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Clockwise from upper left: Saber Rider, Fireball, Colt and April. In the center: Ramrod.

"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!"
Saber Rider, "Star Sheriff Round-Up"
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Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs is a 1987 Americanization of the anime series Sei Juushi Bismarck.

In the future, humanity has spread out across the galaxy, settling various planets which are known as "frontier outposts." Spaceship travel and high technology are common, but many people live simple lives akin to those of settlers in The Wild West. All is peaceful until the human dimension is invaded by Outriders, the soldiers of a race of aliens known as Vapor Beings who are bent on conquering our dimension. They are driven back, but fifteen years later they return, led by their Galactic Conqueror, Nemesis. They attack using Humongous Mecha called Renegade Units and the only ones who can stop them are Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits consisting of:

Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs is the second attempt made by World Events Productions at dubbing an anime series, done in the same style as their previous (and much more famous) attempt, Voltron. While the general storylines were kept intact, several episodes were removed due to content and American-produced episodes were substituted in (they are notable for their differing character designs and minimal usage of the Transforming Mecha) as well as introducing expanded backstory for one of the main villains, Jesse Blue. The transformation sequences, which differed from episode to episode in the original series, Sei Juushi Bismarck (Space Musketeer Bismarck), were replaced with Stock Footage. The Japanese main character was turned into a secondary character and the British fencer became the titular character in the American version. A love triangle was also introduced with Jesse Blue falling in love with April (and trying to pull both an Attempted Rape and a Murder the Hypotenuse), who was in love with Saber Rider (who was oblivious and embarrassed when she tried to kiss him once) and later with Fireball (who reciprocated her feelings).

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Interestingly, the original series was a commercial failure in Japan, but the American version proved VERY popular around the world, especially in Germany, Latin America and Russia where it developed cult status.

This show is also highly notable as one of the first shows a newborn Studio Pierrot did in the early to mid 80s, and Saber Rider was their first major overseas success and the money from that (along with Urusei Yatsura) fueled their later projects. You may have heard of just a few of these.

The series is once again legally available to view on YouTube (why it wasn't for a while, no one knows, though this time around there's only a few episodes to view instead of the whole series) and a long-delayed video game is scheduled for release in 2016. Said game had a successful Kickstarter campaign will be a oldschool style 16-bit shoot-'em-up released on the Nintendo 3DS, Steam (for Windows, Mac, & Linux), the Dreamcast, and PC Engine/TurboGrafix-16. Originally, the game was intended to be a 3D title released by Firehazard Studio for all eighth gen consoles along with iOS and Android, but Firehazard disbanded and their original publisher pulled out, with the current Team Saber Rider eventually ditching the 3D format for the originally intended 2D game. A demo is currently available...for the Dreamcast version.

In 2016, Lion Forge Comics, publisher of titles based on popular 80-90s franchises such as Knight Rider, Miami Vice, Punky Brewster, Airwolf, and Saved by the Bell, announced a new Saber Rider limited comic series written by Mairghread Scott (The Transformers: Windblade) with art by Sendol Arts (artists on Lion Force's original comics Roboy and Trimaxx.)


Tropes:

  • The Ace
  • Ace Pilot: Fireball, an ex-top professional racer. Colt is also shown to be very good at piloting his personal craft, the Bronco Buster.
  • Amnesia Danger
  • Animesque: The American-produced episodeslist  made to fill in the gaps left by the episodes not brought over from Bismarck look much more like a late 80s anime thanks to the production gap between both sets of episodes. This also doubles as an Art Shift, thanks to the characters' redesigns making them more squared off and realistically proportioned.
  • Artistic License – Biology: Saber Rider unanimously declares he's found a new species of bug after a few minutes' examination with a magnifying glass.
  • Ass Kicking Pose
  • Attempted Rape: Jesse tries to force himself on April in "Cavalry Command", but she uses her martial arts skills to fend him off. The scene is a relatively mild example of the trope, but it's still a surprising thing to see in a family-friendly cartoon from The '80s.
  • Awesomeness by Analysis
  • Badass Crew: The Star Sheriffs, of course. Even without Ramrod and their vehicles, they're skilled enough at hand-to-hand combat to fight the Outriders on equal terms.
  • Beginner's Luck: Fireball and Colt do pretty well the first time they pilot Ramrod.
  • Beach Episode: More like a Beach Scene. Interestingly enough, this is rather subverted when the male character goes in for a kiss and is rewarded with a face full of sand.
  • Big Bad: The appropriately-named Nemesis. Everything bad that happens in the show is because of some plot he's concocted, and every villain of the week ultimately answers to him.
  • Bowdlerise: The site movie-censorship.com has detailed comparisons of 19 Saber Rider episodes with the Japanese originals. These articles show how Saber Rider was systematically edited and rewritten to eliminate character deaths and otherwise soften the violence (among other reasons).
  • Brain in a Jar: In later episodes, we learn that this has been Nemesis' true form all along.
  • Broken Bird: Trista, Jesse's girlfriend. In one episode she and April meet, become friends and then have their buddying bond trashed by Jesse.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Each Sheriff has his or her quirk - Colt is a bit of a pervert and flirt, April was a pro tennis player before becoming a Hot Scientist, Fireball's temper, etc.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Somewhat justified. They're calling their attacks as instructions and to keep the others aware of what Ramrod is doing, since it's a four-person piloting job.

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