Majin Garon (lost unaired tokusatsu TV pilot based on the manga by Osamu Tezuka; 1961; 1971)

Garon (1971 version)

Status: Lost

Majin Garon (魔神ガロン) is a manga by Osamu Tezuka that was serialized in the magazine Bōken-Ō (冒険王) from 1959 to 1962. A pilot of this manga was produced as a television adaptation in 1961 and 1971, but was never aired.

The 1961 pilot was produced by Nissan Production (Note that it is unrelated to automobile manufactur.) and Taihei Kikaku, and Bōken-Ō ran a feature article on the filming but never aired it. The reason the show went unaired is still unknown to this day.
The 1971 pilot was produced by Mushi Production, directed by Keiji Kaneda, and Garon's stuffed costume was sculpted by Ekisu Production. The reason for the unaired show was that Tōyō Agency, which show's agency, was not satisfied with the pilot's story, testified Kaneda, the director. The pilot was later replanned to Thunder Mask and aired in 1972.

The 1971 pilot has surviving film footage and was screened at the "Osamu Tezuka Fan Convention 2010" event held on December 18, 2010^[1].

Availability

The film of the 1971 pilot has not been released on home media or otherwise since the 2010 event, making it unavailable for easy viewing by the public. Furthermore, no film of the 1961 pilot has been found to date.