X Bomber

Background

This show can be considered somewhat of a cross between Ken Ishikawa's Getter Robo and Star Wars. As in Getter Robo, the show's protagonists ride three vehicles that combine into a giant robot. Big Dai X, the robot in X-Bomber, is more similar to the kind seen in the popular Super Sentai series than a regular Nagai robot.

The show's opening and ending theme songs ("Soldier in the Space" and "The Drifting Galaxy", respectively) were performed by the Japanese hard rock group Bow Wow, while Kazutaka Tazaki (of The Bach Revolution) and Nakayuki Sakuraba (of Adbaloon) provided additional music for the show.

The puppets of X-Bomber were controlled from below the set using rods, and as a consequence were generally seen only from the waist up. Whereas Gerry Anderson's series were episodic in nature, X-Bomber had an overall story arc, with sub-plots and new characters being introduced as the series progressed, leading to a definite end. Similarly, rod puppets were used in Gerry Anderson's 1967 series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons canned as "under-control" puppets due to their inability to walk-whereas everywhere else they were marionettes. Anderson would later use Rod puppets in Terrahawks.

Star Fleet

X-Bomber was renamed Star Fleet and dubbed by English speaking actors for broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV. The show was broadcast there on Saturday mornings, first airing on October 23, 1982 (1982-10-23), the day before Star Wars aired for the first time on British television. Due to its broadcast slot, the advertisements shown before, during and after each episode frequently included children's Public Information Films.

Drawing heavily on diverse influences such as Star Wars, Japanese Anime and Gerry Anderson's various "Supermarionation" series, the show ran for twenty-four half-hour episodes (twenty-five in Japan - the eighteenth episode, titled Bloody Mary's Promotion, was not included in the English version, as it consisted mainly of flashbacks). The English version's theme song was composed by Paul Bliss, and was later covered by Queen member Brian May and Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen. This was released under the name "Star Fleet Project".

The screenplay was adapted for English by Michael Sloan, who in later years would create the popular TV series The Master and The Equalizer.

Actress Denise Bryer ("Commander Makara") and editor Tony Lenny both went on to collaborate with Gerry Anderson and Christopher Burr making another memorable sci-fi series, Terrahawks.

Plot outline

The year is 2999 and the Earth is at peace following the Space Wars. The safety of the human race is ensured by Earth Defense Force (EDF). Shortly before the turn of the fourth millennium, the peace is broken by the appearance of a gigantic alien battle cruiser. Powerless to defend itself, the EDF' Pluto base is completely destroyed and the evil Commander Makara reveals that the same fate awaits the Earth unless the mysterious F-Zero-One is handed over to her.

Unaware of the nature of F-Zero-One and fearing retribution, the EDF presses into action an untested, incomplete weapon, codenamed X-Project, from its hidden moon-base. The X-Project is revealed to be a powerfully-armed spacecraft named X-Bomber.

The series then follows the adventures of the crew of the X-Bomber, namely Doctor Benn, Shiro Hagen, Barry Hercules and John Lee who are joined by PPA, Lamia and her guardian Kirara. They set off to discover the nature of the F-Zero-One and try to protect it from the increasingly desperate Commander Makara and her menacing overlord, the Imperial Master.

Eventually it is revealed that Lamia herself is the mysterious F-Zero-One, a powerful alien destined to bring peace to the galaxy at the turn of the millennium. The series continues with Lamia gradually discovering her true nature and powers while the Imperial Alliance attempts to capture her and destroy the X-Bomber. The series climaxes with the X-Bomber crew destroying Commander Makara and Lamia finally confronting and defeating the Imperial Master and bringing peace to the universe.

Episodes

Source(s)

Some Episodes for the English version of the series were either renamed to fit the changes made or badly translated from the original titles. Although the episodes weren't officially named during the original series' run, the English DVD release confirms their titles.

English voice cast

Two of the English voice actors, Jay Benedict and Garrick Hagon, had appeared in Star Wars (1977) portraying Deak and Biggs, two of Luke Skywalker's friends on Tatooine (though Hagon's role was reduced in editing and Benedict's scenes were cut altogether). Benedict later went on to appear in Aliens (1986) as Newt's father, Russ Jordan. Again though, his scenes were cut from the film, but were restored in the extended Special Edition of Aliens which was released on home video in 1992. Mark Rolston also appeared in Aliens as Pvt. Drake.

The English cast list of Star Fleet was relatively small, with most voice actors doing the extra voices in the series as well. Credits were only made based on the main characters who appeared in the first episode, with the credits being reused each episode afterwards. As a result, Al Matthews was uncredited from his role later in the series.

In comics

Two relatively unknown manga were also created in 1980. One was drawn by Naoki Kamohara and published in the magazine Monthly Shōnen Jump by Shueisha from June 1980 (1980-06) to August 1980 (1980-08) and the other was drawn by Makoto Ono in the magazine TV-kun by Shogakukan from November 1980 (1980-11) to April 1981 (1981-04).

British comic magazine Look-In ran strips based on Star Fleet for 32 weeks beginning in January 1983.

Home video

The original Japanese version of the series was released in its entirety in a LD-box in 1993 and by Pioneer LDC in a DVD-box in November 29, 2002 (2002-11-29). Both sets also contained one of two compilation movies created from Star Fleet, in English with Japanese subtitles. Both sets have since gone out of print. In April 24, 2013, Bandai Visual released a Remastered DVD-Box of the series featuring enhanced and remastered scenes.

In Bulgaria the The Thalian Space Wars and Space Quest For F-01 tapes were released by Multi Video Center with Bulgarian dub.

In the US, eight video tapes were released which also contained compilations of the series' episodes, albeit in a less-drastically edited format.

It is possible to obtain VCD copies on eBay. These are usually taken from the American Tapes and tend to be of poor quality.

In the UK, only three Star Fleet video tapes were ever released. The first and rarest contained episodes 4 and 5 of the series. The other two were compilation movies entitled The Thalian Space Wars and Space Quest For F-01. The series has not been repeated on UK television since the late 1980s.

A DVD set of Star Fleet was released in the UK on February 9, 2009 (2009-02-09) by Fabulous Films. Included in the DVD set are all 24 episodes, remastered, and restored to their original UK broadcast format. Beyond the episodes, the set also includes stills and a double-sided poster, as well as a comicbook and a comprehensive 'making of' documentary, which includes contributions from series creator Go Nagai, Dr Benn voice artist Peter Marinker, Brian May, Paul Bliss and Gerry Anderson.

As a result of this release, several videos have been removed from YouTube. X-Bomber The Game, the freeware fan project, was issued with a request to remove the game from its website.

Further to the DVD release, Paul Bliss' soundtrack has been released on CD and is available via mail order.

Discotek Media announced in June 2016 that they will release the series on DVD in the United States on December 20, 2016. It was later delayed for a February 2017 release.