Have been over-commenting in astolat's journal, as she's pretty much the only person to write my first fandom love, Battle of the Planets. As a kid, I loved this show so much, I'd get up--in summer vacation--at 6am to watch.

I've discovered that it's the American version of the 1972 anime classic, Gatchaman (does this make me cool? I think that's definitely cool). The Americans who bought the distribution rights never bothered to get Japanese translators. Instead, they had writers watch the show and "figure it out." The resulting off-the-mark scripts and lack of backstories changed the characterizations.

Gatchaman has a real, honest-to-God, narrative arc. Character development that never happened in Battle of the Planets. (Oh, and Gatchaman doesn't have the loathsome, badly animated, talk-down-to-the-kiddies robot character, 7-Zark-7, added to deal with what the US cut for the censors... cut to speed up action... and to add sexual innuendo, because, nothing says appropriate cartoon fare than sexual innuendo.) Yes, there are superficial differences, character names changed, a young character bowdlerized, the baddies are on another planet for Battle of the Planets while on Earth for Gatchaman, so the world-building's different.

But the big difference is the main character. Enough that I'm enjoying the heck out of Gatchaman and thinking ... can I bring this narrative arc into Battle of the Planets?

It's a fandom puzzle. Can I marry the character arc of Gatchaman to Battle of the Planets?

Oh sure, I could just write Gatchaman fic. But where's the fun in that?