Product Description
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"Robot, attack! Robot, destroy!" These commands launched a
thousand sci-fi fantasies for budding fans of the genre, just as
they brought Johnny Sokko's Giant Robot into imminent battle
action! Under the voice control of young Johnny Sokko, the
massive, flying metal behemoth would bring his fiery breath,
laser eyes, finger-launched missiles and, above all, his physical
strength into battle with countless menacing monsters bent on
destroying the Earth! This epic fantasy series from Toei Studios
aired from 1967–1968 and garnered even more fans in after-school
reruns throughout the 70s. Collected here for the first time on
DVD are all 26 episodes of explosive kaiju battles, nefarious
alien takeover plots and mind-blowing heroics from jet-packed
Johnny Sokko and his equally airborne friend and protector: Giant
Robot!
Bonus Content:
Includes: 24 Page Booklet Featuring In-Depth Essay by Author
August Ragone
.com
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A megaton punch of metal-plated, missile-shooting,
monster-bashing retro nostalgia awaits former '70s kidvid fans
and new viewers alike in Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot, which
compiles all 26 episodes of the tokusatsu classic's presentation
on American TV. Conceived by Toei Company producer Toru Hirayama
(Kamen Rider, Super Sentai Series) and manga artist Mitsuteru
Yokoyama, Giant Robo, as the series was known in Japan during its
1967-1968 network run, offered an appealing spin on the premise
of Yokoyama's previous creation, Tetsujin 28-go/Gigantor, via a
loophole clause that granted complete control over the titular,
pharaoh-esque robot to the first person to speak into its
remote-control device. That duty falls to young Daisaku
Kusama/Johnny Sokko (Mitsunobu Kaneko), who is subsequently
inducted into the secret peacekeeping organization Unicorn in
order to thwart the Lovecraftian alien Emperor Guillotine, who
employs an army of monsters in his plans for world domination.
What follows is a heady pop-culture sugar rush that combines
Ultraman-style giant monster brawls with Bondian thrills and
a massive dose of adolescent wish fulfillment as Johnny and Giant
Robot take on not only Guillotine's human henchmen, the Gargoyle
Gang, but also an increasingly bizarre (even by tokusatsu
standards) menagerie of creatures, from the colossal eyeball
known as Opticon to -spouting starfish Scalion, a huge metal
claw, an oversize jaw with eyes, a competing giant robot
called Cleopat, and the blue-faced space vampire Drakulon (not to
be confused with another foe, the piscine Dracolon).
The action is frantic and plentiful, and the silent but stalwart
Giant Robot makes for an ideal fantasy playmate/hero, which
should increase the show's appeal to modern younger viewers
(though parents should be aware that there is also an awful lot
of play between Unicorn and Gargoyle agents, with the latter
frequently ending up dead). Older fans who remember the series
from syndicated broadcasts in the '70s and '80s, as well as
airings of the compilation film Voyage into Space (which is
unfortunately not included in this set), will undoubtedly be
pleased to have the entire series run in one DVD set after being
unavailable for years outside of grey market or online sources.
The individual episodes retain much of the show's vibrant color
palette (though the title sequences show considerable wear) as
well as an opening logo from Orion Pictures, which acquired the
series through its purchase of the American International
Pictures library. There may be some consternation over the fact
that the four-disc set includes only the English-dubbed version
of the series presented by American International Television and
not the original Japanese-language edition, but having the show
in any format should be reward enough for most viewers. The set
also includes typically exhaustive liner notes by Japanese
fantasy film and television expert August Ragone, who provides
detailed information on the series' creation as well as an
episode guide and a rare interview with the late Kaneko. --Paul
Gaita