The Best of Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs

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. I began writing up reviews both here on Associated Content (and on Amazon.com) for some of my own favorite 1980s animation series that were released on DVD and got instantly slammed with dozens of requests by fellow 80s aficionados wishing for reviews on their own favorites. 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 is 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 menue. Among these are some uncut clips of the Japenese 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! Despite being rather difficult to locate, I strongly recommend picking up this rare gem.