Saber Rider

to Sereth's Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs Centre!
"Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs"
"Sei Jyushi Bismark"

SHORTINFO:
52 episodes long
Format: futuristic action/western animated TV series with a
storyline arc plot
Animation Produced by: Studio Perrot
Written by: Marc Handler ( wrote "Voltron" animated TV series too)
Timeline is late 21st Century, or early 22nd Century. There are many outpost/settlement worlds in the galaxy, with heavy western influenced names, such as "Planet Uma" and "Planet Durango". Oddly enough, most of these worlds have only humanoid lifeforms on them. Not many aliens encountered.

"Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs" is a story about a group called Star Sheriffs and about their fighting with the evil, with the Outriders. The vapor beings Outriders and their leader Nemesis
are drying to take over our dimension, they can jump in one dimension to another. But Outriders need water, to stay in our dimension and when they're defeated, they simply vaporize and rematerialize back home in their dimension to return later.
Star Sheriffs leader is Saber Rider a Highlander who weilds a
sword as easily as a vapor blaster. He rides on an armored horse called Steed.

In "Saber Rider" there are two themes melded together perfectly - the themes of the old west and the new themes of Science Fiction and Space Travel. The music fits the western overtone theme and the mood of the stories, there is the real feeling of the Old Frontier West.
Throughout the length of the series, you get the feeling that Saber Rider himself, is relaying his log of events to the us, the viewer audience. Each episode begins with the title being
displayed, and Saber doing an opening monologue, talking about their whereabouts and current assignments given to them from Cavalry Command. The wrap up for each episode has Saber summing up whatever valuable lesson can be learned from the danger they just faced.
When the series was being "Americanized," the producers wanted the main character switched from the Japanese kid, Fireball, to the American cowboy, Colt. The original Bismarck was designed so that the team were nominally equals, but in reality it was Fireball (Shinji Hikari) who was the center of the action, and the
de facto leader. The writers' attempts to make Colt the focus (and the one April favored)resulted in some weird scenes where everyone would be looking at Fireball (Shinji), but apparently listening and talking to Colt.
The original series also had lots of humor based on the teenagers getting drunk. But the American version edited out all scenes showing drunken behavior, and since many scenes took place in Western saloons, the heroes ended up appearing to spend time in lots of "coffee shops" and "soda fountains," drinking "lemonade" or "root beer."

When Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs first ran in Europe and Asia in 1984, it was titled Bismarck the Star Musketeers (Sei Jushi Bismarck; 1984-'85). The English translation played up the "cowboy" trappings of the series' 52 half-hour episodes, which were released in the U.S. for daily syndication during the brief the Galaxy Rangers and Bravestarr.

The plotline of Saber Rider was set in the extraterrestrial New Frontier, an untamed land where the law was in the hands of the Star Sheriffs, headquartered at space station "Cavalry
Command." The characters were aristocratic, blond Saber Rider, whose personal mecha suit made him look like a robotic Royal Hussar from The Charge of the Light Brigade; laid-back teenage cowboy Colt, who sported a 10-gallon hat and a six-shooter; April, the blonde, teenage team member who spent most of her time mooning over the boys; and Fireball, the daredevil (obviously Japanese) race car driver.
The villains were the renegade Outriders, led by such hombres as Vanquo, Nemesis and Razzle. Forming a united front against the Outriders, the Star Sheriff team piloted the "Ramrod," a sheriff-shaped space vehicle (the vehicle was in the shape of a sheriff). The good guys were outfitted with electronic badge units, which were supposed to provide an interactive connection with the homeviewers- that is, those kids who'd bought the necessary tie-in electronic Star Sheriff merchandise. The unluckier youngsters were left to scratch their heads and wonder why the program had so many gratuitous closeups of those badges. Outside of this distinctly American aspect, "Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs" betrayed its overseas origins by being more trigger-happy than the general run of weekday cartoons.

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Click on the title and you can hear the titlesong of "Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs".

This page is last updated on 14.03.1999 and is still under construction.
Sereth's Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs Centre is available since 14.03.1999

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