Video Backlog: "Star Fleet (X-Bomber)"

Publisher: Fabulous Films (UK)
Format: Region 2 DVD, PAL, English Dubbed
Length: 24 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 1980 - 1981
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Story Outline: In the year 2999, the Earth is entering a new era of peace after Space War III. However a giant alien space battle cruiser enters the solar system and destroys Pluto base. The commander of the vessel, Commander Makara and her snivelling offsider Orion, head for earth and demand from the Earth Defence Force (EDF) something called the F-Zero-One. A short deadline is given, and with the EDF not knowing what the F-Zero-One is, they decide to launch the incomplete X-Project to defend the Earth. Doctor Benn who is charge of the project on the Moon Base. He recruits three pilots from the Space Academy; Shiro Hagen, Barry Hercules and John Lee to fly the X-Project, which actually a powerful spacecraft named X-Bomber. Along with a rather annoying robot named PPA (Perfectly Programmed Android), Dr Benn's secretary and Moon Base radar operator Lamia and her guardian Kirara who seems to be half wookie and half yeti. Over the course of the series they battle Makara and her minions, come to grips with the fact Lamia might be the F-Zero-One, the pilots come to grips with the loss of their instructor Captain Carter and contact a mysterious flying sailing ship named the Skull.

Review: No, this is not a show linked to Star Trek and no, it's not a Gerry Anderson Supermarionation show like Thunderbirds. "Star Fleet" (known as X-Bomber in it's original incarnation) is a Japanese sci-fi marionette show, totally unique in the world of tokusatsu (Japanese special effects). There's nothing else like it in Japanese sci-fi. Even more surprising is that behind the show was the creative force of Go Nagai and his production company Dynamic Production. Though just about every source credits Nagai as creator, a Manga Max magazine article credits producer Kimio Ikeda of Jin Productions with the idea and he recruited Nagai as a name as well as having Nagai and his company design the show and flesh out the story. Nagai in an interview on the UK DVD box set, states he wanted to make the show like "Star Wars", however it's also similar to his "Getter Robo" anime and includes a three part robot called Dai X, which is attached to X-Bomber. It is also stated that the show was axed in Japan after 8 episodes, however in Nagai's interview on the UK DVD box set, he states he had plans to create a second series. But with "Thunderbirds" being a major hit in Japan, you have wonder why there weren't at least a couple more of these shows made. I suspect the high production cost is what killed any plans to make similar shows dead.

Unknown to most outside the UK (and those born after 1978 or so) is that the show was reedited, rescored and dubbed into English and broadcast on London Weekend Television during 1982 and 1983. Gerry Anderson who was making "Terrahawks" was so concerned about "Star Fleet" competing with his program that he rang the production office to find out what the show was like. The show was a big hit, but never began reruns like "Monkey!" for some unknown reason. In fact it was probably for this reason that both Japanese imports gained cult status in the UK (as well as being quality programs of course).

Unlike most Gerry Anderson marionette shows, "Star Fleet" used rods from underneath rather than strings. Early on this lead to some weird movements such as this rather rude salute;
Which naturally is used in the English opening credits. Also strange is the half wookie, half yeti like Kirara, the alien creature has been Lamia's protector since she was found in crashed spacecraft on Mars as a baby;
What a heart-warming scene that is (and potentially horrifying). One of the biggest changes to the show is the music, written by Paul Bliss from the Moody Blues (no, really). The end theme song impressed Brian May of Queen (who used to watch the series with his son) so much that he recorded his own version under the title the Star Fleet Project which included Eddie Van Halen doing a solo and Queen drummer Roger Taylor on backing vocals! The video for the song is included on the DVD box set which features Brian May's disembodied head floating through space and footage from the show;
Other cool items in the box set include the previously mentioned documentary and a booklet containing the colourised UK Star Fleet comics from kid's magazine Look In from the early 1980's. I recall when I first set eyes on this show. It was a VHS trade about a decade ago. I sent off some anime fansubs and I was getting some live action Japanese stuff in return. At the time that stuff was really hard to come by (well it's still relatively hard to acquire now, especially subtitled). I got about the first four tapes of the eight tape US release (the only kind of release the show had outside the UK). I loved the show but naturally couldn't find a damn thing about it in the books and magazines I had.

I was happy that Fabulous Films released the whole series again in the UK, but was rather wary since I hadn't thought much of their "Monkey!" DVDs which were even worse than the DVDs that Siren in Australian put out (that's quite an achievement). However the video is pretty good, but looks messy and pixelated in some shots where there's a lot of action. But this is pretty rare.

Overall the show is pretty amazing and quite unique. It's a bit disappointing that more people don't know about this great little show. While I found almost the first half to be a bit episodic, the second half kicks into full gear and is fantastic. The English adaptation is mostly pretty good, it can be a little garbled and confused at times story wise. Overall I give the show 7.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 18 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).