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is a televised anime series, created by Sunrise. Written and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting Network between April 7, 1979 and January 26, 1980, spanning 43 episodes. It was the very first ''Gundam'' series, which has subsequently been adapted into numerous sequels and spin-offs.
The series was later re-edited for theatrical release and split into three movies in 1981. Yoshikazu Yasuhiko did the character designs and Kunio Okawara was responsible for the mechanical designs, including the titular giant robot, the RX-78-2 Gundam.
The series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1979 and the first half of 1980.

Contents

Synopsis

Background

Novel

Compilation movies

Manga

Characters

Earth Federation

Principality of Zeon

Weapons and support units

Opening and ending songs

Cast

Gundam the Ride: A Baoa Qu

Video games

See also

Trivia

References

External links

Synopsis

Universal Century 0079: The Principality of Zeon has declared its independence from the Earth Federation, and subsequently launched a massive war of independence, a war which has raged in every continent on earth and in nearly every space colony and lunar settlement. Zeon has the upper hand through their use of a revolutionary new type of weapon, their humanoid mobile suits. When a Zeon recon team disobey mission orders and begin attacking Side 7 its citizens stumble across the Federation's latest weapon: the Gundam. With the aid of Earth Federation soldiers stationed aboard the MS carrier ''White Base'' the newly formed crew of refugees set out to change the course of the One Year War — or die trying.

Background

The series was not popular when it first aired, and was in fact cancelled before the series was intended to end. The series was originally set to run for 52 episodes and was cut down to 39 by the show's sponsors, which included the original toymakers for the series. However, the staff was able to negotiate a one month extension to end the series with 43 episodes.
When Bandai received the licensing to the show's mecha, however, things changed completely. With the introduction of their line of Gundam models, the popularity of the show began to soar. The models sold very well, and the show began to do very well in reruns and even better in its theatrical compilation. Audiences were expecting another giant robot show, and instead found ''MS Gundam'', the first work of anime in an entirely new genre, the mecha drama or the 'real robot' genre as opposed to the 'super robot' genre.
''Mobile Suit Gundam'' was also later aired by the anime satellite television network, Animax, across Japan, with the series continuing to be aired on the network currently, and later its respective networks worldwide, including Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Latin America, and other regions.
The series premiered across the United States on Monday, July 23, 2001 on Cartoon Network's Toonami, but did not do so well. Following the pattern of its initial airing in Japan, it was later cancelled before the entire series was shown. When the September 11, 2001 attacks occurred, the series was almost over. Immediately following the attacks Cartoon Network, and many other stations, began pulling war-themed content and violent programming as well. Although ''Cowboy Bebop'' came back before too long, ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' did not. However, the last episodes were shown as part of Toonami's "New Year's Eve-il" special on December 31, 2001. It is sometimes stated that ''MSG'' was cancelled "because" of the September 11, 2001 attacks. This was verified by a Toonami producer in a March 4, 2002 with Anime News Network. interview
On Saturday, June 8, 2002, the series was given another chance by Cartoon Network in their late-night Adult Swim block, but it was again pulled before completing its run.
In both American TV showings and on the American DVD release, episode 15 (''Kukurus Doan's Island'') was cut out. It was felt, even by Tomino,^[1] that this episode was not up to par with the rest of the series and so it was never dubbed, making it into a "lost episode" of sorts.

Novel

In 1979, before the end of the anime, Yoshiyuki Tomino himself created the first novelizations of the original Gundam anime series. The novels, issued as a series of three books, allowed him to depict his story in a more sophisticated, adult, and detailed fashion. Along with this adaptation came several major changes to the story. For example, Amuro is already a member of the Federation military at the time of the initial Zeon attack on Side 7, and the main characters in the Federation serve on the ''White Base''-class ships ''Pegasus'' and ''Pegasus II'' rather than the ''Pegasus''-class ''White Base''.^[2] Additionally, the war continues well into the year UC 0080 in the novels, whereas it concludes at the beginning of that year in the anime series.
Perhaps the most controversial difference between the anime series and the novels is that in the latter, Amuro Ray is killed in the final attack against the Zeonic stronghold of A Baoa Qu when his RX-78-3 is pierced through the torso by a Rick Dom's beam bazooka. This occurs as Char's unit attempts to warn him about Gihren's intention to destroy the fortress and take the Federation's offensive fleet along with it. Char Aznable and the crew of ''Pegasus II'' (''White Base''), along with handpicked men under Kycilia Zabi's command, make a deep penetrating attack against the Side 3 and together kill Gihren Zabi, after which Kycilia is killed by Char. Tomino later lamented that had he known that anime ending would be different and that another series would be made, he would not have killed off Amuro in the novels. Because of such significant deviations from the animated series, movies, and subsequent sequels the novels themselves are not considered canonical; however, the detailed account of past events leading up to the introduction of the mobile suit and early skirmishes of the OYW are more or less accepted in the continuity. Nonetheless, they are often enjoyed by fans because they provide a great deal of detail and help explain the philosophical underpinnings of the Gundam series.
The three novels were translated into English by Frederik Schodt and published by Del Rey Books in September, 1990. At the time, there were no officially recognized romanizations of character and mecha names, and a variety of different spellings were being used in the English-language fan community. In the original three novels, therefore, Mr. Schodt wrote the name "Char" as "Sha." "Sha" is a transliteration of the Japanese pronunciation, although Mr. Tomino later publicly confirmed at Anime Expo New York 2002 that the name was originally based on the French name Charles Aznavour, a popular French-language singer. (Interestingly, the 2004 edition of the English translation revealed that Schodt felt that the "Char" rendering "seemed too close" to Aznavour's name.) He also rendered "Zaku" as "Zak," and (after consulting with Mr. Tomino) "Jion" as "Zeon," instead of "Zion," which was in use in some circles. Some North American fans, already attached to particular spellings, took great umbrage at Schodt's renditions, forgetting that in the original Japanese most character and mecha names are in a phonetic script known as katakana, and that there were, therefore, no "official spellings." Many years later, when the Gundam series was finally licensed in North America, the rights holders did come up with a unified list of "official spellings" for English-language material, and some of these spellings include Schodt's renditions, as well as the renditions to which certain North American fans were attached.
In 2004, Frederik Schodt revised his original translation of the books, which had been out of print for nearly a decade. What had been a three volume set in the 1990 Del Rey edition was re-released by Stone Bridge Press as one single volume of 476 pages (with a vastly improved cover design), titled ''Mobile Suit Gundam: Awakening, Escalation, Confrontation''. Since the rights holders in Japan by this time had created a unified (although still evolving) list of romanized character and mecha names, Schodt was able to use it, and Amuro's rival in the novel thus became "Char" and not "Sha"; the popular Zeon Mobile Suit, similarly, became "Zaku," and not "Zak".^[2]

Compilation movies

Following the success of the ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' TV series, Yoshiyuki Tomino returned in 1981 and reworked the footage into three separate compilation movies. The first two movies, ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' and ''Mobile Suit Gundam: Soldiers of Sorrow'', were released in 1981. The third movie, ''Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space'', was released in 1982.
Each of the three movies is largely composed of old footage from the TV series, however Tomino felt that some things could be changed for the better. Tomino removed several aspects of the show which he felt were still too super robot-esque for the real robot series he intended ''Gundam'' to be, such as the Gundam Hammer weapon. The G-Armor upgrade parts were also completely removed and replaced in the narrative by the more realistic Core Booster support fighters, and Hayato receives a Guncannon at Jaburo to replace the disadvantaged Guntank. The third movie also includes a substantial amount of new footage expanding on the battles of Solomon and A Baoa Qu.
In the late 1990s, the three compilation movies were first released for directly to VHS dubbed in English with a different vocal cast from the later English dub of the TV show, which makes them them among the first ''Gundam'' works released in English. The movies were released again in North America on May 7, 2002 in DVD format, available separately or in a boxed set. But these are available only with Japanese audio with English subtitles. This DVD boxset is identical to the 20th anniversary release of the movie compilation DVDs. The original voice cast members rerecorded their lines with the exception of those who were deceased. The 20th anniversary release is digitally remastered but many of the sound effects are replaced, most notably the futuristic gun sounds being replaced by louder machine gun sound effects. Also, the music soundtrack, while not remixed is rearranged and in some cases removed from some scenes. The vocal songs are rearranged also, especially in the closing credits of the second and third movies.
Contrary to previous claims made by Yoshiyuki Tomino that the original mono mix was in too poor of a condition to use on the original DVD release,^[4] Bandai Visual has announced the re-release of the ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' movies on DVD from new HD masters and with the original, theatrical, mono audio mix. This box set is scheduled for release in Japan on December 21, 2007.^[5][6]

Manga

Mobile Suit Gundam manga, namely Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 and Gundam:The Origin are published in English by Viz Communications.

Characters

Earth Federation

★ Amuro Ray

★ Bright Noa

★ Fraw Bow

★ General Revil

★ Haro

★ Hayato Kobayashi

★ Kai Shiden

★ Matilda Ajan

★ Mirai Yashima

★ Ryu Jose

★ Sayla Mass

★ Slegger Law

★ Tem Ray

Principality of Zeon

★ Char Aznable

★ Crowley Hamon

★ Degwin Sodo Zabi

★ Dozle Zabi

★ Garma Zabi

★ Giren Zabi

★ Kishiria Zabi

★ Lalah Sune

★ M'Quve

★ Ramba Ral

★ Black Tri-Stars

Weapons and support units

Opening and ending songs

'Opening:'

★ ''Tobe! Gundam'' (Fly! Gundam) by Koh Ikeda (TV series)
'Ending:'

★ ''Eien Ni Amuro'' (Forever Amuro) by Koh Ikeda (TV series)

★ ''Suna no Juujika'' (Cross of Sand) by Takajin Yashiki (Movie I)

★ ''Ai Senshi'' (Soldiers of Sorrow) by Daisuke Inoue (Movie II)

★ ''Meguriai'' (Encounters) by Daisuke Inoue (Movie III)
----
Note: On Cartoon Network's Toonami and Adult Swim airings, much shorter opening and ending sequences, 45 seconds long, were used in place of the Japanese TV openings and endings. These opening and ending sequences are also used in the Bandai releases from Volume 4-10.

Cast

Character	Japanese Actor	English Actor (Series)	English Actor (Movies)
Amuro Ray	Toru Furuya	Brad Swaile	Michael Lindsay
Char Aznable	Shuichi Ikeda	Michael Kopsa	Steven Blum
Bright Noah	Hirotaka Suzuoki	Chris Kalhoon	Wheat St. James
Mirai Yashima	Fuyumi Shiraishi	Cathy Weseluck	Leslie Buhr
Sayla Mass	You Inoue	Alaina Burnett	Olivia Bardeau
Fraw Bow	Rumiko Ukai	Kristie Marsden	Melissa Fahn
Kai Shiden	Toshio Furukawa	Richard Ian Cox	Christy Mathewson
Hayato Kobayashi	Kiyonobu Suzuki	Matt Smith	Richard Cansino
Ryu Jose	Shozo Iizuka	Ward Perry	Unknown
Lalah Sune	Han Keiko	Willow Johnson	Lia Sargent
Garma Zabi	Katsuji Mori	Brian Dobson	Unknown
Kishiria Zabi	Mami Koyama	Michelle Porter	Bambi Darro
Dozle Zabi	Daisuke Gohri	French Tickner	Peter Spellos
Degwin Zabi	Ichiro Nagai	Chris Schneider	Elliot Reynolds
Ramba Ral	Masashi Hirose	John Payne	Michael McConnohie
Crowley Hamon	Yumi Nakatani	Lenore Zann	Dian Andrews

Gundam the Ride: A Baoa Qu

Gundam the Ride: A Baoa Qu was an amusement park attraction at the Fuji-Q Highland Amusement Park located in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan.
Gundam the Ride, which opened to the public on July 20, 2000, was based on the ''Mobile Suit Gundam''. Set during the final chaotic Battle of A Baoa Qu on December 31, Universal Century 0079, Gundam the Ride places its riders in the place of civilian passengers onboard an Escape Launch Shuttle about to leave the battleship ''Suruga'' en route to Side 6. Of course once the Escape Launch leaves the ''Suruga'' it is immediately caught up in the tumult of war and must be escorted to safety by two GM pilots, Earth Federation Forces aces and members of the notorious "Jack the Halloween" Team, Jack Bayard and Adam Stingray.
The animation of Gundam the Ride used mostly computer graphics to create the large and engrossing space battles and mobile suits. However, all instances where a human character appears on screen while talking to the riders were created by hand-drawn cel animation, similar to the style current ''Gundam'' video games are done in. All of the character designs for Gundam the Ride were done by Mikimoto Haruhiko.
Like most themed rides Gundam the Ride had its own themed gift shop, called Gundam Mania, which was staffed by people dressed as Gundam characters. At the time of its opening Gundam Mania was the largest Gundam shop ever built, although it no longer holds that position. This gift shop sells vast amounts of Gundam-related merchandise, including t-shirts, model kits, videos and DVDs, various toys, and Gundam-themed snacks, as well as some unique merchandise which is produced exclusively for Gundam the Ride.
The Halloween team, as well as the Escape Launch, make a cameo appearance in the video game "Encounters in Space" while the player (playing as Amuro Ray in his Gundam) is making his way through the ''Dolos''.
The ride closed on January 8, 2007.

Video games

Main articles: List of Gundam video games

There have been many video games based on or with mobile suits from the original ''Gundam'' series. Of these, the following have crossed the border into North America:

★ ''Gundam Battle Assault'' (PlayStation [PS1])

★ ''Gundam Battle Assault 2'' (PS1)

★ '' (Dreamcast)

★ '' (PlayStation 2 [PS2])

★ '' (PS2)

★ '' (Arcade)

★ '' (Arcade, PS2)

★ '' (PS2)

★ '' (Arcade, PS2)

★ '' (PlayStation 3 [PS3])

★ '' (''Mobile Suit Gundam: True Odyssey'' in Japan) (PS2)

★ ''Battle Assault 3 featuring Gundam Seed'' (PS2)

★ ''Dynasty Warriors Gundam'' (Xbox 360, PS3)
Current generation games that have been unreleased in countries outside Japan include:

★ ''Mobile Suit Gundam (1993 arcade game)'' (Arcade)

★ '' (PS2, PlayStation Portable [PSP])

★ '' (PS2)

★ '' (PS2)

★ '' (also referred to as ''Project Pegasus'') (PS2)

★ '' (also referred to as ''Ace Pilot'') (GameCube)

★ '' (PSP)

★ ''SD Gundam G-Generation'' (PS1)

★ ''SD Gundam G-Generation Zero'' (PS1)

★ ''SD Gundam G-Generation F'' (PS1)

★ ''SD Gundam G-Generation F-If'' (PS1) (Expansion pack to ''G-Generation F'')

★ ''SD Gundam G-Generation Neo'' (PS2)

★ ''SD Gundam G-Generation Advance'' (Game Boy Advance [GBA])

★ ''SD Gundam G-Generation DS'' (Nintendo DS)

★ ''SD Gundam G-Generation Cross Drive''(DS)

★ ''SD Gundam Mono-Eye Stories'' (WonderSwan)

★ ''SD Gundam G-Generation Seed'' (PS2) (Primarily focuses on ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED'' storyline)

★ ''SD Gundam G-Generation Portable'' (PSP)

★ ''Mobile Suit Gundam Generation of Cosmic Era'' (PS2) (Focuses on Cosmic Era storyline, including MS Gundam Seed: Mobile Suit Variation [MSV] and ''Astray'' stories)
Note: The various ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' series are also featured in the "Real Robot" side of the ''Super Robot Taisen''/''Wars'' series of games.

See also

Variation models:

★ Mobile Suit Variations

★ Mobile Suit X

Trivia

★ Tomino's original concept for the series was considerably much more grim, with Amuro dying halfway through the series, and the crew of the White Base having to ally with Char (who is given a red Gundam), but finally having to battle him after he takes control of the Principality of Zeon. The original concept found expression in a series of novels written by Tomino soon after the show's conclusion, and elements of the storyline weaved themselves into ''Zeta Gundam'' and ''Char's Counterattack''.

★ The reason that the episode "Kukurus Doan's Island" was removed from the English-Language version of the series was that it was cut at the request of Yoshiyuki Tomino himself. He felt that the episode's story was substandard. On the other hand, Doan appears (possibly also the plot episode) in the game ''SD Gundam G Generation Advance''. You can also fight Doan in his Zaku II, in the video game ''Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation Vs. Zeon''. Also, this episode was not withheld from the Japanese box set that was released in December of 2006.^[7]

★ Originally, the design for the Gundam by Tomino and Kunio Okawara had the Gundam colored a uniform low-visibility gray. The show's sponsors, looking for a marketable toy line, prevailed upon the two to give the Gundam its arresting (if illogical) white, red, blue and gold scheme. A later retcon explained the colors by making them a demonstration/test scheme that was never repainted. In the novels, Amuro's first Gundam was completely white with some red, supposedly reminiscent of an X-Wing color scheme, and instead of the Gundam being upgraded with magnetic coated joints, Amuro was simply given a new one - the G3, which was colored a uniform low-visibility gray.

★ The final episodes (encompassing the battles of Solomon and A Baoa Q) were originally planned to be more elaborate, with exotic Zeon mecha defending the fortresses. Budget cuts scrapped the episodes (and the designs) although at least two (the Dom-like Dowdage and Gelgoog-Like Galbaldy ) do become resurrected for ''Zeta Gundam'' and ''Gundam ZZ''.

★ The positions in which the colonies (sides) are located in orbit are lagrange points are based on real scientific theory. While the colonies (sides) are based on the O'Neill Cylinder theory.

References

1. http://www.animeondvd.com/conitem.php?item=180 ("I asked that it would be skipped. There is a reason, but since the staff is still alive I can't answer it. It’s a long story.")
2. Mobile Suit Gundam, , Yoshiyuki, Tomino, Stone Bridge Press, 2004,
3. Mobile Suit Gundam, , Yoshiyuki, Tomino, Stone Bridge Press, 2004,
4. http://www.animejump.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=40&page=1 ("The sound quality of the recordings that remain from First Gundam is quite poor at this time. Because of this, there was no other way but to re-record the First Gundam movies, including the addition of new music. So there would be no possibility of having the original soundtrack released in the United States.")
5. http://product.bandaivisual.co.jp/web_service/shop_product_info.asp?item_no=BCBA-3107
6. http://aeug.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html#5783743175328079764
7. http://www.gundam.jp/story/story03.html

External links

★ Official site of the upcoming Japanese DVD release

★