"Robot Taekwon V"
The Taekwon V series is probably the best known, and best loved, animation in Korea. Bitwin released a set of DVD's containing the 1976, 1982 and 1984 Taekwon V movies which unfortunately are without subtitles. These movies provide an interesting perspective on the history of Korean animation and the changes that occurred between the 70's and the 80's. Now, I could count the number of anime I have seen on one hand, so I cannot tell you how the art or stories compare to Vampire-Voltran-Hunter-D or Princess Monoke-Pokeomon. But I can say that the stories are enjoyable--especially the original '76 version.
1976: The origins of Taekwon V are revealed as the tormented Dr Cops, bent on revenge against the world that mocked him, creates an army of giant robots to kidnap world class athletes and destroy society. Only the superior intellect of Dr Kim is able to challenge the fiendish plot with the creation of his own giant robot--Taekwon V.
In this one, we are introduced to our protagonists who will appear in all three movies.
First is Kim Hoon. Hoon is a taekwon-do champion and the son of Dr Kim. He is also the controlling force behind the Taekwon V robot. While usually operating the robot through a series of switches and levers, he can on occasion merge his physical abilities with that of the mechanical giant.
Next is Yun Yeong-hie. She is a pilot trained to operate Taekwon V and she serves as Hoon's love interest. In this first movie, her roles are usually shuttling Hoon in and out of the robot in her zippy bubble-craft and pushing buttons. She is also skilled in taekwon-do, though you wouldn't know that from the first 10 minutes of the movie where she literally cringes in terror during Hoon's martial arts bout.
Then there is Kim Cheol aka Tincan Robot Cheol. He is an elementary school student who has cut eyeholes in a teakettle and stuck it on his head. Armed with a chest spout that shoots chili pepper, Tincan Robot is Taekwon V's comic sidekick. He comes equipped with his own theme-song that starts up before he does something comical. It becomes easy to understand how everyone in the movie tries to kill him as soon as they meet him (including Taekwon V). He lives alone with his mother, but has some relationship with Hoon since he is with the latter and Yeong-hie at the beginning of the movie. He may possibly be Hoon's younger brother and Dr Kim may be separated from his wife--though I may be thinking more about this more than the writers intended. This is, after all, essentially a children's movie and Cheol's presence is to give kids an identification figure.
The other person to occur in all three movies is Dr Yun. He is Yeong-hie's father and caretaker of the Taekwon V project after Dr Kim is killed. (oh--there are a couple of comically cute squirrels that appear at the beginning of all three movies, but I'm not going to dwell on them)
One other character deserves mention. Mary Cops--the robotic 'daughter' of the evil Dr Cops. Mary fluctuates between being a coldly evil robot who feels no mercy, to a robot-in-love capable of overriding her programming when she realizes her father is nuts. Mary wields an electro-sword and pilots a giant robot version of herself also equipped with a sword and 'super' hair (By super hair, I don't mean a great hairdo. I mean she uses it as a whip, or shield, or snare...similar to Medusa--a Marvel Comics character of the 70's--used to).
Speaking of Marvel comics characters--the original animators of this movie actually traced one (Storm) and put her in Taekwon V as the consort of Dr Cops (her coloring is not human and she has fangs--she may be meant to be a robot). Of course, there is such a thing as coincidence, but this is too much of one. Had I seen this when I was in highschool, I could have told you the issue and possibly the page of the comic it was lifted from (I was such a geek). The movie also appropriated the bulldog from Tom and Jerry as animated by Chuck Jones. The previously mentioned squirrels and birds sometimes seem suspiciously like the highly stylized ones that appear in Disney's Sword In The Stone or Cinderella--but they quickly take on their own characteristics as the story spends some time with them.
SUPER ROBOT TAEKWON V (1982)
A group of aliens first begin stealing water from the Earth and then destroy a human colony on a moon of Jupiter with their giant robots. Taekwon V and his friends must battle these aliens, but they may have a traitor in their midst.
This story is less fun than the original, and is probably the weakest story of the three movies. The Taekwon V robot has been redesigned and besides being more streamlined, it now has transforming capabilities. It can change into a rectangular spaceship.
The main characters have returned. Hoon is spending time training Cheol in the art of fighting. These two characters are essentially unchanged from the first film, except that Cheol now carries smoke bombs as well as chili pepper.
Yeong-hie character has changed the most, but not for the better. In the first movie, she is treated as almost the equal of Hoon (well--not at the very beginning). In this movie she is far less capable. She still gets to drive the Taekwon robot, but she can't seem to find the button that changes it from starcraft to robotic form and requires Hoon to come to the rescue. Her previously established fighting skill gets reduced to kicking a man from behind and shooting an empty water tank.
There is a sense of having missed something with this story and this may be the case as there was a tv series between movies. The presence of a character called Mary is confusing. Is she the same as Mary Cops--they said at the end of the first movie that they could rebuild her. (Mary's heart was salvaged after her robot body was destroyed). This Mary calls one Dr Choi 'father'--is he her actual father or did her rebuild her? If it is the same character, her new design is not an improvement. She is weak, whiny, and given to burst of melodramatic sentiment.
Then there is John. John is another character where you get the feeling he became a regular on the tv show--having never seen it I cannot say. John is a member of the military force sent to battle the aliens near Jupiter and look for his father who was on the destroyed moonbase. For a military officer, he seems to spend a lot of his time in tears.
The spaceships belonging to humans in this film were heavily influenced by Star Wars--but that is not surprising. Star Wars influenced space-based science fiction for years after its release. The Star Wars connection was also in evidence with the design of the military uniforms of both the rebels and the empire--err, I mean the humans and the aliens. There were stormtroopers, sand people, and the alien commander was exactly like the emperor.
'84 ROBOT TAEKWON V
Dr Jo tries to resurrect her dead son, Hyeon, as a cyborg. Proving that this is never a good idea, the son--more cyborg than human, goes on the rampage and creates an army of robots to conquer humanity. Using mechanical butterflies, he takes control of machinery including the Taekwon V robot. Hoon, Yeong-hie and Cheol must defeat the army of giant robots without a robot of their own.
Of all the films, this one has the best flow to the story and the most competent art. However, it takes itself too seriously and loses much of the fun of the original. The animators borrowed heavily from the first film, recreating whole scenes with their new, cleaner art style and we re-watch scenes such as Hoon's taekwon-do bout and Cheol's building yet another Tincan Robot suit with the subsequent comedy of meeting the same bulldog. However, this rehashing is just padding. The main story is interesting and, although it is not unique to science fiction, it is done well.
This movie focuses quite a bit on Cheol who can be considered to be more useful but no less irritating than usual. Infiltrating the robot's hidden base as Tincan Robot, he is able to rescue the trapped humans and interrupts Hyeon's attempt on Hoon's life while at the same time, having comical encounters with a young robot maid who is in love with his Tincan Robot persona.
Yeong-hie fares better in this movie. I was afraid for her at the beginning, however. She seemed to have regressed in age and was acting as her father's secretary. But once she gets in uniform, she is more competent than ever before. We also learn that it is Yeong-hie who enables Hoon to merge with the robot (she pushes a button).
Another character is added in this story--Mina, the daughter of Dr Jo and sister of the rampaging cyborg. She is overly femimine and spend most of her time tripping when running from monsters. Oh--and she cries more than John from the second movie, which I found to be the most unbelievable aspect of the story. To cry more than John did is not humanly possible.
This movie does suffer from the 'I-think-I-missed-something' feeling to a greater extent than the second one. Everyone instantly knows who Hyeon is just by seeing him or hearing his voice, leading me to believe that when he was alive he was a recurring character on the tv show- possibly a friend of Hoon's..
I have neglected to write much about the robots themselves or of some of the bizarre events and creatures that may wander into the story--like the mechanical bat that changes into an all-seeing starfish. Those are the things that really make the story interesting and should be experienced without much forewarning.
There is one problem with DVD of the 1976 movie. The original print used to make it was badly damaged and there are streaks and smudges throughout--but it does not interfere with the fun of the storyline.
Watching Taekwon V for the first time, it is easy to see why it would inspire such nostalgia--although be prepared for some decidedly juvenile scenes. More than compensating for the childishness of Tincan Robot was that I got to hear the well-known theme song. Be careful--It is very catchy. I've caught myself humming it several times over the past several days since watching these movies.
One more thing--a recent issue of Film 2.0 had a survey of Koreans to rank the top 10 animated movies produced by Korea. The top five were: 1--Robot Taekwon V 2. Super Hong Gil-dong 3. Little Dinosaur Doolie 4. My Beautiful Girl, Mari. Oseam and Wonderful Days tied for fifth place.
Tom
da :
http://www.koreanfilm.org/dc/dcboard.php?a...mesg_id=4&page= 
