Mad Science

i09 has a very interesting article that explores the familiar sci-fi theme where "mad scientists" will, one way or another, turn against their creations. Along with characters like Victor Frankenstein and Tony Stark, Astro Boy's father Dr. Tenma makes the list with a very cool writeup. Here's what they had to say:

In the underrated 2009 film, Dr. Tenma turns against his creation, Astro Boy — but later has a second change of heart. Dr. Tenma creates Astro Boy as a robot duplicate of his dead son. But when he realizes that the robot copy can never replace the flesh-and-blood boy, he rejects the kid. (In the original Tezuka manga, Tenma rejects the boy when he realizes the boy can never grow up, and sells him to the circus.) In the movie, Dr. Tenma finally embraces his robot son after Astro Boy sacrifices himself to save everyone from an evil giant robot — and Dr. Tenma manages to bring Astro Boy back to life.

You can read about all "20 mad scientists who turned against their creations" on io9.

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We Got Guides

We're less than a month away from the Animated Astro Boy movie by Imagi and the hype machine is rolling! Some new guides to the Astro Boy movie universe have appeared online to prepare audiences for the film.

MovieTickets.com has got a Guide to Astro Boy featuring short bios for each main character. There are some brand new images, so check it out.

Also, IGN.com has an interesting look at the Astro Boy Rogues Galley, focusing on the villains and other antagonists that will be in the film. Looks like the deck is stacked against Astro. Will he prevail? (Answer: Yes.)

Are we excited yet?

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Dr. Tenma

Hey, today was Father's day, after all.


Dr. Tenma is the scientist who created Astro to replace his dead son. He's portrayed differently in different versions of the story. Sometimes he is a cruel father who purposely abandons Astro after realizing that a robot can never replace a human child. Other times he is shown in a more regretful light, accidentally losing Astro after getting frustrated with him. In the 2003 anime series, Tenma is the main villain, and a very over-the-top one at that. His portrayal develops into a truly crazed mad scientist who wants robots to conquer the world, and wants Astro to lead them. He even plays the pipe organ in his secret lab! That's pretty evil right there.

It is said that in the upcoming CG animated movie from Imagi, the story is set up so that Dr. Tenma doesn't come across as that bad, and will have a more sympathetic tone in his portrayal. So I wouldn't expect any pipe-organs in that (though they could surprise us, I suppose).

My personal favorite portrail of Dr. Tenma is the "Astro Boy: Omega Factor" video game for Game Boy Advance. In it, Tenma starts out as something of a mysterious villain who makes Astro fight other robots, but eventually Astro discovers that Tenma abandoned him because he knew that Astro was destined for greater things, to act as the bridge between robots and humanity, going much further than just acting as a replacement for his dead son. But you'll have to play the game to see how that happens!

You can read more about Dr. Tenma on Wikipedia.

What is your favorite take on Dr. Tenma? Should he be a misunderstood genius who made a mistake, a mean old scientist who doesn't care about his own creation, or a crazy supervillain who wants to see the world burn? Perhaps you'd like to see other takes on the character. I'm interested in reading what you thinj, so hit up the comment section below and leave your feedback!

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Uran

To conclude our birthday themed week here on AstroBoy World, let's take a look at what Astro himself actually got for his 1st birthday in the original manga.

He got what every kid wants. He got... a little sister! Sarcasm!


Uran made her debut in the manga episode "Miss Uran" and was built by Dr. Ochanomizu as a gift for Astro. This was adapted into the 60's anime episode called "The Strange Birthday Present". The English dub refers to her as "Astro Girl".

In the 80's series she is given to Astro as a New Years present in the episode "Uran the Tomboy". In the Canadian dub she's named "Sarah". In the other English dub she's still called Uran, but it's pronounced more like "You-rane" for some reason. She had her own song, which would sometimes replace the regular end credits sequence, as seen in this video.



She also appears in the 2003 anime, and in this version she has the power to talk to animals. In the English version she's called "Zoran".

Uran is a tomboy and a bit of a troublemaker. She's an important part of the Astro Boy story as her presence helps Astro learn about being responsible and having patience. She's popular in her own right for both her child-like inocence and her fiesty independant attiude.

Tezuka in English has a great detailed write-up on Uran's first appearence. Make sure you give that a read!

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