Galaxy Boy Troop (partially found Japanese puppet TV series; 1963-1965)

Cover of a very rare audio book.

Galaxy Boy Troop (銀河少年隊 - Ginga shounen-tai) was a Japanese TV series created by famed cartoonist/animator Osamu Tezuka. It was a combination of animated scenes and puppet characters, using the "supermarionation" method popularized by Thunderbirds.

Airing on NHK from 1963 until 1965, it ran 92 episodes.

The plot centered around young Rob, who led a squad of heroes around the galaxy in order to revive the Earth's sun and then to protect it from alien invaders. As typical of Osamu Tezuka, some of the characters had appearances/designs that are also used in many of his other creations (such as the moustached "Higeoyaji").

File:Le Commando De La Voie Lactee - Rare Japanese puppet sci-fi

Excerpt from the series with English subtitles.

File:Galaxy Boy Troop Full Episode

The only episode in existence.

Only one full episode is known to survive today, that was found in France with French subtitles. It was renamed here Le Commando de la Voie Lactée ("Commando of the Milky Way"). Research seems to indicate that this episode is the 67th episode of the series. Episode 28 and animation sequences from Episode 87 also exist, but there is no audio for either. ^[1]

Despite its limited run, the show still had a bit of merchandise: an audio book with a CD (called a "phonomanga") and at least one coloring book.

Gallery

The audio book in comparison in size with a lighter.
Audio book with CD: lighter for comparison size.
Inside the audio book, with comic panels.
Book about all the Puppet TV Shows that aired on NHK: Rob can be seen in the middle.
An old still, in an "animated" portion.
The audio book near a magazine showing some of the original puppets.
A very rare coloring book. The cover.
Back of the rare coloring book.
Inside the coloring book.
Inside the audio book.
Inside the audio book: the "Higeoyaji" character, recurrent in Tezuka's works.
Inside the audio book: better quality.