Space Strikers (French: 20,000 Lieues dans l'espace, lit 20,000 Leagues in Space) is a 1995 animated television series based on the 1870 Jules Verne novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. Episodes center around the crew of the spaceship Nautilus, led by Captain Nemo, in an attempt to liberate Earth and other planets from the control of Master Phantom. The series later premiered in France on M6 on March 8, 1995 and later aired in the United States on UPN from September 10 to December 3, 1995.[1] Action sequences were shown in "Strikervision" 3-D.

Space Strikers
Written byJean Chalopin
Ted Pedersen
Directed byBruno Bianchi
Tom McLaughlin
Creative directorChoi An Hee
Theme music composerShuki Levy
Haim Saban
ComposerMichel Dax
Country of originFrance
United States
Original languagesFrench
English
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes26 (13 in the U.S.)
Production
Executive producersVincent Chalvon-Demersay
Jacqueline Tordjman
ProducersDana C. Booton
Jean Chalopin
Sam Ewing
Eric S. Rollman
EditorsShuichi Kakesu
Michel LeFrançois
Nathalie LeGuay
Running time30 min.
Production companiesSaban Entertainment
Saban International Paris
Original release
NetworkM6 (France)
UPN (United States)
ReleaseSeptember 10 (1995-09-10) –
December 3, 1995 (1995-12-03)

Ownership of the series passed to Disney in 2001 when Disney acquired Fox Kids Worldwide, which also includes Saban Entertainment.[2][3][4]

Plot

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Space Strikers has a single continuous plot running through all twelve episodes. In the Future the universe is inhabited by humans and a variety of other space-faring species. They are under threat from the mostly-robotic armies of Master Phantom, a human cyborg who believes Captain Nemo left him for dead. Earth and multiple other planets have already been conquered at the start of the first episode. Members of various other species join the human crew of the Nautilus to fight back, including an anthropomorphic wolf, an anthropomorphic dolphin, a Cupid-like creature, and a variety of robots.

Due to their previous friendship and shared academy training, Captain Nemo and Master Phantom attempting to outwit each other is recurrent theme in the show.

Strikervision

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At various times in an episode, a small green icon appears in the corner of the screen to alert the viewer to put on 3D glasses. Early 3D sequences typically feature repeated background and foreground images moving in opposite directions over the characters or ships on screen, giving the illusion of rotation or movement. Later instances of 3-D imagery often show spaceships flying past the screen, made possible by the show's use of 3D computer graphics for many of its spacecraft.

Voice cast

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Uncredited

Music

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In addition to Ron Wasserman composing original music for this series, Shuki Levy also co-composed for this series, recycling some of the music from Starcom: The U.S. Space Force which he would later reuse for the English dub version of Season 1 of Digimon Adventure.

Episodes

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Season 1

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# Title Original air date
1"Best of Friends, Worst of Enemies"September 10, 1995 (1995-09-10)
2"Cash for Merchandise"September 17, 1995 (1995-09-17)
3"Victory's Gift"September 24, 1995 (1995-09-24)
4"The Second Wave"October 1, 1995 (1995-10-01)
5"The Surrender"October 8, 1995 (1995-10-08)
6"In the Shadow of the Wolf"October 15, 1995 (1995-10-15)
7"Mission to Joncar"October 22, 1995 (1995-10-22)
8"Mission of Mercy"October 29, 1995 (1995-10-29)
9"A Taste of His Own Medicine"November 5, 1995 (1995-11-05)
10"The Bargain"November 12, 1995 (1995-11-12)
11"The Dark Stone"November 19, 1995 (1995-11-19)
12"Mission to Earth"November 26, 1995 (1995-11-26)
13"The Green Dragon"December 3, 1995 (1995-12-03)

References

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  1. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 772. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  2. ^ "U.S. Copyright Public Records System".
  3. ^ "Disney and Missing Saban Entertainment & Fox Kids-Jetix Worldwide Library - StreamClues". 14 September 2022. Archived from the original on 26 December 2022. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Liste - BVS Entertainment | Séries".
  5. ^ a b Perlmutter, David (2018-05-04). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 572. ISBN 978-1538103739. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
  6. ^ "Richard Epcar Voice Over Resume" (PDF). Resume. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
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