War Planets/Shadow Raiders

[Elc]

I don't know how many of you may remember this series, since it didn't last very long on US television. It went under the name "War Planets" in the United States, but "Shadow Raiders" in Canada and elsewhere around the world. The reason it was named "Shadow Raiders" in Canada goes back to a rule on the station YTV (which helped fund the show) prohibiting the use of the word "War" in the title of a show directed at children. This was also why the Transformers series "Beast Wars" was retitled "Beasties" on YTV.

In the United States, a legal snafu between Trendmasters (the company which owned and produced the toyline) and the syndicator (I think it was Summit Media Group, but I could be mistaken) which resulted in the show being dropped after the first season. In Canada, the show continued until the end of the second season and, due to poor merchandise sales of the toyline in Canada, though the show got good ratings, Trendmasters opted against funding the planned third and final season.

At the time, the news of the show's cancellation was sad, since it really was a great show. But it did have an ending which completed the character arc while providing an opening for another season, anything more could have spoiled the quality of the series.

I think the show returned to US airwaves a couple years ago on a premium channel, but as far as I know it didn't return to any widely available syndicated package. It was also released on DVD four years ago, and I recently got mine about a month ago. The episode guide, and the division of the episodes on each disc is:

Season 1

Disc 1
01 - "Behold, the Beast"
02 - "On the Rocks"
03 - "Born in Fire"
04 - "Bad to the Bone"

Disc 2
05 - "Wolf in the Fold"
06 - "MindWar"
07 - "J'Accuse!"
08 - "Blood is Thicker..."

Disc 3
09 - "Rock and Ruin"
10 - "Against All Odds"
11 - "Uneasy Hangs the Head"
12 - "Ragnarok (Part 1)"
13 - "Ragnarok (Part 2)"

Season 2

Disc 4
14 - "Worlds Within Worlds"
15 - "This is the Way the World Ends"
16 - "Period of Adjustment"
17 - "Blaze of Glory"

Disc 5
18 - "Sandstorm"
19 - "Girls Night Out"
20 - "Timebomb"
21 - "Embers of the Past"

Disc 6
22 - "Divided We Stand"
23 - "Nor Iron Bars a Cage"
24 - "Death of a King"
25 - "The Long Road Home"
26 - "Ascension"

So, for any of you who have seen the series, who is your favourite character and what was your favourite episode?

As for me, I don't know if I have a favourite "episode" per se, since they all connect with one another (particularly the last five episodes) but my favourite scene comes from "The Long Road Home" which most fans of the series will likely understand why. My favourite character, that would go to Graveheart, with Cryos as a close second. Such as is common in the Suikoden series, Graveheart is thrust into a position of leadership among world leaders, despite being a miner for raiding parties.
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"You make me smash the clock and feel, I'd rather die behind the wheel.
Time was never on my side, So on I wait my whole lifetime."

[Filipe]

I am sorry I have never so much as watched the show or even heard of the show. For those of us who are completely in the dark about this show would it be possible for you to outline the general idea of the show and some of the characters and such. Maybe some of us have seen it but just dont remember the name or anything about the show so it wouldnt make much of a discussion as such would it?
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[Elc]

I'd be happy to give an outline, Filipe, though I tend to get fairly detailed so this might be a little bit lengthy, though I'll try to keep it manageable.

The show is a computer animated product (1998 to 1999) based on the War Planets toyline put out by Trendmasters. As indicated by the name of the toyline (well, the original toyline) it revolves around a cluster of planets at war with one another. This all changes when a common enemy (the Beast Planet) threatens the entire cluster with annihilation.

Unlike every other planet, the sole function of the Beast Planet is to consume everything which lay in it's path. In concept, this does sound very similar to Unicron from the Transformers series, but the Beast Planet does not transform into a robot, is predominantly black in colour and only alters it shape when consuming (or attempting to consume) a planet. The entire front portion of the planet opens up and the immense World Claw extends to grip its prey and drag it within the Beast Planet.

As the show begins, we are witness to such an event, with the Beast Planet preparing to devour Planet Tek, but before that comes to pass; Tekla, Princess of Planet Tek and her aide, Voxx (who bears a striking resemblance to the Beast Planet in general shape) escape through a Beast vortex to arrive in the cluster which the show takes place.

The cluster is comprised of five planets: Planet Ice, Planet Rock, Planet Fire, Planet Bone and the dead world of Remora. (You can see where this is headed) Each planet in the cluster contains resources which the others lack, and are essential to the survival of each world. The only two which were really focused upon were Planet Ice and Planet Bone. Interestingly enough, while the names of each planet give an adequate idea of the look of each world, the terrain of Planet Bone is quite possibly the most organic of them all, with the exception of Planet Jungle, which is introduced late in the series. Since each planet has resources the others lack, they are forced to raid each planet while defending against raids against their own.

The look of the inhabitants of each world are also quite different, with Planet Ice having an insectoid-based population, Planet Fire's people looking fairly humanoid with a primarily red and black colour scheme and flames for "hair", Planet Bone's inhabitants are possibly described as humanoid dragons (with green skin, a tail and red eyes) and Planet Rock's people look like your basic human being except with stone-like features. Typed descriptions definitely do not do them justice, but you get the general idea.

For a little bit of info about the main characters:

Graveheart: The main character of the series, he begins the series as a Miner (Granite Class) on a raiding party to Planet Ice. Due to events which lead to the initial encounter with the Beast, he encounters King Cryos and Princess Tekla, whom the latter urges to bring the worlds of his cluster into an alliance against the Beast Planet.

King Cryos: The ruler of Planet Ice, and first to join the Alliance.

Jade: The captain of Lord Mantle's royal guard and a close friend of Graveheart's. Initially skepticle of the existence of the Beast threat and worries of Graveheart's sanity, she accompanies him with King Cryos simply because she believes in him, and also to watch his back where Cryos is concerned.

Tekla: Princess of the cybernetic world of Planet Tek, the first to be shown devoured by the Beast Planet. She convinces Graveheart to take up leadership of the Alliance and remains one of his closest allies.

Emperor Femur: The cowardly ruler of Planet Bone. Femur generally acts tough and very much like a teenager entering puberty, constantly trying to put the moves on Jade, though the Rock warrior is thoroughly disgusted with his advances and would rather rip him apart than "politely" warding off his advances. Her attitude only excites Femur even more.

Prince Pyrus: The young ruler of Planet Fire, ever since his father was killed. He is aided by the fiercely protective Grand Vizier, who is distrustful of all who are not his kind. While Pyrus commits Planet Fire to the Alliance, the Vizier has will take any opportunity he can to remove his planet from the Alliance, should the authority fall upon him.

If you would like in-depth summaries of particular episodes, feel free to ask. I would be happy to oblige any such requests.
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"You make me smash the clock and feel, I'd rather die behind the wheel.
Time was never on my side, So on I wait my whole lifetime."

[Elc]

I forgot a couple of the most important main characters, the Beast Darklords!

Blokk: The witty Darklord who believes force is the answer. He would rather take out their enemies in an all out assault and clean up the mess later, and he really dislikes the strategy of lulling a target into a false sense of security and then turning on them once their complacent.

Lamprey: The polar opposite of Blokk, she prefers to take the subtle approach and offer potential targets "protection" against their enemies. Once she has her target where she wants them, she'll display her true nature and attack while their defenses are down. In rare cases, she can also attack from "within." (This point, while it doesn't make much sense in writing, is explored in a few episodes)

Voyd: The tall and imposing Darklord. He serves as a moderator to Blokk and Lamprey's bickering and always has the final decision. Unlike his fellow Darklords, Voyd never speaks nor gets directly involved in any attacks but he is often keeping an eye on the situation. He is the one thing, besides the Beast Planet itself, that both Blokk and Lamprey fear.
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"You make me smash the clock and feel, I'd rather die behind the wheel.
Time was never on my side, So on I wait my whole lifetime."

[Cedric]

You know what, Elc. I actually still have those toys lying around in the house in a box somewhere. I have Bone, Ice, Tek, and Remora. Beast Planet is incredibly hard to find back then. I hated Planet Ice and Remora because they had so many little pieces that kept getting lost. Planet Ice also has a portion of the planet that comes off wih the slightest touch. I was collecting them because a few people made a new type of risk game with the figures and planets. (We didn't have much to do back then)

At any rate, I didn't know there were shows for it. You gave information on the plot, but how is the series as a whole? Also, did Planet Bone ever use those extenable arms like it has on the toys?
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[Elc]

I'm pretty biased when giving an opinion on the series as a whole because I really enjoyed it. As with any show, there were some slow points but the positives far outweigh any negatives which may creep in. The planets in the show, with the exception of the Beast Planet, were all pretty much ordinary planets with the caveat being they all had a world engine, capable of propelling the planet, which would be a prominent factor in the second season. Planet Bone, for example, does not have any extendable arms in the show.

One planet in particular, the Prison Planet, did not have a world engine but had teleport engines. It's actually hard for me to consider the Prison Planet an actual planet since it's not spherical, maybe planetoid would have been a better classification, but I understand why it would be called a planet in this series/toyline.

The Prison Planet arc was the last (and most intense) arc of the series, encompassing episodes 22 ("Divided We Stand") through 25 ("The Long Road Home"). It is in these episodes that two major characters: Jewelia and Sternum, are introduced. Jewelia, I believe, was originally from the unseen Planet Crystal before she crashed on the Prison Planet (crashing on the planet was her story, whether that's how it really happened is anyone's guess) and Sternum, of course, was from Planet Bone. I'm probably forgetting a few details, but it seems that the inhabitants of the Prison Planet were almost exclusively convicts from Planets Ice and Bone.

To briefly sum up the general plots of the series, broken down into seasons. Season 1 was all about forging the Alliance out of the four warring planets of the system, with the Beast Darklords manipulating events with the intention of preventing such an alliance from ocurring. Season 2, on the other hand, was all about survival. With the Beast Planet in pursuit, the Alliance must outrun the Beast while trying to figure out a way to combat their enemy. The Prison Planet holds the key in this case, and the series ends as it began, as at the time of the final episode's production there were still plans for a third and final season.

The only episodes of the series which feel like filler are "Uneasy Hangs the Head" from the first season and "Girls Night Out" from the second. But, in the end, they serve to advance the plot by the time the story is over, "Girls Night Out" including a particularly vital piece of the puzzle. "Uneasy Hangs the Head" loses some points as it relied on clips from previous episodes to help tell the story, whereas "Girls Night Out" contained 100% original animation.

All in all, Shadow Raiders was a tightly woven story, with plots from previous episodes fueling later episodes, even brief quips from some characters pertaining to an earlier adventure. Most of the threads are tied up by series end, but since Mainframe didn't know "Ascension" was going to be the final episode, some loose threads remain, such as the Sternum/Jewelia story.

If you've seen the third season (and beyond) of ReBoot, you'll have a good idea on what type of animation to expect with Shadow Raiders, though I definitely give the edge to Shadow Raiders in terms of the soundtrack. It is my absolute favourite soundtrack of all the Mainframe productions I've seen, and when combined with the visuals it really enhances the overall experience. My favourite scene, as I vaguely described in my initial post, is a perfect example of this as it contains practically no dialogue, but sends a powerful message. I've kept the description as vague as possible because it's the payoff of a sub-plot which spans nearly the entire series.
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"You make me smash the clock and feel, I'd rather die behind the wheel.
Time was never on my side, So on I wait my whole lifetime."

[Esra]

I remember that show very well, as a matter-o-fact, I finally got to watch the whole series about a year ago when they showed it on Showtime Beyond before I switched to the Dish network... That was one of the very few computer animated shows that I enjoyed watching besides Reboot. My favorite characer in the series would have to be Lord Femur's lacky, Pelvis(I hope that's what his name is), because of his persistance on subtly trying to kill Femur off to become the new emporer of Bone. The story is great, the creators put a good deal of detail into it and even though the series came to a close, they gave it a pretty good ending. Due to how it ended, it would be great if they started it up again. :mrgreen:

[Elc]

I agree, punchdoll, Pelvus really is a great character. I especially enjoyed his initial lines which, naturally, introduced Femur to the Alliance delegation. With much dramatics, he's going on about the superiority of Bone and the greatness of Femur and, tipping his hand whence Femur will enter, he utters an unenthusiastic "Yay." Such nuances really made the show what it was, and it's sad that it met an early end, but what a 26 episode run it was. I'm thankful for that at least. I can't imagine having to go years without being able to watch the second season yet knowing it has already aired elsewhere, like the US audience had to.

It is such a different experience watching them on DVD, particularly when I play them on my PC. They are great when I watch them on my TV itself, but my PC has the benefit of a superior sound system and... wow, with the volume turned up you can really hear the subtleties which you may have ordinarily missed during the initial broadcast. As I mentioned previously, I absolutely love the soundtrack of the show (unlike what passed for "music" in Beast Machines. *shudders* even thinking about that show is unpalatable.) and my PC's sound system really showcases it beautifully.

Perhaps the one episode where the soundtrack made all the difference was "Sandstorm," with the long, single, ominous tone during which you would get glimpses of objects or a character through the storm. Without it, I don't think the episode would have had the same thrilling mystery, or overally creepy tone. Soundtracks are very important, and Shadow Raiders was blessed with one of the best.
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"You make me smash the clock and feel, I'd rather die behind the wheel.
Time was never on my side, So on I wait my whole lifetime."

[Esra]

Nicely put, Elc, one of the other things that I noticed about the series is that if you look at all of the characters really close, the background characters in particular, the animators had taken the time to make just about every single one of them different from the others.

I rarely saw individuals in the series that were identical, I really respect a show for its detail and commitment to the viewers. It made the series all that more great.

[Elc]

I can only think of one time offhand where an incidental character was nearly identical to one of the main characters. In either the late first act, or early second act of "Ascension" there was a Rock woman who looked nearly identical to Jade with the exception of the colour scheme. It was odd seeing the character model for Graveheart show up (albeit altered) in ReBoot: Daemon Rising, while I believe the model for Glitch Bob (for the face at least) was used for Tekla's father, the King of Tek.
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"You make me smash the clock and feel, I'd rather die behind the wheel.
Time was never on my side, So on I wait my whole lifetime."

[Esra]

You're right, I didn't notice that before.
cool.
I'm wondering how long it's going to take for the U.S. to play the Reboot series again, anyway...

[Alkazar]

Shadow Raiders! I'd been trying to remember the name of that show forever! I used to try and watch it all the time, but I'd never seen the whole thing from the start; I think I've only actually seen about 13 episodes, and every time I found it on TV, either one of my friends or my brother would say it was stupid and change the channel of me.

I liked Pyrus and of course the obvious comic duality of Femur/Pelvis. I really should look into getting that DVD set...
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[Elc]

Alkazar, the DVD sets are a bit tougher to find now, as they've apparently gone out of print, though they are still available for order at Amazon.ca albeit the average time for shipment is roughly one to three weeks for most volumes. There are a couple of the DVDs for auction on eBay, though one of the descriptions is very inaccurate:

[Esra]

Yeah they cut the Reboot series off an episode after MegaBite came back from the web. Then Cartoon network suddenly replaced the show with one of the Gundam Series(could care less for those).

It's kind of interesting to see how the animators fiddle with certain characters to make new ones. It seemed to go over very well in Shadow Raiders (And Beasties).