Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs

Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs is an American-Japanese 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 Bismark, 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, the same company behind the English-language version of Voltron, in 1986. WEP reorganized and rewrote the series, incorporating most of the original episodes with some editions and creating 6 new ones, before releasing it under the name Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs.''

Plot

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 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 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" that has the ability to transform from a spaceship into a powerful robot that can fight the Outriders's Renegade Units on equal terms.

Characters

Protagonists

; Saber Rider
; Fireball Hikari
; Colt Willcox
; Commander Charles Eagle
; April Eagle
; Ramrod

Antagonists

The main antagonists are called the Outriders who are humanoids from the Vapor Zone, an alternate dimension. They do not require oxygen, but do require great quantities of water. They have the ability to disguise themselves as human beings, to the point where even a medical examination will not reveal their true identities.
Their personal existence is bleak, as is their home dimension. They have squandered all the resources on their home planet, forcing them to move to an artificial planet. The Outriders' goal is to conquer mankind and control the universe unhindered—they think the human dimension has much more to offer than their own. When an Outrider is shot or wounded, they do not die, but rather dimension jump, a process where they vanish and return to their home dimension. After dimension jumping, a wisp of poisonous, green gas, and a smudge where the Outrider stood remain. A self-initiated dimension jump leaves no trace at all. Outriders who are shot or killed in the vapor dimension will turn to a human. Under unique circumstances an Outrider, while in the human dimension, is in a situation that prevents them from making a dimension jump may also turn them to a human.
; Nemesis
; Jesse Blue
; Gattler
; Vanquo

Supporting characters

Additional characters include Buck, Grimmer, Philip, Robin, Sincia, Snake Eyes, Colonel Wyatt, and Emily Wyeth. Peter Cullen provides the show's narration.

Music

The program's music score was composed by Dale Schacker, who was given complete artistic freedom in his composition of the whole score. The score features guitar based music in a fast, rhythmic, yet very fashionable Country Western style. Despite the fact that the music uses synthpop elements, its predominant instrument is the electric guitar rather than a synthesizer, creating a unique sound. Just like a Western movie score, the music is sometimes enriched by whip cracks, rattle snake, harmonica or similar Western sound effects. The music is also intentionally composed with a recurring musical theme, so that the show can be easily recognized, adding a sense of familiarity each time the show is viewed. Despite this aspect, the music does not sound repetitious, since only key elements of the composition are repeated. The opening and closing credits vocals were also sung by Schacker himself.
Two soundtrack compilations are available, each containing 2 CDs.

Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs – Soundtrack I
Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs – Soundtrack II
Other media

Video game

Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs - The Game is an upcoming video game developed by a German group called "Team Saber Rider", under license from both World Events Productions and Studio Pierrot. The game was planned for multiple platforms, after a successful funding campaign on Kickstarter.
Originally announced in 2010, the game's development faced several problems, including the shuttering of the original developer Firehazard Studio. The head of development, Chris Strauss, originally worked on an earlier video game adaptation project, a 2D side-scrolling shooter initially planned for the Game Boy Advance, and later the Nintendo DS. However, the original game was then scrapped due to notions that more "casual" games sold better on the Nintendo DS.

Comic book

A comic miniseries based on the show was released on March 16, 2016. The four-issue miniseries is a reboot of the show's premise in order to appeal for a new generation. The miniseries is written by Mairghread Scott, and illustrated by Sendol Arts.

VHS UK history

Video Gems

VHS video title	VHS Studios	Year of release	Episodes
Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs – It's How the West Will Be Won	Video Gems	1989	Cavalry Command, Jesse's Revenge, Greatest Show On The New Frontier, Little Pardner

Episodes

The series premiered in the United States in 1987 and had a run of 52 episodes.

Release

Ten episodes of Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs were released in America on DVD by the U.S. rights-holders, World Events Productions. Several episodes were also released on VHS. At Otakon 2008, WEP announced that the entire series would be released on DVD through VCI Entertainment. The first of three DVD sets was released on November 18, 2008. The second DVD set was released on August 25, 2009. The complete Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs DVD boxset was released on October 20, 2009.
In the UK, one DVD, titled Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs – Volume 1, has been released by Anchor Bay Entertainment. Two additional DVDs have been released under their Kids Entertainment label. The entire series has been released in German by Anime House on 10 DVDs. Special Editions of Volumes 5 and 10 featured a slipcase to hold 5 DVDs each. A limited-edition box featuring the complete series as well as three tin figures was also released. The entire Series is also released in standard definition on Blu-ray in Germany. The First Volume was released on July 25, 2014 and the second on September 26, 2014.
On July 11, 2016, the anime-focused television channel Toku began airing the series, and months later, it was added to its Amazon Prime channel.
On January 31, 2023, it was announced the series will be released on Blu-ray by Discotek Media.