8th Man

I remember this gem from my childhood, and have bought several DVDs from 8thman.com. I still enjoy watching these. In the pilot episode Special Agent Brady is killed by a street thug but his soul is transferred to a robot by Professor Genius. In this guise he will continue his fight for justice.

This cartoon is of the same era as Speed Racer, Gigantor and Astroboy and is the start of Japanese anime.

The robot, 8th Man, has super reflexes, super strength, and can change his appearance at will. His alter ego is a private detective, Tobor (robot spelled backward). The only person who calls him into action is the local police chief, Chief Bumblethumbs. Bumblethumbs and Professor Genius are the only ones who know that Tobor is 8th Man.

TOBOR the 8th Man can be found at Diamond Entertainment Corporation.

I have a VHS copy of the "Gold Gang" episode from them.

It's still in Black and White but the tape cover has a stunning colorized rendering of a Red with Black trimmed TOBOR.

It's Tape or Product number is 13085 of the "Cartoon Favorites" series.

It's like old times when I was in the 5th grade in Granite City, Illinois.

I'm still trying to locate more since DEC is only a distributor someone had to furnish the masters!

Vern

If you are a fan of Japan Animation, then I'm sure you'll like 8th. Man. 8th. Man came on American Television around 1964/65 & was only on air briefly.....particularly in smaller television markets. Taking place in "Modern Tokyo" (in the 60's), Tobor, the detective is shot & killed in the line of duty. The "Professor" is able to revive his brain & transfer it to a working robot....to fight crime & evil.....as 8th. Man. What I found really neat is that 8th.Man is able to "transform" into any person....male or female.....to fly, & take on almost any monster that attacks the earth. But the one enemy who is always after him & his "secrets" is the evil Dr. Spectra. For that time, 8th Man was cool & always won at the end of the episode. I was lucky to find a VHS with the 1st. 5 episodes a couple of years ago. It's unfortunate that this Classic Japan Animation is so hard to find. If by chance you find it & all 42 episodes, Grab it! & go back in time!

I remember watching the 8th man cartoon series. He could run very fast and he would occasionally get weak and need what he called energy boosters located in a compartment on his belt or on his forearm, don't quite remember, he smoked them like cigarettes to recharge his powers I can remember his arch enemy had a bunch of rockets in his cape that he would unleash in an attempt to destroy Tobor, whose name was robot spelled backwards. I also recall a Mechanical like Tiger named Pulse or Pounce. I can remember a lot of perspective and different camera angles that produced different affects from sinister to extremely fast motion, especially being done in black & white.

Does anyone remember the unique opening to the show? It was animated in the US by Trans Lux who had done zillions of animated films in the past - including the great Felix the Cat cartoons in the late 50's and early 60's.

I, at the time, found it amusing that the quality of the American opening animation was superior to the Japanese content....As a further addition, the title song "Tobor the Eighth Man" was written and performed by the prolific Winston Sharples who did everything from Herman and Catnip to Popeye and Felix the Cat.I still remember the lyrics 41 years later.........

IMDb states the series dates from 1965, but actually the Japanese incarnation is from '64 on.......In LA. we got it in '66... Robert Hill