StarFleet first aired in the UK in the 1980's (October 1982) and if you don't instantly recognise the name think puppets and big red robot! If this doesn't spark anything off, read on anyway as if you've not heard of it before, you're about to become a fan!
StarFleet was relatively unique in 1982 for a number of reasons. The story was a continuous saga that travelled from episode to episode (over 24 episodes). The entire series was shot with rod-puppets - as opposed to the type common at the time with strings etc. hanging down in front of the camera. The story also had a few of its characters die half-way through which again is pretty unusual for a kid's cartoon show.
The basic storyline is that it's the year 2999 and the Third Space War has just come to an end, so our solar system is enjoying a bit of a breather until . . . .
A huge space ship appears out of nowhere, destroying an Earth ship and proceeding to make its way to the centre of Earth's military might - the StarFleet Command. Once there the ship demands the immediate handover of the F Zero-One?!?! exactly, no-one knows what an F Zero 1 is, but the aliens are pretty insistent that we have it and should hand it over or else!
Luckily the X-Bomber with its powerful hi-tec weapons (more about these later) manages to scare off the alien ship for the meantime. Whilst doing so they also witness a fight between the bad alien ship and ANOTHER mysterious alien ship which we later learn is called the Skull (which oddly enough actually looks like a sea-faring ship in space). So this essentially sets the scene for the rest of the series, the StarFleet crew are charged with sorting out the alien menace and discovering both the secret of the Skull and determining what is an FZero1
The show has lots and lots of really interesting characters (see below) and due to its Japanese roots it has lots of hi-tec gadgetry on display. If you have a look at some of the other dedicated StarFleet sites mentioned below in the Resources section, you will see that StarFleet originated in Japan, but ended up being far more successful over here, there were also anime, manga and many other incarnations of the franchise throughout the years.
Shiro Hagen
As far as there is a hero in StarFleet Shiro is it, although the story follows all of the characters, it's Shiro's development we follow most consistently. Shiro is the pilot of the ship and from episode one onwards spends all of his time trying to impress/save Lamia!
Shiro is very introspective, a bit of a thinker and a poet trapped inside him. He's probably the most serious of the three guys.
Barry Hercules
Barry is the ships Weapons Expert and is the tough guy of the crew. He's good natured, likes to joke around and is always there for Shiro and John Lee.
I never really understood why, but a quirk of the show is that he plays guitar and carries it pretty much everywhere with him (see above!)
John Lee
All three of the guys are meant to be fresh out of the academy, John Lee is the one who shows it the most. He comes across as the young cadet, with lots to learn & is definitely the comedy character out of the three. He's not a wimp and is willing to back up his friends when needed, but he definitely likes food, sleep and fighting in that order!
Lamia
Lamia is initially introduced as the love interest in the show, however as the series develops we find out she's much more than just a pretty face!
Lamia is the F Zero One!! It is her that Makara is hunting on behalf of the Imperial Master. At the end of the series Lamia uses her powers (which slowly develop throughout the show) to defeat the Imperial Master and bring a new era of peace to the galaxy just as the year 3000 dawns! yippee!
Dr Benn
Dr Benn, as if to prove he's a Doctor he is almost never seen without his pipe! Dr Benn is the brains of the operation, he desiiged the X-Bomber and all the associated hi-tec weaponry. He's not content to just sit on his laurels though! He actually likes to get his hands dirty and commands the X-Bomber during it's missions.
PPA
PPA introduces himself rather pompously as the Cyberdroid PPA - Perfectly Programmed Android, and if you are like me from that minute onward you find him incredibly annoying! He does provide some pretty funny scenes thought throughout the series, but generally not intentionally on his part!
Commander Makara
The picture above cannot do the Commander justice! You have got to go and buy the dvd just to hear her talk it's great - she is BAD! Makara is a woman on a mission, she is determined that she will find and capture/destroy the F Zero One and NOTHING is going to stand in her way. She does have a tendency to displace some of her frustration on poor old Captain Orion!
Her left eye is covered by a strange eye-piece thing that allows the Imperial Master to talk to her, or through her as he desires. This is pretty common in the Thalian Imperial Empire ( as we see later in the series when Captain Carter one of the good guys, turns up later as a bad guy with a scorpion eye-piece controlling him!)
Captain Orion
Captain Orion is the much put - upon Captain of Makara's battle-cruiser. All I ever remember him saying is 'Launch imperial fighters!' but I'm sure he does say much more than this!
Orion basically is the scape goat for all of Makara's anger whenever anything goes wrong as it frequently does.
I like Orion as you can't help but feel sorry for him, he gives off the aura of someone who didn't really realise what he was signing up for and now the ship's set sail he's resigned to his lot in life!
Kirara
Not really much to say about Kirara, I'm not even sure if Kirara is male or female! As you can see above he/she is a crazy space gorilla type thing, that is very, very loyal to Lamia, and makes protecting Lamia his/her number one priority.
The X-Impulse!
StarFleet Closing Theme
Many people mistakenly believe that Brian May wrote the great end song for Star Fleet. It was actually Paul Bliss of the Moody Blues that wrote the song. Brian May (of Queen fame) was a big fan of the show and did a cover of the song called 'The StarFleet Project'.
Star Fleet: Lyrics
Lyrics by Brian May
Send a message out across the sky.
Alien raiders just past Gemini.
Who will come and save us now?
Who can defend us from the power?
Chorus:
Star Fleet, Star Fleet, Star Fleet, Star Fleet
Tell the people back at Earth control.
Send Star Fleet legions to save our souls.
Always daring and courageous - Oooh
Only they can save us
Chorus x 2:
Star Fleet, Star Fleet. Star Fleet, Star Fleet.
Star Fleet!
Star Fleet: Resources
In my opinion this site is the best StarFleet page I've found on the web so far, well worth a look!- http://www.sfxb.co.uk Includes full episode guide and interviews with writers etc.
How could you have a StarFleet page without the DaiX junction sequence?
