NOTE:

There are various ways to translate or transliterate Japanese. You might find the transliterations I used not always match the ones used in the subs. That’s because back in the faaar past some official transliteration were given and I’m using them. Also, occasionally, I used transliterations offered by Japanese fans which matched more the original intentions of the authors of the series. Anyway, for your own enjoyment, I’ve also written down the Japanese version of the names so that you can decide by yourself what you would prefer to use.

SUMMARY OF “STAR WARRIOR BISMARK” EP. 1 “THE SPACE ADVENTURERS”

Year 2084 (according to official sources).

We’re shown an image of Jupiter (木星 ‘Moku-sei’).

The camera then pans below it, to show a spaceship, Freighter 102 (貨物船 102 ‘Kamotsusen 102’) of the Earth Federation (地球連邦 ‘Chikyū renpō’), about to land on spaceport A (A基地 ‘A kichi’) on Ganymede’s southern hemisphere (ガニメデ星南部 ‘Ganimede-sei nanbu’). However, as Freighter 102 is about to touch the ground, the Deathculas (デスキュラ) attack it, completely destroying it.

We move to Earth (地球星 ‘Chikyū-sei’) at the Earth Federation Government (地球 連邦政府 ‘Chikyū Renbōseifu’), where Secretary-General Charles Louvre (シャルル・ルヴェール 事務 総長 ‘Charles Louvre jimu sōchō’) informs 6 of his co-workers of how the Deathculas attacked Ganymede once again, leaving no survivors.

Louvre proceeds then to remind them how, 15 years ago (in 2069), an enormously heavily armed alien force called Deathcula attacked them and they had to fight for 48 bloody hours so, despite the heavy losses for their Solar System Federation (太陽系 連邦 ‘Taiyōkei renpō’), they managed to strike a heavy blow to the Deathcula and chase them out of the Solar System. The Deathcula though have rebuilt their army and has began an invasion of Ganymede. Louvre thinks if they don’t strike back they might end up defeated.

Commander-in-chief Walter (ウォルター 総司令官 ‘Walter Sō shireikan’) reminds him they lack sufficient military power, as they would barely be able to cover the outskirts of Earth. Chief of staff Hoffman (ホフマン参謀総長 ‘Sanbō-sōchō’) joins him saying they can’t deploy troops on Ganymede to risk leaving Earth undefended. Barboni (バルボニー) though counters if they don’t act the Deathculas will only expand further so they’ve to do something. Louvre says he’ll put into motion Operation Bismark (ビスマルク作戦 ‘Bismark Sakusen’). Walter agrees but asks who’ll be the one who will work as the main pilot of Bismark (ビスマルク). Louvre replies that he’ll be the son of the late ace pilot, Hikari Shinjirō (輝 進児郎), Hikari Shinji (輝 進児). Hoffman reminds Louvre Shinji should have been facing a hearing for disobeying trainers. Louvre replies the sentence hasn’t been decided but Barboni points out how Shinji left the training ground during the hearing and is currently missing. Before Louvre could reply he’s informed his daughter, Marianne Louvre (マリアン・ルヴェール), wants to see him for an urgent matter. Marianne explains him she found out Shinji is competing at the Mars 24H Race (マルス 24 時間 レース ‘Mars nijūyon-jikan race’) on Ganymede.

We move again back on Ganymede, where Shinji, with his Road Leon (ロード レオン), is leading the race when Bill Wilcox (ビル・ウィルコックス), on his Arrow Striker (アロース トライカー) cause him to lose control of his car. At Shinji’s protests, Bill warns him the other cars are going to surpass him. Shinji resumes running while Bill recommends him to win and, once he’s done racing, he’ll deliver him back to the Earth Federation and get a big bounty for it. Bill flies away and Shinji manages to win the race in 23:18:16:23, breaking the race’s record. Shinji enjoys his moment of glory.

At the spaceport two criminals are escaping. Cornered, they rip a little girl from her mother’s arms and use it as an hostage while the protesting mother is hit and falls on the ground. Although the 3 Airport security guards (空港 警備兵 ‘Kūkō keibi-hei’) aim at them, they don’t know what to do. The criminals try to escape but someone shoots the gun the one holding the little girl was pointing at her head. The gun of the other criminal flies away as well and he drops a bag which contained white dust (or better drug). The Airport security guards secure the criminals then turn to see who shot, which turns out to be Richard Lancelot (リチャード・ランスロット) with his rifle, all while still being on the saddle of his robotic horse, Donatello (ドナテルロ). People wonders who he is, while Richard leaves with Donatello and lands in front of the Royal hotel (ロイヤル ホテル). To the man who comes to take care of his horse, he informs him Donatello is of a noble line so he has to take good care of him.

Once in the hotel Richard introduces himself as a friend of the British Royal Family but he’s told there’s no free room. As he protests the room should have been booked in advance, he’s told the Champion insisted on having the presidential suite for himself. Shinji enters in the place right then, as people claps their hands at him and Richard is informed he’s the champion. He protests he made a reservation but he’s told the champion holds more weight than the royal family there. Richard doesn’t care and tries to rip the room’s key from Shinji. They start a tug war before being interrupted by Bill, who asks him if he has the prize money with him. Shinji recognizes him for the guy who interrupted his race. Bill aims his gun at Shinji and introduces himself. Shinji recognizes him for the head pilot of the Space Impulse squad (スペース インパルス 隊 の チーフ パイロット ‘Space Impulse-Tai no chief pilot’). Richard too knows Bill as the winner of pilot contexts in all sectors and as an infamous bounty hunter (賞金 稼ぎ ‘Shōkin kasegi’). In that moment Cristina (クリスティーナ) barges in, calling Bill and hiding behind him. Short after her father, Pedro (ペドロ), barges in, rifle in hands. He thinks Bill wants to take advantage of Cristina and flee to Earth. In response he starts shooting at Bill, causing him to escape, then he drags Cristina away.

Back to Shinji, he recovers his key and Richard informs him if things were to take a turn for worse he would have had Shinji’s back. They introduce to each other then Richard makes clear he wants Shinji’s room and that he’ll accept to share it, only if he’ll be the one getting the bed. The two walks toward the elevator, Richard informing Shinji he’s there on a mission by order of Her Majesty herself.

EPISODE BREAK

Bill is flying outside of the hotel, planning to capture Shinji as the honour of the Space Impulse squad is at stake. However, as he peeks at the windows, searching for Shinji, he hears a Deathcula spy (デスキュラ の スパイ) talking to the phone, saying that the crew at the Ganymede garrison is throwing a party for the newly arrived from Earth and are all drunk so that’s the best moment to attack. He orders to send there all the mobile units but Bill recognizes him for a Deathcula and attacks him. He manages to walk out of the room, to end up fatally wounded and disappear, leaving only ashes, under Shinji and Richard’s gazes. Bill informs them it was a Deathcula spy. Richard explains how, according to the English government’s data Deathculas can disguise among humans by way of cell-restructure. As, when they’re in disguise, they require a lot of water, this might be the only chance to spot them among common people. Bill explains how the military base (警備隊の基地 ‘Keibitai no kichi’) is in danger as the Deathcula spy has contacted a strike force. Richard counters they’ve to warn the base and so Bill runs away to do so. Then he tells Shinji since the base will be warned they can relax so he’ll go take a shower while Shinji claims he’ll go to the front desk to take care of something… but as soon as Richard closes the door, Shinji runs away.

Meanwhile Richard leaves from the window, calls Donatello and uses it to fly toward the base. Shinji also, with the Road Leon, runs toward the base. Meanwhile the desk clerk informs Bill he can’t reach the base as the phone seems to be cut off so Bill too runs toward the base.

Shinji is the first to arrive as the attack is ongoing. Richard also gets there and starts destroying alien ships. Shinji joins the fight a bit clumsily. Though he destroys a good amount of ships ultimately is saved by Bill who complains they left without warning him.

Meanwhile Shinji meets Marianne, who expected him to come for help and who has brought there the Bismark machine (ビスマルク マシーン), which her father built and which Louvre wants Shinji to drive. Marianne climbs on the Road Leon and Shinji tells Bill and Richard to follow him. The group reaches Bismark, a machine designed and built by Federation’s Secretary-General Dr. Louvre. Marianne shows them how to get inside it and entrust the Center Console (センター コンソール)  which control the Main Control System (メイン オペレーション システム) to Shinji and the Right Console (ライト コンソール) which control the Operation System (オペレーション システム) to Bill. Shinji asks Richard if he can handle the Intelligence System (インテリジェンス システム) to which Richard answers sitting in the left console (レフト コンソール) and replying the House of Lancelot (ランスロット卿 ‘Lancelot-kyō’) attained a pedigree as the head of the British Royal Intelligence Service (英国 王室 特別 諜報 部長 ‘Igirisu ōshitsu tokubetsu chōhō buchō’) for generations. Marianne takes for herself the Rear Console (リア コンソール) and realizes a Deathcula Giant Mecha (デスキュラ 巨大 メカ ‘Deathcula kyodai mecha’) is approaching them, so the group starts Bismark and makes it fly out of the base. Meanwhile the mecha has arrived and attacks Bismark. As they can’t manage to fight back Marianne informs Shinji in case of emergency he should press the red button in the middle. Shinji does and Bismark from a Spaceship turns into a Robot. The Deathcula mecha attacks again but now Bismark can defend itself and strike back until they destroy the enemy mecha.

Shinji, Bill and Richard are impressed with their accomplishments, then Bill asks Shinji if they can handle that beast on their own. Marianne interrupts him saying she got a message from Louvre, which says Shinji and Bill are to be designated as the handlers of Bismark. As she does she show them her Team ID Card (チーム の 身分 カード ‘Team no mibun card’). When Shinji points out there’s a hearing against him, Marianne says they’ve taken care of it and Shinji is freed of all the charges and Marianne’s first goal in coming there was to inform Shinji of this. Bill is happy Shinji is the first bounty that escaped him. Richard informs them he too is part of the group, showing them his card.

The episode ends with the group looking ahead as Shinji tells the Deathcula to come face them.

HOW ALL THIS WAS ADAPTED INTO “SABER RIDER AND THE STAR SHERIFFS” EP. 1 “STAR SHERIFF ROUND UP”

One of the main drives of “Saber Rider and The Star Sheriffs” was to make Saber Rider (Richard Lancelot) the new team leader and main character. As a result, the beginning of this episode is completely redone.

Gone are the attack at Freighter 102 and all the meeting at the Earth Federation Government in which we were introduced to how humans were attacked by Deathcula aliens 15 years ago as well and Louvre’s decision to chose Shinji as the main pilot for Bismark.

This episode starts with a Saber Rider’s monologue presenting the series as if it was him narrating his adventures as Star Sheriffs and explaining us the setting. Among other things we’re shown the Outriders (Deathcula) attacking humans but the images aren’t taken from the attack at Freighter 102 but from other episodes in which the scenes had a more western look so as to give us a more western feeling.

The monologue is pretty long, so as to explain, instead than just show the situation, with a clear implication at black and white morality (Ramrod is a ‘Special FREEDOM Fighting Unit’ and ‘a PEACEKEEPING vehicle’, the Outriders are ‘bandits’ and ‘EVIL creatures’) and references to ‘positive themes’ (it was not Ramrod but the human Star Sheriffs who made the differences).

“It was not so long ago that we, Star Sheriffs, first assembled our Special Freedom Fighting Unit. We nicknamed him Ramrod, a peacekeeping vehicle shaped like a huge cowboy. We used him to protect the settlers out here on the New Frontier. We needed the Ramrod vehicle to help stop the lightning attacks of the Outrider bandits. They were evil creatures who crossed into our dimension and raided our Cavalry Outposts. They used battalions of Dimension Jumpers and Vapor Beings who moved freely from their world to ours. We thought that Ramrod was our only chance to stop them, but in the end it was not the Ramrod vehicle but the human Star Sheriffs themselves, who really made the difference. I should know, I’m their leader.”

We can also see how the setting is no more the Solar System and, more specifically, Ganymede, but the New Frontier, military bases becoming Cavalry Outposts.

We might miss it at the beginning but introducing the Outriders as vapour beings from another dimension is a convenient way for the series to remove death from the story. In fact later it will be revealed when hit the Outriders don’t die and turn into some sort of dark brown mush but vaporize and go back to their dimension.

Saber monologues goes on.

“I remember when it all began; my orders were to find Vanquo, an Outrider with ghostly eyes and a long pale face. I knew they were bounty hunters seeking him so I alerted the head of operation Ramrod, a very special operative named April. Her father was the leader of the Western Sector of Cavalry Command.”

We see some other major changes, the spy we saw in this episode is now given a name, Vanquo, because they plan to turn it into a recurring character in the American Only episodes.

April (Marianne Louvre) is now the head of operation Ramrod (Bismark), a role previously held by her father and a very special operative (whatever that means).

Eagle (Charles Louvre) moves from being the Secretary-General of the Earth Federation Government to the leader of the western sector of Cavalry Command. It’s worth to mention his name won’t be given in this episode.

Fireball (Shinji) won’t be part of their discussion. Since part of the goal was to make Saber Rider the team leader this ended up affecting Fireball’s characterization a lot. One of the most relevant changes was to turn him into just a civilian, unknown to Eagle and April (Shinji and Marianne were childhood friends).

With the introduction of April the story finally starts to use footage from episode 1 of “Star Warrior Bismark” but the atmosphere is completely different.

Where in “Star Warrior Bismark” Louvre originally wanted to put Marianne on hold as she shouldn’t have interrupted their meeting and she only came to him to deliver information about Shinji, in “Saber Rider and The Star Sheriffs” she seems to be free to march inside her father’s office to inform him of how they think a spy, named Vanquo, informed the Outriders about the existence of Ramrod, and of how she’ll leave for Yuma at once.

Eagle can only wish her good luck as here, his role is extremely minor and he exists more in function of introducing April.

Among the interesting things though, it’s worth to mention that, although April was meant to be more authoritative than Marianne (we should probably also remember Marianne is meant to be 15 while April is implied to be much older as she’s a seasoned Star Sheriff), she still calls her father ‘daddy’, with no regard for how they’re at work, while Marianne uses the very formal ‘Otō-sama’ (お父様) which is a very polite way to say “father”.

Saber resumes his narration to inform us about how both April and he reached Yuma at the same time while the Yuma Grand Prix is ongoing with a pilot nicknamed Fireball (Shinji) leading it.

They kept the scene of Colt (Bill) attacking him but, this time, it’s because he has mistaken him for Vanquo, the Outrider spy.

Among the other differences it’s worth to mention at the spaceport the criminals won’t hit the mother, we won’t see them aiming at the little girl’s head and one of the security guards will order to hold the fire. When they’ll get hit they won’t drop a bag filled with drug.

To underline how amazing Saber Rider is, the people now lavishes praises on his shooting ability, claiming only the LEGENDARY Saber Rider could do it, therefore recognizing him (while they wondered who Richard was).

As for Saber, instead than pointing out his robotic horse’s pedigree, now he will ask for a lube work and a lump of sugar for it.

At the hotel Saber will asks for a room, without claiming relations with the British Royal Family which makes clear how, this time, he hasn’t booked one first. It’s Fireball who has booked a room and the Desk Clerk doesn’t want to give Saber his room exactly for this reason. Saber insists, claiming the room should be given to him because his mission is important, and tries to steal Fireball’s key.

Colt interrupts them here as well, but this time it’s not to arrest Fireball but because he wants the room too. Colt doesn’t introduce himself, but he informs Fireball he’s searching for Vanquo.

As for Bonnie May (Cristina), apparently Colt only had a square dance with her or so he says.

Once Colt leaves, Fireball and Saber don’t introduce each other but Saber makes veiled threats and insists they should share the room. Fireball is forced to agree but, this time, it’s him who demands Saber will sleep on the ground. As they walk to the elevator Saber informs Fireball if he doesn’t find Vanquo the planet they’re on will be blown up to bits.

Back to Colt, they added a scene in which he wears his armour and then flies around the hotel to search for Vanquo, whom he overheard giving away Ramrod position. In short the attack is specifically directed at the frontier outpost because Ramrod was there, not because the defences were low due to the soldiers being drunk (the series will erase any reference to people drinking alcohol).

Once he’s hit, Vanquo assures he’ll be back and we get an explanation on how the shoot merely sent him back to his dimension by turning him into vapour because that’s what he’s made of. No mention of how Outriders need a lot of water, though this will turn out later in the series.

Saber complains since Colt shoots Vanquo, he can’t get from him the information he needed, at which Colt reveals what he overheard. While in the original they pointed out the base should be warned about the incoming attack, here none of them act as if they care the outpost will be attacked, Colt claims he has a bounty to collect, Saber wants to go take a nap while Fireball wants to go for a walk.

Of course they all care, with them racing to the outpost and Colt trying to warn it and discovering he can’t, same as in the original.

During the attack, of course Saber gets recognized by the soldiers and gets some extra scenes. They also add a scene of Bill aiming at a spaceship before shooting it and have Fireball run more around the place to reach Ramrod.

When Fireball finds April, as she now doesn’t know him, she wonders if he was sent there by the Star Sheriffs but Fireball never heard of them. April decides since he’s on a racecar he must be a pilot good enough he could be of some help. Before everyone will get close to Ramrod they’ll add another scene of Saber destroying an Outrider ship.

Then they’ll add a scene in which Saber declares he’ll take charge and the boys argue April would want them to do so. April states she’ll need the three of them when they’ll go in challenge phase.

Once inside Ramrod April explains the saddle units are interactive and then assigns the one for the land controls to Fireball (in the original he got the main control system). Colt decides he’ll get the quick drawn one (in the original he got the operation system) and Saber tells them the Cavalry Command taught him how to use the Maverick flight dynamics one (in the original he would get the one controlling the intelligence system). Fireball points out he never heard of the Cavalry Command either. April takes the rear saddle unit telling them she’ll give them instructions.

Again, Fireball says he never saw an Outrider mecha so he’s told that one is a Renegade Desperado Unit.

Later, when April decides Ramrod will have to transform, she implies everyone will have to push the red button and, since Saber is the new leader, they’ll have him give the signal on when doing it.

They added two lines which will be regularly repeated each time Ramrod transform.

April: Ramrod will now take navigational control.

Ramrod: Acknowledge April, navigational control on, Ramrod challenge phase, one. Head ‘em up, move ‘em out. Power stride, and ready to ride.

Although through the original series we have more than one transformation sequence, for “Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs” they decided to use only one so the one in this episode gets replaced.

They also show Ramrod only using his gun against the Renegade (adding an image showing Ramrod shooting while it was night!), when originally it also used the cannons on his chest.

It’s worth to mention through all the fight they added dialogues in which the boys described what they were doing when originally you could only hear background music during the fight.

The dialogue at the end is also changed.

Fireball is worried Outriders might come back, Colt seems to think they’ve defeated them forever, Saber informs them this is not the case and April explains them Saber knows what he’s talking about as Saber is a special agent of the secret Star Sheriffs and adds that they might need Fireball and Colt too, so she asks them if they want to join them.

Colt is interested because he wants a silver star but he’s told there aren’t many left since the Outriders took over the silver mines but we use these E.B.U., Electronic Badge Units. Saber adds it normally takes years to train a Star Sheriff but it’s an emergency so they’ll issue their E.B.U. right away. Fireball asks about his racing career and he’s told he’ll have to quit but who cares? Ramrod is the fast thing he could drive and she might even get silver stars for them. This sell the deals so the episode ends with Saber Rider resuming his narration:

“And that’s how all began. The bounty hunter, a racecar driver and a beautiful girl from cavalry command. Together we've made a commitment to the spirit of the frontier freedom fighters. Wherever danger leads us, wherever the people need us, that's where you'll find . . . the Star Sheriffs!”

“STAR WARRIOR BISMARK” & “SABER RIDER AND THE STAR SHERIFFS”: MY TWO CENTS ABOUT BOTH VERSIONS

So both versions chose an interesting way to start, SWB going with an apparent calm that gets broken by the attack and SRaTSS by presenting the story as the memories of his main character. However the info dump that follow is pretty long for both.

In SWB I’ll actually argue that ‘the attack of 15 years ago’ was something they could completely cut from the plot as it’s poorly developed through the series (it only serves to make a hero out of Shinji’s father, point out why Domes doesn’t want to join forces with the EFG and to explain why Hyuza has a cybernetic body all things that could have been accomplished differently) and the explanation of it is outright boring and the unpreparedness of the EFG sits ill with the fact they should have knowledge they could have been attacked again.

In SRaTSS the choice to go for a black and white morality with childish undertones insisting on the Outriders being ‘evil bandits’ serves poorly to the further developments of the plot that actually wants part of the Outriders to want peace and, therefore, not being evil.

On another note I get SWB wanted Shinji to look like a rebel but the whole thing of him having to face a hearing for disobeying trainers that gets completely brushed away because he’s chosen as Bismark pilot with Louvre listing as only reason to choose him he’s the son of the late ace pilot Hikari Shinjirō doesn’t really sit well on me. I would have appreciated it more if Louvre had pointed out how he’s an amazing pilot. What’s more, the whole Bismark team is insanely young (Richard is 18, Shinji is 17, Bill is 16 and Marianne is 15) which isn’t that rare in robot series that usually counts on genius pilots to explain the young age… but the young pilots usually have adults supervising them. Here the boys will rarely get adults supervising them… don’t take me wrong, they do handle things well but it seems a little unbelievable everyone was okay with pushing such a heavy task on such young people without adult close supervision (only Richard is of major age and only barely for crying out loud!) so I’ve to say I appreciate how SRaTSS raised ages so that Saber and April have finished their training and are therefore adults and there’s a general implication the same works for Colt and Fireball.

On another note though in SWB they had at least chosen the 4 pilots beforehand (although not shown during the reunion Richard and Bill were already designated as Bismark pilots, Richard even already having the Bismark Team ID Card), though it’s kind of ridicule they hadn’t formed them first, not even giving them a test drive of Bismark, while one of the biggest weaknesses of SRaTSS is that there were two vacant places on Ramrod as Fireball and Colt get recruited completely by coincidence and should have no idea how to drive a mecha. So it’s hilarious April asks Fireball ‘Did the Star Sheriffs send you?’ only for the truth being that the Star Sheriffs only sent Saber Rider despite Ramrod needing 4 pilots. But I’m running ahead.

While the first meeting between Shinji and Bill is visually cool the fact he almost caused him to crash and then let him go only to catch him later on feels like an excuse to show their abilities. In SRaTSS though, they made the scene even worse if possible. Why would Colt exchange Fireball for Vanquo? For a series that wants to badly to show the Star Sheriffs as examples of virtue they failed entirely to carry around this idea in this episode as the first thing Colt does is to put Fireball’s life in danger by flying too close to him and causing him to lose control of his car… and it’ll only get worse later on.

The race with Shinji/Fireball establishing a new record time though was a good idea instead to make sure we got what an amazing driver he is.

The introduction of Richard/Saber is good as well, though I’ve always found puzzling why they had him use his rifle which he normally hardly uses being much more a sword guy. The taming of the actions of the bandits is not a big deal in SRaTSS, if anything I found a bit annoying the remarking of Saber being a legend but okay, not a big deal.

The discussion between Richard and Shinji over the room at the hotel is clearly meant to be played for laughs in SWB, remarking how they’re young and based on a legitimate reason for them both to argue over the room. Bill coming to arrest Shinji made sense and it’s a good way to introduce the viewers to Bill’s abilities… though what doesn’t make sense is how Bill could aim a gun at Shinji and no one panicked and called the police (Bill hadn’t introduced himself as a bounty hunter). Pedro shooting at Bill without anyone calling the police is even worse as he could have hit someone else.

I’m not really sure if Richard is threatening Shinji to shoot him or if he’s threatening him to arrest him to collect the bounty as Bill wanted to do. I’ll go with the second option because it seems to make more sense in the narrative. I also like how Richard didn’t tattle out why he was there but remained vague. What feels a bit dumb is for Shinji to want to remain there like a sitting duck now that he knows Bill, a bounty hunter, is trying to arrest him.

SRaTSS didn’t really manage to adapt all this well. For start Saber is demanding a room he hadn’t booked, basically attempting to steal it from Fireball with the excuse he has an important mission. This doesn’t really help to paint him as a paragon of virtue. The fact that Colt comes in and does the same, pointing his gun at Fireball to force him to comply makes matter even worse… and it doesn’t help that, once Colt is chased away, Saber also threaten Fireball… and then casually reveals if he doesn’t find Vanquo the planet will probably be blown to bits, as if this wouldn’t cause mass panic in a normal situation.

SWB creates a huge coincidence when, by trying to arrest Shinji, Bill ends up overhearing a Deathcula spy and shooting at him just in front of Shinji and Richard’s room, who conveniently leave it just then. It’s not a big deal, but I’ve to say it works better in SRaTSS with Colt specifically searching for Vanquo and not finding him out of a lucky chance.

Both series uses the shooting of the Deathcula/Outrider to give us an info dump on their nature. I would say the one in SRaTSS felt better than the one in SWB but it might be just me (I mean, Richard randomly tossing in how the Deathcula can disguise himself as humans doesn’t feel natural and Shinji, who was being trained and is even chosen as Bismark pilot, not knowing Deathcula need water doesn’t really feel logical). On another side, despite the info dump feeling a bit odd in SWB, Richard sharing those info doesn’t feel bad, as he’s not revealing things that has to stay secret and anyway he knows Shinji and Bill are part of the army. In SRaTSS Saber informs everyone of how Vanquo knew about a secret defense system called Ramrod… with the result he informs Fireball and Colt, two civilians, of its existence as well.

However SWB recovers when it shows Richard worrying about warning the base and Bill running to do just so. This makes it acceptable they might claim there’s nothing else for them to do, with Richard pretending on not being interested because he doesn’t want to reveal to be a Bismark pilot. I’m not sure why Shinji would be doing the same but whatever.

SRaTSS instead doesn’t have them worrying about warning the base, with Saber merely acting as if he wanted to discourage Colt from going there and overall seeming disinterested in doing something and Colt pretending to be interested only in the bounty… why? To act as a cold person when in truth he attempts to warn the Outpost? But really, the worst deal goes to Saber who should have suggested warning the Outpost and had no reasons to hide the fact he rushed there. I mean he’s the ‘legendary Saber Rider’ why would he wash his hands clean of people in need of help?

The fight is not bad and I can understand SRaTSS attempt at putting more focus on Saber by giving him more fighting scenes than the ones he originally had.

However SRaTSS slips when they have to handle Fireball’s dialogues after he meets April. I’ve already mentioned how bad it was the series implies the Cavalry Command never worried picking up two other pilots for Ramrod but something that they really messed up were Fireball’s lines. Fireball doesn’t know who are the Star Sheriffs nor what’s the Cavalry Command or a Renegade Desperado Unit. Now, I get they tried hard to downplay Fireball so as to make Saber shine and he plays a stand in for the audience so as to pose the questions we would pose but they’re making him look like he lived under a rock up till that point. I mean, the existence of the Star Sheriffs and of the Cavalry Command isn’t secret and newspapers probably talked about how the Outriders used Renegade Desperado Units (and everyone else in the series know about them) so Fireball’s lack of knowledge feels really weird. I guess I should also mention nor Fireball or Colt ever heard of the legendary Saber Rider so really, this too isn’t played well.

SRaTSS added a lot of dialogues during the fight and one can have mixed feelings for them as they made the fight less dramatic and kind of more fun… so I guess it depends. On another way they give the feeling the team is… well, working as a team during the fight so this is nice.

The ending is pretty different in both series but overall I enjoyed both. I already spoke about my complains regarding Shinji’s charges being conveniently waved away as well as of how it was dumb not for the Cavalry Command not to have designated two more pilots for Ramrod so that Saber and April recruit in a rush Fireball and Colt without even a background check.

If I’ve to add something, a side of me appreciates the info about the Outriders getting the silver mines… though it feels a bit unbelievable as SURELY they didn’t have a single silver mine, did they? …but I wasn’t thrilled with the idea April, to hire Colt, suggested she could get a silver star for him… especially when it’ll turn out Colt is often blamed for his greed because a Star Sheriff may not indulge in his personal greed.

To sum it up… SWB starts on an interesting premise, depicting a colonized Solar System with far west elements and moving the war on Ganymede but it would have benefitted of some more work to smooth some corners and give it a more complex plot… though it’s also worth to keep in mind that the target audience was meant to be young, hence the boys young age.

SRaTSS had to mostly work with pre existing footage so they had to work around it… which was not easy at all since the footage wasn’t aimed to support story they had in mind.

The young age of the Bismark pilots required them to act in an often immature way that clearly wasn’t a paragon of virtue unfit of the more adult characters SRaTSS wanted to use and of the supposed high moral standards Star Sheriffs were meant to have.

Their efforts at downplaying Fireball to raise Saber up and at explaining everything to an audience that was intended to be even younger than the one of SWB often end up backfiring spectacularly… though the intended younger audience might not realize.

Still they managed to work out an interesting idea with intriguing elements.