PRINCE PLANET
'Prince Planet' was known as Usei Shonen Papi (Planet Boy Papi) in Japan and was
produced by 
Dentsu advertising and K Fujita Associates with the animation by
TCJ Tokyo. It was released in Japan in 1965-1966 and aired in Melbourne in March 1967 on
channel 9 at 5pm weekdays. It last appeared on tv in March 1972 on Daryl Somers' Cartoon
Corner.
In the United States it was shown on tv on WSNS Channel 44 Chicago much later than 1972. It last appeared on 44 in what was most likely 1975-76. When it went off the air, it was replaced by Speed Racer and never returned. Channel 44 was running a block of Japanese kids shows during that time after school. It was Prince Planet followed by Ultraman and then Space Giants and Johnny Sokko and his flying robot (Rich Birley <whitesox7@yahoo.com)
It was described in the TV week as "New US comic series." The English
version was produced by James Nicholson and Samuel Z Arkoff at the famous B grade studios
of American International Television Productions. Other works of Arkoff include Amityville
Horror (1979), Blacula (1972), as well as a number of Vampire/Frankenstein/Godzilla/horror
type movies.
52 episodes were released, but none of them was given an English Episode title. Reuben
Guberman (8th man and Amazing 3) wrote 48 of the episodes and his sister Rose wrote the
other 4.
Reuben died on March 19th 2000. A great loss but his life will live on through
his work
The production info was thought to be lost to history but Andy Shepherd has finally
uncovered it.
The director of Prince Planet (And The Amazing 3) was Mark Harris
Bobbie Byers- female (voice of Prince Planet)
Mark Harris (voice of Dan Dynamo)
Kurt Nagel (voice of Ajababa)
Arnie Warren (voice of Warlock )
Frank Schuller (voice Of Krag)
Sandy Warshaw (voice of Diana Worthy)
Jeff Gillen (voice of Pop Worthy)
Mark Harris, the directory of PP and the voice of Dan Dynamo, died recently. . At the end
of the winter of 2001 he was alone unloading a truck in front of his mountain property in
Utah, slipped on the ice, knocked himself unconscious and froze to death in the snow.
Various voices by Arnie Warren, Frank Schuller, Reuben Guberman, and Gerry Berke
(Information from Andy Shepherd -
andrewshepherd@mailcity.com)
The rights are now owned by MGM who recently bought out Orion Pictures. They have no plans
do do anything with Prince Planet at present, but Streamline Pictures had been dealing
with Orion several years back for the release and distribution of Prince Planet and
Princess Knight (thanks to Andy Shepherd for this info).
The series begins with the Galactic Union of Worlds at a meeting on the planet named
Radion where Prince Planet lives. The chief asks the question ‘Shall we contact Earth
and offer them membership'? A delegate of beings from a number of worlds including Mars
oppose the membership, describing humans as arrogant, funny-looking, war mongers and not
advanced enough, but nevertheless they are given a chance. Prince Planet is a Universal
Peace Corps member who is chosen from hundreds of volunteers to be sent to Earth to bring
law and order and a love of peace to Earth so they can become part of the Galactic Union.
His assignment ‘To fight evil and cruelty whenever and wherever it affects the planet
Earth'. Prince Planet has an IQ of 300 compared with Earth standards. He has been given a
concentrated, scientific and moral education by electroinductive hypnotraining and is
classed as a genius. Through the pendant he is given the ability to change into a normal
boy and when found on Earth by a girl named Diana Worthy, he is given the name
‘Bobby’ and lives on a ranch with Diana and her father Pops Worthy. Diana wears
a ring which can signal Prince Planet when she is in danger. The main city is Metropol.
Prince Planet’s pendant receives power (energy) from a nuclear energy centre (energy
transmitter) on Radion. When Bobby changes to Prince Planet he calls out Peeeeee Pazow!
The operators at the centre often forget to charge up his pendant, usually when he is in a
fight with an enemy and about to die. But of course the operators remember in the nick of
time. Without energy he becomes very weak. The pendant has many uses such as a converter,
weapon, transforming to Bobby and back to Prince Planet, for flying, strength, as a torch
etc. In many episodes Bobby looks up at the stars at night and gets homesick for his mum
on Radion. He realises that when he was given the ability to live as a normal boy on Earth
he also had to accept the emotions and desires of a normal boy, including homesickness.
In the last episode, Prince Planet has been on Earth for a year and is called back to
Radion to make his report to the Council of the Worlds on a special rocket ship sent for
him. On his journey back home he remembers about his adventures on Earth and thinks about
his friends and enemies that he fought throughout the series. He must now convince the
Council of the Galactic Union that the Earth is worthy of membership. He reports that good
people far outnumber the evil and beauty is much easier to find than ugliness, but
whatever happens the Earth is better for his having been there. The closing words of the
series - ‘Good bye and Thankyou Prince Planet. With all Prince Planet's enemies
destroyed and friends gone their separate ways, it was doubtful that another series would
be made. WHAT A GREAT SHOW!
OTHER CHARACTERS
Dan Dynamo
He was an orphan as a child. He is the greatest wrestler in the world
weighing in at 340lb. He is forced to retire after he throws his last opponent ‘The
Scowler’ out of the colosseum, through the roof and out into space never to be found
again. Dan Dynamo ends up penniless, his earnings used to pay for fixing the colosseum
roof. Hungry, tired and depressed without a job he is approached by criminals who try to
persuade him to use his strength for criminal purposes, but he won’t commit any
crimes and joins with Prince Planet to help fight cruelty. He is given a job on the Worthy
Ranch which becomes his new home. He is always starving for food. In the last episode, it
looks as though he will leave the ranch and make a wrestling comeback.
Aji baba
He is a wizard from Aberdon with a turban and a long white beard and he has grandchildren.
One of his sons is called Aji papa. He flies on a magic carpet which has an engine hidden
inside it and uses magical powers which usually go wrong. He often uses the magic rope
trick and hypnosis and has a crystal ball. He is one of Prince Planet’s friends to
help fight evil.
He left Aberdon to bring Warlock to justice for trying to assassinate the King. In the
second last episode (no. 51) Aji baba meets Warlock again at Aberdon and just when Warlock
is about to put a spear through him, Prince Planet zaps him with his pendant and Aji baba
strikes him with his sword, killing Warlock, his last words being "You fought a great
battle Aji baba". After defeating The Warlock, Aji baba lives in peace in Aberdon as
a hero after being away for a year.
Warlock
Warlock is the genius of evil from Mars with an evil laugh. On a secret Martian base on
Earth he is being trained in the art of magical methods to be used as good but decides to
go off on his own, stealing the secret scroll of magic. He usually appears and disappears
out of thin air. His plan is the conquest of the Earth, but he has to get rid of Prince
Planet first. The two face many battles together throughout the series until Prince Planet
and Aji baba finally defeat him and end his life in the second last episode.
Krag
Krag is the master of misery and works for Galactic destruction. He comes
from the planet Kragmire, but on Earth lives in a castle in a dead, ugly forest. He is
huge with a black top hat. His main weapon is a boomerang slicer watch (a fob watch with
saw blades). He has retractable wings so he can fly and he can regenerate his body parts. 
In the last episode Krag discovers the location of the planet Radion and the source of
Prince Planet's energy. With the help of Zaroona (female from Kragmire) he flies to Radion
and sabotages the energy transmitter so that instead of energy being sent to Prince Planet
it is absorbed, draining his energy and Krag takes him to his planet to destroy him, but
the Radion scientists fix the energy transmitter in time for Prince Planet to even things
up.
Krag loves the cold and cannot stand heat. Prince Planet makes a heat gun with his pendant
that produces temperatures of 10 000 degrees and destroys Zaroona and Krag, who burns up
and dies. The planet explodes.
(The picture of Krag above was drawn by Steve McCredie)
Prince Planet episode titles
These were supplied by Andy Shepherd and are the official titles from Streamline
Pictures who have the masters. In brackets are episode titles given by collectors. When
the English dubbed version of Prince Planet aired on TV no episode titles were included.
1. A Boy From Outer Space (The Boy From Radion)
2. Giant on the Matters (Enter Dan Dynamo)
3. The Formidable Rival
4. The Arabian Magician
5. The Flying Jelly Fish
6. Dinosaur Men
7. A Big Showdown
8. Robot Island
9. The Overgrown Lizard (The Giant Lizard / Warlock : Genius Of Evil)
10. Shaberia (Shaberia The Vicious Vegetable / Icecream Island)
11. Fancy Machine
12. S.O.S. Global (The Black Cat Gang)
13. Gold Picker
14. Attack of the Radioactive Ants (The Atomic Termites)
15. The Great Space War (Elementis)
16. The Star in Memory (The Paralysis Bandits)
17. The Space Zoo
18. The Stolen Mount Fuji
19. Pirate Satan
20. Planet Of Terror
21. Robot
22. Good-Bye Saturnian
23. The Earth Zero Hour
24. The Ghost Space Ship
25. Battle on a Desert Island
26. Secret Under the Sea
27. The Rocket Pilot
28. Gaist the Devilfish (Superio The Mutation)
29. The Gift From Prince Planet
30. Gollen, the Formidable Foe (Krag The Formidable Foe)
31. The Pollen Bomb
32. Operation Rico
33. Rico, the Great Detective ( Diana The Great Detective)
34. A Spy From the Necro
35. The Demon Scientist (Find Diana Worthy)
36. The Young Spies
37. Alan, the Secret Agent (Pollo The Secret Agent / The Space Station)
38. The Magic Glove
39. The Robot Prince
40. Rico's Adventure (Diana's Adventure)
41. The Lion in the Desert
42. Crisis on the Earth
43. The Horror of a Snowman
44. Revenge in the Valley
45. The Comet Missile
46. The Mystery of a Mummy
47. The Mystery of Organ
48. Horror at 10:10 PM
49. The Birdman Racket (Wings Of Good Fortune)
50. Secret Path into the Earth (Invasion Of King Caustic)
51. Ajababa's Grandchildren (Warlocks Last Battle)
52. The Star at Home (The End Of Krag)
Prince Planet theme song
Prince Planet characters
Japanese comic and Japanese theme song
Japanese comic strip showing power station on Radion