In the distant future, a team of four high tech Star Sheriffs defends frontier space colony Yuma from outlaws, as well as Outriders, an army of humanoid alien beings called Vapors, led by mysterious Nemesis, who need Yuma's resources. Saber Rider was an amazing, albeit obscure television cartoon show when I was a kid - I remember watching it when I was 9 years old or so, and I wish I could find it to this day just for the nostalgia alone.<br/><br/>It was unlike any other action cartoon show of the day, and they actually managed to throw in "real" violence via a twist to the story line, and get away with it.<br/><br/>I don't know much of the show's production history, but judging from the art and animation it looks as if it was anime inspired, perhaps an embryo in the slow but steady culture shift, the infusion of anime and western culture's fascination with it.<br/><br/>But I prattle on.<br/><br/>If you can find it, get it, watch it. CONTAINS SPOILERS! <br/><br/>Adapted from the original Star Musketeer Bismark created by Pierrot in 1984, Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs got a new identity in the U.S. The invading (and mortal) Deathcula aliens turned into Outriders (beings from another dimension, that were vaporizing and returning back to their dimension once deadly wounded).<br/><br/>Even with severe censorship over any death, drinking or sex scene, the show still managed to keep its Wild West feeling. While in the original show people colonized Jupiter's satellite Ganymede and everything happens there (that is why we keep seeing a Jupiter-like planet in the background), the US version turned the Solar System into the New Frontier, populated with exotic planets, with names like Pecos, New Wichita or Alamo. World Events Production did some extra episodes to cement the American script, but exactly those are the ones that really turn the story into a child fantasy (indians, buffaloes and space highlanders), instead of the more realistic Japanese episodes. The leader of the team is the Scott, Saber Rider, unlike the Japanese version leader - Shinji Hikari (turned into Fireball in the US).<br/><br/>Even the grand finale has something unexpected that comes out of the final battle between the humans and the outriders (I'll let you discover it yourselves). While the US version shows the battle is for planet Alamo and its moon, in the Japanese version, the outriders are destroying our Moon and challenge for Earth! <br/><br/>So no, this is not your typical big robot Japanese show. Worth watching.
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293 weeks ago