Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
"Gundam Wing" was not the first series in the "Gundam" franchise to be dubbed and distributed in the U.S. (the compilation movie version of the original "Mobile Suit Gundam", as well as the OVAs "" and "", preceded it by about two years), but it is well known as the first "Gundam" series to be aired on American television. This dub was produced by Bandai Entertainment and the voice work was done by Ocean Productions. The series aired on Cartoon Network's weekday afternoon after-school programming block Toonami; premiering on March 6, 2000. In the first extended promo leading up to the series' premiere, voice actor Peter Cullen narrated the back story, evoking memories of "Voltron's" opening credits. The promo was said to be so riveting that Bandai decided to use it as the official promo for the series.
History of anime
The shift towards space operas became more pronounced with the commercial success of "Star Wars" (1977). This allowed for the space opera "Space Battleship Yamato" (1974) to be revived as a theatrical film. "Mobile Suit Gundam" (1979) was also unsuccessful and revived as a theatrical film in 1982. The success of the theatrical versions of "Yamato" and "Gundam" is seen as the beginning of the anime boom of the 1980s, and of "Japanese Cinema's Second Golden Age".