It's the weekend of the Memory League Asian-Oceanian Open! You may remember that there are three of these online Slam tournaments a year, each at a different scheduled time eight hours apart, so the players around the world each get at least one that's at a more or less convenient time to play, and one that's in the middle of the night. This is the latter for me, and I wasn't expecting to play in it after being knocked out in the qualifying round, but Don had to drop out at the last minute, I got a lucky-loser play-off against Naoya (squeezed into my lunch break on Thursday) and surprisingly won it. And so my reward was a match against top seed Simon at one o'clock this morning!
Yes, it went about as you might expect, but in my defence Simon is really really good, and I actually put in a decent performance - there was more than one game that was pretty close. I might have lost something like 4-2 4-2 if things had gone a little bit differently.
So having finished that match at 2am and shared a bit of banter with Simon and Hannes (as always providing awesome live streamed coverage at MemorysportsTV) in which they talked about me as the old timer of memory sports - I had to point out that they've been doing it for nearly twenty years now, and they're only a year or two younger than me, so there's no need for that 'old man' talk - I went to bed. See, not expecting to be playing in the Slam, I'd arranged a normal league match for nine o'clock in the morning, an end-of-season dead rubber, and I thought I'd still have time to catch up on my beauty sleep before having to play again.
But I can't really get to sleep straight after an exciting match, what with all the adrenaline coursing through my veins, not to mention the overdose of cherry coke that I thought would keep me awake long enough to play the match and then politely go away and let me nod off, and I was basically wide awake by the time my head hit the pillow.
Still, after maybe a couple of hours' sleep I was up and ready for the match against 'sirc', another German who might be someone whose real name I know, but I don't remember. And lost it, though I wasn't terrible and he/she put in a best-ever performance to beat me. Admitting after the match to being very 'fanboyish' about playing me, which I still hear a lot even after all these years and usually from people who are much better at memory than me.
And once that match was over, there was just time to get to Birmingham for eleven o'clock, when the comic fair opened its doors. It's one of those days when everything I usually do all happens on the same morning.
Being more than a little sleep-deprived, I was pleased that I managed to refrain from buying the three slabbed, very-low-grade, 1940 Adventure Comics with Hourman covers on sale for a rather unreasonable £500 each, because that's the kind of 'bargain' I tend to snap up when I haven't had enough sleep and I can really do without being bankrupt and homeless as well as tired. But who needs Golden Age DC greats when it turned out there were some Silver Age DC classics in another stall's box of loose comics at three for £5? Hiding among the box's unexceptional contents were exactly three slightly tatty but great titles that I just had to get! Go-Go Check classics!
Actually, the Justice League #41 is just before the Go-Go Checks appeared, and just before the days when Batman had to be the prominent cover star, but it's the best of the three. A really awesome story that shows just why the JLA were so sensational! The Superboy is a throwaway but entertaining yarn and the World's Finest in all fairness is almost unreadable, but they're still worthy additions to my collection. Anything with Go-Go Checks is always worth a look!
Now I should probably go to bed, but it's two o'clock in the afternoon and it would only disturb my body's rhythms even further. I'll just wander around like a zombie until this evening, and then spend tomorrow doing all the tedious things like cleaning my house that I might have done today if all these far more important things hadn't come up.
Or else I'll stay up all night and watch the finals of the Open. Let's face it, that's more likely.
I write this on the way back from Sheffield train station, where I've been discussing with a city council representative the memorial plaque that will be unveiled on or around Friday 10th November of the four Pridmore brothers killed in the first world war. I'll write more detail about that soon, but I just wanted to say how impressed I am with the Pridmore DNA today!
Getting dressed this morning with my usual care and attention, I picked up the top T-shirt from the pile and put it on. It's the one saying "A WORKING CLASS HERO IS SOMETHING TO BE - JOHN LENNON - 1940-1980" and I thought to myself "Wait, have I possibly misjudged the mood of this whole gathering?"
This meeting had been organised by my second cousin once removed, Mick, who's the main mover behind this memorial tribute. I'd never met him before, and it suddenly occurred to me that he and the man from the council might be all full of the glorious and heroic sacrifice of the brothers, turn up in sombre suits and ties, be horrified that I showed up proclaiming support for John Lennon and his distaste for the glories of war, and end up cancelling the whole thing. Which would really annoy all the relatives who've been looking forward to this excuse for a rare Pridmore family gathering. But I decided to wear the shirt anyway just on principle, and made my way to the train station.
There I met my cousin Sue (Bill's Sue), who I hadn't seen since my dad's funeral in 2006, and also my other cousin Sue (Bernie's Sue), who I hadn't seen since Granddad's birthday in 1980, but they both recognised me immediately as looking "just like George", so there was no problem there.
And then we were approached by another man - short, heavily built, bald on top, flowing white hair, grey moustache, a real spitting image of my dad if ever I saw one, and wearing a T-shirt with John and Yoko and their WAR IS OVER banner. Why on earth did I think anyone with Pridmore blood would be anything different?
And the man from the council was also delighted with the family history details we supplied him with, we're going to flood him with as much more as we can gather, and it's all going to be a spectacular occasion! Any Pridmore relatives reading this should most definitely consider themselves invited to the unveiling!
I'm very sorry to hear that John Burrows has died. A memory man of the ancient times, in that he'd heard of memory techniques and world records back in the days when very few people had, and taken a passionate interest in them, he rediscovered the modern world of memory competitions back in 2008 and was a regular fixture from then on. An integral part of our great British memory crowd, he'll be sadly missed.
Yeeey nice Ben Pridmore!! I love
hearing stories from Memory athletes, especially from the olden times
Ben Pridmore
Maybe I should do a special podcast just about the world championships
in the early days. 2000, 2002, 2003, there are plenty of great stories to
tell...
Joe Murray
Hope you enjoy Nicklas
Joe Murray
These stories sound interesting Ben…!
Phil Chambers
Ben Pridmore I
can tell stories from 1993 - That's the real early days! Some 'interesting'
characters back then.
Ben Pridmore
Phil Chambers Now
that's ancient history even for an old man like me! I'd certainly tune in to a
podcast of reminiscences from back then!
Now I'm looking back at Dominic's scores that year, and they're pretty
amazing for a brand new event with no precedent for what people believed was
possible - 900 digits in an hour, 1000 binary in 30 minutes, a pack of cards in
120 seconds... must have been even more sensational than later years when
people were expecting things like that!
John Burrows
well done ben on your podcast interview, really enjoyed it, as for early
memory competitions, that would be of great importance considering the interest
garnered so far, with many countries now competing, and so they may want to
know about its humble beginnings
Ben Pridmore
John Burrows I
think it's a good idea! I think I should round up some of the old-timers and
talk about the olden days of memory - I see it's Tom Groves's
birthday today, in fact! Happy birthday, Tom, and how would you fancy
reminiscing about the world memory championships of the nineties?
Tom Groves
Ben Pridmore I
think it's even less likely that people want to hear what I have to say about
memory than they want to hear what you have to say, but sure, I'd be happy to
chat about it
John Burrows
hi tom i ve never met you but rremember your world record 42.01 seconds
deck of cards straight after dominic s 43.59 seconds. awesome back then, sounds
good today too.
Ben Pridmore
See, this is exactly the kind of thing everybody loves to hear
about!
Tom Groves
John Burrows of
course the story about that one is that the person doing the timing stopped the
watch at exactly 42 seconds but didn't think people would believe that so he
added an extra hundredth to make it sound more plausible...
Phil Chambers
John Burrows -
I'd be up for a collaborative chat with you, Tom and Ben if anyone wants to
organise it.
I remember meeting former president of the Magic Circle, Daivd Berglas
in 1993 at Simpsons. I think he officially advised the WMC on the rules for
Speed Cards to avoid the possibility of cheating through sleight of hand.
I recently did a podcast interview (not specifically about memory, just
general ramblings about my life and 23 years in business) Not published yet but
it will be on:
We never did get together and reminisce. I did compile a slideshow of interesting clippings from the nineties that we could have talked about, but it never got off the ground. We need to get these memories on the record, while we old-timers are still around!
I've got the third edition of the QEGS Alumni Newsletter, which I must have signed up for at some point in the distant past. Actually, I got it a couple of days ago, but it ended up in my spam folder until I fished it out. Possibly the previous two editions suffered the same fate. But this one has a picture of "our outgoing Year 13 prefects in the 6th Form Garden," and they look quite unspeakably young. I'm sure when I was a sixth-former (I wasn't a prefect; I was cool) we essentially looked like grown-ups. These so-called prefects don't look more than twelve! I really don't know what the world's coming to.
And then it also says "Since the start of this academic year, we have celebrated the dedication to the school of five members of staff: Pam Sutton (40 years), Anne Devereux (30 years), Jane Hastings (30 years), Rachel Peek (20 years) and David Ambrose (20 years). Each received their long-service awards from Paul Brewster, Chair of Governors."
Now, I left that school just slightly less than thirty years ago, and I never saw anyone there called Sutton, Devereux or Hastings. And I've got a GOOD memory for names. So I followed the link to the website to see if there was any more information, and there don't seem to be any teachers left from my day. That's a bit sad, isn't it? Last time I checked up on the old place, a fair few familiar faces were still prowling the halls. I wonder where they've all gone? On the other hand, Mr Ford can still be found hanging around Horncastle - my brother met him there recently - and he retired when I was in the sixth form! So I'm sure the old crowd are still doing well, one way or another.
And there's an article about Robert Webb's latest doings in the newsletter. Why aren't they documenting what I'm up to? I'm at least 33% as cool and famous as Robert Webb, I'm almost a big celebrity by Horncastle standards, I should be in there too!
Well, maybe it's more like 25%, but the point still stands. I do see that there's a link on the website inviting alumni to get in touch, and it's at least possible I could get them to let me make a speech or something, but it's firmly against my principles to ask for that kind of thing. When you're 10% as cool and famous as Robert Webb, it clearly should be THEM who ask YOU to do things for them! Besides, if I ask, they'd probably say no thanks, and I'd feel humiliated.
But still, it's nice to see they still do the Talking Newspaper. That started when I was there, long long ago. I started out as a reader, then moved into the cushy job of quality control - as long as you knew how tricky words were pronounced when stupid readers didn't know, it was a job that consisted essentially of sitting there and doing very little, instead of going to lessons.
There were two quality controllers, and the idea was that you'd each spend half the recording day doing the job, and the other half going to your more important lessons. What actually happened would be that I'd swap weeks with someone so that I'd be on the same week as Noddy, and the two of us would spend the whole day in the recording studio, quality controlling and chatting. It was great. It's just a shame a lot of other civic-minded pupils volunteered for the job too, so we'd only get to do it once or twice a year.
See, this is the kind of anecdote I could bring to QEGS today. Of course, we did it on cassette tapes in my day, there was none of this USB stick nonsense. I'm 5% as cool and famous as Robert Webb, they should be beating down my door to secure my services!
I went into Birmingham this morning, and on the way back into Redditch it started to rain. When the train pulled into the station, it was absolutely torrential, like the entire year's rainfall in about ten seconds, flood waters rising. I put my umbrella up, and as I walked along the platform the rain started to ease off. By the time I'd got to the ticket office, the sun had come out and everything was lovely again.
I tell you, I'm getting tired of this changeable weather, but since it's St Swithin's day today we've got another forty days of it to go. Still, I bought eight comics from the famous 50p box at Worlds Apart and saw an amusing advertising sign, so the morning wasn't entirely wasted.
And as a follow-up to the previous post, I didn't even know you could do this kind of special offer on eBay, but I've been offered that Red Moon tape for a mere thirty pounds! The really worrying thing is that I'm a sucker for 'special offers' like this and I can see I'm going to inevitably end up buying it.
Please allow me to direct your attention to this eBay listing for a copy of "Red Moon", now reduced to the bargain price of £35.00 from the original £50.00. I feel like this kind of thing is my fault. See the item description there - "This edition to the Krypton Force collection 'Force Five' is the tape that is very hard to find. There was even speculation that this tape doesn't exist. Available here with us, at Artemis Direct. Enjoy!"
That speculation came from the most popular post I've ever made on this blog, documenting my attempts to amass a complete collection of Krypton Force videos. It used to speculate that "Red Moon" didn't exist, since it took me a lot of time to find it. And more generally, over the years that post seems to have caused a sharp increase in the prices of these cheap British bootleg ripoffs of American translations/bowdlerisations of Japanese giant-robot cartoons! You don't see them for a forlorn 99p any more; even the ones everyone already seems to own are being offered for a comparative fortune.
I certainly didn't mean to do it, but I seem to have dramatically increased the resale value of my own collection by manufacturing mass hysteria via the internet. That's the kind of thing people like Elon Musk do, according to my limited understanding of what weird people do. Only I do it in a much more cool way, because there are giant robots.
The lyric is actually "Yuke!", meaning "Go!", but it sounds appropriately close to "UK" to use as a title for a blog post detailing exactly when Battle of the Planets was on TV in Britain.
When I went to Tokyo for that particularly wonderful TV show, we went to a karaoke bar where they had a phone-book size listing of anime theme tunes you could sing. The cameraman, at my request, gave us a wonderful performance of the Gatchaman song, and I resolved to learn the lyrics in case I ever get invited back to Japan for a similar experience. Or just learn to read hiragana more quickly than one letter a second, so I can do the whole karaoke thing properly. Or write the lyrics down in romaji in advance of going to the karaoke bar. There are all kinds of ways I could prepare to do this song at karaoke, and I still haven't done any of them! Remind me, please, if I ever get invited back to Tokyo.
But anyway, I was reading on Tom Brevoort's blog about him watching Battle of the Planets when it first aired on US TV in 1978, and it made me curious to see exactly when the cartoon made it to these shores - I used to watch it on the BBC when I was very young, at some point in the early eighties, but that's as far as my memory goes. So I took to the BBC Genome site to find out exactly when the show appeared on the BBC, and wow, it was a weird broadcast schedule!
Of course, appearing in the Radio Times and thus being immortalised on the Genome site doesn't necessarily mean something will be shown on TV. There could be last-minute changes, strikes, newsflashes, Mary Whitehouse protests, all kinds of things that disrupted the BBC, but let's assume that this relatively harmless adventure cartoon made it to the airwaves without any problems.
There were 105 episodes of Gatchaman, but only 85 were adapted into Battle of the Planets. Most of the ongoing Gatchaman continuity was stripped out, so that Battle of the Planets could be shown and watched in just about any order, but according to this excellent website, there was a recommended episode order created by Sandy Frank Entertainment, distributed to every country and station that bought the episodes, and invariably completely ignored by those buyers. But it does look like a good order to watch them in, and probably lines up with the production order!
The BBC, though, did their own thing entirely. Sometimes it looks like they were following some sort of logic in deciding which episodes to show and when, but mostly it seems entirely random. They certainly weren't adhering to Sandy Frank's suggested order, nor the actual US transmission order, nor the Gatchaman order (Gatchaman episode numbers were used as production numbers by Sandy Frank, so might have been available for the BBC schedulers to see).
Another entirely different British episode order was offered by Longman home video releases - they gave us eight tapes, with four episodes on each, in or around 1984. Bad timing on their part; it was just before the new regulations requiring all video tape releases to be submitted to the BBFC for certification, meaning all uncertified tapes had to be removed from the shelves (all the hysteria about "video nasties" meant a lot of innocent cartoons suffered too!). But luckily I (in my capacity of custodian of my brother's video collection) have several of them here anyway!
The listings below show the episodes in the order they were shown by the BBC. The numbers shown by the episode titles are:
BBC - order of BBC first broadcast
SF - Sandy Frank's recommended order
US - original US broadcast order
G - Gatchaman episode number
LON - Longman home video order
So, it's 1979, the BBC have acquired a pile of 85 episodes of this cartoon - what do they do with it? To be fair, this is a few years before the flood of twenty-minute American cartoons hit these shores with their accompanying toy lines in the shops, and the BBC might have been uncertain whether this kind of thing would be popular. So they aired a sample in the autumn season, in the 4:35 slot reserved for slightly more mature children's entertainment, after Playschool but before John Craven's Newsround. Described in the Radio Times as "A new cartoon series of 12 science fiction adventure stories," it consisted of:
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
1
1
15
1
1-1
Attack of the Space Terrapin
Monday 03 Sep 1979 16:45
2
16
16
2
3-3
Rescue of the Astronauts
Monday 10 Sep 1979 16:35
3
17
19
6
3-2
Big Robot Gold Grab
Monday 17 Sep 1979 16:35
4
38
38
9
7-1
The Jupiter Moon Menace
Monday 24 Sep 1979 16:35
5
23
22
11
Space Rocket Escort
Monday 01 Oct 1979 16:40
6
26
26
16
Microfilm Mystery
Monday 08 Oct 1979 16:40
7
18
21
24
The Musical Mummy
Monday 15 Oct 1979 16:40
8
13
2
25
The Fiery Lava Giant
Monday 22 Oct 1979 16:40
9
14
5
27
4-4
Race Against Disaster
Monday 29 Oct 1979 16:40
10
2
4
36
7-3
Siege of the Squids
Monday 05 Nov 1979 16:40
11
36
36
37
Orion, the Wonder Dog of Space
Monday 12 Nov 1979 16:40
12
11
6
41
The Space Rock Concert
Monday 19 Nov 1979 16:40
Well, "Attack of the Space Terrapin" is clearly the first episode, introducing the characters and format. Everyone realises that, except whoever created the American schedule. But these twelve BBC episodes do run in ascending order of the Gatchaman / production number, meaning that possibly the BBC's pile of tapes was put in that sequence, and somebody went through it picking out favourite episodes to put on TV?
Next summer, the same batch of episodes got repeated on Tuesdays...
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
1
1
15
1
1-1
Attack of the Space Terrapin
Tuesday 01 Jul 1980 16:45
2
16
16
2
3-3
Rescue of the Astronauts
Tuesday 08 Jul 1980 16:40
3
17
19
6
3-2
Big Robot Gold Grab
Tuesday 15 Jul 1980 16:40
(with a two-week break because of coverage of the Olympics)
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
4
38
38
9
7-1
The Jupiter Moon Menace
Tuesday 05 Aug 1980 16:40
5
23
22
11
Space Rocket Escort
Tuesday 12 Aug 1980 16:40
6
26
26
16
Microfilm Mystery
Tuesday 19 Aug 1980 16:40
7
18
21
24
The Musical Mummy
Tuesday 26 Aug 1980 16:40
8
13
2
25
The Fiery Lava Giant
Tuesday 02 Sep 1980 16:40
But after eight episodes, we've reached the start of the new season. Strangely, this meant relocating the Battle of the Planets repeats to Saturday mornings...
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
9
14
5
27
4-4
Race Against Disaster
Saturday 06 Sep 1980 09:15
10
2
4
36
7-3
Siege of the Squids
Saturday 13 Sep 1980 09:15
In 1980, TV wasn't a round-the-clock thing. Even "Breakfast TV" hadn't been invented yet. 9:15 in the morning was when BBC1 started transmitting - Battle of the Planets fans would be excitedly watching the test card, waiting for the show to start. And the Saturday morning magazine show "Multi-Coloured Swap Shop" wasn't an all-year-round thing; it started in late September and ran until late March every year. These Battle of the Planets episodes were followed by a repeat of "The Flashing Blade", a Bugs Bunny cartoon and then something sports-related.
This slot only lasted two weeks - BBC scheduling for early Saturdays was strangely incoherent. The next week, BBC1 opened with "Buford Files and Dinky Dog", and the week after that it was "Athlete", which was usually shown some time after ten. But the following week, perhaps because "Better Badminton", the new show which took over the 9:15 slot for a month or so, wasn't ready yet, Battle of the Planets made a one-off return!
And it wasn't the episode you might expect - Orion the Wonder Dog and The Space Rock Concert seem to have never been repeated by the BBC. No, it was one we'd never seen before!
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
13
65
65
51
8-3
Peaks of Planet Odin
Saturday 04 Oct 1980 09:05
An all-new, thirteenth episode, starting at an unusually early five past nine in order to fit in before Swap Shop. This one was never repeated either.
But shortly after that, the Friday afternoon slot got what the Radio Times describes as "a series of five cartoons" in the weeks leading up to the Christmas holidays.
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
14
34
34
42
Prisoners in Space
Friday 21 Nov 1980 16:20
15
39
39
45
7-4
Seals of Sytron
Friday 28 Nov 1980 16:20
16
35
35
47
Capture of the Galaxy Code
Friday 05 Dec 1980 16:20
17
21
17
48
Raid on a Nearby Planet
Friday 12 Dec 1980 16:20
18
44
44
49
2-3
Keyop Does It All
Friday 19 Dec 1980 16:20
And immediately after that, there was a new feature at lunchtimes, every day except Saturday, Christmas Day and New Year's Day!
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
19
59
59
32
8-1
Curse of the Cuttlefish, Part 1
Monday 22 Dec 1980 12:15
20
60
60
33
8-2
Curse of the Cuttlefish, Part 2
Tuesday 23 Dec 1980 12:15
21
24
24
74
6-2
Museum of Mystery
Wednesday 24 Dec 1980 12:15
22
27
27
83
Mission to Inner Space
Friday 26 Dec 1980 12:30
23
81
79
39
The Fierce Flowers, Part 1
Sunday 28 Dec 1980 11:40
24
82
80
40
The Fierce Flowers, Part 2
Monday 29 Dec 1980 12:15
25
42
42
86
Super Space Spies
Tuesday 30 Dec 1980 12:15
26
43
43
96
Vacation on Venus
Wednesday 31 Dec 1980 12:30
27
20
23
73
The Space Safari
Friday 02 Jan 1981 12:10
There's definitely some logical thinking on the part of the BBC schedule people. Showing the two-part episodes on consecutive days is a good idea.
And now we're into 1981, and significantly this is the point where TV Comic started to run a weekly Battle of the Planets series (starting in the issue dated 17 April). It ran until the end of 1983, and it's fair to say this means the show had become a genuine part of the nation's popular culture (among children, at least). This was an original British comic strip, two pages a week with continuing storylines, unrelated to the American comic which had come out over there in 1979.
I never got TV Comic myself, so missed out on this, but we did have the 1984 "Holiday Special", which reprinted two issues of the American comic in black and white.
And so the BBC naturally wanted to put the show back on the air, right? They still had 58 episodes which had never been shown...
Well, actually, they ran some repeats. The episodes that were shown on Friday afternoons must have been filed away somewhere, because they never saw the light of day again, but the nine that had been on at lunchtimes over Christmas were still to hand, and ready to be shown a second time. The order has got mixed up, though, and they seem to have pulled one out at random to put on the schedules on the May Bank Holiday.
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
21
24
24
74
6-2
Museum of Mystery
Monday 25 May 1981 10:30
And then on two consecutive Saturdays a month later, it's the return of the Curse of the Cuttlefish.
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
19
59
59
32
8-1
Curse of the Cuttlefish, Part 1
Saturday 27 Jun 1981 10:20
20
60
60
33
8-2
Curse of the Cuttlefish, Part 2
Saturday 04 Jul 1981 10:25
And THEN, if the Genome site is to be believed... and I'm sorry, but on this occasion I really don't believe it... an all-new episode was shown on a Friday morning in August:
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
28
37
37
59
7-2
Secret Island
Friday 07 Aug 1981 10:10
This comes from one of the rare weeks in history when the Radio Times wasn't published, due to a printing dispute. The Genome details for that week have been provided by "Additional Research". Did the one week there was no Radio Times really coincide with the one time the BBC showed an episode of Battle of the Planets on a Friday morning? It seems unlikely. But on the other hand, where did the Genome researcher get the detail from if it wasn't shown that day? There's no other showing of "Secret Island" listed on Genome, ever. It's all a tantalising mystery that I'd really love to unravel one day.
Later in August, though, we settle into a weekly schedule of Saturday mornings. It was on every week, immediately after a repeat of The Monkees, and that does ring a bell in my memory. I have a feeling I might have watched them both on Saturday mornings in 1981, though we're still a few weeks away from my fifth birthday at this point. My mother might well have had the Monkees on, though; it was her kind of thing.
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
23
81
79
39
The Fierce Flowers, Part 1
Saturday 22 Aug 1981 10:10
24
82
80
40
The Fierce Flowers, Part 2
Saturday 29 Aug 1981 10:15
29
25
25
68
Silent City
Saturday 05 Sep 1981 09:25
22
27
27
83
Mission to Inner Space
Saturday 12 Sep 1981 10:15
26
43
43
96
Vacation on Venus
Saturday 19 Sep 1981 10:15
25
42
42
86
Super Space Spies
Saturday 26 Sep 1981 10:15
Hey, look! There's an all-new episode among the repeats! If, again, the Radio Times is right. "Silent City" is marked as a repeat, but it doesn't seem to have been shown before. The missing one from this batch of episodes is "The Space Safari", but we're going to be seeing that one again not once but twice in years to come, so that would suggest it really didn't get shown in this batch.
That's it for Battle of the Planets for quite a while, though. No daily showings over Christmas this year, which must have disappointed the TV Comic-reading kids who remembered the festive season in 1980. They just had to wait until a pair of new episodes showed up on Saturdays in the Easter holidays of 1982!
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
30
41
41
71
The Alien Bigfoot
Saturday 03 Apr 1982 10:25
31
29
29
87
Cupid Does It to Keyop
Saturday 10 Apr 1982 10:25
Then another long wait, until the final edition of "Get Set" (the Saturday morning magazine show that filled the summer schedule before being replaced by "Saturday Superstore") found that it had used up every episode of "Undersea Kingdom" with a week to spare, and had a gap in the usual slot. This is where we get to see "The Space Safari" again!
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
27
20
23
73
The Space Safari
Saturday 25 Sep 1982 10:25
1982, all in all, was a dull year for Battle of the Planets fans. But the show made a welcome return to daily episodes in the Christmas holidays!
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
32
3
7
62
Decoys of Doom
Tuesday 21 Dec 1982 10:25
33
61
61
69
Peril in the Pyramids
Wednesday 22 Dec 1982 10:25
34
51
51
100
G-Force in the Future
Thursday 23 Dec 1982 10:25
35
69
68
89
6-3
Island of Fear
Friday 24 Dec 1982 10:25
36
9
10
80
Panic of the Peacock
Monday 27 Dec 1982 10:40
37
62
62
93
Save the Space Colony
Tuesday 28 Dec 1982 10:40
38
67
66
72
Invasion of the Locusts
Wednesday 29 Dec 1982 10:30
39
6
1
58
1-4
Giant From the Planet Zyr
Thursday 30 Dec 1982 10:30
30
41
41
71
The Alien Bigfoot
Friday 31 Dec 1982 10:30
31
29
29
87
Cupid Does It to Keyop
Monday 03 Jan 1983 10:25
Eight never-before-seen episodes, and repeats of the pair from Easter! We're now well into the fourth year of the BBC having access to this cartoon, and still less than half of the episodes have made it to our screens, but perhaps that made it even more exciting when a new batch appeared!
1983 was another quiet year, though. It seemed like things might get good when Battle of the Planets returned to the weekday afternoon slot in July...
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
40
28
28
10
5-1
A Swarm of Robot Ants
Tuesday 26 Jul 1983 16:45
41
32
32
12
Beast with a Sweet Tooth
Tuesday 02 Aug 1983 16:45
33
61
61
69
Peril in the Pyramids
Tuesday 09 Aug 1983 16:45
27
20
23
73
The Space Safari
Tuesday 16 Aug 1983 16:45
36
9
10
80
Panic of the Peacock
Tuesday 23 Aug 1983 16:45
35
69
68
89
6-3
Island of Fear
Tuesday 30 Aug 1983 16:45
34
51
51
100
G-Force in the Future
Tuesday 06 Sep 1983 16:45
... but although we got two new episodes, they were followed by five repeats, taken from the ones shown the previous Christmas. Strangely, though, "Decoys of Doom" never gets a second showing, and "The Space Safari" becomes the one and only Battle of the Planets episode to get a third airing on the BBC!
The other three new ones from last Christmas get repeated this year...
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
37
62
62
93
Save the Space Colony
Wednesday 21 Dec 1983 09:20
38
67
66
72
Invasion of the Locusts
Thursday 22 Dec 1983 09:20
39
6
1
58
1-4
Giant From the Planet Zyr
Friday 23 Dec 1983 09:50
... but the BBC seems to have exhausted its supplies for the moment, and there's nothing to put on in the second week of the holidays this time around. The timeslot was filled with Wacky Races and Play Chess, with Bill Hartston. Bill Hartston is very cool, but it's a shame he had to replace Battle of the Planets.
The TV Comic series has ended now, and viewers must have assumed they'd seen the last of Battle of the Planets. But how wrong they were! 1984 turned out to be a great year for the fans! That year gave us twenty-nine never-before-seen episodes, and no repeats! And that was the year those Longman videos hit the shelves, too! And that Holiday Special comic which I really loved! It all starts with daily early-morning episodes in the Easter holidays:
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
42
48
48
3
The Space Mummy
Monday 16 Apr 1984 09:00
43
46
46
4
The Space Serpent
Tuesday 17 Apr 1984 09:00
44
40
40
5
3-1
Ghost Ship of the Planet Mir
Wednesday 18 Apr 1984 09:00
45
54
54
7
Ace From Outer Space
Thursday 19 Apr 1984 09:00
46
74
72
8
Fearful Sea Anemone
Friday 20 Apr 1984 09:00
47
50
50
14
Perilous Pleasure Cruise
Monday 23 Apr 1984 09:00
48
7
9
15
2-2
Thing with 1,000 Eyes
Tuesday 24 Apr 1984 09:00
49
75
75
17
The Alien Beetles
Wednesday 25 Apr 1984 09:00
50
64
64
23
Magnetic Attraction
Thursday 26 Apr 1984 09:00
51
71
70
31
6-4
The Galaxy Girls
Friday 27 Apr 1984 09:00
And it was a very late Easter in 1984, so as soon as you're back at school we're into the May bank holidays, which each got a new episode too!
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
52
68
67
43
8-4
Victims of the Hawk
Monday 07 May 1984 09:00
53
33
33
44
Raid on Riga
Monday 28 May 1984 09:00
And then we're back on Children's BBC for the summer season, weekly at 4:45 or thereabouts:
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
54
4
14
21
1-2
Mad New Ruler of Spectra
Tuesday 24 Jul 1984 16:45
55
49
49
22
The Sea Dragon
Tuesday 31 Jul 1984 16:45
56
77
78
26
4-3
The Bat Ray Bombers
Tuesday 07 Aug 1984 16:45
57
45
45
35
Demons of the Desert
Tuesday 14 Aug 1984 16:45
58
8
13
57
2-1
Fastest Gun in the Galaxy
Tuesday 21 Aug 1984 16:45
59
55
55
60
Giant Space Bat
Tuesday 28 Aug 1984 16:40
60
63
63
63
6-1
Zoltar Strikes Out
Wednesday 05 Sep 1984 16:30
61
78
77
70
4-1
Rage of the Robotoids
Wednesday 12 Sep 1984 16:30
62
73
74
76
The Awesome Ray Force
Wednesday 19 Sep 1984 16:30
And then... I'm not sure what's going on here. There wasn't a two-week half-term holiday in October 1984 - as usual, some schools had the first week and some had the second, most likely, but every schoolkid must have missed one week's worth of new episodes shown on weekday mornings for a fortnight!
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
63
57
57
46
Giant Gila Monster
Monday 22 Oct 1984 09:00
64
79
82
52
The Sky is Falling!, Part 1
Tuesday 23 Oct 1984 09:00
65
80
83
53
The Sky is Falling!, Part 2
Wednesday 24 Oct 1984 09:00
66
30
30
54
Raid of the Red Scorpion
Friday 26 Oct 1984 09:00
67
12
18
55
Mammoth Shark Menace
Monday 29 Oct 1984 09:00
68
19
8
61
5-3
Attack of the Alien Wasp
Tuesday 30 Oct 1984 09:00
69
56
56
65
2-4
The Great Brain Robbery
Wednesday 31 Oct 1984 09:00
70
10
3
67
Raid of the Space Octopus
Friday 02 Nov 1984 09:00
But what a great year for Battle of the Planets! No Christmas holiday episodes this year, which is a shame, but that six and a half months of new episodes was more than enough to keep the people happy. Could it continue into 1985? Well, no. The stack of unbroadcast episodes is running low, all these years after the BBC bought them. We're heading for a lot of repeats in what turned out to be the show's final year on British TV.
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
42
48
48
3
The Space Mummy
Saturday 02 Mar 1985 08:35
43
46
46
4
The Space Serpent
Saturday 09 Mar 1985 08:35
44
40
40
5
3-1
Ghost Ship of the Planet Mir
Saturday 16 Mar 1985 08:35
45
54
54
7
Ace From Outer Space
Saturday 23 Mar 1985 08:35
46
74
72
8
Fearful Sea Anemone
Saturday 30 Mar 1985 08:35
47
50
50
14
Perilous Pleasure Cruise
Saturday 06 Apr 1985 08:35
48
7
9
15
2-2
Thing with 1,000 Eyes
Saturday 13 Apr 1985 08:35
Saturday morning repeats, at the unprecedentedly early hour of 8:35, showing the episodes that previously appeared over Easter 1984. The department responsible for Saturdays were clearly different from the department responsible for Easter holiday weekdays, because the last few Saturday repeats there came in this year's Easter, which got something different on Monday to Friday!
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
71
5
12
75
1-3
Peril of the Praying Mantis
Monday 01 Apr 1985 09:20
72
58
58
77
The Duplicate King
Tuesday 02 Apr 1985 09:20
73
53
53
88
Tentacles From Space
Wednesday 03 Apr 1985 09:20
74
52
52
90
The Awesome Armadillo
Thursday 04 Apr 1985 09:20
75
47
47
97
Rockets Out of Control
Friday 05 Apr 1985 09:20
76
66
69
98
G-Force Defector
Monday 08 Apr 1985 09:20
77
84
84
91
Invasion of the Space Center, Part 1
Tuesday 09 Apr 1985 09:20
78
85
85
92
Invasion of the Space Center, Part 2
Wednesday 10 Apr 1985 09:20
79
70
73
99
Strike at Spectra
Thursday 11 Apr 1985 09:20
80
72
71
101
The Conway Tape Tap
Friday 12 Apr 1985 09:20
Once again, ten brand-new adventures in the Easter holidays! And then we're back on Wednesday afternoons for the summer season, but with only two unshown episodes before we go back to repeats...
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
81
76
76
79
4-2
Defector to Spectra
Wednesday 05 Jun 1985 16:35
82
31
31
84
5-4
Spectra Space Spider
Wednesday 12 Jun 1985 16:35
40
28
28
10
5-1
A Swarm of Robot Ants
Wednesday 19 Jun 1985 16:35
41
32
32
12
Beast with a Sweet Tooth
Wednesday 26 Jun 1985 16:40
54
4
14
21
1-2
Mad New Ruler of Spectra
Wednesday 03 Jul 1985 16:40
55
49
49
22
The Sea Dragon
Wednesday 10 Jul 1985 16:40
56
77
78
26
4-3
The Bat Ray Bombers
Wednesday 17 Jul 1985 16:40
57
45
45
35
Demons of the Desert
Wednesday 24 Jul 1985 16:40
58
8
13
57
2-1
Fastest Gun in the Galaxy
Wednesday 31 Jul 1985 16:40
59
55
55
60
Giant Space Bat
Wednesday 07 Aug 1985 16:40
60
63
63
63
6-1
Zoltar Strikes Out
Wednesday 14 Aug 1985 16:40
61
78
77
70
4-1
Rage of the Robotoids
Wednesday 21 Aug 1985 16:35
62
73
74
76
The Awesome Ray Force
Wednesday 28 Aug 1985 16:35
49
75
75
17
The Alien Beetles
Wednesday 04 Sep 1985 16:40
71
5
12
75
1-3
Peril of the Praying Mantis
Wednesday 11 Sep 1985 16:10
72
58
58
77
The Duplicate King
Wednesday 18 Sep 1985 16:10
Interestingly, the first two repeats had been shown for the first time in summer 1983. Then came the nine from summer 1984, then "The Alien Beetles" from Easter 1984, then the first two from Easter 1985.
What makes this more fascinating is that "Saturday Picture Show", the summer Saturday-morning magazine show of 1985 was also showing Battle of the Planets during this time, for at least ten weeks - but it infuriatingly didn't list the episode titles in the Radio Times! So all I can offer is...
?
Saturday 29 Jun 1985 08:30
?
Saturday 06 Jul 1985 08:30
?
Saturday 13 Jul 1985 08:30
?
Saturday 20 Jul 1985 08:30
?
Saturday 27 Jul 1985 08:30
?
Saturday 03 Aug 1985 08:30
?
Saturday 10 Aug 1985 08:30
?
Saturday 17 Aug 1985 08:30
?
Saturday 24 Aug 1985 08:30
?
Saturday 31 Aug 1985 08:30
The Radio Times for the 17th of August doesn't mention Battle of the Planets at all, but I assume it was still on. Which episodes would these have been? I would guess the two remaining unrepeated ones from Easter 1984, and the eight episodes from the October double-half-term, but guesswork is all I have to go on here.
And finally, there was one more repeat popped up on our screens at the end of September...
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
73
53
53
88
Tentacles From Space
Saturday 28 Sep 1985 08:40
And that's that. No more Battle of the Planets on the BBC. It's taken them six years, but they've got through that pile of episodes at last. Except, of course, for the three that they must have lost somewhere...
BBC
SF
US
G
LON
X
15
11
18
3-4
A Whale Joins G-Force
X
22
20
30
5-2
The Ghostly Grasshopper
X
83
81
95
Charioteers of Changu
These three seem never to have made it to our screens over here. Unless you bought the Longman videos which included two of them, of course! But poor old Charioteers of Changu never saw the light of day.
All things considered, I doubt anybody in the whole of the UK watched every episode of Battle of the Planets. Catching them all, with such erratic scheduling, would have been an impossible task even for the most obsessive viewer! It's not like Thundercats, which came just a year and a bit after "Tentacles From Space" closed off the adventures of G-Force - that one came in two solid batches of episodes, shown weekly and repeated several times, in the days when home video recorders were a lot more common. The BBC had maybe learnt a lesson or two by then, just in time to provide me with my particular 1980s cartoon obsession - but Battle of the Planets is another one I love today even despite only catching a few stray episodes here and there over my younger years! It really must have been something special!
