Space Sentinels
Space Sentinels (originally titled The Young Sentinels and renamed midway through its only season) is a Saturday morning animated series produced by Filmation which debuted on the American NBC network on September 10, 1977 and ran for thirteen half-hour episodes. The series has been called "ahead of its time" due to its racially diverse cast of main characters.[1]
In this series, the Roman mythological figures Hercules and Mercury are joined by Astrea, a character created specifically for the series, to form a superhero team to protect mankind.
The complete series was released on Region 1 DVD on August 22, 2006, along with the complete series of The Freedom Force.[1]
Characters
- Hercules: blonde-haired and blue-eyed Hercules possesses superhuman strength. He was voiced by George DiCenzo, who also voiced Sentinel One and later reprised the role of Hercules in The Freedom Force animated series.
- Mercury: Mercury's power is the ability to run and fly at up to the speed of light. Mercury is of Asian ancestry. He was voiced by Asian American actor character actor Evan C. Kim (who is credited here as simply "Evan Kim").
- Astrea. Astrea can morph into nearly any living animal. She, along with the Super Friends' Black Vulcan, were one of the very few African American superheroes. She was voiced by African American character actress Dee Timberlake.
- Mo (Maintenance Operator), Sentinel One's robot assistant, voiced by Filmation co-founder and executive producer Lou Scheimer.
- Antagonists: The "sinister" villain Morpheus is the Sentinels' sworn enemy; he is also an Earthling given powers in the same manner as Hercules, Mercury, and Astrea, but far earlier. However, those who had given Morpheus his powers had erred by giving him a variety of powers rather than one specific power; he had rebelled and turned to evil. Secondary antagonists include The Sorceress, as well as Anubis, modeled after the Egyptian god of the same name.
Episodes
- Morpheus: the Sinister Sentinel
- Space Giants
- The Time Traveler
- The Sorceress
- The Return of Anubis
- The Wizard of Od
- The Prime Sentinel
- Commander Nemo
- Voyage to the Inner World
- Loki
- Fauna
- The Jupiter Spore
- The World Ship
DVD release
BCI Eclipse LLC (under license from Entertainment Rights) released all 13 episodes of Space Sentinels on DVD in Region 1 on August 22, 2006, along with all five episodes of The Freedom Force. This series featured the character Hercules and which originally aired as part of Tarzan and the Super 7.[1] In addition, the digitally-remastered presentation features scripts and Spanish language tracks for all 13 episodes, audition tapes, a gallery featuring original images, early presentation images, trivia and interviews with creators Lou Scheimer, Buzz Dixon, Darrell McNeil, Michael Reaves, Robert Kline and David Wise.[1]
As of 2009, this release has been discontinued and is out of print as BCI Eclipse has ceased operations.[2]
References
Show Credits
- Executive Producers: Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott
- Producer: Don Christensen
- Associate Producers and Story Editors: Len Janson, Chuck Menville
- Supervising Director: Hal Sutherland
- Animation Directors: Marsh Lamore, Rudy Larriva, Don Towsley, Gwen Wetzler, Lou Zukor
- Production Manager: Joseph Simon
- Production Designers: Alberto DeMello, Jim Fletcher, Herb Hazelton
- Key Assistant: Mike Hazy
- Layout: Kurt Connor, Frank Gonzales, George Goode, Clark Haas, Dick Hall, Ed Haney, Wes Herschensohn, Dave Hoover, Rich Hoover, Les Kaluza, Lonnie Lloyd, Carol Lundberg, Greg Nocon, John Perry, Virgil Raddatz, Joe Roman, Leo Swenson, Cliff Voorhees, David West, Jim Willoughby
- Story Director: Bob Kline
- Storyboard: John Dorman, Paul Fennell, Gary Goldstein, Hal Mason, Mario Piluso
- Color Director: Ervin L. Kaplan
- Backgrounds: Barbara Benedetto, Sheila Brown, Pat Keppler, Rolly Oliva, Tom O'Laughlin, Curtiss Perkins, Don Peters, Don Schweikert, Gary Selvaggio, Douglas Stevenson, Don Watson
- Animators: Tom Baron, Carl Bell, Becky Bristow, Jim Brummett, Emil Carle, Zion Davush, Otto Feuer, Ed Friedman, John Garling, George Jorgensen, Lou Kachivas, Walt Kubiak, Lawrence Miller, Joe Morrison, Fred Myers, Emory Myrick, Bill Nunes, Casey Onaitis, Jack Ozark, Tony Pabian, Karen Peterson, Bill Pratt, Bill Reed, Len Rogers, Don Ruch, Don Schloat, Ben Shenkman, Larry Silverman, Hank Smith, Bob Tyler, Dardo Velez, George Waiss, Ron Westlund
- Assistant Animation Supervisor: Lew Irwin
- Animation Check Supervisor: Marion Turk
- Xerography Supervisor: John Remmel
- Paint Supervisor: Betty Brooks
- Camera Supervisor: R.W. Pope
- Camera: John Aardal, Don Dinehart, Dan Larsen, David J. Link, Dean Teves, F.T. Ziegler
- Color By Technicolor
- Film Editor: Jim Blodgett
- Film Coordinator: June Gilham
- Background Music Composed By Yvette Blais, Jeff Michael
- Music Published By Shermley Music Company (ASCAP)
- Music and Sound Effects Recorded By Horta-Mahana Corporation
- Voices By George DiCenzo, Evan Kim, Dee Timberlake
- (c) Copyright 1977 Filmation Associates
- A FILMATION PRODUCTION
External links