Mobile Suit Gundam
In 1979 a revolutionary new anime series named Mobile Suit Gundam
from creator Yoshiyuki Tomino began its Japanese broadcast. It was
revolutionary for many reasons. It was unlike the super robot shows that
were so popular in the 70s. Instead of being a special super robot, the
title mecha of the series was a piece of military hardware. Also,
instead of being a robot of the week show, Gundam was an advanced war drama. The superhero aspect seen in series such as Mazinger Z
was totally gone. Despite the innovations made by the series, it was
canceled due to poor ratings. Though it was supposed to run to 52
episodes, that number was reduced to 39. The producers managed to get a
one month extension to wrap up the series, bringing that number up to
43. Following cancellation, the series enjoyed incredible ratings in
reruns, and it was decided to jump start the series with several films
edited down from the TV episodes. The series was never available
commercially in the U.S. until 1998 when Bandai Entertainment released
the movie trilogy subtitled and later dubbed. The TV series was
broadcast on Cartoon Network in 2001 following the success of Gundam Wing the
previous year. However, the show was canceled in the wake of the
September 11 terrorist attacks and never completed a full broadcast run.
The TV series was released on dub-only DVD, but it's now out of print.
In 2011, Bandai Entertainment re-released the series on DVD, although it
is still missing episode 15, which was cut from the U.S. version.
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