Force Five

Force Five was an American adaptation of five different mecha anime series airing in the United States, Southeast Asia, India and Europe from the early 1980s to the late 1990s. The five series were broadcast simultaneously with one episode of each serial assigned a specific weekday. Among the shows featured was an adaptation of UFO Robot Grendizer, stylized as Grandizer.

History

Only 26 episodes out of Grendizer's 74 episodes were shown on the Anthology and were all out of order in order to show episodes that were not as violent or ones that could feasibly have violent scenes edited out without damaging the plot. Despite these changes, Duke Fleed's backstory was left intact as was the plot point about his crippling radiation poisoning from the Vegan's bombings on his planet.

As was the case with many anime adaptations of the era, characters received new western names. For example, Duke Fleed was renamed "Orion Quest", and Koji Kabuto was renamed "Lance Hyatt". Much like the more famous Goldorak adaptation, almost all references to Mazinger Z were excised from the plot. Although the episode where Boss and his friends visit was still included.

Trivia

• Originally, Great Mazinger was meant to be among the five shows featured in the anthology, but at the last minute was swapped out for Sci-Fi West Saga Starzinger.
• Among the series included was an adaptation of Getter Robo G retitled as Starvengers. Unlike the Grandizer adaptation, Starvengers was able to adapt the final episodes to conclude that series story despite also only having 26 episodes to adapt out of it's original 39.
• An unrelated Filipino produced English dub of Grendizer was produced around 1978 under the title "Grendaizer" which notably kept the original Japanese names as well as Koji's connection to Mazinger Z (as the channel Grendizer was dubbed by and aired on also aired episodes from the Toei produced English dub of Mazinger Z in the same timeslot). Only 3 episodes survive of this dub and it is unknown how many episodes were dubbed before it was pulled off the air,

Gallery

Grandizer Opening Sequence (Force Five)

The intro to the adaptation.

Grendizer Force Five Dub

Promotional Flyer for the then upcoming Force Five adaptation of Grendizer. This is also the only proof showing Great Mazinger's intended inclusion in the anthology before being swapped with Leiji Matsumoto's Starzinger.

See Also

• Tranzor Z- An adaptation of Mazinger Z similar to Force Five's Grandizer
• Goldorak- The French adaptation of Grendizer