Shadow Raiders

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Shadow Raiders

(War Planets in USA)
Country of origin Canada
No. of episodes 26
Production
Running time 30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel currently: YTV's Bionix
Original run 1998 – 1999
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Shadow Raiders was an animated television series produced by Mainframe Entertainment that aired from 1998 to 1999. The show was loosely based on the Trendmasters toy line, War Planets. The original character designs were created by ReBoot designer, Brendan McCarthy. Although the show ended after its second season, tying up most of the loose ends, a proposed third season that would have answered major questions, like the origin of the Beast Planet, was never made.

The series focuses on the four warring planets of a solar system as they are forced to set aside their differences and form an alliance against the threat of the Beast Planet. The planets, Fire, Rock, Bone, and Ice have warred for years over their natural resources, Fire produces energy, Rock produces metals and minerals, Bone produces food, and Ice produces water. However, when an alien named Tekla comes from another solar system, she brings a warning: the Beast Planet is coming. Now Graveheart, a humble miner of Planet Rock, must convince the leaders of Fire, Rock, Bone, and Ice to put aside their differences and stand together against the Beast, their new common enemy.

Contents

[edit] Planets

Further information: List of Shadow Raiders planets

[edit] The Engines

Planets Ice, Rock, Fire, Bone, Sand and Jungle are all equipped with World Engines while the Prison Planet is equipped with Teleport Engines. Built by an unknown race long before the inhabitants of these worlds evolved, the engines have the power to move the planets through space at great speeds; the Prison Planet's engines can teleport the world to different locations in space. Each set of engines is located at the core of its world and can be reached using Telepods, small platforms on the surface of each world. The Telepods send the user to the core of the planet where they can use the computer to move the planet. The Telepods can also be used to move people from one planet to another. The engines use a gravity matrix, atmospheric shields and massive engines buried beneath the planet to move it safely through space. The Prison Planet operates in a similar way, except that it is instantly teleported through space.

The World Engines and Teleport Engines were discovered during the battle against the Beast Planet. Lamprey appeared to know about the World Engines; thus, it is possible that all worlds are equipped with these engines.

The World Engines are equipped with sensors, one of which is a Null Energy sensor designed as an early warning system. The AI also warned the characters to move the planet away from a massive blast of Null Energy. They respond to voice commands, allowing any planet denizen to use them. This shows that the creators were an enemy of the Beast. The Telepod technology was reverse-engineered by Tekla to create a forcefield generator so anyone can can physically fight the Beast without disintegrating.

[edit] Main Characters

Main article: List of Shadow Raiders characters

[edit] The Story

The story begins moments before the destruction of Planet Tek. Princess Tekla and Voxx, her robotic companion, flee their world as it is consumed by the Beast Planet and escape attacking Beast Drones. She escapes her solar system to the system of the Cluster through a Beast Armada hole in space. Tekla travels to the Cluster to warn them of the approaching danger. As she travels through the system, the Beast attacks her and she crashes on Planet Ice, where she is rescued by Graveheart. Soon the Beast attacks, which convinces King Cryos to form an alliance of the Cluster worlds against the Beast Planet. The first season revolves around the efforts of Graveheart, who has become the de facto leader of the Alliance, to convince the leaders of the other Cluster worlds to join the Alliance. The first planet they visit is Planet Rock, but Lord Mantle insists that the Battlemoons are enough to defend their planet. Thus, Rock does not join the Alliance. After an attack on Planet Rock by Beast Drones, Graveheart's friend Jade joins him to help rally planets Fire and Bone to his cause. In the end, Planets Fire and Bone join the Alliance and they soon realize that the Beast Planet must have set up a base somewhere nearby to attack the Alliance. They find out that the base is on Remora and the three worlds send a huge fleet to wipe out the Beast Drones on the planet. They are victorious, but the destruction of Remora only serves to anger the Beast Planet, which has just arrived in the system. Planet Rock has now joined the Alliance, using its five powerful Battle Moons to help destroy Remora, but the Beast Planet destroys one of the moons with ease from half way across the solar system, and sets out to consume Planet Fire.

Another moon is lost in the battle to defend Planet Fire and nothing is able to stop the Beast Planet. Planet Ice is almost destroyed in the battle but Tekla discovers the World Engines and saves the planet. As the Alliance relocates the people of Planet Fire to the Battle Moons, the World Engines on Fire are also activated. But Fire’s engines are damaged by the Beast Drones and the planet is too slow to avoid the Beast Planet. The Grand Vizier then uses the engines to ram the Beast Planet with Planet Fire. Fire is consumed by the Beast Planet and the rest of the Alliance worlds use their engines to move away from the Beast Planet. On their journey, they discover Planet Sand, which joins the Alliance, and Planet Jungle, which the Alliance uses as a trap. They fill it with enough explosives to destroy the planet, detonating them as the Beast Planet consumes Jungle, but the Beast Planet is still in one piece. The plants of Jungle live on, as a single cutting is given to the Alliance.

The Alliance then discovers the Prison Planet, which has appeared near the Alliance worlds. Graveheart, Jade, Cryos and Emperor Femur are sent to investigate but they all crash on the planet. As a rescue is about to be attempted, the Prison Planet teleports away.

On the Prison Planet, Graveheart and Cryos are captured by a faction of convicts led by Jewelia, a devious woman who takes a liking to Graveheart. Femur, unfortunately for him, is taken, along with Jade, by a second faction commanded by Sternum, Femur’s nobler brother, and arguably the rightful ruler of Planet Bone. Convinced that their friends have been slain by the other faction, the two pairs join the fight on the side of their respective faction until the truth is revealed.

Meanwhile, the Beast Drones attack the Alliance and Lord Mantle takes control of the Alliance by force. Thinking that his planet is superior to the Beast Planet, Mantle sends the Battle Moons to attack the Beast Planet, but an armada of Beast ships capture Planet Rock and Blokk kills Lord Mantle in single combat. As the Beast Planet is about to consume Planet Rock, the Prison Planet teleports into its path. Graveheart and his group use Sternum's Telepod to travel to Rock. Sternum then teleports the Prison Planet out of the system, taking the Beast Planet with it. A final battle between Graveheart and Blokk results in Blokk’s demise, Jade’s rise to ruler of Planet Rock and the Alliance's new era of peace. Meanwhile, the story ends moments before the destruction of Planet Reptizar at the hands of the Beast Planet.

[edit] Episode List

ep. # ep. name ep. summary
1 Behold the Beast With the destruction of planet Tek, the sole survivor, princess Tekla accompanied by Voxx travels to another system to warn all planets about the Beast Invaders. She crash lands on planet Ice where a quarrel between the Royal legion of King Cryos confronts a Rock expeditionary mining squad, including Graveheart. A Beast cohort launches a full-scale attack and only the Ice sovereign, Graveheart and a convalescent Tekla survive the first purge. King Cryos and his aids heal their former adversary and welcome Graveheart in joining the Alliance. Meanwhile, the Beast Armada invades the system and positions itself…
2 On the Rocks The Aurora, Cryos' flagship, travels to planet Rock to convince Lord Mantle to join the Alliance. Sadly, the army arrests Graveheart and the Rock King expels the Ice King determining he is still his greatest enemy. Lord Mantle condemns Graveheart to imprisonment. Meanwhile, Blokk the supreme warlord of the Beast launches an invasion on planet Rock with Voyd permission. Jade, a rock commander and a long time friend of Graveheart, releases him and they run to the Core central to activate the planet’s defense - the Battle Moons. They succeed but Lord Mantle banishes the “miner” still not believing in the alliance. Despite all odds, Jade agrees to join them claiming to watch her friend’s back.
3 Born in Fire The Aurora travels to planet Fire in hope of convincing prince Pyrus to join them. The obstacle here is the Grand Vizier who doesn’t trust strangers. He orders Graveheart and King Cryos to survive a labyrinth of lava where lava dogs are lethal beasts. Meanwhile, Zera, Cryos' daughter, is furious at prince Pyrus for not intervening but a Beast battalion interrupts their argument and wounds the young lord of Fire. However, Jade arrives at the last moment and saves the children. Graveheart and Cryos survive the test and Fire is pleased to join the Alliance.
4 Bad to the Bone The Alliance travels to planet Bone but finds a surprise - the Beast planet is already there. Emperor Femur, an arrogant and egotistical leader, agreed to welcome both the Beast and the Alliance on his world. Lamprey the Deceiver and her agents convince the Bone Emperor to side with them and send on the run King Cryos, Graveheart, Jade and prince Pyrus. The young prince of Fire believes he can reason with Femur but is captured by Lamprey and her warriors. Eventually it is revealed that the field generator built on planet Bone will not protect the planet but will instead seal the entrance to any Alliance Battle Fleets. When betrayed, Femur rescues Prince Pyrus and creates a diversion allowing the Aurora to destroy the Field Generator giving their fleets the chance to swarm the invaders. Bone joins the Alliance. Back at their World Fortress, Lamprey tells Blokk and Voyd that she believes Tekla to be responsible for uniting the worlds.
5 Wolf in the Fold Lamprey possesses the body of Tekla and intends to crush the fragile Alliance by murdering its leader Graveheart. Her plan fails when she mentions details the real Tekla couldn’t know. She escapes inside Femur’s flagship heading back to Bone.
6 Mind War Tekla and Lamprey battle for the domination of Tekla's body and spirit. Tekla manages to defeat her enemy and regains control of herself.
7 J'Accuse Someone frames Jade for murder on planet Fire. On this world the punishment for murder is a death sentence. Graveheart leads prince Pyrus and the Grand Vizier on an investigation and the miner determines the criminal's fingerprints aren’t those of Jade. When Lamprey the Deceiver and her warriors appear, there is a battle and the group is rescued by princess Tekla and King Cryos. Jade is free and the heroes have saved the day.
8 Blood is Thicker... Someone has kidnapped lady Zera, the young princess of planet Ice. It turns out to be Blokk who wants King Cryos to choose between family and duty. If the Ice king chooses family he will have to abdicate the throne. Cryos and Jade rescue Zera while Tekla and Graveheart defend the palace with prince Pyrus and Femur. At the end, the Ice sovereign surrenders the throne to the army commander Medstar.
9 Rock and Ruin The Alliance returns to planet Rock to convince Lord Mantle but Tekla fails. Emperor Femur suggests a cunning plan. However, the Bone emperor's intentions are only to steal the Battle Moons for himself. Latter, Blokk orders his legions to swarm on planet Rock while the defensive moons are away. Graveheart and Tekla head to recapture the Battle Moons and save the day in time.
10 Against all Odds Prince Pyrus and Lady Zera accidentally crash land on planet Remora, a dead world. They must escape Blokk and his millions of warriors.
11 Uneasy Hangs the Head Graveheart believes he is not the right leader for the Alliance. The miner remembers when his younger brother Mica died on a trip to planet Fire. He failed him. Jade consoles her old friend and convinces him to stand firm.
12 Ragnarok Part One The assault on planet Remora begins. Cryos is once more sovereign of planet Ice. Bone, Fire and Ice stand against their common enemy. On planet Ice Tekla and Voxx search for a special weapon underground. Blokk , Lamprey and Voyd are waiting the right time to unleash the ultimate power of Remora against their enemies. Blokk fights on and Emperor Femur abandons his comrades leaving them to fend for themselves. The Beast Planet fires and destroys half the battle fleets…
13 Ragnarok Part Two The Alliance stands against their greatest enemy. Remora unleashes even more of its offensive strike forces and damages the Ice and Fire battle fleets greatly. In the end, Jade and the Battle Moons rescue the day and it seems Remora is destroyed but Voyd with Blokk and Lamphrey escape to fulfill their plan. The Beast planet shows up and annihilates one of the Battle Moons… The Beast wins.
Season 2
14 Worlds within Worlds The Battle of Remora continues with the Beast Planet invading the solar system. The Alliance retreats but their almost invincible intergalactic enemy targets planet Ice and not even the Battle Moons can protect it. Tekla and Lady Zera discover world engines on planet Ice and activate its thrusters escaping the wrath of the Beast planet.
15 This is the Way the World Ends... The Beast planet targets planet Fire. Graveheart and Tekla must hurry to find the world engines. During the invasion, Graveheart is injured while saving prince Pyrus. The Grand Vizier witnesses the sacrifice and reconsiders his judgment towards the outlanders. In the end, everything is lost for planet Fire but the Grand Vizier sacrifices himself and tells prince Pyrus that his new friends are indeed worthy ones. Prince Pyrus orders the Vizier to evacuate with the rest of his people, because he still needs his guidance and company. The Vizier disobeys, saying that Pyrus is old enough to rule, and that the Vizier does not want to die a coward. The Grand Vizier uses the world engines to ram Planet Fire onto the Beast Planet's claw, hoping that it will destroy the Beast Planet, The Beast Planet consumes planet Fire anyway, killing the Grand Vizier.
16 Period of Adjustment Emperor Femur and Pelvus must make good their commitment to return to the Alliance. They agree to feed the people of Fire with the resources of Bone. Bone rejoins the Alliance.
17 Blaze of Glory Captain Blaze and his renegade squad steal one of the Battle Moons and attempt to regain their lost honor in destroying the Beast Planet. But when Blokk and his battle fleets almost seize Prince Pyrus, Captain Blaze returns to save his young lord. At the command center, Jade is contacted by Lord Mantle to finish their bargain…
18 Sandstorm The Alliance travels to planet Sand. Lady Zera meets one of the Sand People, Zuma. She is a telepath. In the end, the great Sand People save the day with their mind power.
19 Girls Night Out Jade, princess Tekla, Lady Zera, Pelvus and Zuma head for "Moon Over Mayhem" to socialize. In an attempt to reconcile, Tekla gives Jade the key of the Cluster defenses. During this pleasure trip they are attacked by Fire’s pirates and smugglers as well as Lamprey and her watchmen.
20 Time Bomb The Alliance of the Cluster find Planet Jungle. They are willing to sacrifice this non-living world to trap the Beast Planet and Blokk's forces. On a trip to planet Jungle they place explosives but living plants ask for their help. Tekla finds out the planet's world engines were destroyed long ago. The vegetation on this world is doomed. A sentient plant asks Femur to preserve a small part of the planet's life. The Beast Planet consumes Planet Jungle and Blokk is victorious.
21 Embers of the Past The Alliance finds some residues of Planet Fire. Apparently the Grand Vizier is alive but his personality seems different. It is revealed that it isn’t the Grand Vizier but a creation of the Beast planet. The Alliance retreats into a nebula to evade destruction from Blokk and his battle forces.
22 Divided We Stand The Alliance detects a signal from a mysterious planet which is determined to be a battleground. Graveheart and Cryos are traveling together as are Jade and Femur. The two groups crash land separately and lose contact with their fleet. The miner and the Ice King are found by Jewelia and her band of criminals. Jewelia develops a liking for the former rock soldier. Jade and Femmr meet Sternum who is a tough warrior from planet Bone. Sternum relocates the prison planet to another location evading the scanners of any possible enemies…
23 Nor Iron Bars a Cage It turns out the prison planet can teleport itself. Sternum is revealed to have been Femur’s brother. Tekla and Pyrus must confront Lord Mantle, who wants to rule the Alliance. Mantle shuts down the defenses for the entire Alliance endangering the fleet. Meanwhile, Jewelia and Graveheart lead an attack on Sternum’s camp but are driven off by its superior arsenal. Sternum was the rightful ruler of Bone before being framed by his brother and seeks revenge on Femur. Graveheart and Jewelia retreat while Tekla has no choice but to pass over leadership to Mantle. The Rock King reveals a key which is the defense key given by Tekla to Jade. On the prison planet Jade is set to kill Femur.
24 Death of a King Both factions of the prison planet prepare for their next battle. Jade helps Sternum with the maintenance around the base while Cryos and Graveheart devise a plan to get to the teleport engines. Meanwhile Tekla, Zera and Pyrus receive a summons from Lord Mantle. Mantle reveals to the three his intent of wiping out the Beast Planet with an all-out assault from the battle moons. Pyrus objects because his people now live on the battle moons. Back on the prison planet, Jewelia begins her assault on Sternum's base while Cryos and Graveheart move underground. Detecting enemy presence in the underground and threatening Femur to provide Jade with backup, while Sternum intercepts Graveheart and Cryos. Both groups engage with each other. Graveheart seeks to avenge Jade’s supposed death. Jade herself narrowly escapes assassination from Jewelia's sniper. In retaliation for Rock's attack, the Beast sends out its armada which wipes out Rock's defenses easily. Blokk and his drone infiltrate Mantle's throne roon. Mantle calls back the battle moons once he realizes that his moons are doing no damage. Blokk and Mantle engage in battle; Blokk proves victorious and kills the Rock Lord.
25 The Long Road Home The Beast has captured Planet Rock, and starts to round up the planets' population. On the Prison Planet, the fight between the two factions continues, but Graveheart, Cryos, Jade, and Femur are reunited. The Sand people find the Prison Planet and guide the planet back to the Alliance system. The planet teleports back, appearing between the Beast Planet and Planet Rock. As the Beast Planet's maw closes onto the Prison Planet, Sternum activates the teleport engines, teleporting both the Prison and Beast Planets to parts unknown.
26 Ascension The episode opens with Lord Mantle's funeral. As Graveheart speaks and the Alliance watches, Blokk kills three Rock soldiers. Tekla, Pyrus and Zera confront Jade to demand why she would betray them, and Graveheart reveals that it was to convince Mantle to lend them the Battle Moons for the fight with Remora. Graveheart then asks Jade to be the next ruler of Rock. After an argument, she agrees and goes for the test. Blokk enters the World Engine and kills all the Rock soldiers except the captain. He steers the planet towards the closest star. He then contacts the Alliance and demands that Graveheart face him. Cryos informs Graveheart, who goes to meet Blokk in the world engines as Jade takes the royalty test. She passes the test. The Graveheart battles Blokk while Voxx, Tekla and Cryos go to repair the engines and get the planet away from the star. Voxx repairs the world engine allowing Jade to steer the planet away as Graveheart finishes Blokk off by plunging the Forcefield Generator inside him. In the aftermath, Jade makes Graveheart an official Rock citizen, and the series ends with the Beast Planet devouring another planet, with the subtitles: Planet Reptizar... on Doomsday.

[edit] DVD releases

The series was released originally in North America in six volumes, each containing four or five episodes. Much like fellow Mainframe Entertainment series ReBoot, the North American DVDs are long out of print and rare, though tend to fetch substantially less than other Mainframe DVDs. Both complete series are available in two sets in the United Kingdom.

[edit] Cast

[edit] War Planets Toy Line

The Shadow Raiders series was based on the War Planets toys from Trendmasters. Toys of Planets Ice, Fire, Bone, Rock, Sand, Tek, Water, Reptizar, Remora, the Beast Planet, several Battle Moons and Beast, Bone and Ice Tanks were created. The series is not strictly set around the toys since more worlds than just Rock have Battle Moons. Several toys were brought out that were based on the Shadow Raiders series but they were either figures of the main characters or ships.

[edit] External links

[edit] See also