This
Japaneese cartoon is about 4 persons fighting for peace in the universe. Jan
Cogo / Jesse Dart, Darco / Arimos, Haka / Porkos and the marvelous Princess
Aurora travels through the universe on a mission to reach the Great King
Planet and restore the Galaxy Energy. If they suceed all evil in the
universe will disappear and peace will be restored. Along their journey they meet
several creatures who once were peaceloving, but when the Galaxy Energy
disappered they became evil monsters. Back on planet Earth they have two scientists
who helps them with their mission, Dr. Kitty / the Empress and Professor
Dodge / Professor Schnitzel.
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The
creation of the serie
In
Japan, the series was a parody of all the severe, serious, dramatic 'space
opera' programs that were popular in the late 1970's. The tale was animated at
one time by the great pioneer Osamu Tezuka and Matsumoto Leiji at
Toei Animation, 1978-79. The Original title was SF SAIYUUKI SUTAAJINGAA
(SF Journey to the West: Starzinger) and there are 64 episodes.
Some
of the voice actors in the original:
Aurora (Aurora) -- Kasuko Sugiyama
Jan Kugo ( Jan Cogo / Jesse Dart) -- Hiroya Ishimaru
Dr. Kitty ( Dr. Kitty / The Empress) -- Eiko Masuyama
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The
Storie reached USA
Starzinger
was part of Jim Terry's FORCE FIVE multi-series from 1980/81 Force five consisted
of 130 weekday TV episodes, 26 each of five 1970s Toei TV series. Monday to Friday
at 3:00pm.
If you want to read more about the FORCE FIVE go to:
Marsala's
Force Five Page
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The
Spaceketeers series is a kind of re-interpretation of a Chinese myth
about the Monkey King named Saiyuki" or "Si-yoo-ch'i" in
Chinese . It´s a 100 chapter book of a priest's (represented in Spaceketeers/Starzinger
by Princess Aurora) journey to India to recover the original Buddhist
scriptures to be copied and spread through China, back in the 400's. The gods
tell the Monkey King to go with him, but he doesn't want to, so the priest
somehow tricks him into wearing a crown that shrinks whenever the monk recites
a certain mantra. The Monkey King himself, is named 'Son Goku,'
and he has many great powers, including the ability to unleash many great and
destructive powers from his magical staff, which he could also shrink to a tiny
size (to easily hide and carry it). Cogo / Jesse's weapon is related
to this staff. The Monkey King also had a crown placed upon his head
that could control his fierce, animalistic rages. Cogo / Jesse's name
in Japanese was 'Kugo' - just reversing the two syllables of 'Goku'.
The Monkey King, gets reprised a lot in anime. Dragonball is a
Monkey King reprise. So's Midnight Eye Goku Alakazam the Great, The
Drifters' Saiyuki, and numerous other. All three men's names are puns on
the names of the main characters from Alexandre Dumas' classic novel 'The
Three Musketeers.' Cogo / Jesse's name is linked to D'artagnan,
the young and impulsive boy who tied his fortune to the three Musketeers.
Darco / Airmos is linked to Aramis, the slender and elegant Musketeer,
and Haka / Porkos name is a double joke - on the one hand it is linked
to the Musketeer Porthios, but also it's a play on words to do with his
hefty build - he is fat and gluttonous like a pig, and the meat of the pig is
called pork, and a slang term for someone overweight in English is 'porky.'
[New
from 99.08.30, thanks to Gabe]
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Monkey King (mao lao wong in cantonese) got his magical staff by pulling up
one of the pins that hold the ocean down - much like Jesse Dart no?
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Monkey King rampaged in heaven, led demon uprisings, etc, until Buddha defeated
him by dropping a mountain on him, imprisoning him.
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The monk Tripitaka, on a holy quest to the west to retrieve the holy scriptures
was given a circlet by gaun yin to control monkey king the same way as in spaceketeers.
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Just about all of Jesse's powers (except for the range attack stuff) are powers
that monkey king shows.
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In Journey to the West, there is Sandy, Pigsy (who takes form of a half pig/half
man) and Monkey. Pigsy and Porko are practically the same character, except
Pigsy's weapon is a rake.
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In Journey to the West, the monk is a naive, silly, annoying character too
The
Emperess Brief On Princess Aurora Mission
"These
mutants are not only taking over our solar system, they are threatening
to destroy the entire galaxy. They were once peaceful creatures living in harmony
with us. Then a strange galactic emanation caused them to become animoids. Let
me show you what I mean, Aurora. The diameter of our galaxy is 100,000 light
years. The largest area in the center measures 15,000 light years across. It
is made up of about twenty billion stars. This area at the center of the galaxy,
called the Dekos system, is the source of the emanations. We haven't been able
to discove what's causing this change nor have we been able to determine the
specific quantities of the evil emanation, but we do know they have caused the
animals and plants to mutate into hostile life forms. The animals have become
animoids, and the plants have become vegimoids. Only lower life forms have been
affected at this distance but closer to the source the emanations are more powerful
and humans may have been affected. We need someone possessing the strong force
of goodness to combat this evil. Someone who is Aura Sensate. Some one with
the courage and intelligence to accomplish a mission of this importance. I know
of only one person possessing the qualities and abilities to succede in this
task. You Aurora, you are the one. You are the one who will save us from this
evil."
