''Robot Taekwon V'' (로보트 태권 V) is a South Korean

animated film Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

directed by

Kim Cheong-gi Kim Cheong-gi (born April 4, 1941) is a South Korean director of animated, fantasy, and science fiction films. His most well known work, '' Robot Taekwon V'' (1976), is considered one of the milestones of Korean animation. With actor Shim Hyung- ...

and produced by

Yu Hyun-mok Yu Hyun-mok (July 2, 1925 – June 28, 2009) was a South Korean film director. Born in Sariwon, Hwanghae, Korea (North Korea today), he made his film debut in 1956 with ''Gyocharo'' (''Crossroads''). According to the website koreanfilm.org, ...

, the prominent director of such films as ''

Obaltan ''Obaltan'' ( ko, 오발탄, also known as ''Aimless Bullet'' and ''Stray Bullet'') is a 1960 South Korean tragedy film directed by Yu Hyun-mok. The plot is based on the novella of the same name by Yi Beomseon. It has often been called the best K ...

'' (오발탄) (Aimless Bullet) (1960). It was released on July 24, 1976, immediately becoming a hit in the late 1970s, and consequently inspired a string of sequels in following years. ''Robot Taekwon V'' was released in the United States in a dubbed format under the name ''Voltar the Invincible''. ''Robot Taekwon V'' became the first Korean film to receive full digital restoration treatment in 2005.

Plot

Dr. Kaff (or Dr. Cops; 카프 박사 in Korean), an evil scientist bent on

world domination World domination (also called global domination or world conquest or cosmocracy) is a hypothetical power structure, either achieved or aspired to, in which a single political authority holds the power over all or virtually all the inhabitants ...

, creates an army of giant robots to kidnap world-class athletes and conquer the world. To fight off this attack, Dr. Kim creates ''Robot Taekwon V''. Kim Hoon, the taekwon-do champion and the eldest son of Dr Kim, pilots Robot Taekwon V either mechanically or through his physical power by merging his taekwon-do movements with the robot. Comic relief is provided by Kim Hoon's younger buddy, elementary school student Kim Cheol. He has fashioned himself as "Tin-Can Robot Cheol" by cutting eyeholes in a tea kettle and wearing it on his head. Kim Hoon's girlfriend, Yoon Yeong-hee, is a pilot and taekwon-do practitioner. She can also operate Robot Taekwon V with buttons and levers, and pilots Kim Hoon in and out of the robot.

Specifications of Taekwon V

Robot Taekwon V's Digital Restoration According to the film's homepage, it is 56 meters tall, weighs 1400 tons, and power is 8.95 million kilowatts. According to an article published on May 31, 1999, 39 to 42 meters in height and 3,500 tons in weight (when viewing the height of the TaekwonV is 40 meters), the power is up to 31,700 kilowatt hours per hour.

Plagiarism

The

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese giant-robot

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

and

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

Mazinger Z is a Japanese super robot manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later was reissued in Kodansha ''TV Magazine ...

'' was popular in South Korea at the time of ''Robot Taekwon Vs creation, and Kim Cheong-gi freely discusses the plagiarism of ''Mazinger Z'' on his animated film, saying he wanted to create a Korean hero for Korean children. In order to emphasize the Korean ties of the film, he had leading characters perform the traditional martial art,

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

, and gave the robot the ability to do taekwondo kicks. The sequel, ''Super Taekwon V'', took designs from ''

Gundam is a Japanese military fiction media franchise. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), the franchise features giant robots, or mecha, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with ''Mobile ...

'' and ''

Xabungle is a Japanese mecha anime television series created by Sunrise and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino. It was broadcast on the Nagoya TV and TV Asahi networks weekly from February 6, 1982, to January 29, 1983. Promotional toys were produced by Clo ...

''.

Restoration

The original print of ''Robot Taekwon V'' has long been thought lost, and for years the only available print was incomplete and in very poor condition. However, a duplicate print was discovered in a warehouse of the Korean Film Commission in July 2003. Beginning in August of that year, the Korean Film Council made the film the subject of a 2-year restoration project budgeted at 1 billion won. 72 people were involved in cleaning up and digitizing each of the 108,852 frames. The original mono soundtrack was transferred to Dolby Digital 5.1. The restored version premiered at the Pusan International Film Festival on October 6, 2005. In late 2006, Taekwon mania soared to new levels with a celebrity attended gala event in Seoul celebrating the 30th birthday of the robot and film. In 2007 yet more giant 3 meter tall size statues of Taekwon V have appeared around Seoul; instead of fronting art galleries in the hip areas of Hongdae and

Insadong Insa-dong is a ''dong'', or neighborhood in the Jongno-gu district of Seoul. The main street is Insadong-gil, which is connected to a multitude of alleys that lead deeper into the district,David Armstrong (June 3, 2007)''SEOUL lives life on the e ...

, one of the statues landed outside of the National Assembly (parliament) building. The restoration was widely released in early 2007 and set a new record for domestic animated films, attracting over 600,000 viewers in 18 days.

Sequels

''Robot Taekwon V'' has inspired a number of film and comic book sequels. The film sequels include: * 로보트 태권V 우주작전 (Robot Taekwon V: Space Mission) (December 13, 1976) * 로보트 태권V 수중특공대 (Robot Taekwon V: Underwater Rangers) (July 20, 1977) * 로보트 태권V 대 황금날개의 대결 (Robot Taekwon V vs. Golden Wings Showdown) (July 26, 1978) * 날아라! 우주전함 거북선 (Fly! Spaceship Geobukseon) (July 26, 1979) * 슈퍼 태권V (Super Taekwon V) (July 30, 1982) * '84 태권V (84 Taekwon V) (August 3, 1984) * 로보트 태권V 90 (Robot Taekwon V 90) (July 28, 1990)

Notes

References

* * *
IMDB page on original filmKOFIC unveils restored Robot Taekwon V (1976)
a
Korean Film CouncilRobot Taekwon V, at Yahoo Korea Movies
(in Korean)
'Robot Taekwon V' gets back again (2005/05/15)
a
Han Cinema
a

��(in Japanese, with images & video clip)

*{{YouTube, 2PPpKlbMvHc, Robot Ttakwon V in advertisements
Powell, Alex J. Korean Animation. Swindle Magazine. Issue 10 2007.

External links

Korea Society Podcast: Our Toys, Our Selves: Robot Taekwon V and South Korean Identity