PRINCE PLANET (1965)

Prince Planet is the English name given to one of the earliest Japanese TV anime series, Planet Boy Popi (遊星少年パピイ Yūsei Shōnen Papī), when it was televised in America in the mid-1960s. A 52 episode monochrome anime, it tells the story of a member of the Universal Peace Corps from the Planet Radion coming to Earth on a mission to determine if this world meets standards for membership in the Galactic Union of Worlds and assist its inhabitants during his stay. While on his mission, Prince Planet adopts the identity of an Earth boy named Bobby and gains comrades who work together alongside him combating evil forces both alien and terrestrial.

Production overview and history

Prince Planet was originally produced in Japan by TCJ (Television Corporation of Japan) for Dentsu advertising in conjunction with K. Fujita Associates and aired on the Fuji Television network in 1965. The show was one of the first heavily merchandised shows in Japan, with simple things like shoes getting the "Planet Boy Popi" logo. An English-dubbed version was released by American International Television Productions in September 1966, and produced by James Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff. The dubbing was performed in Miami at Copri Films International and directed by Mark Harris with dialog scripting by Reuben Guberman (who also reworked The Amazing 3 for Erika Productions in 1967). The American theme was composed by Guy Hemric and Jerry Styner, who had previously written songs for several of American International's "Beach Party" movies.

Main characters
The main characters that appear throughout most of the series are all introduced by the fourth episode. In episode 1, Prince Planet arrives on Earth and meets a girl, Riko or Diana Worthy in the English-dubbed version and her father, Pops Worthy, who live on a large ranch. In episode 2, a wrestler known as Dan Dynamo, billed as "The strongest man in the world" joins the Prince Planet team. Episode 3 introduces Warlock, who is said to be the "Master of Martian Magic", although his Martian origins seem to be more of a contrivance added to the English dub. The last major team member is a magician named AjiBaba, from the desert of the eastern hemisphere who debuts in episode 4 as an arch-enemy of Warlock. Many of the episodes involve battles with Warlock until episode 30, when Krag from the planet Kragmire banishes (throws) Warlock into the depths of space and becomes Prince Planet's major nemesis until the end of the series. Warlock finally returns in the second-to-last episode of the series.

While on Earth, Prince Planet exists usually as Bobby, a normal boy, but when the need arises he will transform into Prince Planet to fight enemies or protect his friends. He transforms similarly to Captain Marvel (DC Comics) by holding his pendant with both hands and saying "Peeeeeee Pazow!!" with the "Pazow" being added to cover the Japanese "Popi". When transformed into Prince Planet, an appropriate costume comes with the transformation which resembles the apparel worn by the people of his native world. This includes a helmet, which all male members of Radion society seem to wear.

Prince Planet's main powers are not altogether unlike those of Superman, and it is interesting to note that in the original Japanese his home world is named "Planet Crifton". His pendant-endowed powers include super strength, flight, and resistance to harsh environments like outer space although he can be injured in his transformed state. Prince Planet can also use his superior intellect along with the energy of the pendant to transform material objects at will; this power is very useful to create needed weapons, transportation or other devices. A recurring plot element of many episodes hinges on a limitation resembling that of Green Lantern in that his pendant must be recharged, but he cannot perform this himself. Replenishing of the pendant's energy is handled from Planet Radion. As his energy supply diminishes, the "P" in his pendant goes from black to white like a thermometer in dropping temperatures. On his home planet, in the "power tower" there is a person whose job is to monitor the pendant's energy level and ensure it does not run too low. Of course he often seems to be "asleep on the job" while Earth and Prince Planet are hanging in the balance and sends energy to the pendant at the last possible second before disaster. Even completely deprived of the pendant's power, Prince Planet can physically put up a good fight and his high intellect makes him a cunning and formidable opponent.

English dub voice talent
Catherine "Bobbie" Byers (voice of Prince Planet, Bobby, various female voices)
Mark Harris (voice of Dan Dynamo, various voices)
Kurt Nagel (voice of AjiBaba, various voices)
Arnie Warren (voice of Warlock, various voices)
Frank Schuller (voice Of Krag, various voices)
Sandy Warshaw (voice of Diana Worthy, various female voices)
Jeff Gillen (voice of Pop Worthy, various voices)
Other voices performed by: Reuben Guberman, Lawrence Tobin, Jerry Burke

Episode list
1. A Boy From Outer Space
2. Giant On The Matters
3. The Formidable Rival
4. The Arabian Magician
5. Flying Jellyfish
6. Dinosaur Men
7. A Big Showdown
8. Robot Island
9. The Overgrown Lizard
10. Shaberia
11. Fancy Machine
12. S.O.S. Global
13. Gold Picker
14. Attack Of Radioactive Ants
15. The Great Space War
16. The Star In Memory
17. The Space Zoo
18. The Stolen Mt. Fuji
19. Pirate Satan
20. The Planet Terror
21. Robot No. 9
22. Goodbye Saturnean
23. The Earth Zero Hour
24. The Ghost Space Ship
25. Battle On A Desert Island
26. Secret Under The Sea

27. The Rocket Pilot
28. Gaist, the Devilish
29. The Gift From Prince Planet
30. Gollen, the Formidable Foe
31. The Pollen Bomb
32. Operation Rico
33. Rico, The Great Detective
34. A Spy From The Necro
35. The Demon Scientist
36. The Young Spies
37. Alan, The Secret Agent
38. The Magic Gloves
39. Robot Prince
40. Rico's Adventure
41. The Lion In Desert
42. Crisis On The Earth
43. The Horror Of A Snowman
44. Revenge In The Valley
45. The Comet Missile
46. The Mystery Of Mummy
47. The Mystery Of Organ
48. Horror At 10:10 P.M.
49. The Birdman Racket
50. Secret Path Into The Earth
51. Ajababa's Children
52. The Star At Home

Other foreign releases and dubs
Prince Planet was televised in Australia and aired in Melbourne in March 1967 on Channel 9 at 5pm weekdays. The series was as well known in Australia. It last appeared on Australian television in 1974 on The Super Flying Fun Show, a weekday breakfast television series.

In Brazil, Prince Planet aired between 1970 and 1975. The characters were known by the following names:
Diana Worthy - "Estrellita"
Dan Dynamo - "Bruno Retti" or "Strong"
Warlock - "Capirote"
Krag - "Kilitrone"

Reception
Two factors contributed to the hasty demise of Prince Planet as a desirable property for domestic broadcast, one being the fact that monochrome programing was becoming less desirable to television stations with the ever-growing popularity of color television. The other was negative parental reaction to cartoons containing what was perceived as excessive violence for children's television. While fighting for right, Prince Planet's opponents were often killed and this was obvious even despite editing of the dubbed prints to remove violent scenes. Prince Planet kills Warlock and Krag in the last two episodes before returning home to Radion, and they were not the only villains he blasted away with his pendant. In addition to human violence, the Prince was not overly sensitive to Earth fauna either. For instance, in one episode, he transformed a whale into transportation for his friends, effectively killing the whale. Even so, Prince Planet is known to have been televised in the U.S.A until around 1976 in the Chicago area (WSNS Channel 44) on stations hungry for afternoon TV for children to watch after school and Prince Planet claimed many faithful adherents throughout the sixties and those later years. It was also televised on WUTV channel 29 Buffalo, New York, the summer of 1975.