Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs is an animated television space western, similar to the series The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers and BraveStarr. The series premiered in the United States in 1987 and had a run of 52 episodes.
The show was based on Star Musketeer Bismarck (星銃士ビスマルク Seijūshi Bisumaruku), a Japanese anime series created by Studio Pierrot that achieved moderate success in Japan. The English language rights to the series were purchased by World Events Productions (WEP), the same company behind the English-language version of Voltron, in 1986.[1] WEP reorganized and rewrote the series, incorporating the original episodes and creating 6 new ones, before releasing it under the name Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs.
The series is set in the distant future. Humans have spread beyond living on Earth and have colonized planets across the universe, creating a New Frontier of man. In order to protect these new settlers and maintain law and order in the New Frontier, Earth's Cavalry Command was created. Cavalry Command is a military organization that maintains an army and fleet of ships to protect the New Frontier and the residents of the planets within it known as Settlers. Within Cavalry Command is a unit of special operatives known as Star Sheriffs that function as the organization's field agents, investigating any crimes and plots that threaten the security of the New Frontier.
The main foe of Cavalry Command and the Star Sheriffs is a race of non-human creatures known as Vapor Beings (also sometimes called Outriders) that have jumped into our dimension in order to conquer it. They attack the Settlers, destroy settlements, and kidnap humans in order to mine various metals or crystals from the soil of various planets.
Outriders are superior to humans in battle technology. They control a legion of gigantic robots ("Renegade Units") with weapons greatly superior to the weapons and defenses of the space-going fleets of Cavalry Command. In response to the Outriders's threat, Cavalry Command develops a prototype spaceship known as the "Ramrod Equalizer Unit" (or simply Ramrod) that has the ability to transform from a spaceship into a powerful robot that can fight the Outriders's Renegade Units on equal terms.
- Saber Rider
Original name: Richard Lancelot
The title character in the American version of the series, Saber Rider is the team's leader and captain of the Ramrod Equalizer Unit. He is occasionally referred to by the nickname "Top Sword." He is a young man, yet is described as having legendary sword skills and marksmanship. Saber Rider hails from the Scottish Highlands and is an expert with both swords and horses. He is generally depicted as being a gentleman with a cool head for tactics and decision-making. The American version retained the British Union Jack on the upper arm and the helmet design of Saber Rider's armored uniform; this helmet's design appears to incorporate a shako.
Saber Rider often rides a robotic horse, responding to the name of "Steed," who has high–powered thrusters, and the ability to fly, run, and function in space. Steed is not capable of long–range space travel, so he is kept stored in Ramrod's cargo bay during journeys. He is used mainly to travel to planets from orbit, or utilized on a planet's surface. Steed has so sophisticated an artificial intelligence as almost to be sentient, as he is capable of recognizing his master's voice commands, and working independently when Saber Rider is in danger. Fireball Hikari
Original name: Shinji Hikari
Shinji a.k.a. Fireball, a former race car driver, was the youngest driving champion in history. He now serves as the pilot of the Ramrod Equalizer Unit, and also has secondary control of the heavy weaponry located in Ramrod's chest region. He drives the "Red Fury Turbo Racer," a race car armed with an extensive arsenal of weapons. He has a somewhat quick temper, and at one time boasted of having a perfect memory. In the original Sei Jūshi Bismarck, Fireball is the Japanese leader of the crew. The Japanese flag is on his sleeve and his helmet.
During the course of the series, he discovers that his father was a fighter pilot who fought alongside King Jaray of the Legendary Kingdom of Jarr when the Outriders first attacked fifteen years prior to the series's time frame. Sacrificing himself, Fireball's father sent his ship into Nemesis's command ship, robbing Nemesis of his body and sending them both into the Outrider dimension, where he remained lost as of the time frame of the series.
Coincidentally or not, Fireball's real name is strikingly similar to Shinji Ikari of Evangelion. Colt Willcox
Original name: William "Bill" Willcox
Bill, also called Colt, is introduced in the series as a bounty hunter on the trail of Vanquo, an Outrider spy. Colt has an almost infallible accuracy with firearms and serves as the gunner on board Ramrod. His character is depicted as somewhat of a loner, but also as an outrageous flirt; he flirts with nearly every woman he meets. His parents were attacked and presumably killed by Outriders just after Colt left to join a traveling rodeo. This event prompted him to become a bounty hunter.
For personal transportation and solo battles he uses a blue and white one-man spaceship he calls the "Bronco Buster." In Sei Jūshi Bismarck, the character comes from the United States, therefore a US flag is seen as a patch on his armored uniform; the design of the armor's helmet incorporates a simulation of a "ten-gallon hat." Commander Charles Eagle
Original name: Charles Louvre
Commander Eagle is the leader of Cavalry Command, which includes all of the fleets and armies that protect the United Star Systems, including the Star Sheriffs. Charles takes his responsibilities seriously, but underneath has a warm heart and caring nature. April Eagle
Original name: Marianne Louvre
April Eagle is the daughter of Commander Charles Eagle. She is the engineer who designed, and was in charge of, Project Ramrod. Before joining the Star Sheriffs, she was a professional tennis player. She was trained at Cavalry Command under General Whitehawk. April has a robotic horse, responding to the name of "Nova;" who has the abilities (and, presumably, the limitations) of Saber Rider's Steed.
April is the subject of several romantic plot arcs. In early episodes of the series, April had an unrequited crush on Richard a.k.a. Saber Rider. In later episodes, Jesse Blue had an unrequited love interest in April. Finally, April and Shinji did begin a romantic relationship. Unlike most similar series, in Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs the heroine does not end up in a romantic relationship with the main hero. This is because her eventual love interest, Shinji a.k.a. Fireball, was the hero in the original Japanese version.
In the Japanese version, April is French, which is why her armored uniform bears the French tricolor. Ramrod
Original name: Bismark
The Ramrod (voiced by Peter Cullen in imitation of John Wayne) was developed by April Eagle as the technological "miracle weapon" that would allow humans to counter the threat of the Outriders. Although it can be flown by one person, the ship is designed to be operated by four people, each sitting in separate units that control specific functions: navigation (April), weapons (Colt), pilot (Fireball) and the commander/tactician (Saber Rider).
A highlight of nearly every episode is Ramrod's transformation from an airborne battleship into a giant fighting robot. When the Ramrod Equalizer Unit undergoes the "Challenge Phase" (usually activated by Fireball pressing a button in the center of his unit console), April calls out that Ramrod is taking over the navigational controls during the transformation. Ramrod acknowledges this while the 4 control units are shifted to new positions inside of Ramrod's head. As it completes the transformation it calls out its rallying cry in a heavy Western drawl, "Head 'em up, move 'em out...power stride, and ready to ride." The Ramrod vehicle will transform into a giant robot packing an over-sized six-shooter at the hip and appears to be wearing a cowboy hat and a cape. The battle conversion to robot form is used mainly when the Star Sheriffs encounter the Outriders' giant robots, which are known as either a Renegade or Desperado Unit. In "Maverick Quick-draw" mode, an array of assorted cannons will be deployed at Ramrod's chest, delivering the final blow to send an Outrider "Renegade Unit" back to the Vapor Zone. The Star Sheriffs sometimes refer to Ramrod's robot form as the "Big Sheriff."
In the final episodes of the series, the original Ramrod was dismantled as part of a peace treaty brokered between the Outriders and Cavalry Command. However, when the Outriders broke the treaty by attempting to invade the New Frontier dimension, Cavalry Command issued the Star Sheriffs a more powerful version of Ramrod known as "Ramrod 2" with double the power of the original. Ramrod 2's Challenge Phase transformation was the same as the original Ramrod, only April now said "Ramrod 2 will now take navigational control."
Ramrod was named Bismarck in the Japanese version, hence the series' name Sei Jūshi Bismarck. The Americanized name for the battleship possibly originates from a cowboy slang referring to the person-in-charge of an outfit, the leader of the pack, or the person who gets the job done.
The Ramrod Equalizer Unit Challenge Phase is essentially the sequence in which Saber Rider And The Star Sheriffs becomes similar to a "monster-fighter (kaiju) series;" otherwise the series, in American form, is mainly Western-oriented.
