 Mobile Suit Gundam In 1979, a revolutionary new anime series named Mobile Suit Gundam from creator Yoshiyuki Tomino began airing on Japanese television. It was revolutionary for many reasons. It was completely unlike the super robot shows that were so popular in the 70's. Instead of being a special super robot, the title mecha of the series was a piece of military hardware. Also, instead of being a robot of the week show, Gundam was an advanced war drama. There were many other minor advances, such as no longer announcing ridiculous special moves. The superhero aspect seen in series such as Mazinger Z was totally gone. Despite all of innovations made by the series, it was canceled due to poor ratings. Though it was supposed to run to 52 episodes, that number was reduced to 39. The producers managed to get a one month extension to wrap up the series, bringing that number up to 43. Following cancellation, the series enjoyed incredible ratings in reruns, and it was decided to jump start the franchise with several films edited down from the TV series. Until 1998, the series was never available commercially in the U.S. In that year, Bandai released the movie trilogy subtitled and dubbed. The series is currently being released on DVD and is no longer airing on Cartoon Network. It never completed a full run when it was canceled due to the events of September 11, 2001. After being off the air for many months, the show turned up again on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block, but it was again taken off the air and never completed an entire run.
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