Title: Gatchaman Radio Drama Air Dates: April - September, 1978 Number of Episodes: 16 Released By: Tatsunoko Productions and Bunka Housou (Bunka Broadcasting) Current Commercial Availability: None (If you have access to a recording of any of these episodes, please e-mail me)

The radio drama was intended to help generate interest in the then-upcoming Gatchaman movie and premiere of Gatchaman II, as well as bring people up-to-speed on the main events of the first series. The radio drama reunited the original voice cast from the Gatchaman TV series to reprise their roles. The beginning of the radio series was made up of adaptations of first series Gatchaman episodes, modified somewhat to fit the requirements of a radio show as opposed to a TV show. One of these changes included adding Akira Kamiya as a narrator to help smooth over some of the action. Mr. Kamiya had previously done two guest voices in the TV series, a Romina in #43 and G-6 in #60.

In order to help make certain that the episode that adapted the first series finale would air around the time the Gatchaman movie was released, the series included a set of three parody episodes, involving the Gatchaman characters in unusual or amusing situations. The first series finale adaptation was followed up by an episode with a pair of original stories written by fans for a "You Write Gatchaman" contest, and a story that bridged the gap between the first and second series. This was followed by five stories that would later find themselves animated as early episodes of Gatchaman II. It's interesting to note that the voice of Gel Sadra was not done by Masaru Ikeda, who voiced the character for Gatchaman II, but was instead done by a different actor, probably either Hiroshi Endo or Shinichi Araki. The series wrapped up with a roundtable discussion by the voice actors about the radio drama, and how much they were looking forward to the premiere of Gatchaman II.

The episodes for which writing credits are known indicate that the series was scripted mostly by Satoshi Suyama and Jinzo Toriumi's writing company, Tori Pro, so the series was being handled by scriptwriters who had worked on the original TV series. The Gatchaman theme songs were used for the series, as well as two Gatchaman-inspired songs by Isao Sasaki that had been released a few months prior to the start of the radio drama. Music from the movie soundtrack was used sporadically starting with the episode adapting the end of the first series. The rest of the music for the radio drama was composed by Seiji Yokoyama, and much of it sounds very similar to the music Yokoyama scored for the "Space Pirate Captain Harlock" TV series around that same time. None of the original music from the radio drama has ever been released commercially.

The radio drama aired on Sunday nights from 5:30-6:00 on Bunka Broadcasting. The episodes and airdates for the series are as follows:

#1 - "Science Ninpo Firebird" - April 9, 1978
An adaptation of Gatchaman #1, "Gatchaman Versus Turtle King"

#2 - April 16, 1978
An adaptation of Gatchaman #20, "A Critical Moment for the Science Ninja Team"

#3 - April 23, 1978
An adaptation of Gatchaman #11, "The Mysterious Red Impulse"

#4 - April 30, 1978
An adaptation of Gatchaman # 52 and 53, "The Secret of Red Impulse" and "Farewell Red Impulse"

#5 - May 28, 1978
A parody episode. The first half of the show featured a discussion between Dr. Nambu and Berg Katse about their opposing viewpoints. The latter half of the show was a baseball game between the Gatchamans and the Gallactors, with Katse and Nambu as coaches.

#6 - "Gatchaman Vaudeville" - June 4, 1978
A parody episode. This show featured a contest run by Dr. Nambu pitting the Ninja Team against Katse.

#7 - "Everyone Loves Jun" - June 11, 1978
A parody episode. In the first half of the episode, listeners were invited by the Narrator into the Snack Jun, where the Ninja Team, Katse, and X were involved in slapstick comedy. The latter half of the episode involved the voice actors discussing the parody episodes

#8 - June 18, 1978
An adaptation of Gatchaman # 103, 104, and 105, "G-2 Risks Death," "The Evil Grand Black Hole Operation," and "Earth's Extinction! 0002"

#9 - June 25, 1978
This episode consisted of original stories created by fans for the "You Create Gatchaman" contest. The first story, "M. Phage Appears," by Sumie Kozakai, involved Joe fighting a mad scientist who is creating cyborgs for Gallactor. The second story, "Gatchaman's Encounter With the Unknown," by Satoshi Yoshida, involved Jinpei saving an alien girl from Gallactor.

#10 - July 23, 1978
This was an original story bridging the events between the end of the first Gatchaman TV series and the beginning of Gatchaman II.

#11 - July 30, 1978
This was an adaptation of Gatchaman II #'s 1 and 2, "The Counterattack of Governor X," and "A Mysterious Feather Shuriken."

#12 - August 6, 1978
This was an adaptation of Gatchaman II #3, "The Black Knights of Hell"

#13 - August 13, 1978
This was an adaptation of Gatchaman II #4, "The Return of Joe!?"

#14 - August 20, 1978
This was an adaptation of Gatchaman II #5, "Mystery of the Primitive Man Invasion"

#15 - August 27, 1978
This was an adaptation of Gatchaman II #7, "Fearful Mutant Operation"

#16 - September 3, 1978
This episode was a roundtable discussion with the voice actors about doing the radio drama, and about the upcoming Gatchaman II TV series.

The airdates for the broadcast of the radio drama aren't consecutive because there were a couple of long breaks in the run due to sumo matches that were being broadcast at that time. Episode titles for most of these episodes are unknown. Two of the parody episodes mention titles during the body of the shows, and the title for the first episode comes from a newspaper clipping from the day of the broadcast. If Japanese libraries carry microfilm or microfiche of old newspapers and the like, perhaps a fan in Japan could do a little research and see if the other titles can be uncovered.