G-Force to fly again

The 1970s animated series Battle of the Planets, following the adventures of five teens known as G-Force, is being revived by US and Canadian producers as a series of eight new 2D animated movies and a 24×30' television series.

New York-based Sandy Frank Entertainment and Canada's Ocean Productions are teaming up to breathe new life into the classic show, originally a Western adaptation of the anime series Gatchaman from Japanese studio Tatsunoko.

{We're lining up the show for a Mipcom launch this October,{ SFE's evp Phil Oldham told C21. {When we did the original show 25 years ago we signed with Turner Broadcasting for the US and Hearst for international, so we have to wait until those contract expire this September before we can put it on TV anywhere.{

However, since the home video market didn't yet exist when those deals were signed, he added, those rights were retained by SFE. Consequently, the company has already signed home video deals with Rhino for the US, Universal for the UK and is in talks with Universal for France.

Oldham added that he was also in talks with a French outfit to come onboard as a coproduction partner for the series. The toon follows five teenagers and a droid who transform into superheroes and regularly save the world from intergalactic evil.

Oldham added that he's flying to the UK next week to pitch the show to British networks. The original show (aka G-Force) previously aired on ITV in the UK.