ifty years after his creation in comic books by the legendary pioneer of Japanese "anime" animation, Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy takes flight again with 25 all-new episodes. The series begins with Astro Boy's creation in the episode "Powered Up!"
In the future, Astro is built by Dr. Tenma, a research scientist who runs the Ministry of Science for Metro City. Dr. Tenma modeled the atomic-powered boy robot on his deceased son, but the new robot can't ease the pain the scientist feels at the loss, so he shuts off the boy robot and burns down the ministry. Years later, the new head of the ministry, Dr. O'Shay, finds the robot and decides to power him up again.
As "Powered Up!" opens, Dr. O'Shay (voiced by Wally Wingert) pushes the city's power station, Magnamite, to its edge as he tries to bring the boy robot to life. The robot finally does wake, and Dr. O'Shay decides to call him Astro (voiced by Milo). Unfortunately, Dr. Tenma (voiced by Harewood) has been waiting for this moment and he's sabotaged Magnamite. As Astro begins to learn about the world, he can't wait to run out to explore it. But will Astro discover his powers and his purpose in time to stop Magnamite from destroying the city?
In "Rocket Ball," Dr. O'Shay tries to teach Astro about rules, while the humans begin to discover why Astro is different from other robots. As Dr. O'Shay explains, Astro is the first artificially intelligent robot ever created with "kokoro," which means he has heart, spirit, a personality and emotions. Astro also has plenty of curiosity, which leads him into the middle of a Rocket Ball game. Lurking in the background, Dr. Tenma decides to test Astro's abilities even if it costs the human spectators their lives.
Fifty years later, Astro Boy's still the same
In 1963, Astro Boy was the first Japanese series imported into the U.S. in what became one of the country's top-rated syndicated programs. Now, 50 years later, the series looks much the same. While there's a gentle and innocent spirit about Astro Boy and purists would be horrified to see him updated, that's what is missing from this new series for an audience of today's kids. While the younger children will enjoy Astro's enthusiastic curiosity and black-and-white view of the world, older kids will be find Astro Boy too simplistic.
What works best about this series is Astro's desire to learn more about his world. He embraces new things without fear, and while his adventures often get him in trouble, he manages to make new friends or learn a lesson along the way. Testing his boundaries also sets him up to take on whatever challenge Dr. Tenma has created for him. Like most superheroes, Astro is up for the task and, like most evil characters, Dr. Tenma appears undeterred by Astro's success. The other major character, Dr. O'Shay, is Astro's father figure and the one person who knows Dr. Tenma is behind the evildoing. His character strikes a good balance against the villainous Dr. Tenma.
The voice actors do a good job of bringing out the characters they are playing, especially Candi Milo as Astro and Dorien Harewood as Dr. Tenma. Milo's enthusiasm brings Astro to life, and Harewood's voice drips with malice to draw the only occasionally seen bad guy into story.
As for the animation, it's flat and looks pale in comparison to many of today's animated series. While few would have wanted to see Astro's design changed, his world could have been updated to reflect what's possible with animation today.
