8th Man the Lost Episodes

Recently discovered alternate versions with added narration and other differences

An 8thman.com Exclusive! Are you a serious 8th Man collector?

These episodes are the most interesting find…

we have made since becoming collectors of Vintage anime years ago. The existence of these films reveals a previously unknown page in the history of English-dubbed 8th Man, the existence of alternate versions of several 8th Man episodes.

The main difference is the presence of added narration by an unknown voice actor, sometimes extensively, and sometimes very little. Those of you who are familiar with the 8th Man series are aware that the voice actor who played Tobor also did the narration chores in the regular series. In the alternate versions you can hear some of those same lines only voiced by a different person, however in the alternate versions there is also much narrated dialogue that never made it to the regular series episodes. This narration in a couple of the episodes borders on the absurd, with the narrator explaining about everything seen plainly on the screen and also interjecting some sentences that are downright ridiculous!

 Other changes are also evident in the incidental music, and even the voice talent itself. While all these points cannot be fully-explained at this time what seems to be very clear is that these particular film prints were the very first ones produced while the dubbing was still in an embryonic stage. These are the first "beta" versions of the 8th Man TV show made while the staff at Copri International was seeking which direction to go.

Why was this direction attempted in the first place? It may be possible to shed some light on this subject by making a comparative analysis of the original Japanese and the regular series, then "reading between the lines" to deduce what the Copri staff were trying to ultimately achieve in a finished production for American audiences.

If you observe the original Japanese production there are many scenes where the action is described only by the images themselves, and no dialogue at all. It is my belief that Copri staff felt these areas needing "filling in" for an American audience. Not only did Copri add narrative that didn’t exist in the Japanese original but also much incidental and background music the original was lacking and in my opinion this was a marked improvement. Apparently, in these "beta" or test prints the result of this filling in process was carried to extremes and also promptly abandoned in favor for what we know as the regular series today.

Listed below are the general differences contained in all the alternate version film prints, except for the alternate episode #7 "The Silent Jets" - it alone is completely different than any of the others and is explained separately.

#4) The Elevator Trap

#5) Dr. Sinister & The Black Fog Bank Mob

#7) The Silent Jets (The Noiseless Jets)

#8) Dr. Spectra

#9 The Light That Burned

#27 The Monstrous Eeler

#29 The Passenger Rocket Adventure

#30 The Armored Man

It should also be noted that along with the different Fumblethumbs voice there are also some differences in the actual dialogue for the Fumblethumbs character. These differences are not really major but noticeable if you are fairly familiar with the regular version.

Another audible aspect is that the background music flourishes added to spice-up the regular version are not present, only the original Japanese music soundtrack and effects are present. Visually, you will also see

a few scenes here and there that were edited out of the regular version, these would be various Japanese signs and lettering on buildings and walls, etc. The decision to edit these out had not been made yet, or the prints were done hurriedly, not taking the time for such details.

On #30 The Armored Man, the audio goes out of sync for the last 5 minutes or so to the end. This is a lab error that was not remedied, the actual optical soundtrack on the film is printed in the wrong place causing a sync error of a couple of seconds. Another sign that these alternate narrative prints were "experimental" or test prints.

Other visual/audible differences are in the make-up of the print itself. There is no familiar "running sequence" where the voice of Tobor does the intro scene, which the English-titles are derived from. Some of the "bumpers" shown before commercial breaks do not have the "whooshing" sound added, only the "8th Man" intonation. Characteristic of nearly all the prints is they are mint and splice-free having never been televised or any commercials inserted, naturally since they were not used. The intros are exactly the same as the outros with no "ABC Films" credit at the end.

Those are the general differences in Nos 4,5,8,9,27,29,30

However #7 is radically different, so much so that it is like no other 8th Man episode I have ever encountered. We should call it "The Noiseless Jets" because It is truly unique.

We are taking into account that the lost pilot episode of 8th Man produced by Fred Ladd and used by Henry Plitt of ABC/Paramount to sell the series would pre-date this Episode #7. No one really even knows for sure WHICH episode of 8th Man was used to produce that lost pilot. But the test print of 8th Man Episode #7 exhibits differences that indicate it could be the Copri International's very first attempt at dubbing a Japanese cartoon into English. Here is why….

In this film print of Episode #7 certain things that are firmly established in all other 8th Man episodes are not the same, mainly the characters names and voices. I know enough about it now that I can assuredly tell you these facts:

First: When this film print was produced the key voice of the series, Tobor had not been assigned to the talent we all know and love as THE voice of 8th Man… Jerry Burke, a DJ in the greater Miami area at the time. Someone else does the voice of 8th Man and that person is… well, I will tell you in a minute, hang on.

Secondly: some of the character names were not the ones used in the regular series or the test prints!

Chief Fumblethumbs is not a "chief" he is called Lieutenant Fumblethmbs!

Thirdly: The scripts are nearly totally different, there is very little writing in this film that made it into the regular version of The Silent Jets. The enemy Jets are called "Noiseless Jets" in this early test print!

Different Intro audio mix with the vocal a bit louder than the music in the regular versions, another different narrator, different than the other alternate episodes - voice unknown.

The villain, Dogman's voice is different and done by Rube Guberman, Intercrime is not mentioned as the driving force behind Dogman as said in the regular version. (You might recall from another page here that "Intercrime" is a fabrication in the English-dubbed 8th Man before episode #18 which is really the first Intercrime episode).

Now I guess you are dying to know the secret of Tobor's voice in "The Noiseless Jets" - it took me a little while to figure out, yeah, like 2 minutes I think.