Following the International Success of the 1963 version, an updated version of the show Astroboy was well in the works and in 1980, the show make it's television debut. This was the first show to have Astroboy in colour and also included many improvements, mainly in terms of the animation. Rather than it's predecessor, this show is much smoother in it's animation, with all the glitchy missed out frames now added in like they should have been in the first place. This show however loses out in terms of it's tone. The 1980s version has a much more darker tone to it, where a majority of Astroboy's missions end with bittersweet results.
The story is pretty much the same as the original, but it has had some tweaks, but that depends mainly on which version you watch. In the Japanese dub the story starts much like before. Tobio Tenma is killed in a traffic accident and Dr Tenma vows to fill the place in his heart with an overpowered and heavily armed boy robot to take his place. However, the differences begin here when during construction, a set of the blueprints for Astro are stolen by a thug named Skunk who takes them to his evil paymaster. In the months following his completion, Astro grows up as a normal little boy, enjoying the comforts of the life he had before (with the addition of being a robot and being able to fly and shoot lasers from his fingers). However, one day Astro becomes entranced by a strange urge to wander through the streets, this urge brought on by his brother, Atlas, who was built by the Evil Scientist bent on using him for his own evil deeds. When trying to rescue Astro, the tank in which they use to find him suddenly becomes blood-hungry and goes on a rampage. Astro puts his powers to the test and destroys the evil machine. After recovering, Astro and his father go on a cruise. However, Skunk and his evil master have other plans as they hope to sink the cruise ship by crashing it into an iceberg so they can claim all the gold held in the hold. Meanwhile Astro has problems as his father disowns him for being clumsy. Upset, Astro is befriended by a Circus Leader who urges him to sign a contract and join his circus. A few moments later, Atlas arrives and the ship is suddenly surrounded by an Icefield that he created. Astro goes out to clear the field of dangerous blocks and he successfully saves the ship. Moments later, he faces his brother for the first time and the pair battle it out in the ice field. Astro's innocent nature makes him unaware of the danger and he is quickly subdued by his more powerful brother. With Astro's batteries quickly drained (I'll tell you this happens a lot throughout this series), Atlas almost destroys him but instead flies away in order to save Livian, a Maid Robot he became emotionally attached to in an earlier scene. With Astro now out of power, the Circus leader puts him in a suitcase and takes him away, leaving Dr Tenma without a son for the second time. Meanwhile Atlas finds that Livian has been destroyed by the evil master for some trivial mistake and so he vows revenge attempting to kill the evil master. After being heavily damaged by missiles, he knocks the evil master from a cliff in his car in what apparently destroys him (it is later revealed he survived). Losing power, Atlas taps into a device that will rebuild and upgrade him into the super robot. Following this, the story is similar from before in that Astro is forced to perform in the circus although there are minor tweaks here and there, but it generally stays the same.
As for the American Dub, all the parts involving Atlas are removed, which I think is silly because when Atlas appears in later episodes, no one knows who he is or where he came from, in the Japanese version, you are able to find out what his mysterious past is and thereby put a name to a face, rather than just having this strange character appear before us.
How does this show stand? Actually not bad. I mean it has some really dark undertones, such as racism and prejudice as well as there being a lot of bittersweet endings to Astro's endeavours, but overall it's quite an enjoyable show. The animation is remarkably good compared to the earlier show and some of the stories are quite unique. Overall, I'd recommend this film to older children because a lot of people do get killed and the violent undertones don't exactly suit. But other than that, It's still pretty good...
The story is pretty much the same as the original, but it has had some tweaks, but that depends mainly on which version you watch. In the Japanese dub the story starts much like before. Tobio Tenma is killed in a traffic accident and Dr Tenma vows to fill the place in his heart with an overpowered and heavily armed boy robot to take his place. However, the differences begin here when during construction, a set of the blueprints for Astro are stolen by a thug named Skunk who takes them to his evil paymaster. In the months following his completion, Astro grows up as a normal little boy, enjoying the comforts of the life he had before (with the addition of being a robot and being able to fly and shoot lasers from his fingers). However, one day Astro becomes entranced by a strange urge to wander through the streets, this urge brought on by his brother, Atlas, who was built by the Evil Scientist bent on using him for his own evil deeds. When trying to rescue Astro, the tank in which they use to find him suddenly becomes blood-hungry and goes on a rampage. Astro puts his powers to the test and destroys the evil machine. After recovering, Astro and his father go on a cruise. However, Skunk and his evil master have other plans as they hope to sink the cruise ship by crashing it into an iceberg so they can claim all the gold held in the hold. Meanwhile Astro has problems as his father disowns him for being clumsy. Upset, Astro is befriended by a Circus Leader who urges him to sign a contract and join his circus. A few moments later, Atlas arrives and the ship is suddenly surrounded by an Icefield that he created. Astro goes out to clear the field of dangerous blocks and he successfully saves the ship. Moments later, he faces his brother for the first time and the pair battle it out in the ice field. Astro's innocent nature makes him unaware of the danger and he is quickly subdued by his more powerful brother. With Astro's batteries quickly drained (I'll tell you this happens a lot throughout this series), Atlas almost destroys him but instead flies away in order to save Livian, a Maid Robot he became emotionally attached to in an earlier scene. With Astro now out of power, the Circus leader puts him in a suitcase and takes him away, leaving Dr Tenma without a son for the second time. Meanwhile Atlas finds that Livian has been destroyed by the evil master for some trivial mistake and so he vows revenge attempting to kill the evil master. After being heavily damaged by missiles, he knocks the evil master from a cliff in his car in what apparently destroys him (it is later revealed he survived). Losing power, Atlas taps into a device that will rebuild and upgrade him into the super robot. Following this, the story is similar from before in that Astro is forced to perform in the circus although there are minor tweaks here and there, but it generally stays the same.
As for the American Dub, all the parts involving Atlas are removed, which I think is silly because when Atlas appears in later episodes, no one knows who he is or where he came from, in the Japanese version, you are able to find out what his mysterious past is and thereby put a name to a face, rather than just having this strange character appear before us.
How does this show stand? Actually not bad. I mean it has some really dark undertones, such as racism and prejudice as well as there being a lot of bittersweet endings to Astro's endeavours, but overall it's quite an enjoyable show. The animation is remarkably good compared to the earlier show and some of the stories are quite unique. Overall, I'd recommend this film to older children because a lot of people do get killed and the violent undertones don't exactly suit. But other than that, It's still pretty good...