France Five

Shin Kenjūshi France Five
Genre	Tokusatsu
Created by	Buki X-4 Productions
Starring	Sébastien Ruchet Grégory Goldberg Daniel Andréyev Thomas Blumberg Wendy Roeltgen Nolwenn Daste Grégoire Hellot
Opening theme	"Shin Kenjūshi France Five" by Akira Kushida
Country of origin	France
Production
Running time	24-25 minutes (per episode)
External links
Website

Not to be confused with France 5.

France Five (フランスファイブ, Furansu Faibu), originally titled Jūshi Sentai France Five (銃士戦隊フランスファイブ, Jūshi Sentai Furansu Faibu, translated as Musketeers Squadron France Five) and later known as Shin Kenjūshi France Five (新剣銃士フランスファイブ, Shin Kenjūshi Furansu Faibu, translated as New Sword Musketeers France Five), is a French series produced by Buki X-4 Productions in the 2000s. It is an homage to Toei's ever-popular Super Sentai series, which was extremely popular in France in the 1980s. There have been four half-hour episodes of France Five made, with a fifth (supposedly the conclusion) underway. As a nod to Super Sentai titles having certain motifs, France Five has each member themed after certain aspects of French culture.

This series is said to be a nod to another Sentai pastiche, Aikoku Sentai Dai-Nippon (Patriot Squadron Great Japan) (1982) by Daicon Films (now Gainax).

Interestingly, the series has become somewhat popular in Japan as well, with singer Akira Kushida singing an original theme for Episode 4. Prior to that point, the themes were French remixes of older Sentai theme songs (Choujin Sentai Jetman and Choudenshi Bioman) as well as an original French theme.

Story

Glou Man Chou, ruler of the Lexos Empire, desires to conquer planet Earth. However, the Eiffel Tower generates a barrier around the planet that keeps him from sending his armies en masse. Glou Man Chou sends his warriors and monsters to Earth in order to destroy the tower and enable a full scale invasion, but they are opposed by the France Five.

In the fourth episode, the shield is disabled and Lexos's army is shown prepared to invade the planet.

Cast

France Five

Grégory Goldberg on November 2006 during G.A.M.E. in Paris 3.

"En garde! Jūshi Sentai France Five!"/ "France Five!, En garde!"

• Antoine Deschaumes/Red Fromage - A skilled boxer and leader of France Five. A very patriotic person who takes his duty seriously, he hardly ever laughs.
  • Played by Sébastien Ruchet
• Thierry Durand/Black Beaujolais - The son of a rich winemaker in the Beaujolais region, he rejected his family heritage to live a rebellious life - which often clashes with Red Fromage's authority.
  • Played by Grégory Goldberg
• Albert Dumas/Blue Accordéon - The son of a musician, he is the comic relief of the team.
  • Played by Daniel Andréyev
• Jean Pétri/Yellow Baguette - A bread baker and the youngest member of the team.
  • Played by Thomas Blumberg
• Catherine Fontaine/Pink à la Mode - A fashion model who is very critical of cleanliness - much to the team's dismay.
  • Played by Wendy Roeltgen, and later by Nolwenn Daste
• Aramis Leclair/Silver Mousquetaire (1-4) - The mysterious warrior in the tradition of the Super Sentai franchise's "sixth warriors". Aramis is also an old friend of Antoine.
  • Played by Grégoire Hellot

Allies

• Professor Aristide Burgonde - Creator of France Five's suits and mecha. He is an ethnologist, veterinarian and a robotology diploma holder. He secretly developed France Five in conjunction with the French Ministry of Defense.
  • Played by Tibor Clerdouet
• Margarine - Professor Burgonde's robot assistant.
  • Played by Émilie Thoré, and later by Clémence Perrot

The Lexos Empire

• Glou Man Chou - Emperor of the Lexos Empire. After destroying many planets, he has his sights set on Earth and sends his minions to destroy the Eiffel Tower and deactivate Earth's protective barrier for a full invasion.
  • Played by David Guélou
• Extasy (1-4) - One of Glou Man Chou's lieutenants, who takes pleasure in making her victims suffer. Extasy's true identity is Sophie, Antoine's fiancee who was kidnapped by Warduke prior to the first episode.
  • Played by Nadège Bessaguet, and later by Aurélie Maurice
• Warduke - A lieutenant with colossal strength and an insatiable lust for battle.
  • Played by Jean-Marc Imbert
• Cancrelax - Glou Man Chou's cowardly chamberlain, who often shows sycophancy to the Emperor and blames Extasy and Warduke for every defeat at the hands of France Five. Whenever a Streum Monster is defeated by France Five, he casts a spell to revive and grow it to giant size.
  • Played by Olivier Fallaix
• Zakaral (4-5)
  • Played by Patrick Giordano

Monsters

• Hypnostreum (1)
• Discostreum (2)
• Toxicostreum (3)
• Pyrostreum (4)

Mecha

• Jet Charlemagne : Flying fortress, carries the Falcon D'Artagnan and the Johan Of Arc Mont.
• Falcon D'Artagnan and Joan Of Arc Mount : Vehicles that combine into the France-Robot.
• Machine Chanteclerc : Silver Mousquetaire's rooster mecha.

Episodes

1. "Hypnostreum's Attack! Don't Lose the Guide!" (2000)
2. "Everyone on the Dance Floor! Discostreum Leads the Party" (2001)
3. "Cheating Isn't Fairplay! Toxicostreum Reverses the Rules" (2002)
4. "Is Paris Burning? The Menace Is Named Zakaral" (2004)
5. "Unknown Title" - Release : 05/05/2012

External links

• Official France Five Website (in French, Japanese and English)
• France Five at the Internet Movie Database