Saturday, November 8, 2014

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Tobor, The 8th Man (1963)

Japan's Tobor, The 8th Man started as a manga (Japan's version of comic books), and made his way to television in 1963, imported to the US by ABC, but not airing on the network itself, 2 years later.

Tobor, or, 8-Man, as it was known in Japan, was the story of one of comicdom's 1st cyborg heroes. A police detective, killed in the line of duty, is brought back to life by a scientist who transfers his brain into an android, giving him fantastic powers. Tobor (robot spelled backwards) continues to this day in Japanese manga, but has not found the going any easier in America. The original cartoon lasted just 1 year, and out of 56 episodes produced, only 52 were successfully dubbed for English language broadcast. Winston Sharples, better known for his work with Famous Studios/Paramount/King Features, composed the English language theme, as cheesy as it sounds.

There will not be a rating, as I never saw the show, but here's the intro.

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