Phantaman

Phantaman, (黄金バット Ōgon Batto) also known as Golden Bat is a 1967 anime based on a kamishibai (paper theater) and manga created by Takeo Nagamatsu.

Synopsis

In search of the fabled coutnry of Atlantis, Archaeologist Professor Mire leads an expedition that winds up much farther south than intended. Upon reaching Antarctica, however, their ship is attacked by a mechanical monster created by the evil Dr. Zero (Nazo in the original Japanese), leaving Professor Mire's daughter Mary the sole survivor. She is rescued by Dr. Steele (Professor Yamatone) with his invention, the Supercar, and meets his son Terry (Takeru) and his assistant Gabby (Dareo). The crew soon discovers, however, that they have run out of fresh water -- necessary for operating the ship -- so they land on an island in hopes of finding a lake or a pond. Miraculously, the island turns out to be Atlantis. There they are pursued by Zero's forces and scurry into a tomb, which turns out to be the tomb of Phantoma, Atlantean god of justice. They revive him with the bit of water they discover deep in the tomb, and as thanks he saves them from the mechanical beast. From there on, Phantoma, when called, joins them in their fight against Dr. Zero.

Dubbing History

Phantoma,_Phantaman,_Fantoma,_Ougon_Bat_EnglishDub — Phantoma, Phantaman, Fantoma, Ougon Bat EnglishDub

The only known clip available of the English dub.

The same year the show premiered, the series was dubbed by the Tokyo-based dubbing company Frontier Enterprises and picked up for broadcast by the Australian Nine Network. The dub first aired in April of 1968, and continued airing until as late as 1972.^[1]

After reruns ceased from Australian Television, the dub has yet to resurface in any form. It is assumed that the Nine Network sent the 16mm reels back to Japan, either that or wiped the tapes. It has been theorized that other dubs of the series were based on the English version, as the characters' names in the Italian, Spanish and Portugeuse dubs all use the Americanized names used in the English dub.

Since VHS Recording was 4 years away when the show last aired, it is highly improbable that any of the dub has been recorded during its run. However, a 20 second audio clip recorded by Roger Lily on an audio tape in the early '70s^[2] surfaced on YouTube in 2012 (albeit run through a noise removal filter to clear the audible buzzing of the TV). A search is currently underway for information leading to the English dub and further information regarding it. ^[3]

Cast

Character	Seiyū	Voice Actor
Doctor Steel	Ichirō Murakoshi	William Ross
Phantoma	Osamu Kobayashi	Burr Middleton
Doctor Zero	Ushio Shima	Burr Middleton
Terry	Kazue Takahashi	?¿
Mary	Minori Matsushima	Patricia Kobayashi
Gabby	Kazuya Tatekabe	Burr Middleton
Gorgo	Kenji Utsumi	?¿
Dr. Death	?¿	?¿
Narration	Yuzuru Fujimoto	Burr Middleton

Notes

The opening theme is a chopped up version of the Japanese theme, instead of doing a translation or an instrumental version.
The English title is misleading since the titular character is referred to as "Phantoma" in the series.
Burr Middleton came up with referring to the title character as "Warrior of Justice"

Transmission

Date(s)	Channel	Country
1968-1972	Nine Network	Australia

References

External Links

Ōgon Batto (anime) at the Anime News Network
Ōgon Batto at the Lost Media Wiki
Phantaman at Glen Johnson's 60's Anime Website

[1] Listings for Phantaman on Televison.au

[2] Phantoma on Glen Johnson's 60's Anime Fansite

[3] The Search for Phantaman on Tumblr

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