The success of STAR WARS introduced many a protracted-dormant SF franchise out of retirement; even in distant Japan the hunger for receive-spanning astro-heroes became as soon as acute. Whereas you are going to carry out STAR WARS, why no longer bypass Lucas fully and trot proper to the provision – the pulps?
And so in 1978 Toei Animation Firm would give us an anime model of the classic 40s pulp hero CAPTAIN FUTURE. A mysterious hero of the spaceways, Captain Future pilots the mighty spaceship Comet, and, aided by his uncommon and tough Futuremen, is pledged to protect Earth and our complete solar machine from the rest – man, beast, alien, or sentient 4th-dimensional being from past time -who threatens peace!
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| Captain Future and his wonderful spaceship, “The Comet” |
As a science-fictional amalgam of Doc Savage and The Shadow, Captain Future had 17 complications along with his dangle pulp magazine in the 1940s, as well to appearances in utterly different pulps in the early 50s. How did this plucky adventurer of the spaceways advance to be? Mort Weisinger, future Superman editor, spent the unimaginative Thirties enhancing SF pulps for Ned Pines’ Thrilling Publications. He’d seen the success of pulp’s continuing thriller characters – The Shadow, The Spider, The Avenger, Doc Savage, G-8 And His Wrestle Aces, Operator No. 5, etc. – and figured his nerdy teen-age scientificition audience may per chance possibly additionally use a futuristic desire-success character. He tossed this project at one of his prime writers, Edmond Hamilton, and not utilizing a longer powerful extra than the opinion that of “pulp hero in receive” and a identify – “Mister Future.” Hamilton sat proper down, modified the identify, and fleshed out the opinion that with a backstory and a supporting solid.
By the summer of 1939 Weisinger became as soon as at the foremost World Science Fiction Conference in New York Metropolis, likely admiring the foremost cosplay and witnessing the foremost fan feud. He additionally launched the upcoming publication of CAPTAIN FUTURE. Hamilton’s CAPTAIN FUTURE wouldn’t gain any literary awards or dazzle impressionable minds with unprecedented prognostications of future trends. What Hamilton’s tales did carry out, however, became as soon as entertain. Zippy, two-fisted receive opera for these that treasure their heroes with jaws of granite and their villains sneering and malevolent, CAPTAIN FUTURE is unpretentious relaxing even sixty years later.
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| usual Captain Future pulp trot |
But who is CAPTAIN FUTURE? Mortally wounded, a prime scientist entrusted his limited one son Curtis Newton to the care of three unprecedented guardians – an artificially created being with artificial pores and skin and organs, a seven foot monumental beautiful-solid steel robot, and Simon Wright, a genius biologist who cheated loss of life by having his living mind encased in a unbreakable shell equipped with digital senses and power-beams! Raised to manhood in a secret lunar depraved and taught all Earthly data by his three protectors, Curtis Newton has devoted all his scientific data to the defeat of tainted and the protection of humanity. On the side of Planet Police particular brokers Joan Randall (requisite lady friend) and Ezra Gurney (grizzled used), Captain Future pits his brains and brawn in opposition to all foes as he pilots his wonderful spaceship “Comet” on scientific compare expeditions and/or receive crimefighting escapades that snatch him and his crew to the ends of the universe – and past!
CAPTAIN FUTURE would vanish from the newsstands in the 1950s, but the nostalgia recount of the 1960s would discover his adventures revived in paperback get along with these of his fellow pulpsters Doc Savage, The Shadow, etc, reprinted with gruesome covers for the edification of younger toddler-boomers, their nostalgic fogeys, and careworn 70s childhood treasure me, taking a probe for science-fiction entertainment in the wake of Star Wars. This became as soon as appropriate what Toei became as soon as hoping on! In Japan Captain Future’s adventures had been reprinted diverse times starting in the 1960s, with a fresh 2004 printing preserving the entirety of the pulp’s urge.
I could per chance possibly additionally been wide awake referring to the CAPTAIN FUTURE anime sequence for years; diverse episodes had been dubbed by ZIV Global and launched on residence video in the early Eighties. What I didn’t realize became as soon as how conclude the Eastern model stuck to the American pulps. I needed to trace down these out-of-print paperback CAPTAIN FUTURE reprints to hunt down out that the “Wrecker” storyline is taken proper from the usual pulps. Ditto the time-trot memoir “Lost World Of Time” – straight from Hamilton’s overworked typewriter, proper to Toei’s overworked animation staff.
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| Otho, meteor-mimic, Grag |
The full CAPTAIN FUTURE highlights are fresh in Toei’s show: the pleasant contention between Grag the robot and Otho the unreal man; Curt Newton’s wonderful spaceship The Comet, the comedian reduction of Grag’s steel-ingesting “moon-pup” and Otho’s uncommon meteor-mimic, the power outer-receive Lois Lane antics of Joan Randall; they’re all there, proper down to Curt Newton’s twin proton pistols, ceaselessly appealing for motion. One non-canonical addition to the sequence became as soon as Ken Scott, a (cough cough) child sidekick.
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| Kids and pets and artificial men and robots and flying brains and Captain Future |
The cheese enlighten of the mature pulps is matched by the cheese enlighten of the 1978 animation, which this day cannot reduction but peep clunky and dated. The work has many of the identical on-all as soon as more, off-all as soon as more character mannequin complications that plagued CAPTAIN HARLOCK, additionally from Toei around this time, but there may per chance be a hand-drawn authenticity to the show that has charm in this day’s digital age.
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| Captain Future; Lumberjack Of Popularity |
The mechanical originate is decidedly NOT pulpish – what in the 40’s became as soon as a streamlined, teardrop formed torpedo of luminous steel is in 1978 a ‘2001’ model NASA-licensed receive car with segmented units, auxiliary thrusters, pod bay doors, et cetera – all successfully utilitarian, and yet peaceful ready to match velocities and penetrate to the electrical universe that exists within Halley’s Comet, or use heretofore unheard-of polarities to trot reduction in time to the initiating of the Solar Machine.
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| from the episode “Captain Future’s Popularity Date” |
CAPTAIN FUTURE ran for 52 episodes, from November ’78 until December of 1979, on Japan’s premier broadcaster NHK. Toei’s Manga Matsuri competition highlighted Captain Future with a theatrical unlock of an expanded TV episode entitled “Huge Solar Machine Stride” which is set a huge speed in, yes, the Solar Machine. Scripts for the sequence had been taken from the 13 usual Hamilton pulps, so attentive fans will feel free to leer “The Comet Kings”, “Captain Future’s Train,” “Planets in Distress,” and “The Lost World Of Time.”
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| gain all of your meals with Captain Future |
Toei’s staff integrated Tomoharu Katsumata, who would later helm the Harlock movie My Adolescence In Arcadia and zodiac-combating anime Saint Seiya. A success in Japan, the sequence impressed a huge form of merchandise, which integrated toys, games, and a child-dimension bicycle.
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| the Futurebike |
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| ZIV Captain Future video unlock emblems |
ZIV Global, a subsidiary of Lorimar Telepictures, would unlock three residence video CAPTAIN FUTURE adventures – “The Wrecker’s Idea” and the 2 aspects of “Lost World Of Time” – with indifferent dubbing that managed to fully misread the properties of the rare ingredient “gravium”, no longer to deliver giving Simon Wright a girl’s suppose. The audio computer screen would get a rare storybook LP unlock, and that is likely to be it for the American unlock of the Eastern Captain Future wintry full of life movie. Nevertheless, the sequence would carry out huge success in Europe, namely Germany, the receive an digital funk-disco soundtrack by Christan Bruhn would reduction turn the show into a cult hit. To for the time being CAPTAIN FUTURE fan clubs feature in Germany. The French-language dub, “Capitan Flam”, would air both in France and in Quebec on the CBC.
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| ZIV soundtrack LP, unrelated Atari 2600 cartridge with unlicensed Captain Future artwork |
Japan wasn’t done with the Hamilton estate, however; his three section STARWOLF sequence (which I highly recommend) would change into a are living-motion TV sequence from Tsuburaya in the unimaginative 70s, but wouldn’t journey the authenticity or the reputation of CAPTAIN FUTURE. It may per chance well possibly possibly well, however, be immortalized by Thriller Science Theater 3000.
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| Eastern model Captain Future original |
Japan would continue to mine the SF pulps for anime inspiration: in 1984 Toho would unlock an ambitious, partly-laptop-full of life movie model of E.E. “Doc” Smith’s pulp SF classic LENSMAN, a movie that blithely skipped over key memoir aspects in prefer of classy visuals, a plucky gambit that nearly – ALMOST – succeeded, and left at the reduction of a TV sequence, extra indifferent English dubbing, and some good Tomy toys. CAPTAIN FUTURE itself is no longer any longer forgotten; the Toei sequence no longer too long ago bought a Blu-Ray unlock in Japan to accompany the German BD and DVD unlocks.
To for the time being anime fans sneer at the camp and cheese of pulp SF, while golden age scientifiction enthusiasts turn up their noses at the lurid excesses of ‘japanimation’. But there are a good deal of us in the at ease middle who journey receive opera no matter what language or no longer it’s in. Will CAPTAIN FUTURE and the Futuremen blast out of obscurity all as soon as more one day? Will the short plot of a proton pistol as soon as extra spell the variation between existence and loss of life amidst the booming suns of outer receive? Handiest Curtis Newton and the estate of Edmond Hamilton know for decided!
-Dave Merrill
editors show: this article has been adjusted to proper for errors of truth and to throw in that pic of the Atari 2600 cartridge, because what the heck
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