World Famous Comics: Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, The Best of
Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, The Best of
Starring: Jack Angel ; Peter Cullen ; Neil Ross ; B.J. Ward Directed By: Franklin Cofod Average Rating: Binding: DVD Format: AC-3, Animated, Collector's Edition, Color, Full Screen, Special Edition, NTSC Label: World Events Productions DVD Number of Items: 2 Region Code: 1 Release Date: April 12, 2006 Running Time: 224 minutes
But Another Gem of 1980s Animation The 1980s are considered a unique time for animation and as children of that generation (myself included) grow older, we find ourselves on an endless quest to relive the memories of our youth. Thanks to the technology of DVD, companies are making this nostalgia as simple as slipping a disc into the player. Enter Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, a unique animated saga that ran from 1986 to 1989 across 52 episodes. Oddly, despite being a loyal fan of Voltron and Robotech, I myself somehow missed this one in its original broadcast debut. The good news is that World Events Productions (WEP) hasn't forgotten their hordes of Saber Rider fans and released a 2 disc compilation (back in April of 2006) featuring 10 of the most classic episodes of the show's run.
The program was originally developed by the creators of Voltron and it bears an uncanny resemblance to its sister-series in terms of animation quality, visual effects, and even voice acting/ sound score. What is most interesting is that like Voltron and Robotech, the source material came from a long-running Japanese series (which was oddly titled Star Musketeer Bismark). WEP purchased rights to the show in 1986 and rewrote/ revised the source material for a stateside release. So Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs was born to compete with popular western-themed shows of the time such as Filmation's Bravestarr and Gaylord Entertainment Company's The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers.
The nuts and bolts of Saber Rider are actually pretty unique in the grand scheme of things. Although the environments and style may have been wild-westerly inspired, the core of the material was actually closer to the wildly popular robotic theme of the era (think Transformers, Gobots, Voltron, Robotech, etc.) In fact the similarities to Voltron go well beyond the appearance of the series as the show's hook centered on our human heroes piloting a massive high-tech vehicle capable of transforming into a 250 feet tall attack robot named RamRod (voiced by none other than Peter Cullen who you might remember as Optimus Prime in the 1980s Transformers cartoons). Once activated, RamRod would be thrust into robotic combat with an evil giant-robot equivalent known as a Desperado Unit (again keeping with the western spin).
Aside from the robotic influence of the program, we are at the core, following the exploits of a human cast who pilot the vehicle/ robot. Among these are the British Saber Rider himself (who travels on a robotic steed), a young racecar driver named Fireball, a bounty hunter named Colt, and a chipper heroine named April (who happens to be daughter of Commander Eagle, the engineer responsible for heading up the RamRod project).
Combined these individuals form the Star Sheriffs and their mission is to protect mankind from the evil Outriders, a race of human-like aliens who have the ability to cross over from another dimension known as the Vapor Zone.
The ten shows collected for this compilation basically were chosen from the 52-episode roster as they represent a beginning, middle, and ending sample of the series as a whole. Sure there were many side-adventures and interesting plotlines along the way, WEP feels that this 2 disc set will summarizie the spirit of the original show quite effectively.
Included are the following ten episodes:
Disc 1
Star Sheriff Roundup Sole Survivor Famous Last Words Sharpshooter The Monarch Supreme
Disc 2
Cavalry Command Jesse's Revenge Jesse Blue Bad Day at Dry Gulch Happy Trails
Additionally, WEP includes a host of interesting bonus material that is located on the first disc by accesssing the special features menu. Among these are some uncut clips of the Japanese incarnation of the show (Bismark) and an image gallery of original production art. They even include a commerical from the 1980s in which viewers could enter to win one in over a million Saber Rider prizes. Very cool!
About the only complaint I've heard from collectors is that they wish WEP would release the show in its entirety across several collections (similar to what has been done with the Voltron franchise). In the mean time, the Best of Saber Rider and the Star Sherrifs is quite a tasty treat so filled with flavor of the era that even I felt nostalgia when viewing it and I never caught the show in its broadcast debut!
Is this for real? I was ecstatic to find this DVD, because SRatSS has a special place in my heart, a childhood favorite.
The picture and sound quality are both great. It's the EPISODES featured that make me see red.
Top Ten fan selected episodes... WHO are these fans, and WHAT are they on???????
Yes, a few are good. Star Sheriff Roundup, Cavalry Command, and Happy Trails are classic eps, three key points of the SRatSS series.
But the other seven episodes? Pure filler, non-relevent. What about the other pivotal episodes? When Commander Eagle is rescued from the Outriders. When Fireball has a near-death crash, loses his memory, and has visions of his heroic father. When Vanquo is well and truly defeated. I'll throw in, just for fun, the cow that attacked Fireball's car when it heard the sound of that horrid horn, and Colt's hilarious teasing afterwards.
If you're a true-to-the-heart fan, don't buy this collection. It'll only disappoint you.
Saber Rider and the Star Sherrifs, The Best of This is dfinitely the best of the series, including the pilot episode, which is among others one of my favourites. By far one of the most favourite cartoons of the 80's. I hope some day, they will release the entire series. Funs of Saber Rider should absolutely watch this! I enjoyed it very much!!!
Another childhood memory bites the dust. I had very fond childhood memories of Saber Rider, so I was excited to find this dvd. Unfortunately, watching it again as an adult, I find that it's really bad. Really, really bad. It doesn't help that I've been watching Starblazers, another childhood favorite, since there's no comparison in terms of animation, plotting, and overall quality.
I'm pretty sure this is a cartoon ONLY a child can love.
Best childhood show ever!!! I loved this show when I was little and have been looking on and off for something like this for the past 10+ years. Literally, the only thing I could find was an mp3 of the theme song and the occasional video on Ebay (I was only able to get one).
Cowboys in space...if there's anything better than that, I'd like to know! That Saber Rider...mmm...one of the first characters I fell in love with as a kid, along with Cary Elwes in the Princess Bride and Tom Cruise in Legend.
The only thing that I have to complain about is that the way the DVD was presented was very very cheap. The cover insert just looks like a cheap colour photocopy in a cheap case. In fact, if I hadn't purchased it on Amazon, I would have been completely convinced that it was a fake copy. It's sad that World Events decided to cheap out on something like that.
It's disappointing that World Events only came out with only 10 episodes instead of the whole series (there were only 52 episodes after all). Let's hope that World Events comes out with all the episodes of this wonderful cartoon!
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