759. The planets of the Prince of Space! 1959

                       I really want to like this movie more than I do.  Had I seen it around age 7 or 8, I think I would have.

Planet Prince, aka Prince of Space

From Wiki- Planet Prince (遊星王子, Yūsei Ōji) 

Toei produced two theatrical movies in 1959 that featured the Planet Prince character, but wearing a completely different, more streamlined costume (and goggled helmet) than the one worn in the tv series. The hero in these two movies was played by Tatsuo Umemiya. The movies were released a week apart. The films were titled:

• Planet Prince (遊星王子, Yūsei Ōji) Released: May 19, 1959
• Planet Prince - The Terrifying Spaceship (遊星王子 - 恐怖の宇宙船, Yūsei Ōji - Kyōfu no Uchūsen) Released: May 25, 1959

For TV release in America, these two Planet Prince movies were compiled into an 85-minute, English-dubbed movie entitled Prince of Space that was first shown in 1965.^[1]  Back to me:

HOTW- Prince Planet

 

Prince Planet (Popi) is a member of the Universal Peace Corps, originally from the planet Radion (Clifton), 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.  He is befriended by the Worthys, Diana and her father Pop.  He later makes makes friends with Aji Baba the wizard, and Dan Dynamo, the top wrestler in the world.  They battle evil in the form of the Martian wizard Warlock, and then Krag of Kragmire.  There are many other villains to fight as well.

Xenorama #30- Marine Boy!

At long last, the third and (hopefully) final edition of my Marine Boy book is available on Amazon.  This blog started in 2007, and became the official Marine Blog in September of that year.  I had just spoken to the late Peter Fernandez about the show.  What a great guy he was!  I wish I had finished at least one version of the book before he passed on.  I think he would have enjoyed it.

Xenorama #20

This is a really good issue.  I have had a lot of stuff going on and haven't been able to promote it properly til now.

Xenorama #19 lives!

It is live now here and will be available at Amazon in three to five days!  Here's the blurb:

Xenorama #19 (color)

The Journal of Heroes and Monsters

Authored by David McRobie, Blake Matthews, Christopher Elam, John LeMay
Cover design or artwork by Dan Ross

Xenorama #19 has been unleashed! This issue takes a look at Thunderbirds, Star Wars, Prince Planet, the Yes, Madam movies series by Blake Matthews, John Lemay says hello to Sayanara, Jupiter, Christopher Elam discusses Dairanger being released in the US, the Mexican Batwoman and more! All in glorious color with an astounding cover by Dan Ross!

Prince planet again

This really is a fun and strange cartoon.  It's pretty action packed, but there are just weird things going on, which is always necessary for drama, but the AIP version makes things even a bit weirder.  I'll be going over the differences between the Japanese and US versions (at least the first episode) in issue #20 of Xenorama, so you'll have a bit of a wait for that.  The violence isn't up to the level of 8th Man, but there is a lot of it, though never graphic like some cartoons seem to think is fun.

Xenorama #19 cover

The talented and ever amazing Dan Ross has just sent me this incredible cover for the next issue of Xenorama!  I love it, it's got just about everything that's going to be in the issue, but there's some cool stuff that isn't mentioned on the cover.  In fact, I've gotten two new articles that are causing me to change some of the issue around (I'm thinking Equinox may get moved to the next issue now).  I mean, look! ROCK SNAKES!

Prince Planet vs "Dinosaurs"

Since the next issue of Xenorama is featuring a Prince Planet episode guide I'm watching the episodes again to review them.  I haven't seen the entire run yet, but it's kind of a violent show.  Granted, it's of it's time period and I keep that in mind, but really, if it was starting to rain dinosaurs out of the sky (as it does in this here episode) you would think someone from an advanced society like Bobby would want to keep a few of them alive.  But no, it's just all in a days work for our hero to beat the crap out of them and save the town.  Of course, I've never seen dinosaurs like this anywhere outside of television shows, but still...

Xenorama #19 on the move

So far I've only got two pages of the next issue done, but I'm expecting the Prince Planet episode guide to take up quite a few pages.  So if anyone is so inclined to contribute, get your articles in now!  I've also got articles on Thunderbirds Are Go! (the movie) and La Mujer Murcielago (1968) which you can read a bit about here. 

The Spy From Necro

Here's a fun Prince Planet episode which introduces Frigina, one of Krag's aides. I'm still amazed that Hulu is showing this series, since it's one of the more obscure Japanese cartoons from the 60s. They have 47 of the 52 episodes, and I read a rumor that a company was going to make a DVD set of the show.

Yusei Shonen Popi

Or Papi, as the subs in this episode one call him.  Anyway, I've been watching more Prince Planet and I remembered I had this first episode subtitled from some nice people somewhere.  I hadn't watched all of it yet, but since I'm working on an episode guide I thought I should.  The quality of both subs and video is quite good, which makes me wish this would come out on DVD like Marine Boy has, even if it's not an official set like Astro Boy, Gigantor or Kimba The White Lion have had.  It's really a good show.  I like all those others, but perhaps I like the rarer shows more, since you don't see nearly as much written about them, even now with the internet.

Prince Planet Theme Song

This is a great little song. Wouldn't it have been cool if the B-52s, circa 1980, had covered it? Would have been right up their alley, too. This was the one of the first Japanese cartoons I ever remember seeing, mostly because of the pendant.

Marine Boy on DVD from Warner Brothers Archives

I've been wondering if this would happen for a while now, since WB put an episode of Marine Boy on a DVD set a few years ago.  so I was thinking it would happen.  it's really cool that is has though, and it's pretty dang affordable!  this is the first 26 episodes on three discs.  following this logic there should be three sets of 26, which would be cool since I've never seen one episode of the 78.

Prince Planet

Say, where's my dvd set of Prince Planet? this is from my phone, still figuring it out.

Prince Planet... on youtube

looks like every episode but five are on youtube now.  wow.  that's just amazing to me.  i'd still buy a set of them though.

Popi!

Watch Yusei Shonen Papi (1965) #1 (English subtitled) in Anime  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

this is pretty cool as well.  subtitled Prince Planet.  I gotta say, I like the US version of the theme song more than the original. 

I suppose it's a pipe dream to hope for a legit DVD set.  heck, I'd take a DVD-r set from WB Archives.  or whoever.

space? what voyage?

a nice comp movie based on the "Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot".  it was compiled in 1970 and presented as a feature movie to various tv stations around the country (none in CO, of course).

I only ever saw one episode of "Sokko" growing up, the first one, and that is mostly presented here.  I actually first saw the movie in an 8mm box in K-mart, of all places, back when that was all you could own.  which I am sure just astounds many kids these days that can see just about anything they want to immediately.  the movie is made up of the first, second, third and fourth episodes, the thirteenth (I think) and the final one.  they used each monster at least twice, which saved on costs, I'd think.

of course, since there was no blurb ON the box telling me it was a Japanese movie, I passed it up for quite possibly "Varan, The Unbelievable".  while I greatly enjoyed seeing all 11 minutes of destruction that Varan does, I think perhaps a giant robot fighting 2 or 3 monsters would have been more my thing then.  I mean, look at this thing!

there's 26 episodes in the series, and it was dubbed by a different team than AIP's usual go to guys, Titra/Titan.  Jerry Berke, AKA the voice of 8th Man, is the narrator.  Bobbie Byers, the voice of Prince Planet was the voice for Johnny (and probably the rest of the female characters).  it's good dubbing, but not quite up to Titan/Titra standards.

it's a really fun show, full of energy and destruction and monsters.  it's also pretty violent, as our heroes gun down villains with no remorse- even Johnny, who appears to be about 12, is armed and dangerous!  of course, not quite as well equipped as Giant Robot is!  eat your heart out, MechaGodzilla!

did I mention that none of our heroes voyage into space at all in the movie?

Prince Planet on Hulu!

it appears as though MGM is putting 46 episodes of Prince Planet on Hulu!



this is one of the "lost" episodes that is available. the quality is pretty darn good, too! thanks to Let's Anime for posting this originally!

no one can compare

mostly I have to try out this here new editor (which of course has probably been around longer than I've realized).  says it has better photo placement, so let's see!

so here's a fine fun cartoon from the 1960s Japan, known as "Usei Shonen Popi"- "Planet Boy Popi".  AIP-TV, trying to capitalize on the very popular "Astro Boy" brought this 52 episode show over here.

while I doubt it had quite the success "Astro" had (and still enjoys) it's a fun show.  it's one of the three I remembered seeing when I was about 4 or so (the other two being Marine Boy and Gigantor).  it certainly left an impression on me, especially with that large medallion with the "P" on it.

I mean, how cool was that?  very.  it could do wonders, as long as it has a full charge.

he had some helpers, Diana Worthy, Dan Dynamo and Aji Baba  who would help him out with all sorts of trouble.

good thing, too, as the Prince had all kinds of problems, including a recurring for or two- notably Warlock, the Master of Martian Magic and Krag from Kragmire, who wears a top hat and carries a deadly watch.

I'll talk more about this at some point, but I really like the new editor.