With all this talk about Iron Man lately it behooves us (not that we have hooves, mind you) to look back at the original iron man, Tetsujin 28. Better known here in the USA as “Gigantor.”

Like Marvel Comics’ Iron Man, Gigantor is a robotic metal weapon in the form of a man. However, instead of climbing inside an iron suit like Tony Stark, little Jimmy Sparks stands safely on the sidelines and manipulates the giant robot like a video game. This is because a) Jimmy doesn’t have a weak heart like Tony, and b) being inside a giant robot is no place for a 12-year-old who’s still in short pants. One might question the wisdom of putting the controls of a huge flying robot in the hands of a kid too young to have a driver’s license, but that would spoil the fun.

Click for a great wallpaper from MADMAN

Unlike Iron Man’s origins in the jungles of Viet Nam in the 1960’s, Gigantor’s adventures take place in the far-flung future of the year 2000. Which we all know was supposed to have picture phones, moving sidewalks and flying cars. Instead we have Skype, Segway and Toyotas. Oh well.

Gigantor’s adventures were action packed, as you can see from these scenes. Wow!

You may be wondering why Tetsujin 28 changed his name to the more Western-sounding Gigantor. Was he ashamed of his Japanese ancestry? Was he just trying to fit in to American society? Obviously, it was because Tetsujin 28 would not have lent itself to a cool theme song like this!

Here we present the original TV show theme along with a more recent cover version by the band Helmet. Click the link below and enjoy!

Gigantor - original theme

Gigantor - Helmet