Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot

Johnny Sokko& his Flying Robot
Original Title	ジャイアントロボ (Jaianto Robo)
Original Language	Japanese
Dubbing Studio	Copri International Studios
Voice Director	Reuben Guberman
Translation & Adaptation	Manuel San Fernando
Recorded	1967-1968
Dub Country	United States
Original Country	Japan
Episodes	26
Year	1967-1968

Giant Robo (ジャイアントロボ, Jaianto Robo), which was marketed in the US as either Giant Robot or, more famously, as Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot, is a 1967 Tokusatsu series that was produced by Toei Company, which is most famous for doing other Tokusatsu productions such as the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai franchise series of programs. It ran from October 11, 1967 to April 1, 1968, and was created by Mitsuteru Yokoyama, who was most famous for creating the similarly themed series Gigantor.

Synopsis Earth has been attacked by an illuminati-esque galactic terrorist group called "The Gargoyle Gang," which is led by the alien Emperor Guillotine, who issues orders to his minions throughout the series from the safety of a space ship hidden at the bottom of what is presumably the Pacific Ocean. To keep the terrorists at bay, a young boy named Johnny Sokko is tasked with taking control of an enormous flying robot. Along the way the Giant Robot must fight against the Gargoyle's giant monsters and super robots who are tasked to destroy Giant Robot.

Dubbing History

In 1968, American International Pictures bought the rights to Toei's Giant Robo series for dubbing and syndicated release on American television. This decision was in response to the unexpected success that United Artists had had with the English release of Tsuburaya Productions's Ultraman and the sudden demand for imported Japanese TV programming.

The task of dubbing, and re-scripting, Giant Robo into Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot was given to three AIP regular in-house writers-producers, Reuben Guberman, Manuel San Fernando, and Salvatore Billiteri. Between them, they conducted a remarkably faithful adaptation, preserving the intent of the original dialogue and limiting the censorship of the show. This fidelity by Guberman, San Fernando, and Billiteri resulted in Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot being a show that was notably violent for American children's television at the time.

American International Pictures was so enthusiastic for the series that they compiled episodes 1, 2, 17, 10 and 26 (in that order) into a film under the title Voyage into Space for airing on television movie blocks. Since the show had a real conclusion to its story, it made a movie-length edit possible.

It was highly possible that, due to the success this show received in America and abroad, it convinced Toei to distribute more of its shows overseas.

Cast

Image	Character	Original Actor	Dub Actor
	Daisaku Kusama (U7) (Johnny Sokko)	Mitsunobu Kaneko	Bobbie Byers
	Minami Juro (U3) (Jerry Mano)	Ito Akio	Paul Brown
	Narrator	Koichi Chiba	¿?

Additional English-Dub Character Voice Providers

• Reuben Guberman
• Mark Harris
• Kurt Nagel
• Neil Patrick

Remarks

• Most of the actors in the English Dub are presently unknown, but a handful, such as Bobbie Byers and Paul Brown, were identified through anecdotes from them and Reuben Guberman.
• The series was also dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese, Malay, Thai, Latin, Spanish, and both Mandarin and Canton Chinese. Of the other dubbed versions of the show, only the Chinese versions are known still to exist in their entireties, while the Brazilian Portuguese and Latin Spanish version only have 2 episodes still surviving for each one. (Fragments of Episodes 1 and 26 of the Portuguese dub survive, while Episodes 1 and 21 of the Spanish dub exist in their entireties.)

Transmission

Date(s)	Channel	Country
1969-Present*	Syndication	United States
		Canada
1973-1974		Australia
1980-1990	Doordarshan	India
1990-1991	British Satellite Broadcasting	United Kingdom
2013-2015*	The Works	United States
2015-2019, 2021-*	Comet

*Both show and Compilation film.

Video Releases

Distributor	Year	Format	Contents	Region	Country
Orion Pictures	1996		Episodes 1-6, 10, 17	NTSC	United States
			4 Volumes
Shout! Factory	2013		The Complete Series	1 NTSC
			4 Discs
Scorpion Releasing	2021		Voyage into Space Compilation Film	R0

See Also

• Giant Robo: The Animation: A re-imagined version of this series.
• Gigantor: A similarly themed series created by the creator of Giant Robo.
• Mighty Jack
• Ultra Seven: The rival program that aired at the same time in Japan as Giant Robo.
• Ultraman: Initially aired back to back with the Johnny Sokko dub of the show during the initial 1969-1980's broadcasts in America.
• Spectreman: A similarly themed series that often aired alongside some airings of Johnny Sokko in the United States.
• The Space Giants: A similarly themed series that often aired alongside some airings of Johnny Sokko in the United States.
• Ultraman Tiga
• Ultraman (2019)

External Links

• Johnny Sokko & his Flying Robot at the Anime News Network.
• Johnny Sokko & his Flying Robot at the Internet Movie Database.