Kevin Munroe, currently the director of the soon to be seen return to the big screen for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been working on the anime series Gatchaman, for people of my age who watched a lot of TV that's Battle of the Planets or G-Force.

"Brrrr..Beep...Beep...Spectra", and the amazing catchphrase, "Transmute!". Remember it now? Yes it's really going to happen.

The story comes from UK IGN, and following through IMDB the press release [PDF] reveals the full announcement. Munroe is excited.

"Growing up as a kid, "Gatchaman" was the first influence that pushed me into the world of animation, comics and writing. I'm absolutely thrilled to get the chance to bring the high-flying adventures of Gatchaman to the big screen the way they were always meant to be - huge action mixed with the real human drama that arises when five teenagers must become the heroes of an entire planet...

...This film is going to push the envelope of Imagi's already-impressive capabilities, and continue blazing the CG path that will be started by "TMNT"'s release in 2007. Gatchaman is going to be huge, and I couldn't be happier to be a part of it. It's literally a childhood dream come true."

From IGN he says that the work on TMNT will help his team, all of whom are working on this next feature, get up to speed quicker and get the film to development much faster.

I'm dead excited to see another of the series I loved watching so much come to the big screen, and to be honest I'm not clinging onto certain aspects of the original and praying for them to remain the way they were either. Can you remember this series with a fondness? How do you feel about the film version?