Harmony Gold.

Key Changes in the Adaptation[]

While the adaptation and ADR process was enjoyable for some of the staff like Richard Epcar, those like Marc Handler would note how production was a mess and how his scripts often lacked continuity with the other writers', resulting in an incomprehensible product and unsatisfactory adaptation for him to have worked on.

This can be seen as the series goes along and the production staff had to deal with not only Tatsunoko giving them reels in a mismatched order, but also having to view episodes and troubleshoot how they could avoid adapting any of the stories that were too violent and dreary.

At least 10 to 15 episodes were dubbed in a first attempt by a different crew in 1995 during initial ad copy presented by the company[1], before higher-ups at Saban ordered the work scrapped due to unsatisfactory results. A new adaptation staff were hired to take over, and proceeded to also rewrite and redub that initial batch of episodes for consistency with the rest of the product.

Name Changes[]

  • Ken Washio was renamed Hunter Harris. His father (Red Impulse), when mentioned, received the name of Harley Harris. Hunter's Bird Style is referred to that of the Hawk, instead of the Eagle.
  • Joe Asakura was renamed Joe Thax. His Bird Style is the Falcon, rather than the Condor. In initial advertisements, as well as the original dubbing of episodes 1 through 10, this character's first name was given as Flash.
  • Jun received the full name of Kelly Jennar. Her Bird Style is given as the Dove, instead of the Swan.
  • Jinpei received the full name of Mickey Dugan, and his Bird Style is that of the Merlin.
  • Ryu Nakanishi was renamed to Ollie Keeawani, but remained the Owl.
  • Dr. Kozaburo Nambu was renamed to Dr. Thaddeus Keane.
  • Galactor was referred to as the alien android race of The Vorak.
  • Berg Katse, when referenced, was renamed Lukan.
  • X/Z was renamed Cybercon.
  • Gel Sadra was renamed Mallanox. Their civilian identity of Sammie Pandora was changed to Nancy Aikens. In the advertisement for the series and original dub attempt, this villain's name was instead Galaxor (oddly similar in sound to "Galactor").
  • Count Egobossler was renamed Happy Boy.
  • Dr. Sylvie Pandora became Dr. Francine Aikens, and her deceased husband Domenico became Herb (though initially referred to as Frank).
  • Dr. Rafael was renamed to Professor Andro.
  • Saburo Kamo became Avery.
  • Mechandor and Kempeler became Olaf and Vax.
  • The New God Phoenix autopilot robot named PiMa was renamed Auto.
  • Hawk Getz (or rather, the Galactor agent that impersonated him) was renamed to Zarnek and explained away as an android.
  • The Science Ninja Team became the titular Eagle Riders, and the New God Phoenix became the Ultra Eagle.

Excluded Elements and other changes[]

  • Gatchaman's fictional cities and countries were changed to real-world locations, at least initially.
  • The entire soundtrack was changed, with a new score by Shuki Levy replacing the original Gatchaman II and Fighter score and themes.
  • The ship wreck in the first episode is cut down to remove the deaths of its passengers, as well as removing the backstory of Gel Sadra. Instead, Cybercon is stated to merely have created Mallanox to do his bidding. But later on, Mallanox was referred to as being the son of Lukan (the Eagle Riders' previous nemesis). Even later in the series, it is revealed that Mallanox is the artificially-aged Nancy Aikens, the missing daughter of Francine and Herb Aikens (the latter who died in the ship wreck).
    • As a result of the above, Mallanox is initially referred to as a man but it is later revealed that she is a woman, although she keeps her masculine voice when in costume and is still referred to with he/him pronouns by the Eagle Riders. It is likely that the confusion over Gel Sadra's gender identity in the original Gatchaman II didn't alleviate the matter.
  • While Gel Sadra dies at the end of Gatchaman II and the spirit of the young Sammie Pandora leaves to reunite with her mother, Mallanox does not die. Instead, the voice over from the clouds is changed from her mother to Cybercon, who informs her that he shall transform her into a new form for her failure: a man named "Happy Boy" (Count Egobossler). The footage shows her body starting to de-age, but it then cuts to her robes blowing away.
  • Deaths of Galactor henchmen are toned down by the characters insisting that the Vorak are mere androids that they've deactivated.
  • The final episode of Gatchaman II and the first episode of Fighter are spliced together into one plot, while the rest of Fighter #1 was spliced with #2. The rest of Fighter #2 was subsequently spliced together with scenes from Fighter #27 and some footage from #47.
  • While Fighter #48 (the final episode) was never adapted, footage of its final scene was utilized in the opening, with phantom imagery of the Gatchaman team running in the sky, as well as a giant flaming Phoenix heading towards Earth.
  • When Fighter #6 was adapted, it had a scene from #46 spliced into it (where Ken was imagining the spirits of Red Impulse and Dr. Nambu).
  • While Ken Washio experiences a cellular breakdown that gradually destroys his body, and is unable to cure it (despite getting treated with an experimental cure), Hunter Harris is said to have been cured of his equivalent disease.
  • While Joe Asakura never gets the bomb removed from his heart (and it plays a key moment in the Fighter finale), Joe Thax is mentioned to have had the bomb surgically removed after the first defeat of Cybercon (at the end of the Gatchaman II footage).
  • A flashback in Ken's memories of Red Impulse was altered so that Hunter was reminiscing of how his father tried to order his team around, rather than them meeting for the first time. However, the rest of the flashback remained the same, with Harley Harris sacrificing himself as Red Impulse had.
  • Dr. Aikens is loaded into a rocket by Cybercon and shot into space. Dr. Keane is said to have searched for her, but her status is never commented upon again. This is due to the fact that Saban cut the scene where Dr. Pandora's rocket exploded, killing her. Pandora's spirit is also entirely excised from the footage of the Gatchaman II finale.
  • Professor Andro is stated to have been merely injured and hospitalized, not killed (unlike Dr. Raphael), but his status is not commented upon either after that initial censorship.
  • Episode 21 of Gatchaman II was utilized for the sixth episode of the series, although it became heavily edited: Rather than both of Ken's flight school friends Karl and Lisa dying due to Karl being an agent of Galactor, Karl simply "escapes" and Lisa survives, with earlier footage of her in the episode being utilized to provide closure. Her death, however, did make it into the episode when it was presented as one of her nightmares. Similar circumstances occurred when episode 39 was adapted, with footage heavily edited and re-arranged to obscure that Chinita had died, and Joe merely never hears from her again and her fate left unknown.

Episode Order[]

While the first five episodes of Eagle Riders stick closely to the plot of Gatchaman II (leaving aside some censorship), episode 6 of Gatchaman II was adapted out of order, with 21 substituted in its place. Episodes 9, 16, 17, 28, and 36 were dropped, although there were cases where scenes were spliced into other episodes, indicating that Saban had the reels to utilize.

The Gatchaman Fighter portion of the series skipped episodes 3, 4, 8 through 11, 13, 14, 16 through 19, 21 through 24, 26, 27 (other than clips spliced into the adaptation of the second episode), 29, 34, 38, 39, and episodes 41 through 48 (save for aforementioned clips of 47 pasted into episode 2).

The anachronical ordering of some episodes partly had to do with censorship, although it was also due to the aforementioned issue of Tatsunoko sending Saban the Gatchaman II and Fighter reels out of order to adapt.

Episode List[]

Original Gatchaman II and Fighter titles and numbers are in parentheses

  1. "For The Global Good" (G-II #1: "Leader X's Counterattack")
  2. "Temple Island" (G-II #2: "The Mysterious Feather Shuriken"
  3. "Visit to Alcatraz" (G-II #3: "Black Knights from Hell")
  4. "Reunion" (G-II #4: "Joe has Returned?")
  5. "Primal Instinct (G-II #5: "Mystery of the Primitive Man Invasion")
  6. "Old Friends, New Enemies (G-II #21: "The Broken Wings of Youth")
  7. "Camouflage" (G-II #7: "Fearful Mutant Operation")
  8. "On the Far Side of the Moon (G-II #8: "Firebird on the Moon")
  9. "Pyramid Power" (G-II #6: "The Impact of Pyramid Power")
  10. "Deep Freeze in the South Seas" (G-II #10: "Snowstorm at the Equator")
  11. "Second Chances" (G-II #11: "The Hypernium 600 Contest")
  12. "Signs of Intelligent Life" (G-II #12: "Dr. Raphael's Secret")
  13. "Under the Volcano" (G-II #13: "Youthful G-2")
  14. "Abduction and Return" (G-II #14: "Red Impulse from Space")
  15. "The Island Girl's Secret" (G-II #15: "The Pure Heart of G-5")
  16. "Big Eye meets Small Fry" (G-II #18: "The Spaceship Isn't Responding")
  17. "Realities" (G-II #19: "The Trap in Extradimensional Space")
  18. "The Impostor" (G-II #20: "Crisis at G-Town")
  19. "Crisis!" (G-II #22: "The Enigma of Stonehenge")
  20. "Panic at the North Pole" (G-II #23: "The Love that Vanished at the North Pole")
  21. "Circuits Down" (G-II #24: "G-2 Under Suspicion")
  22. "Professor Andro's World" (G-II #25: "The Cyborg's Lament")
  23. "The Mysterious Dr. Aikens (Part 1)" (G-II #26: "Pandora, the Mysterious Private Secretary")
  24. "The Mysterious Dr. Aikens (Part 2)" (G-II #27: "Dr. Nambu Dies!")
  25. "K3" (G-II #29: "Life or Death: The Evil North Wall")
  26. "Coward of the Cosmos" (G-II #30: "Ryu Returns Home")
  27. "Down in the Alps" (G-II #31: "The Eagle, Shot Down")
  28. "Remembrance" (G-II #32: "G-1's Andes Love")
  29. "Shake Down in the Big Apple (G-II #33: "G-1's Rage")
  30. "Adventure in the Amazon" (G-II #34: "Demon Monstermech of the Amazon")
  31. "Old Ties" (G-II #35: "Berg Katse's Legacy")
  32. "Childish Things" (G-II #37: "Burn, Steel Wings!")
  33. "Facing the Dragon" (G-II #38: "The Electromagnetic Dragon Monstermech")
  34. "Hide and Seek" (G-II #39: "The Crimson Condor")
  35. "Wild Country" (G-II #40: "Violent Battle: The Evil Animal Maneuver!")
  36. "Mallanox in a Mess (G-II #41: "Gatchaman vs. Gel Sadra")
  37. "Evil in Disguise" (G-II #42: "The Observatory in the Darkness")
  38. "Krall" (G-II #43: "Invaders from Mars")
  39. "Mission to Mars" (G-II #44: "Fight the Evil Mars Base")
  40. "Unnatural Disasters" (G-II #45: "The Demonic Solar Shift Plan")
  41. "Identities" (G-II #46: "Gatchaman Exposed")
  42. "Fire and Ice" (G-II #47: "The Two Firebirds' Fatal Blow")
  43. "Catastrophe" (G-II #48: "The Greatest Tidal Wave in History")
  44. "Falling Prey" (G-II #49: "Burn, Condor!")
  45. "Relativity" (G-II #50: "Mystery! Mystery? Gel Sadora's Mother!")
  46. "Allegiance and Amends" (G-II #51: "Gel Sadora's Lament")
  47. "Encounter with Evil" (G-II #52: "The Destruction of Leader X" and GF#1: "New Dark Clouds")
  48. "A New Threat" (GF#1: "New Dark Clouds" and GF#2: "Debut! Gatchaspartan")
  49. "The New Resistance" (GF#2: "Debut! Gatchaspartan" and GF#27: "The Mystery of Egobossler's Birth", plus a scene from GF#47: "Earth Extinction! 3 2 1")
  50. "Conflict at Melly Island" (GF#5: "Charge! The Terrible Soldiers")
  51. "One to One" (GF#6: "Burn! Gatchaman Fencer", with last portion sourced from GF#46: "G-1 Desperate for High Power")
  52. "The Steel City" (GF#7: "Steal the Giant Iron Beast")
  53. "Energy Crisis" (GF#12: "The Order to Destroy the Mantle Base")
  54. "Negotations" (GF#19: "Don't Touch the Super Stuff")
  55. "The Document" (GF#25: "Sky Riders from Hell")
  56. "Rebel Defiance" (GF#28: "Desperate Fight! Valley of Betrayal")
  57. "Outbreak" (GF#30: "The Creeping Alien")
  58. "Wild Ride" (GF#31: "Runaway! The Great Train Chase")
  59. "Uncle Avery" (GF#32: "Mystery of the Space Pulse")
  60. "Ollie Undercover" (GF#33: "A Promise Kept")
  61. "The Price of Glory" (GF#35: "The Shadow of Death Approaches G-1")
  62. "Scorpius Force" (GF#36: "Hypershoot Crisis")
  63. "A Ray of Hope" (GF#37: "Revive Gatchaman")
  64. "The Lost Children of Melly" (GF#40: "Surprise Attack of the Mecha Waterspout")
  65. "Vorak Resolution" (GF#15: "Hell's Burning Ambition")

International Versions[]

  • It was aired in Spain under the title Comando Águila, on Antena 3's Fox Kids.
  • In Portugal, it was titled Esquadrão Águia
  • While Italy had also aired straight dubs of Gatchaman II and Fighter, it later aired an Italian dub of this adaptation in 2003. Unusually, the Italian adaptation team opted to keep most of the original Gatchaman names intact for the characters (though Count Egobossler/Happy Boy becomes Funny Boy, Cybercon is Generalissimo Zeta, Dr. Aikens' name change is kept, and Ken's Bird Style is still incorrect).
  • A French version titled La Patrouille des Aigles existed in the 2000s
  • It was also adapted to Polish as Eskadra Orła.
  • A Brazilian Portuguese dub titled Esquadrão Pássaro aired on Globo.

Production Staff[]

  • Executive Producer: Eric S. Rollman
  • Producer and Story Editor: Rita M. Acosta
  • Screenwriters: Marc Handler, Dayna Barron, Ardwight Chamberlain (credited as "RD Smithee"), Richard Epcar, Melora Harte, Steve Kramer, Ronni Pear, Winston Richard, Michael Sorich, Tom Wyner
  • Voice Directors: Richard Epcar, Steve Kramer, Dave Mallow, Heidi Noelle Lenhart, and Michael Sorich
  • Production Assistant and ADR Coordinator: Gregory C. Ireland
  • Sound Operation: Clive H. Mizumoto, Xavier Garcia
  • Sound Effects Editors: Keith Dickens, Martin Flores, Zoli Osaze, Ron Salaises, and John Valentino
  • Re-Recording Mixers: Michael Beirenger, Mark Ettel, R.D. Floyd, and Wayne T. O'Brien
  • ADR Recording: Carl Lange, Kevin Newson, David W.Barr
  • Foley Artists: Susan Lewis, Kalea Morton, and Taryn Simone
  • Audio Assistants: Brian Densmore, Andrew Kines, and Don Sexton
  • Music Composers: Shuki Levy, Kussa Mahchi
  • Executive In Charge Of Music: Ron Kenan
  • Music Supervisor: Lloyd Michael Cook II
  • Music Editors: Barron Abramovitch, Bill Filipiak
  • Music Engineer: Barron Abramovitch
  • Second Engineers: James Dijulio, Frank Bailey-Meier
  • Music Assistants: Jeremy Sweet, Tim Gosselin
  • Offline Editor: Terry Marlin
  • Video Traffic Coordinator: Jerry Buetnner
  • Online Editors: Michael Hutchinson, Harvey Landy (Hollywood Digital Inc.), John Bowen, and David Crosthwait (Modern Videofilm)
  • Telecine: Lee Ann Went (Varitel Inc.), Greg Hamlin (Film Technology, LA)
  • Post Production Supervisor: John Bryant
  • Post Production Coordinator: Francesca Weiss
  • Executive In Charge Of Production: Dana C. Booton

Voice Cast[]

  • Hunter Harris: Richard Cansino, Bob Bergen* (some remaining lines)
  • Joe Thax: Bryan Cranston
  • Kelly Jennar: Heidi Noelle Lenhart
  • Mickey Dugan: Mona Marshall
  • Ollie Keeawani: Paul Schrier
  • Dr. Thaddeus Keane: Greg O'Neill
  • Dr. Francine Aikens: Lara Cody
  • Auto: Dena Burton
  • Mallanox: R. Martin Klein
  • Cybercon: Peter Spellos
  • Director Anderson: Clifton Wells (uncredited)
  • Happy Boy: Richard Epcar (uncredited)
  • Uncredited Additional Voices: Joshua Seth, Dave Mallow, Julie Maddalena, Bob Papenbrook, Dan Woren, Doug Stone, Steve Bulen, Michael McConnohie, Steve Kramer, Tom Wyner

From what is known of the early adaptation period, the voice actor Bob Bergen was hired to voice Hunter before leaving due to the low pay for the job and only taking on union jobs for animation voice-over. Even with the changes in the staff and the redubbing of episodes, some of Bergen's dialogue still remained in place in the final product, though Richard Cansino would note he was hired specifically because he sounded similar enough to Bergen for it to not matter that much.

French cast[]

  • Hunter Harris: Alexandre Gillet
  • Joe Thax: Denis Laustriat
  • Kelly Jennar: Beatrice Bruno
  • Mickey Dugan, Auto: Herve Rey
  • Ollie Keeawani: ?
  • Dr. Thaddeus Keane: Joel Martineau
  • Dr. Francine Aikens, Nancy Aikens: Dorothee Jemma
  • Mallanox, Cybercon, Vax: Jean-Claude Montalban
  • Professor Andro: Jean-luc Kayser (initial), Joel Martineau (later)
  • Olaf, Avery: Joseph Falcucci
  • Happy Boy: Francois Pacome

Portuguese cast[]

  • Hunter Harris, Mallanox: Rui Oliveira
  • Joe Thax: Joao Pedro Vaz
  • Kelly Jennar: Lucinda Afonso
  • Mickey Dugan: Maria Teixeira
  • Ollie Keeawani: Raul Constante Pereira
  • Dr. Thaddeus Keane, Cybercon: Jorge Pauperio

Italian cast[]

  • Ken the Hawk: Pasquale Ruju
  • Joe the Condor: Marco Balzarotti
  • Jun the Swan: Cinzia Massironi
  • Jinpei the Swallow: Anna Maria Tulli
  • Ryu the Owl: Riccardo Rovatti
  • Dr. Nambu: Enrico Maggi
  • Ghelsadra: Oliviero Corbetta
  • Generalissimo Zeta: Stefano Albertini

Polish cast[]

  • Hunter Harris: Jacek Kopczyński
  • Joe Thax: Cezary Nowak
  • Kelly Jennar: Małgorzata Drozd
  • Mickey Dugan: Cezary Kwieciński
  • Ollie Keeawani: Aleksander Mikołajczak
  • Dr. Thaddeus Keane: Jerzy Dominik
  • Mallanox, Lucky Guy: Ryszard Olesiński
  • Cybercon: Marek Lewandowski (early episodes), Krzysztof Zakrzewski (later)
  • Professor Andro: Wiesław Machowski
  • Dr. Francine Aikens: Mirosława Krajewska
  • Avery: Wojciech Paszkowski

Home Video Availability[]

  • Eagle Riders has never had a home video release in the US, and it remains unlikely as the rights for the Gatchaman sequels have since reverted to Tatsunoko (after a period where Buena Vista Entertainment bought out Saban's animation library). However, complicating the situation would be that the Eagle Riders audio and adaptation rights may still be in limbo due to the Saban factor, making for a possible separate negotation of rights to be done by any company wishing to release it.
  • AK Video released the French dub of the series on 10 single DVD releases through 2002, as well as 2 boxed sets. For this release, the series was branded as La Force G- La Patrouille des Aigles. Unusually, prototype covers would also try to link it by title to France's "Battle of the Planets" dub in calling it La Patrouille des Aigles: La Bataille des Planetes II- Force G.
  • The Italian branch of 20th Century Fox Home Video would release a single volume DVD of the Italian dub in 2006, containing episodes 1 through 4.

Links[]

  • Eagle Riders Episode Guide at "Jun's Joint", a Gatchaman fansite. Summarizes the entire series and contains sound clips (Dead website, only available through archived link)
Gatchaman media
TV animation Science Ninja Team Gatchaman · Gatchaman II · Gatchaman Fighter · New Gatchaman (unproduced)· Good Morning Ninja Team Gatchaman · Gatchaman Crowds · Battle of the Planets: Phoenix Ninjas (unproduced)
Movies Science Ninja Team Gatchaman: The Movie · Gatchaman (2011 - unproduced) · Gatchaman (2013)
Adaptations Battle of the Planets (movie) · Eagle 5 Brothers · G-Force: Guardians of Space · Eagle Riders· Battle of the Planets: The New Exploits of G-Force (unproduced)
Other Gatchaman (OVA) · NTT Gatchaman · Tachimals Theater · Infini-T Force · Time Bokan: Royal Revival
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