Pulling the Plug: Why 70s Kids Never Saw Voltes V and Mazinger Z again

I am part of this Facebook page that carries the name, Voltes V: Let's Volt In!!! (Sorry peeps, this is a closed group so even if I placed the link here, you might not be able to see it.) Judging from the name alone, it could easily be deduced that this is a gathering of people who, in the 70s, tuned in to the most powerful anime character of our childhood, Voltes V.

Wahahaha, I am sooo carbon-dating myself with this one.

Anyway, I regularly find pictures of Voltes V collectibles and stuff proudly being posted by members on this page, and they never really caught my attention - until recently.

Someone decided to post the question that remains a mystery to televiewers of the mecha robot generation up to now - who was responsible for the cancellation of the robot anime programs?

And just like that, the thread of comments to this particular post grew to enormous lengths with discussions that went from TV network policies to the political unrest of those times.

----------

Before I go on to the conspiracy theories behind the sudden non-airing of cartoons featuring robots like Voltes V, Mazinger Z, Mekanda Robot, Daimos, Grendizer, etc. as mentioned in the thread, allow me to give a short backgrounder of events in the 70s during the heyday of these mecha robots on Philippine TV.

Every late weekday afternoon in the latter part of the 1970s, the streets of Manila would usually be devoid of children. That's because kids that time would run home to catch the 30-minute run of their favorite robots on TV.

Our heroes from way back. Clockwise from upper left: Mazinger Z, Voltes V,
Mekanda Robot, Daimos, and Grendizer (See links for photo sources)

In those precious minutes, children of my time would be transported to alternate planes where oppression would've reigned if not for heroes in the form of gigantic robots who defended their respective worlds from alien invaders. It was not just the fight scenes that kept us glued to the television series - it was the engaging storylines about the robots' human creators and pilots. Particularly memorable was the underlying theme about family ties in Voltes V, the Romeo-Juliet-like story in Daimos, and the valiant endeavors of the characters in Mekanda Robot, Grendizer, and Mazinger Z. Oh, and there was also Aphrodite A and her "boob," er, photon missiles, hahaha. (They shoot out from her chest. How else would you call them?)

Mecha chick Aphrodite A from the Mazinger Z cartoon and her
"boob-missiles." (Photo from GeekAlerts.com)

Most popular of the cartoon anime robots was Voltes V whose story had several layers of sub-plots. That time, the series was already at its climax when suddenly, GMA 7 stopped running the remaining five episodes. Such was also the case with the other kickass robots. Instead of our favorite mecha robots, what we found airing on their timeslot were curly-haired weepy cartoon girls with repeating names like Candy Candy and Ron Ron the Flower Angel.

And we kids were left with mouths agape.

----------

Being a child in the 70s, I was never really bothered by all that tension caused by what the adults called Martial Law. However, my earliest recollection of childhood in those days was when then-President Ferdinand Marcos would go on live on TV, essentially disrupting whatever program there was that we were watching. Of course, I would immediately complain as any kid of toddler age would. However, I'd be shushed by my mom and told that I'm not supposed to say bad things about Marcos unless I want policemen ramming through our front door. And thus, TV time was relatively quiet and complaint-free unless my dad changed channels to basketball.

Kiddie TV time went on overdrive with the advent of the mecha robots during the mid-70s. I remember running into the streets with the neighborhood kids after our afternoon date with our favorite robots then making all those karate moves complete with the "Voltes Five-ah!!!" battlecry, We'd be comparing notes on who was the more badass robot. Most of my playmates were Voltes V fans. The girls swooned over the star-crossed lovers in Daimos. As for me, I was a Mazinger Z fan, primarily because I could draw his head. (Haha.) The Star Rangers, a precursor of the Power Rangers, was also another favorite of our neighborhood gang. We'd be mimicking their martial arts poses after crying out the name of our favorite ranger. Star 4 was my favorite then for the simple reason that she was the only female of the team.

Then one day, the robots left our TV screens. Just like that.

For the next few days, children at school and in the neighborhood were scratching their heads and asking what in the world happened to our favorite robots. Some were in denial and continued to wait for their robots to return. But then, all they found on TV were those weepy girls with big hair and glistening eyes.

After that, afternoons were never as animated as before.

----------

The air was rife with speculation as to the real reason why our favorite mecha robots were never seen on mainstream TV again, especially since no one actually stepped up to give stunned and confused viewers a concrete explanation. The most widely-spread theories though concerned Malacanang's involvement in the issue.

Here are just some of the more popular theories behind the networks' pulling the plug on Voltes V, Mazinger Z, and their fellow robots:

• Marcos ordered it because the shows were allegedly instilling violence among children. I grew up with that theory in my mind, especially when certain reports came out about children purportedly hitting each other and another kid allegedly getting injured from doing a flying kick. (Duh...a kid was also reported as critically hurt after jumping from a window a la Superman, but was the movie banned? Nah.)
• Marcos ordered it after realizing that most of the storylines of these robot shows involved rising in rebellion or going against a force much stronger than the protagonists. The former strongman allegedly grew fearful that the lessons of these shows may stick to the minds of their viewers, thereby creating a potential uprising against his administration. Better to nip a mutiny at the bud, so they said.
• This is a more recent theory. Marcos merely suggested to the network heads that these shows be banned for either of the above-mentioned reasons. It was the network heads who ordered the programs' death, based on the said suggestion by the former president. They were just too fearful of reprisals from the Marcos regime had they not acted on the president's suggestion.

One thing is sure, though: children from that era never forgot that day when they ("They," which could be either the Marcos administration, the TV networks, or both) pulled the plug on our beloved robots. Those with more resources managed to get copies of the last episodes of Voltes V straight from Japan. (How they were able to understand the undubbed tapes is something to be left to the imagination.) The rest of us had to wait several more years until GMA (the TV network, not the former president) finally aired the final episodes. By then, most of us were already new yuppies or fresh out of grad school. As for the other robots, I never knew how their respective stories ended. Neither did my playmates in Algeciras Street.

----------

For all it was worth, the mecha robot era was so far among the best childhood memories I had. It primarily defined a generation of children who still knew how to run in the sun and play, unlike the present generation of kids who stay home and click on their gadgets for fun. It was a time when kids made the most out of a bad situation where movement and expression were curtailed due to the biddings of a paranoid regime. It was a time when all the heroes we ever needed apart from our respective parents came in the form of clunky metal with ninja moves.

And we all grew up fine, with no apparent residues from the "violence" that was supposedly implanted in our minds from watching these mecha robots in our youth.

Let me end this article with a picture of Aphrodite A -- just because.

(Photo from Boodyzina's Twitter account)

Much Ado about a Door Knob

It was around 8 last Thursday night when I requested my daughter to buy a can of tuna in vegetable oil from across the street since I wasn't feeling too well to go out. She didn't take long. I then remembered that our steamed rice supply was already low and might not be enough for everyone, including our pet cats. Thus, I requested her to go out again to buy steamed rice.

I was upstairs when I heard my mom and my daughter getting anxious. When I went down to check them out, I saw my daughter apparently at war with our main door's knob. No matter how much or how often she turned the knob, the door just wouldn't open.

I took over the door knob turning to find out what the problem was. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that the locking mechanism which bolts the door was no longer moving in sync with the turning of the knob. No amount of door knob turning was making the locking mechanism budge. I attempted to reach the "tongue" of the locking mechanism - that component which inserts itself into the adjacent hole on the side of the wall - with a butter knife in the hope of prying it back into the main body of the door knob, but the knife could barely make it through the very narrow space between the door side and the wall.

So after around 15 minutes of frustrating myself with my thousand-and-one attempts at trying to open our door to no avail, it finally dawned on me that my whole family and I were locked in our own home with only the second-floor window as our means of "escape."

Since I can't go out, I figured that someone from outside may be able to help us with our predicament. Thus, I called Cyrus, my former office mate who lives relatively nearby, for help. When he arrived, the first hurdle was to enter our gate which my daughter clamped shut with our combination padlock. We were already masters at just feeling through the small bumps of that padlock even in the dark so we had no trouble opening it. However, for a combination lock newbie like Cyrus, it took a while for him to get it right - but he did get it right and managed to open the gate.

The next hurdle was the door itself. I was thinking that if someone from outside turned the door handle, the door would just open smoothly. But noooo - it still didn't budge.

Next, I gave Cyrus the key to our main door in the hope that in turning the key, something may just click and the door will open. Nope, still no success.

Cyrus was getting just as desperate as I was, so he tried something a little more physical - he kicked on the door knob. Nope. Still nada.

Knowing that all our efforts were going to waste, Cyrus then left momentarily, first, to look for a locksmith. However, it was already around 10 PM and the locksmith at the corner has already left for home. He did the next best thing - to call the local barangay tanods (community security officers) for help. They did come to assess the issue. However, since it was already very late and very dark, we all decided to just let things be until morning the next day.

One of the tanods did return by morning, this time, with a ladder, a screwdriver, and a hammer. He had to climb the ladder to enter our house via our second floor patio, then he gave our door knob the death blow with several jabs of his screwdriver and some pummeling with his hammer.

Manong Barangay Tanod just took off the handle and was unscrewing
some screws. (Photo from personal archive)

By the time he was done with his task, this is what remained of our door. Thank God, we still have some remaining bolts left to fasten it shut from the inside.

Our knobless door. (Photo from personal archive)

And this was the culprit of all our troubles.

How could such a contraption be such a bother? (Photo from personal
archive)

I remember some wise sage saying that everything happens for a reason, I guess that apart from pissing me off with that door knob fiasco, that incident led me to reflect on some realizations about life:

• No matter how sturdy some things look, they can turn out to be big duds in the end.
• It could've turned out worse. The daughter could've been locked out, especially since she was the last one to use the main door. We may have been locked in but at least, everyone was already inside when it happened. We could've also been locked in without any supplies. The steamed rice supply which the daughter was supposed to replenish turned out to be enough for everyone including the cats, after all.
• I don't rue the fact that there's no male in our house. I still have male friends and neighbors who can help me out with the more brawny stuff at home.
• Thank God for good friends. (Yo, Cyrus!)
• Security should be of prime importance in every home.
• When a builder cuts corners in the construction of anything, sooner or later (probably sooner), the repercussions of this false economy will make themselves felt - like locking people in.

Several days ago, I bought a replacement door knob, this time, with the locking thingie that you turn instead of the push-button type. The sales lady said that this one has lesser chances of committing the problem we encountered with the push button one. She gave me this explanation about a spring letting go and stuff, but anyway, this basically summarizes what she recommended, especially for a main door:

(From HappyHerald.com and Buzzle.com)

The new door knob has just been installed yesterday, virtually ending our domestic drama featuring our main door. It's much easier to sleep at night now, content with the thought that no outsider could just trespass with a crowbar and industrial-strength wire cutters.

To my paranoid self, once again, you have been shushed.