Astro voice actor here

[Fauna]

I'm in Saskatchewan, Canada. The most popular series was the 80's one, and it ran in almost every province. It left such an influence that everyone who worked at STV between 1985-1996 has the theme song burned into their brains.

The 2003 series ran sleepily for a few months, and soon got cancelled. (YTV had a really funny promo that I wish I had on tape.)


[This isn't relevant, but back in '05, the Mendel Art Gallery had an "art" piece called "Fallen Hero"...there was a huge, huge wall decal of Astro in flight, and a little display case holding a worn, beat-up doll of Astro. He was missing half a leg and a whole arm and covered in spots of dirt.]

[Astro Forever]

French Canadian here; I found this site after watching some episodes of the 2003 series. After watching a few 1980 videos online, I decided to buy the Australian boxset because it was the only one available at the time (it was quite expensive but totally worth it). That's when I became familiar with the English dubbing. When another boxset was finally released in the US, I bought this one too because I wanted the complete Japanese dub (and it wasn't nearly as expensive as the previous one).

Then finally the 1980 series came out in French but only half of it came out on this side of the Atlantic, which makes me the owner of two and a half boxset of the 1980 series!

Obviously I do not have the same emotional attachment to the English dub as other people here who grew up with it, but as far as I know it was the first one done in a foreign language and I've listened to it so much that I still have an interest in it.

There is a Canadian color version of the show? I'm suprised!

Yes. The only logical explanation I could come up with is that they found the American version too violent, so they chose do produce their own. The Canadian version is heavily cut, ending are totally changed to that there aren't many deaths and each episode is about 4 to 5 minutes shorter than its original version!

The French national network wasn't as sensible as its English counterpart (we got quite a few series more "violent" than Astroboy) but the French version was made from the English one and therefore is as badly cut. That's another reason why I like the English dub as it's the only one in which I do not need subtitles and it still tells the story as it's supposed to be. Some of those French episodes are available on YouTube, but unfortunately for English Canadians, their childhood dub is apparently lost; at least they can compare the cut series and the original one to their memories.

The pilot was very long, and spelled out much, much more the death of Astro's human counterpart, and his father's grief. Skunk was introduced soon afterward. I mispoke -- the pilot must only have been an hour.

Out of curiosity, do you own the English scripts of the first two Japanese episodes (before they were cut and put into a single one)?

[jayrath]

Wow! I thought this was primarily an Australian news group. Thanks for proving me wrong.

We in America waited so long. My fellow cast member Dave Miller didn't even know of the show's success until I ran into him recently, and told him about the DVD sets. To us, our best work was dead long ago.

I did the pilot just three months after I turned 18. I finished the whole series two months before I turned 19. It was the biggest thing in my life. Thank you all for fighting for Astro, for keeping the show on the air!

[crazyd2000]

Im american. there are a lot of americans here.

Search for shin tetsuwan atom on youtube. you should find the first two episodes in japanese w/ subtitles. explains a lot, but makes atlas a lot less mysterious

[jayrath]

The French national network wasn't as sensible as its English counterpart (we got quite a few series more "violent" than Astroboy) but the French version was made from the English one and therefore is as badly cut. That's another reason why I like the English dub as it's the only one in which I do not need subtitles and it still tells the story as it's supposed to be.

Out of curiosity, do you own the English scripts of the first two Japanese episodes (before they were cut and put into a single one)?

There were cuts you are all unaware of still, unless you saw the Japanese original color series. It's not a big secret -- the Japanese audience knows.

Yes, I still have every single script. All the rest of the cast made fun of me for saving them.

[Astro Forever]

There were cuts you are all unaware of still, unless you saw the Japanese original color series. It's not a big secret -- the Japanese audience knows.

Yes, with both the Australian and the American release we got quite a few cut scenes as extras and I know of at least one more little scene missing. Still, aside from those first two episodes, it's not nearly as bad as what we Canadians got (for example, Bruton didn't destroy any robot: they were only put to sleep. The Light Ray robot somehow survives, the commander in Save the Carolina 3 is never shot and the list goes on and on an on... Sometimes I make fun of it by telling myself that I've seen more than a hundred different 1980 episdoes because they stories are so different).

Yes, I still have every single script. All the rest of the cast made fun of me for saving them.

Thanks you so much for this! I don't know what we could do with them here at this point but it's really nice to know they still exist!

BTW, I like Skunk's voice a lot and I'm not saying this just because you are here. In fact, I have an easier time remembering your voice than the French voice.

Now I'm going to bed, and will definitely watch a 1980 episode to fall asleep tonight!

[jayrath]

There are so many things I want to tell you all, but I don't know where to begin. Please feel free to ask anything.

We all saw ourselves as radio actors, keeping alive the tradition of radio drama. One day we had our own "radio drama" day, and came dressed in 1930s and '40s clothes. We did our taping that day wearing them.

I have many photos of all this, and when I dig them out I will try to post them.

I already told you that Patty (Astro) was pregnant when we did the pilot. She and I were among the few who continued to do the series. I won't name names, and it's now so long afterward, but we were a family. And part of being a family is arguing, fighting -- and working it out. Some of us loathed each other. That is simply what comes of being locked in a studio for 12 hours a day, six days a week.

When we went on mic we were united. We studied and studied our scripts and worked so hard to come up with new voices. Some above have mentioned their surprise that the cast was so large, but you have to remember that we dubbed three years of entertainment in a single summer.

[jayrath]

Yes, with both the Australian and the American release we got quite a few cut scenes as extras and I know of at least one more little scene missing.

I'm embarrassed to say I have not made my way through the whole DVD set. It's good, but better as I remember it as a performer. I'm sure that the closing scene with Tezuka himself in one episode was cut. It's the show where Astro takes the legs of his crush, if I remember correctly. Sounds icky here.

[tonigirl1000]

Thanks Jayrath- i love the ASTROBOY SERIES SO MUCH- Hugs

[Innocent_Eyes]

Hi Jay, I must say, for me (and I'm guessing everyone else here as well), it is actually quite an honour to have a cast member on board! I wasn't around when you first posted, so for me this is just plain awesome. Sorry to hear about your computer, though. Can I ask, how exactly did you get your part for the show? Was their auditions held, or anything like that? I would love to get a career in animation or voice acting when I finish my degree.

BTW, you did an exellent job on Skunk!