April 30, 2007

All about BraveStarr

BravestarrBraveStarr is an animated space western made for children. It was created by Donald Kushner and Peter Locke and the original episodes aired from September 1987 to February 1988 in syndication. It was created simultaneously with a set of action figures. It was the last cartoon series produced by Filmation and Group W Productions.

Like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, a moral lesson is told at the end of each episode. One notable episode is "The Price," in which a boy buys a drug called "Spin," becomes addicted to it and dies from an overdose.
Character:Marshall Bravestarr: The title character is the Marshall of the planet "New Texas." He is a Native American who can call upon the power of "spirit animals". In addition, he carries a laser pistol called a Neutra-laser. The spirit animal powers are:

  • Eyes of the Hawk: Lets him see great distances
  • Ears of the Wolf: Gives him super-hearing
  • Strength of the Bear: Gives him super-strength
  • Speed of the Puma: Gives him super-speed
  • Plot:The story is set in the twenty-second century on a distant planet called New Texas, which 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, 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 West. In addition to Kerium mining, the planet is also the site of "solacow" ranching. "Solacows" are large cattle-like creatures.

    2 comments:

    Eulala Pegram said...

    Thanks for such an informative article about Brave Starr. Our family have a lot of the episodes we taped so my now grown son could watch them when he was little. It would be hard to say which one of us enjoyed them more. They are old now and probably deteriorating, but maybe they will appeal to the AITV crowd and we can all enjoy them again. I hope so.
    The AITV is an unparalleled news event in my opinion. It will be exciting to watch this unfold. Thanks for covering this also.

    Rob said...

    The Wikipedia article has been available for a while. Your questions about BraveStarr inspired me to post parts of it.