Astro Boy was not the first Japanese animated series, as some fans have claimed, but it was the first with an ongoing storyline--and the first to air in the U.S. Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989) began Tetsuwan Atom (literally "Iron-arm Atom") as a manga in 1952, then adapted it to a TV series that debuted in January 1963. NBC Films bought the rights to about half of the 193 episodes and edited them for American viewers. Astro Boy premiered in the U.S. in September 1963, and ran on local stations through 1972. The story is well-known to anime fans: After the death of his son Astor (Tobio in Japanese), Dr. Boyton (Dr. Tenma) builds a 100,000-horsepower super-robot to replace him. But a robot can never grow and truly replace Astor, so the scientist sells him to a cruel circus owner. Dr. Packadermus J. Elefun (Dr. Ochanomizu) rescues Astro and helps him become a fighter against crime and injustice. The original English-language masters were destroyed in 1975, when Tezuka's Mushi Productions went bankrupt. For the Ultra Collector's Edition, Right Stuf tracked down the best surviving voice elements and combined them with video from the original Japanese negatives. Not surprisingly, the sound quality varies on the discs, but barring the discovery of additional material in some forgotten vault, this is the closest to a definitive Astro Boy English speakers will see. Tezuka wrote some of the scripts and co-directed the 1980 remake (Astro Boy Collection Box Set); the 2003 incarnation combined drawn and CG animation (Astro Boy: The Complete Series). But the stiff, black-and-white original remains the truest version of Tezuka's watershed creation. Extras include: the first part of an interview with producer Fred Ladd; two episodes in Japanese with subtitles; small galleries of character art and merchandise; "The History of Astro Boy" in booklet form; and a biography of Tezuka. (Unrated, suitable for ages 7 and older: violence, alcohol use) --Charles Solomon
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