SFXB Forum

Um, I'm a little confused. It's very true that the whole series didn't get shown in Japan. If you read the Manga Max article in the Origins section of the site:http://www.sfxb.co.uk/origins/mangamax3.html it's apparent that only half the series was shown in Japan before, as you say, getting canned. So there were a good 13 episodes which didn't get shown over there - would these include the ones you're talking about? Not having read that article for a while I'd forgotten just how much information was in there, I think I'll have to give it a good read through again. Right now, I've actually got some work to do!

Well well well!Its looks like the hunt is on! Doesn't it seem a little odd to be excited (if thats the right word) about a TV series most of us saw 20 years ago, but I would honestly hand over my pristine set of 8 (Well, 7 sealed, 1 vgc) originals to get a look at the missing episodes.Whats really upsetting is we'll probably never get to see anything more that the 24 we've got (Incidentally, my memory fails me but was there anything new in the 1 episode we didn't get, or was it all spliced into ours?)There have been so many cr@p sci-fi films around in the past few years that I'm sure a 'live' version of SF wouldn't be a bad thing. All previous fans would flock, and if marketed correctly would get interest from 'newbies'!Same with Video games, a lot of them aren't based on a particular story, so why not put together a flight simulator/battle type game based around XB?Just my whine for the day!Thanks for watching!SCsfdthd

We do have - well, Shane has! - the 25th episode; it does contain some new footage, if I remember rightly, despite being a flashback episode.  I did ask Enoki whether they had the full, uncut versions of the series (i.e. the UK version) but they never got back to me on that point.  Might be worth a chasing email.  I find it a little strange that Toru never mentioned more episodes being filmed than the 25, although language is obviously an issue there.Personally I think it's more likely that 32 were planned had the series been successful but the show ran out of money and time at 25.  Remember, they were having major hassle just getting the 25 produced, even with flashback episodes...  But, it would be very interesting to see storyboards if nothing else.Mark, can you tell us how exactly Ghibli are involved with the production, because they don't appear on any credits I know of and Ghibli are better known for "pure" anime?

Further to the above - according to this page:http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/ghibli ... htmlStudio Ghibli didn't even exist until 1985 - and that's written by one of the founding members! So X Bomber pre-dated it by a good few years. Is it someone who was on the crew who now works for Ghibli that you've been talking to Mark? Because I can't see any way in which Ghibli itself could have been involved, and there's no mention of anything apart from anime on that site.

Yeah, I would definitely go with what you have said Andy. I'd find it hard to believe that there were anymore new episodes. They did have 3 flashback shows in a 25 episode run, so it would look like they were desperately short on footage as it was. They could well have planned 28 episodes, I guess, but we will probably never know fer sure. The real missing episode is just a filler really, it takes place after Lamia is captured, and just features a couple of flashbacks from Shiro and Hercules reflecting on their relationship with Lamia. There is a good bit in the middle when Makara and Orion return to the Imperial Planet and are presented with some booze by the Imperial Master. He then brings down a view screen, for some more flasbacks. godamit!I'll get this scene grabbed and put online shortly.Oh yeah any news on the Makara puppet Mark? Sure would love to see some pics of it!Shane.

This ones for Shane really,The 'official' missing episode. Is it in English? And do you have an idea of exactly how many minutes new footage there is (You can see that I am actually quite desperate for new SF footage!)Worth getting hold of in your opinion?SCsfdthd