BUBBLEGUM CRISIS 2040 FAQ

This Frequently Asked Questions list attempts to cover all the basic information concerning Bubblegum Crisis 2040 for new viewers. It may be freely copied for non-commercial use, as long as proper credit is given.

Please send additions/corrections to Payndz.

WHAT IS BUBBLEGUM CRISIS 2040?
WHAT IS BUBBLEGUM CRISIS?
WHY IS IT CALLED BUBBLEGUM CRISIS?
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE ORIGINAL BGC AND BGC 2040?
HOW MANY EPISODES ARE THERE OF BGC 2040?
WHERE CAN I GET HOLD OF COPIES?
IS THERE A BUBBLEGUM CRISIS 2040 NEWSGROUP?
WHAT DOES AD POLICE STAND FOR?
WHAT DOES 'VOOMER' MEAN?
IS SYLIA A VOOMER?

WHAT IS BUBBLEGUM CRISIS 2040?
Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 (BGC 2040) is the name of a Japanese animated television series. The 'Tokyo 2040' part is added to distinguish it from the 1980s Original Animation Video (OAV) series of the same name. Other names for BGC 2040 include BGC-TV and NBGC (for 'new').

WHAT IS BUBBLEGUM CRISIS?
The original BGC was an eight-part OAV series that ran from 1986 to 1989. Heavily influenced by Blade Runner and The Terminator, the premise had four young women in high-tech battle armour fighting against renegade androids ('boomers'), corrupt corporations and techno-psychopaths in the city of Mega Tokyo, 2032-33AD. A three-part sequel, Bubblegum Crash!, followed in 1990, as did a three-part prequel, AD Police Files.
BGC was originally planned to run for 13 episodes. When the two companies involved in its production - Artmic and Youmex - had a corporate falling-out, the series stopped at episode 8, 'Scoop Chase'. Bubblegum Crash! is thought by some to be a cut-down version of the remaining five episodes, with some changes caused by the legalities of the Artmic/Youmex breakup, but there is no definite word on this, as the storyline of the five unseen episodes has never been revealed.
The combination of fast action, cyberpunk, rock music and 'babes in battlesuits' worked - but oddly, the series' most ardent fans are in the West rather than Japan.

WHY IS IT CALLED BUBBLEGUM CRISIS?
According to Steve Pearl's FAQ for alt.fan.bgcrisis, original series creator Toshimichi Suzuki described the title as "what happens when you blow a huge bubblegum bubble and it pops and gets all over your face and hair and won't easily get cleaned up. In other words, a weird and yucky problem that just won't go away." Hope that helped!

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE ORIGINAL BGC AND BGC 2040?
Plenty. Apart from the obvious, like the new production company (AIC) and the complete replacement of the original voice actors, the new series makes major changes to the background and characters. All the major characters have been redesigned, and their personalities have also altered with the times. Mega Tokyo has become Megalo City, and the series now begins in 2040 rather than 2033. Boomers have been renamed 'voomers' (although most characters clearly say "boomer" when talking about them), and several secondary characters from the old series have been eliminated and replaced by others. As it is a television show instead of a video product, each episode is much shorter (designed to fit into a 30-minute timeslot), and the animation quality is generally lower than the OAVs because of the smaller budget.
However, the basic premise is much the same - four young women in high-tech battle armour fighting against renegade androids, corrupt corporations and techno-psychopaths.

HOW MANY EPISODES ARE THERE OF BGC 2040?
There are 26 episodes in all. For some reason, only 24 were actually shown on Japanese TV - the final two episodes will only be available as OAV titles. Since the speed at which episodes are released is quite low, it could be some time before the ending of the saga is revealed.

HOW CAN I GET HOLD OF COPIES?
Japanese LDs and videos are already available, with DVDs also going on sale at the time of writing. The DVDs appear to offer the best value, as they contain three episodes per disc instead of the two offered by video and LD, and they're also cheaper than the LDs. Obviously, as Japanese titles, there are no English subtitles on any of the formats. AD Vision will be releasing the series on subtitled (Japanese language) and dubbed (English language) video in America from late August 1999, with one new tape approximately every two months (meaning all episodes won't be available until at least July 2001). The first two tapes have three episodes each, but after that they drop down to two apiece, making a total of 12 tapes. Annoyingly, the subtitled versions (the ones the hardcore fans will want) are more expensive - the complete dubbed collection will cost just under $300, while the subbed version will be around $360.

IS THERE A BUBBLEGUM CRISIS NEWSGROUP?
There certainly is. alt.fan.bgcrisis is Usenet's home of all things Gumular - any questions you have can be answered there. If you haven't seen the original series, it's worth doing so, as most of the regular posters are 'old-timers' and have mixed feelings about BGC 2040. Generally the group is pretty laid back, but clueless/stupid/trolling posters *will* be flamed without mercy.

WHAT DOES AD POLICE STAND FOR?
ADvanced Police.

WHAT DOES 'VOOMER' MEAN?
According to AIC's now-defunct BGC 2040 site (mirrored elsewhere on this site), voomer is a tradename for boomer. This of course begs the question, "what does 'boomer' stand for?"
Boomer has sometimes been spelt 'buma' or 'booma', giving rise to thought that it might be an acronym. However, according to AnimEigo's Robert Woodhead (the distributor of the original BGC OAVs in the West), it doesn't mean anything beyond the fact that the creators thought it was a cool-sounding English word. So really, voomer doesn't mean anything either!
The word 'voomer' actually originated in Manga Video's UK dubs of AD Police Files, where it was used instead of 'boomer' for reasons unknown. If you don't like the name, now you know who to blame.

IS SYLIA A VOOMER?
Nobody knows yet, since the TV series hasn't progressed far enough at the time of writing. In the OAV, opinion was split between those who believed Sylia was a human who had somehow been augmented technologically, and those who believed she was a boomer - and the arguments have raged in alt.fan.bgcrisis for years. Majority opinion seems to favour the former, although the boomerites have some good points. When (if) the TV series produces evidence one way or the other, it will be reported here.