Starcom

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Starcom: The U.S. Space Force is an animated syndicated series in the 1980s that spawned a successful motorized toy line franchise in Europe and Asia for Mattel, despite its failures to succeed in its U.S. domestic market. The plot was based on the adventures of an American astronaut brigade as they fought off attempted invasions by Shadow Force, a nasty collection of aliens and robots led by the nefarious Emperor Dark.

The show was developed with the help of the Young Astronauts Council, Starcom: The U.S. Space Force with the original intention of sparking young viewers' interest in the U.S. NASA Space Program. However, Starcom did not get much of a chance to make kids want to join the space program and was cancelled off the air after one brief season. It was revived for a short run in the early 1990s, but no new episodes were aired.

The plot was classic Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers fare. The evil members of Shadow Force, led by Emperor Dark, were trying to take over the cosmos, and it was up to Starcom to stop them. Young hero Dash, an ace Starcom pilot, was the star of the series, and several of his teammates were family members. He was also backed up by the resourceful Slim, whose niece was yet another Starcom pilot. Other heroes on the Starcom side included ace pilot John ‘Slim’ Griffin. Together, the members of Starcom fought Dark's legions of robotic minions, flying into battle in a fleet of advanced spacecraft.

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[edit] Toys

Like many 1980s toys, the Starcom line was developed as part of the merchandising for a cartoon.

Starcom: The U.S. Space Force debuted on television screens in 1987, and the toy line hit stores around the same time. There was plenty of variety for the pint-sized empire builder to choose from: the complete series of Starcom toys offered 23 figures, 6 playsets, and 13 vehicles on the Starcom side, while the Shadow Force was represented by 15 action figures and 11 vehicles. The action figures were two inches tall and came packaged with a backpack, a weapon, and identification cards that explained who they were and what their equipment could do. Like the figures, the vehicles and playsets benefited from a sleek, attractive design.

The most unique - and indeed exciting - aspect of the Starcom toy line was its use of Magna Lock technology. Basically, the action figures had tiny magnets implanted in their feet. Not only did this allow them to stand on the vehicles and playsets without falling off, but it also activated nifty gizmos in the playsets. For instance, if you placed a figure in the elevator of the Starbase Station playset, its Magna Lock magnets would cause the elevator to rise to the top by itself. On the same playset, if you put a figure in one of the cannons, the Magna Lock magnets would activate a mechanism that made it turn and fire its rockets.

The vehicles and playsets also delivered Power Deploy features, meaning they offered plenty of moving parts (hidden compartments, cannons, folding wings, etc.). All in all, the Starcom toys represented one of the best action figure lines of its time, offering handsome designs and a variety of cool features that didn’t require batteries or electric power, and all at a reasonable price.

Starcom toys never caught on in the U.S. due to poor promotion and the fact that its parent show only lasted a year in syndication. They were discontinued after two years but ended up doing very well in Europe, where both the show and the toys continued to be popular long after the American toys. According to an article by Stephen Thanabalan in Wizard Comics, the toys were successful and hugely popular in Europe and Southeast Asia only after coming under the production and promotion of Mattel. That company removed the US flag and NASA details from the Coleco originals (Coleco would later declare bankruptcy and be bought over by Hasbro) and launched the toys with a second line of promotions in the early 1990s. One view is that the toys had such unique features that the toys' marketing should not have been marked by national symbols of one nation, and would adopt a more universal theme of space travel following the end of the space race and post-cold war era.

Today, the Starcom toys remain popular among toy collectors thanks to their combination of slick design and unique features. The toys garnered an older cult following, and have a status for being rare in the 2000s, where Ebay sites continue to see sellers from Europe and Asia, who own these toy "antiques" sell them to these buyers at highly profitable rates. Their enduring ability to command the attention of toy fans proves that a well-designed toy will endure no matter where its inspiration came from.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Weapons Index

[edit] StarCom Weapons

  • F-14 Rapid-Impulse Projectile (RIP) Pistol (X)
  • M-3 Megalaser Rifle
  • M-7A Anti-armor Megalaser (XXX)
  • M-9 and M-9P RIP Rifle (X)
  • M-30 Reflex Arc Microwave (RAM) Rifle (XX)
  • M-32 RIP Bazooka (X, XXX)
  • P-6 Megalaser Pistol
  • P-16 and P-19 RIP Pistol (X)
  • P-29 Megalaser Pistol
  • P-31 RAM Pistol (XX)
  • Super-Longrange Accelerated Mass (SLAM) Gun (X, XXX)
  • Ultra-Rapid Pulse (URP) Laser Gun

[edit] Shadow Force Weapons

  • “Decimator” Plasma Rifle (XXX)
  • “JOLT” Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) Bazooka (XXX)
  • R-4 Warp Heavy Accelerated Mass (WHAM) Pistol (X)
  • S-23 WHAM Pistol (X)
  • V-6 Wide-impact/High-frequency Ion/Positron (WHIP) Pistol (XX)
  • W-51 and W-59 Paralaser Pistol
  • X-47 Paralaser Rifle

X = RAILGUN; XX = PARTICLE-BEAM WEAPON; XXX = ANTI-ARMOR WEAPON

[edit] Credits

  • Executive Producer: Andy Heyward
  • Co Executive Producers: Robby London, Graeme Smith, Christopher Hallowell
  • Produced by: Tetsuo Katayama, Richard Raynis
  • Associate Producer: Kenneth Y. Duer
  • Directed by: Marek Buchwald
  • Production Managers: Shigeru Akagawa, Hiroshi Toita
  • Production Coordinators: Hirofumi Ohtsuki, Christopher G. Takami, Yasuyuki Takei,
  • Production Assistants: Hatsue Abe, William A. Ruiz, Minoru Terao, Kazuko Yamamoto
  • Script Coordinator: Lori Crawford
  • Assisted by: George Robinson
  • Talent Coordinator: Jennifer Goldie
  • Story Editor: Brynne Stephens
  • Art Director: Chris Lloyd
  • Character Designers: Gary L. Payn, Louis Police
  • Background Designers: Douglas Ball, Richie Chavez, Dan Quarnstrom, Bruce Zick
  • Prop Designers: Shinji Aramaki, Steve Swaja, Paul Wee
  • Character Color Stylists: Robin Draper, David Svend Karroll, Marcelo Vignali
  • Background Color Stylists: John Calmette, James Gallego, Kathy Heinemann
  • Storyboard: Adrian Gonzalez, Gordon Harrison, John Fox, Patrick Archibald, Greg Garcia, Jim Smith, Andy Knight, Keith Sergeant, Vincent Gassies, Charles Greenhalgh, Joan Igawa, John Dorman
  • Storyboard Cleanup: Kevin Altieri
  • Storyboard Supervisor: Dan Riba
  • Assisted by: Kevin O'Donnell
  • Dialogue Editor: Richard S. Gannon
  • Assistant Editors: Gregory K. Bowron, Theresa Gilroy, Terry Noss, Randy Paton, Michelle Rochester, Karen Rosenbloom, Susan L. Vovsi, Donald Zappala
  • Casting: Madeleine Bascom, Marsha Goodman
  • Voice Director: Dan Hennessey
  • Format Editor: Lars Floden
  • Track Reader: Rob Rule
  • Lip Sync Checkers: Greg Bailey, Herve Bedard, Danica Bennett, Roxanne Ducharme, Mike Kaweski, Yutaka Oka
  • Videotape Supervisors: Phil R. Defibaugh, Anthony Lark, Kim Latimer
  • Assisted by: Kimberly Cronin
  • Sound Effects Editor: Bill Boydstun
  • Supervising Sound Editor: Richard Bruce Elliott
  • Supervising Music Editor: Marty Wereski
  • Music Editor: Stuart Goetz
  • Music by: Shuki Levy, Haim Saban
  • Sound Recording Assistants: Rick Dempsey, Maureen Feinberg, Daniela Spiwak
  • Overseas Editors: Andy Atfield, Kelly Hall, Teresa Hannigan, John Harris, John Kelly, Richard Kelly, Steve Monroe, Sheila Murray, Tim Roberts, Bill Ross, Jane Tattersall, William Filipiak, Kate Watkins
  • Concepts: Michael Maliani

[edit] External links

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