It's Time For Bio-Gesic! The Feeling Of Watching All The Bioman Episodes Subbed By Grown Ups In Spandex!

With Bioman as my first childhood exposure to the world of Super Sentai, I have actually accomplished my mission of watching Bioman subs done by Grown Ups in Spandex (there was a considerable amount of delay though) though I am yet to see the movie subbed. The entire experience of watching Bioman with the English subs had proven itself superior over the cheesy English dub done by Telesuccess Productions in the Philippines. Sure I have seen all the dubbed episodes but there's been a lot, I mean a lot of stuff that were left out or added.

What always shocked me was to actually learn that the dubs actually had been exaggerated some stuff, they have actually removed some important plotlines or inconsistencies happened. Watching the subs started to make me amaze that a lot of stuff were really, really taken away and replaced by guesswork rather than careful research. The dub could have been good if accuracy were kept intact. After watching the subs, I felt like that a lot of stuff that didn't make sense in the dub but were starting to make sense with the subs provided by Grown Ups in Spandex.

Spoilers ahead, read at your own risk because I'm going to show a lot of major plot issues that got muddled up or lost in translation in the dubbing process... but just a starter, Peebo is a BOY and NOT a girl. What was also coincidental was that in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Alpha Five's programming is male but the suit actor is a female. Moving on.... 


The first instance of the inaccuracy started with the introduction of Joy (who was dubbed as Star Boy). While the English dub added some dialogue, I wasn't all too surprised that Joy's video had him speak in a completely different language that the audience could not understand. He was not even talking about Gear or anything since he died 500 years prior to the existence of the latter. In the actual script, Joy revealed to Peebo just a farewell letter telling the latter to make sure Earth does not perish away like the Planet Bio.


Another important plot is the Prince himself. Prince was introduced as the son of Doctor Man. In that episode, the whole plot was not focused on stealing the energy resources of the world (Exaggeration anyone?!) or if you think of it, Mason did not even think of himself as Doctor Man's heir apparent but the whole issue was that, "Wait, I didn't know Doctor Man was human." when Prince was introduced as Doctor Man's son. I always thought that it was funny how Mason doesn't realize Doctor Man was human, even that name was a dead giveaway and it would progress in later episodes.

What made more sense was Ryuta's reason for wanting to stop Prince. It was not because Ryuta was bullied, he was the bully (and no, he wasn't bullied but he was THAT bully) at the age of seventeen who had changed for the better. When he confronts Prince, it was not just for the city but for the latter's well-being seeing that it's a reckless waste of one's youth to be a bully. The plot developed further when Ryuta wanted to stop Prince from the latter's reckless game. In that moment, Ryuta explained that he was a bully and that the last person he wanted to upset was his mother where that unseen confrontation must have happened either in a police station or the principal's office. All of Ryuta's reasons for wanting to stop Prince made a lot more sense than the dub. Later on, he was exposed to be a mere Mecha Human programmed to think he's human.

It also made more sense that the Biomen had discussed about the possible fact that Doctor Man has a wife and son. Ryuta assumed that the whole episode of Prince was done because Doctor Man does not know where the latter's real son is. This of course was discussed further in Bioman episodes 25 to 26 where Doctor Man's real son Shuichi showed up. Fortunately, Telesuccess was able to keep most of the important plots in spite of some change in dialogue like Doctor Man disowning his son or Bioman episode 28 still kept the whole idea of Mason's rebellion intact. However, what the dub missed was the important fact that Doctor Man created Prince the way he thought his son would grow up and not because he could not rely on the Big Three. He wanted a successor with him so that's why a mechanical son was created.

The plot concerning Doctor Man's son would later be elaborated in episodes 43-44 when a mysterious scientist named Dr. Shibata (actually Shiro's long lost, presumably dead father Shinichiro Gou and Doctor Man's former friend). Dr. Shibata ended up becoming a father figure to Shuichi knowing the truth. As the conscience circuit is developed and tested on Doctor Man's latest android named Miki (who sacrificed herself to save the Biomen), one important plot left out by Telesuccess was the that Shuichi assumed that they could use the conscience circuit on Doctor Man himself.


That comet in episode 31 is NOT Doctor Man's specialized capsule. Instead, it was a comet that could disrupt the Bio technology. It passed through the Planet Bio before and how Doctor Man knew about it might be thanks to earlier episodes. My huge assumption was that Planet Bio's secrets were in that disk with Joy or when he gathered some Anti-Bio Particles way back in episode ten, he already started discovering the secrets of the Planet Bio and their technology.


In Bioman episode 37 which featured Silver, one has to consider his real mission. No, Silver did not want the other half of the Bio Particles but he was created to exterminate just everything with Bio Particles. He was created by the Anti-Bio Alliance as an opposition against the Bio Particles who thought that the Bio Particles were to be a weapon causing a faction war inside Planet Bio. This was further elaborated that his use of Anti-Bio Particles are even a stronger force than that of the Bio Killer Gun. Peebo's story of how the Planet Bio erupted was further elaborated with the real plot that Silver was designed to destroy the Bio Particles, not get the other half to have full power. Though I thought Peebo should have said, "Mika" instead of "Yellow Four" at least to remember their fallen ally properly which the dub had Peebo actually mention Mika's dub name Cassie.


The finale arc also had a couple of stuff lost in translation as I started to compare the dub vs. the actual dialogue. While the dub managed not to get rid of the reason why Shinichiro became a Mecha Human, some stuff that got lost in translation made events lose their sense. So I could actually start with the whole thing that started to make sense in the actual dialogue.

In the final episode, Doctor Man's robot King Megas was not designed after his own circuitry but it was designed after Balzion. In the English dub, I thought i didn't make sense for Doctor Man to just think of attacking the Bioman's secret base unless he studied Balzion. I mean, he had to study Balzion before he got the technology to actually detect Bio Particles and create the Anti-Bio Beams. Those beams could not just "sap energy" if they weren't Anti-Bio Particles that Doctor Man had from Balzion and later, the bomb that he created was not the "Neo Bomb" but the Anti-Bio Bomb.

In the final confrontation between Doctor Man and his son, there's actually some important differences. Doctor Man was either too proud to admit he still knew his son or he went hayware after that, seeing himself as the epitome of robotic science. In the final confrontation, Shuichi mentions that when Prince was created, Doctor Man's estranged wife released the photo to his real son. Doctor Man was confronted about his feelings which Shuichi confirms Ryuta's words that Doctor Man created Prince because Doctor Man didn't know where his son was. The dub however still kept the important plot of appealing to Doctor Man's human side which he showed the location of the Anti-Bio Bomb at the end of it.

Plus, Peebo's reason for leaving Earth was to seeking to protect another planet after his mission was complete. Well I can't remember too much of the errors of the Maskman or Jetman dub so I may not talk too much about them.