7-Zark-7 was added into the show, often to try and tie the plot up from Centre Neptune, his underwater base. In later shows he was joined by "adorable" robot, 1-Rover-1.
No deaths. When the programme was re-edited, it was made clear that no-one was to die. So, during seemingly deadly attacks, 7-Zark-7 would add in reassuring comments. While it may look like a bunch of villains have had their throats removed by Mark's flying dart, 7-Zark-7's soothing tones will point out that "the sound of Mark's sonic boomerang caused slight, temporary concussions among the enemy - but they'll be up again shortly".
Casey Kasem provides the voice for Mark. He was also the voice behind Shaggy in Scooby Doo, and an American DJ.
Janet Waldo provided the sultry voice of Princess - and was also Josie in Josie and the Pussycats.
Keye Luke was the voice of Zoltar - and also played Number One Son in the Charlie Chan films, as well as being Mr Wing, the mysterious shop owner in Gremlins.
Zoltar. The urban myths are true - in the original version, Zoltar really couldn't quite settle on a sexuality.
Writers. Many of the people listed in the credits as writers performed a rather different job: watching the original episode and noting down what appeared to be happening. These notes were then passed on to the real scriptwriters to form the basis of their scripts.
Battle's famously bombastic music was worked on by Hoyt S. Curtin, who also composed for Ed Wood.
Spookily, Mark and Jason were also the names of two members of Take That. But we're not going to speculate as to who was Tiny, Keyop or Princess.
External site
Gatchaman fan site
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Battle of the Planets is � 1978 Sandy Frank Film Syndication, Inc. Licensed by Universal Playback.
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