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Battle of the Planets: Phoenix Ninjas was an ultimately scrapped reboot of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, referencing the name of the first American adaptation.[1] As BotP is no longer owned by Sandy Frank, Tatsunoko themselves had partnered up with d-rights and Nelvana, a Canadian animation company owned by Corus Entertainment, on the project.[2]

History and Cancellation of the Phoenix Ninjas IP[]

The series was initially in pre-production at Warner Bros. Entertainment in 2011 under the title and branding of Gatchaman, as another attempt after the failure of the Imagi movie. George Krstic (of "Megas XLR" fame) was known to be one of the staff members of this first iteration[3]. However, Tatsunoko would later move the partnership and project to Corus/Nelvana the following year, and quiet signs of movement would be shown with some development art shown at an exhibition[4]. This exhibition was done as a way to offer different artists at Nelvana the chance to compete and see whose character designs would be chosen for the final product.

The titles of "Gatchaman" and "Battle of the Planets" were considered interchangeable by Tatsunoko at the time, as they tried to figure out which brand would be more recognizable in the USA. An early pilot was approved to be made by Nelvana in 2012, going by Writers' Guild of Canada documents, but may or may not have ever actually happened[5]; The title given at this point was simply The Battle of the Planets.

Corus would give the series an official announcement in 2014 under the Phoenix Ninjas title, projecting the reboot for a 2017 start date. Unfortunately, the project was continuously pushed back and was quietly canceled by Corus in 2018, with them having removed their press release on it from their website. Another name seen to advertise the series by 2016 in some resumes was given as Gatchaman: The Battle of the Planets, similar to the Italian dub title.

Phoenix Ninjas had already been noted to have gone through "several iterations" and was put on the backburner in favor of Beyblade[6]. The ultimate decision for Corus to scrap the series was due to an inability to secure financing for the project, which stopped it in its tracks with no further news.[7] Due to legal issues and NDAs existing at Corus, it makes it less likely to know the details of the adaptation and any later development material that may have held information.

Gallery[]

Production Staff (Warner Bros.)[]

  • Development, Writing: George Krstic
  • Mecha Design: Alexander Kubalsky [8]

Production Staff (Nelvana)[]

Note: As with the Imagi movie adaptation of Gatchaman, this project went through various creative teams and drafts as it was put on hold and restarted until finally being dropped by Nelvana and Tatsunoko. The names listed below may have only applied to specific iterations and not the entire length of the project, unless otherwise noted.

  • Development and Design: Mike MacDougall[9]
  • Executive Story Editor: Grant Sauvé[10]
  • Writers: Grant Sauvé, Jocelyn Geddie[11]
  • Character Design: Tony Yeom[12], Tom Jolliffe (early concept art)
  • Style Guide Design Artist: Jeremy Kaposy[13]

References[]

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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