BraveStarr

BraveStarr
BraveStarr title card
Genre	Animated series, Science fiction Western, Action
Voices of	Pat Fraley Charlie Adler Erika Scheimer Lou Scheimer Alan Oppenheimer Susan Blu Ed Gilbert
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	65
Production
Executive producer	Lou Scheimer
Running time	25 minutes
Production company	Filmation
Original release
Network	first-run syndication
Release	September 14, 1987 – February 24, 1988

BraveStarr and his sidekick/mount Thirty/Thirty

BraveStarr is an American space Western animated television series. The original episodes aired from September 1987 to February 1988 in syndication. It was created simultaneously with a collection of action figures. BraveStarr was the last animated series produced by Filmation and Group W Productions that was broadcast. "Bravo!", a spin-off series (originally called "Quest of the Prairie People") was in production along with "Bugzburg" when the studio closed down.

The idea for BraveStarr began with Tex Hex, his chief adversary. Tex Hex was created by Filmation's staff artists in 1984, during the development of Filmation's Ghostbusters. Lou Scheimer found the character fascinating and pulled Tex Hex from the Ghostbusters cast. He asked Arthur Nadel, Filmation's Vice President for Creative Affairs, and art director John Grusd to develop a sci-fi western around the character. As the concepts took shape, staff writer Bob Forward fleshed out the writer's guide and eventually co-wrote the feature film script for BraveStarr the Legend with writer Steve Hayes.

Like many of Filmation's TV series (including He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra: Princess of Power, Shazam, The Secret of Isis, and the animated Ghostbusters), a moral lesson is told at the end of each episode. One particularly notable episode is "The Price," in which a boy buys a drug called "spin," a hallucinogen similar to LSD, becomes addicted to it, and dies from an overdose.

Characters

Heroes

• Marshall BraveStarr (Pat Fraley): The title character is a Galactic Marshall stationed on the planet "New Texas." He is a Native American who can call upon the power of "spirit animals." The spirit animal powers are:
  • Eyes of the Hawk: Enhances his vision and can also grant him an aerial view of the surrounding area.
  • Ears of the Wolf: Gives him super-hearing.
  • Strength of the Bear: Gives him super-strength.
  • Speed of the Puma: Gives him super-speed.

It should be noted that these powers are not literally equivalent to the attributes of the animals he invokes, as the Strength of the Bear grants him far greater strength than any real bear, capable of lifting huge boulders, and similarly the Speed of the Puma allows him to run at immense speeds akin to comic-book characters such as Quicksilver or the original Flash. Bravestarr also carries a "Neutra-laser" pistol and a "Trans-freezer" rifle, but seldom uses either, only doing so when he has to.

• Thirty/Thirty (Ed Gilbert): BraveStarr's talking "techno horse," who can "transform" from a quadruped into a more anthropomorphic biped. He carries a giant energy rifle he refers to as "Sarah Jane." He is the last survivor of an ancient civilization called the Equestroids, a cybernetic breed of sentient equines, and has strength approximating BraveStarr's bear strength.
• Handlebar (Alan Oppenheimer): A hulking, 14-ton, green-skinned bartender and former space pirate from the Rigel star system, with a bright orange handlebar mustache and a Brooklyn accent. He mostly serves BraveStarr and Thirty/Thirty a drink called "sweetwater" in his bar, as they sit and discuss the moral lesson learned in that day's episode although he does engage in a fight with Stampede in one episode and wins. If faced with trouble in his bar he uses the serving trays as throwing weapons.
• Deputy Fuzz (Charlie Adler): A pudgy little prairie dog-like alien, one of the Prairie People, natives of New Texas, who serves almost exclusively as comic relief. Fuzz is similar to other sidekick creatures in other series of the decade such as He-Man's Orko and Snarf of Rankin-Bass's ThunderCats. His specialties, like all others of his kind, are digging, with even the miners of New Texas not coming close to the speed in which he moves through the ground, as well as high mechanical aptitude for building and repairing all manner of devices.
• Judge J.B. McBride (Susan Blu): The town's female judge and romantic interest for BraveStarr. The two share a kiss in "BraveStarr the Legend." She comes to BraveStarr's aid from time to time, using a high-tech gavel given to her by the Prairie People (referred to as a "hammer" in the series) as a weapon. Her Scottish father Angus McBride is an ex-prospector; he has run the town's newspaper ever since being crippled by his former mining partner Tex Hex.
• Shaman (Ed Gilbert): An unnamed Native American shaman who serves as an adviser to BraveStarr. On rare occasions Shaman has demonstrated extremely powerful magic and during the Christmas special, a rendition of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, he served as the three spirits. BraveStarr sees Shaman as a paternal figure since he (BraveStarr) never knew his real parents, and this was occasionally exploited by the bad guys. While the Shaman rarely expressed it, he was known to view BraveStarr as a son. He lives in a towering animal-carved mountain called Starr Peak (in reality the remains of his crashed starship, covered by cooled magma), under which is a large Kerium deposit.
• Long Arm John:

The heroes' base of operations is a town called "Fort Kerium," which serves as the primary setting for the series.

Villains

• Tex Hex (Charlie Adler): The lavender-skinned leader of the Carrion Bunch. Tex was mutated and given magic powers by Stampede including energy bolts, the power to blow up mountains, transformation, and summoning creatures called 'fire-snakes'. Tex once had a girlfriend named Ursula, who wanted to live a content, happy life with him, but Tex left her to greedily seek out his fortunes in Kerium, a decision that at one point he contemplated but briefly disposed of. In the Christmas episode, Tex finds out that Ursula had married and found the happiness that she wanted and needed in her life. He even stops Stampede and the others from invading Fort Kerium to spare her life.
• Outlaw Skuzz (Alan Oppenheimer): Tex's cigar-smoking henchman and cousin of Deputy Fuzz. Like Tex Hex, he was mutated by Stampede. Skuzz is often reprimanded by the others for his constant smoking.
• Sandstorm (Lou Scheimer): A red reptilian alien who can exhale giant clouds of sand, which the Carrion Bunch usually uses to escape.
• Thunderstick (Pat Fraley): A stuttering robot with an arm cannon.
• Cactus Head (Pat Fraley): A robot with a cactus head and four mechanical legs. He's equipped with two energy cannons that can alter matter. Often seen as the comic relief and used as a spy.
• "Two faced" Dingo Dan (Lou Scheimer): One of Tex's anthropomorphic coyotes with a notionally Aussie accent. Dan had the ability to take on a human appearance but would often forget to change his distinctive "fancy hat."
• Howler (Lou Scheimer): Another anthropomorphic coyote of Tex's gang. Like Dingo Dan he can take on human form.
• Goldtooth: An overweight coyote that usually leads other coyotes in the battle.
• Barker (Lou Scheimer): A little coyote.
• Vipra (Susan Blu): A serpentine female villain who has the power to hypnotize people, such as the assayer Klem in Fort Kerium making it seem as if a Kerium deposit below Starr Peak actually belonged to Hex. Her weapon of choice is a snake-shaped "gun" that shoots a paralyzing ray.
• Hog-Tie (Lou Scheimer): A humanoid pig dressed in a Union Army uniform. He seemed to be strong, and used bolas to capture or bind his victims.
• Stampede (Alan Oppenheimer): A demonic-looking bull skeleton who commands the Carrion Bunch. He is the éminence grise behind Tex Hex's schemes and powers. He is to Hex what the Shaman is to BraveStarr.
• Krang (Uncredited): Anthropomorphic panthers with green armor and German accents. The Krang appear in several episodes, looking for slaves on New Texas.
• Two-Face: A two headed anthropomorphic robotic bird(maybe a buzzard) with one head being real flesh & the other robotic.

Plot

The story is set in the 23rd century on a distant planet called New Texas, which is located 600 parsecs (=1956 light-years) from Earth and has "a sky of three suns." New Texas has a native population of "Prairie People," which are small humanoids who resemble prairie dogs (both Scuzz and Fuzz are members of this species), and has been colonized by a multi-planet government. A mineral called Kerium, a rare and powerful crystal of great importance in spacefaring societies said to be three times more valuable than gold, is discovered there, giving the planet a valuable natural resource. Most of the episodes revolve around the heroes preventing the villains from stealing Kerium ore.

The culture of the New Texas colony (inhabited predominantly by humans but also by various aliens and robots) bears a remarkable resemblance to the culture of the American Old West. In addition to Kerium mining, the planet is also the site of "solacow" ranching. "Solacows" are large cattle-like creatures.

One episode is set on Earth, where the city of London resembles Victorian England, including a time travelling Sherlock Holmes. This lends a steampunk flavor to the series and is a logical extension of the series' setting.

Tagline

We needed a hundred lawmen to tame New Texas. We got one. You know something? He was enough.

Action figures and other merchandise

In 1986, a year before the TV series premiered, Mattel released an action figure line based on the Filmation cartoon series. These figures were large for the time at nearly 8" tall and came in a windowed box with artwork similar to that of their Masters of the Universe contemporaries. Each figure had a unique action feature and was packaged with one or more Kerium nuggets. Marshall BraveStarr and Tex Hex were also packaged with a Laser Fire Backpack which shot infra-red beams and had "space-age" sound effects. Such backpacks were individually available - blue for heroes and black for villains. Other figures available were Handlebar, Sandstorm, Thirty/Thirty, Skuzz, Fuzz, Col.Borobot, & Thunderstick. The Neutra-Laser weapon, which worked with the infra-red technology, and Fort Kerium playset also made their way to toy shelves. A second series of figures was designed but never produced. This included Dingo Dan, Judge JB, Long Arm John, Rampage, and the Starr Hawk vehicle.

A BraveStarr video game was released for Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum. It is a side-scrolling shooter game. Various other forms of BraveStarr merchandise made their way to the market including a Colorforms Adventure Set, Ladybird storybook, pillow case, sticker album, and water gun, among others. A comic book series, BraveStarr in 3-D, also began under Blackthorne Publishing in January 1987.

Home video and DVD release

BraveStarr made its way to VHS in compilations such as Filmation All-Star Theatre and Sampler Collection. Individual episodes of the series found their way to shelves as late as 1989.

Many years later, BCI Eclipse subsidiary Ink and Paint began releasing many of Filmation's classic series on DVD through its deal with Europe based Entertainment Rights who owns most of the Filmation properties. After the success of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra: Princess of Power, BraveStarr was slated for release.

The release schedule mirrored that of the previous She-Ra DVDs, with the first being a 2-disc set with the feature film, BraveStarr: The Movie (released as BraveStarr: The Legend in Europe) and the top five episodes as selected by the fans. This set was released on July 3,2007 and contained the episodes "Eye of the Beholder," "To Walk a Mile," "Fallen Idol," "Tex's Terrible Night," and "The Price." The movie received its own single DVD release on May 6, 2008. The first of two box sets was released on November 20,2007. This 4-disc set contains the first thirty-three episodes of the series along with numerous special features. The second box set, containing the remaining episodes on three discs, was released on July 1, 2008. However, because of disappointing sales of the first volume, other than a booklet summarizing the episodes and featuring trivia, the second volume is otherwise a "bare-bones" release, containing only the episodes.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date	Additional Information
BraveStarr- Volume 1	33	November 20, 2007	Four spotlight interviews with the Producer, Voice Actor and the Directors Audio Commentary A Variety of Bravestarr Original Promo Spots Bonus Episode of "The Quest of the Prairie People" Image Gallery Episode Guide Booklet with Trivia and Fun Facts
BraveStarr- Volume 2	32	July 1, 2008	Episode Guide Booklet with Trivia and Fun Facts

References

• "BraveStarr". epguides.com. Retrieved October 28 2005. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
• "Filmation Associates: BraveStarr". The Big Cartoon Database. Retrieved October 28 2005. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)

External links

• BraveStarr at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com
• BraveStarr.org
• Toonopedia page