Space Sheriff Shaider

Space Sheriff Shaider (宇宙刑事シャイダー, Uchū Keiji Shaidā) was a tokusatsu television show that aired on from 1984 to 1985. It is the last of the Space Sheriff Series, the previous two being Space Sheriff Gavan and Space Sheriff Sharivan.

Action footage from Shaider was used for Season 2 of VR Troopers. For distribution purposes, Toei refers to this television series as Space Captain Sheider.^[1]

Plot

In college studying archaeology, Dai Sawamura (Alexis in Philippine Version) deciphers the figures on the Nazca Plain in Peru. Impressed by this feat, the Galactic Union Police (銀河連邦警察, Ginga Renpō Keisatsu) recruit and train him to be Earth's third Space Sheriff. He is given the code name 'Shaider' in memory of an ancient warrior who defeated the villain Emperor Kubilai and brought down the Fuuma 12,000 years ago. When the Fuuma returns, Dai is deputized as he returns to Earth to battle the Fuuma.

Characters

Vavilos Crew

Based on the Vavilos (バビロス, Babirosu), it serves as headquarters of Shaider and Annie as it circles around the Earth. In combat, the Vavilos can fire the Vavilos Beam (バビロス ビーム, Babirosu Bīmu) from its wings. Whenever Shaider enters the Fushigi Dimension and encounters a giant Fuuma gunship, he summons Vavilos, commanding it to transform either into a giant gun called the Big Magnum (Matrix Projection in Philippine Version) or a giant robot whose chest emits a giant laser beam called Vavilos Fire, fires Vavilos Lasers from its hands, catch the Fuuma Gunship's missiles and throw it back towards the Gunship and can shoot Vavilos Missiles.

• Dai Sawamura (沢村 大/宇宙刑事シャイダー, Sawamura Dai/Uchū Keiji Shaidā): A 21 year old former archaeologist, he continued his astronomer father's research into studying the Nazca images and manages to track the meaning behind it from Peru to Easter Island. There, Dai uncovers an altar that knocks himself unconscious. Finding himself on Planet Bird, Dai becomes Space Sheriff Shaider for managing to solve the missing item. Eventually learning of the warrior Shaider and his presumed relation, Dai realizes his fate is to finish his ancestor's duty by putting an end to the Fuuma. When Fuuma managed to take over most of the Universe, Dai learns the altar is actually an entrance to where headless body of Kubilai was sealed along with Kubilai's weak point. Though sealed in by Poe with a limited amount of oxygen, Shaider manages to escape and fight his way through the Fushigi Castle to save Annie before fighting Kubilai and won against the fiend. With his mission on Earth over, Dai decides to take Annie around the world. When he transforms with the command Shouketsu (焼結, Shōketsu, "Sinter"), the Vavilos envelops him with Blue Plasma Energy particles that form his armor within milliseconds. As Shaider, he uses the Laser Blade sword in his signature move Shaider Blue Flash or the Video Beam Gun in conjunction with Shaider Scope scanner to track down invisible foes. His own blues include, Shaider Punch, Shaider Kick, and Blue Flash Spark.
• Annie (アニー, Anī): Dai's girlfriend, whose homeworld of Mount was annihilated by Fuuma. She requested to be assigned to Earth with Dai, with intentions of vengeance. She usually drives a yellow Mazda RX-7 FB to patrol the streets or arrive at the scene of a battle, using a Laser Shot sidearm in battle. In the Cross-Over Movie, Dai Reveals to Retsu and Den that she is In Egypt studying Archaeology. She was told by her parents that Shaider is a thief. Then her father told her to shoot him and she was shy. Her mother told her to just do as he says. She didn't kill anyway.

Arsenal

• Shaian (シャイアン, Shaian): A multi-part tank that splits into the Sky Shaian (スカイ シャイアン, Sukaishaian), a fighter jet that fires Shaian Beams (ビシャイアン ームス, Shaian Bīmusu) and the Battle Shaian (バトル シャイアン, Batorushaian), a drill tank that it contains Shaian Rockets (シャイアン ロケッツ, Shaian Rokettsu) to attack enemy arsenals on the ground, or underground, rescuing people enslaved by Fuuma in the process. It is also equipped with a Shaian Searcher (シャイアン サーチャー, Shaian Sāchā).
• Blue Hawk (ブルホーク, Buruhōku): A Suzuki motorcycle that serves as Shaider's vehicle to enter the "Strange Realm" in order to chase the Fuuma's Strange Beast. Capable of shooting Hawk Lasers (ホークレーザー, Hōkurēzā) and Hawk Missiles (ホークミサイル, Hōkumisairu). On VR Troopers, the Blue Hawk is the name of the jet-fighter used by Ryan Steele, while the motorcycle he uses is called the Nitro Cycle.
• Suzuki SJ: A stock mini-SUV from Suzuki with Jimny livery and spare tire cover design, which Dai uses to patrol in plain clothes. Essentially the same vehicle used in Space Sheriff Gavan, only colored blue in this Series while it is Red in Space Sheriff Gavan.
• RX-7 Savanna FB: A yellow sports car from Mazda which Annie uses to patrol in plain clothes.

Earth

• Kojiro Oyama (大山 小次郎, Ōyama Kojirō): Carrying over from Sharivan and Gavan, Kojiro now runs a pet shop where owns a pig named Tonko. He doubles as a teacher, giving Dai a place to stay after learning of his past and (once again) unaware of his dual identity. He has feelings for Annie.
• Yoko Komura (小村陽子, Komura Yōko): Kojiro's teenage assistant, living with her father Ryusuke Komura (小村良介, Komura Ryōsuke) and younger brother Ryochi Komura (小村良一, Komura Ryōichi).
• Hiroyuki: A student under Oyama.
• Wataru Morishita (森下ワタル, Morishita Wataru): A student under Oyama.
• Shin Matsukawa (松川信, Matsukawa Shin): A student under Oyama.
• Rumi Akimoto (秋本ルミ, Akimoto Rumi): A student under Oyama.
• Mio: A student under Oyama.
• Keiko Akimoto (秋本恵子, Akimoto Keiko): A student under Oyama.
• Warrior Shaider (戦士シャイダー, Senshi Shaidā): An ancient warrior from the stars who drove Kubilai from Earth and demolished the Mu Empire (ムー帝国, Mū Teikoku), remaining on Earth for the rest of his days and fathering a line that presumably leads to Dai, the current Shaider. Warrior Shaider's ideals were also the foundation of the Galactic Union Patrol.

Galactic Union Police

• Commander Qom (コム長官, Komu Chōkan): He is the commander of Galactic Union Patrol and the father of Mimi.
• Marin (マリーン, Marīn): She is Commander Com's assistant.
• Mimi (ミミー, Mimī): She is the daughter of Commander Com, formerly Gavan's assistant and now his fiancée. She is a teacher at the Space Sheriff School. She asks Shaider to take Annie with him to Earth. After the final battle against Fuuma, she marries Gavan.
• Retsu Ichijouji/Space Sheriff Gavan (一条寺 烈/宇宙刑事ギャバン, Ichijōji Retsu/Uchū Keiji Gyaban): The captain of Galactic Union Patrol. He battles Fuuma to defend the Bird Planet. After the battle against Fuuma, he announces his marriage to Mimi.
• Den Iga/Space Sheriff Sharivan (伊賀電/宇宙刑事シャリバン, Iga Den/Uchū Keiji Shariban): He is a Space Sheriff from Iga Planet and helps defend that planet from Fuuma attack.
• Ullu (1): He has a face like a squirrel, Dai's classmate and friend who was deputized in response to Fuuma's war declaration. He was killed when Fuuma attacks his home planet during the Great Invasion.
• Kitz (1): He has a face like a bird, Dai's classmate and friend who was deputized in response to Fuuma's war declaration. He was killed when Fuuma attacks his home planet during the Great Invasion.
• Andro (1): Dai's classmate and friend who was deputized in response to Fuuma's war declaration. He is killed when Fuuma attacks his home planet during the Great Invasion.
• Vivian (ビビアン, Bibian, 41): A cheery journalist from Planet Bird who, against the wishes of her father, the president, heads to Earth to write about the Space Sheriffs and the Fuuma. However, crashing into the Fuuma fortress by mistake, Vivian is used in the villains' plan to destroy the Vavilos. In the process, due to Pairpair, Vivian falls in love with Shaider to Annie's dismay.

Fushigi World Fuuma

Fushigi World Fuuma (不思議界フーマ, Fushigikai Fūma) is a religion from the Mayan Pyramid-like Fushigi Palace in the Fushigi Dimension (Time Space Warp in Philippine Version), a subspace made of atomic particles that reaches temperatures around 6,000 degrees Celsius. The residents of this realm revere Kubilai as a god while carrying out his intent of conquering the universe through psychological attacks on many planets, destroying worlds like Gao, Omega, Mind, Gor, Marine, and Mount before targeting Earth to establish the second Mu Empire. Their airforce includes mini-carriage-like fighter jets and battleships with frowning faceplates. Eventually, on the day of Kubilai's birth, the Fuuma celebrate by systematically destroying every planet while pressing hard on their goal to conquer Earth. But once Kubilai is killed, the Fuuma disbands as the palace self-destructs just as they nearly dominated the entire universe.

• Great Emperor Kubilai (大帝王クビライ, Daiteiō Kubirai): The three red eyed former ruler of the Mu Empire (ムー帝国, Mū Teikoku), Kubilai corrupted the hearts and minds of humanity long ago until the warrior Shaider came and slaughtered his son Rahu and daughter in-law and vanquished the evils of the world. Losing his snake-armed body in the process, Kubilai was reduced to a giant, golden head, and he embedded himself in the wall of the Fuuma Palace's throne room where he rules the Fuuma while a new robotic body is being built for him. When he found the resting place of his ancient foe and the prison holding his body, Kubilai went to great lengths to ensure his weakness, his third eye, would not be revealed. When Shaider storms his palace, Kubilai unveils his robot body and takes Shaider into the Fushigi Dimension for an epic final battle. After detaching from his robot body, Kubilai meets his end when Shaider plunged his Laser Blade into Kubilai's third eye then used Shaider Blue Flash (Shaider Super Slash in Philippine Version) to finish him.
  • Kubilai Body (クビライ胴体, Kubirai Dōtai, 47): Sealed within the Eastern cave where Dai found the ruins by the Warrior Shaider, Kubilai's headless body grew several more tentacled limbs with one-eyed snake-like heads on the ends and an eye protruding from its neck. When Dai broke the seal to find the means to stop Kubilai's head, he unwittingly revived the body, and he hunts Shaider to take out his pent-up rage on. Managing to trick the body into the cave's entrance in order to blind it, Shaider manages to blow off all of his tendrils and then defeat the body with the Shaider Blue Flash before it could regenerate. The monster managed to mock Shaider when he is trapped in the chamber before being killed for good.
• Priest Poe (神官ポー, Shinkan Pō): Kubilai's 15,000 year old transvestite grandson who serves as advisor and strategist, wearing elegant white robes with a horned, immense oval shaped headdress and the "Sky Cutter" scepter through which he shoots blue beams from its core. As a high priest with telekinetic abilities, Poe presides over the Fushigi Beast birth and Fushigi Dimension Generation ceremonies. Poe also drinks an elixir made somehow from young girls and Kubilai's energy every 500 years to maintain his youthful appearance or his face assumes its actual corpse-like appearance and he would die. Having nightmares about the Nazca images, yet soothed by a mark on his staff, Poe wanted to find out the meaning behind it. It was only after Kubilai reveals the full story to him that Poe becomes more determine to kill Shaider to the point of taking part in later attacks on Shaider to avenge his parents and Mu. After Hessler and Girls 1 and 3 died, Poes arrives to Easter Island to go all out in killing Shaider through his "Phantom Showtime" torture with the aid of the remaining Girls and the Beasts. However, Shaider manages to escape the trap, though Poe later destroys the entrance to the prison of Kubilai's Body to trap Shaider. When Kubilai is killed, Poe loses the means to stay young and fades away into nothingness alongside the Beasts.
• Commander Hessler (へスラー指揮官, Hesurā Shikikan, 01-45): A sword-wielding field operative in black armor. Hessler oversees the attacks on Earth. He is a proud yet easily irritated warrior. Though he encouraged Himley to fight alongside him, Hessler started to regret the decision when Girls 1 and 2 point out to him that his brother might upstage him. Driven by the justified paranoia, Hessler mortally wounds his brother during their fight with Shaider and leaves him to die. After the death of Girl 1, Hessler heads to Eastern Island to confront Shaider as he make his way to ruins. Their duel transverses from Easter Island to the Fushigi Dimension where Hessler falls to Shaider's Shaider Blue Flash.
• Himley (ヒムリー, Himurī, 28): Hessler's younger brother, dressed in spider-like armor and armed with two swords and a trident. Undergoing the same training as Hessler, Himley gains Kubilai's blessing to aid his brother. Using a Batian Tarantula, and playing on Shaider's kindness for children, Himley manages to poison him before fighting him as the paralysis starts to take effect. After Shaider escapes, managing to get cured in time, Himley is given a golden sword as a reward along with the favor of Girls 3, 4, and 5. However, this goes to Himley's head as he plots taking his brother's place as the Fuuma's general. Though he nearly killed Shaider, Himley ends being killed in fatal sneak attack inflicted by Hessler. Powers include a pair of swords, a trident, eye beams, and purple hand lightning.
• Girls' Army (ギャル軍団, Gyaru Gundan): A team of five deadly kunoichi trained in the most vicious and dangerous arts of combat led by Girl 1 (ギャル1, Gyaru Ichi, black). The other members include Girl 2 (ギャル2, Gyaru Ni, purple), Girl 3 (ギャル3, Gyaru San, (01-45), red), Girl 4 (ギャル4, Gyaru Yon, green), Girl 5 (ギャル5, Gyaru Go, pink). They serve under Hessler and battle Shaider and Annie on every Fuuma Mission. While Girl 3 performed a suicide attack at Hessler's command in an attempt to kill Shaider, the remaining members help Po in stopping Shaider from finding out Kubilai's secret. Soon after capturing Annie and Shaider arrives to save her, the three Girls allow Kubilai to devour them into their combined bat form to kill Shaider.
  • Girl 1 (ギャル1, Gyaru Ichi, 01-44): The black suited leader of the Girl's Army, Hessler's right hand. On Kubilai's birthday, Girl 1 offers to personally kill Shaider and Annie for her master. To achieve that goal, Girl 1 uses Fuuma science to become a black-armored cyborg with various concealed weapons. However, though her body is destroyed by Shaider, the spell Po cast on her during the operation takes effects as Girl 1's astral self possesses Annie to have her sabotage the Vavilos. When Shaider intervenes, Girl 1 becomes tangible battles Shaider as they take their fight into the Fushigi Dimension where her powers are magnified. But in the end, Shaider kills her for good with Video Beam on the source of her life after disrupting her form with Shaider Blue Flash.
• Beasts (珍獣, Yajū): The low level creatures of Fuuma creatures present in the throne room who sometimes aid in Fuma missions that require them to assume forms. Composed of the childlike flutist Yaada (ヤーダ, Yāda), the grey trunked Nossori (ノッソリ, Nossori), the insectoid Singing Shingin (歌うたいのシンギン, Utautai no Shingin), the pot-bellied Hungry Gaaki (腹ペコのガーキ, Fukupeko no Gāki), and stone-like One-Eyed Aiida (一つ目のアイーダ, Hitotsumu no Aīda). The other member of their group named Upper Half Monk (上半身のモンク, Kohanmi no Monku) is fastened to the wall and thus is more of a decoration than an agent of Fuuma. After Kubilai's death, the Beasts faded out of existence along with Poe.
• Miracler Combatmen (戦闘員ミラクラー, Sentōin Mirakurā): The followers of Fuuma who wear Rangda-style masks with big round eyes and fanged mouths armed with hatchets and rifles. They act either as foot soldiers or as pilots for the carriage-shaped aircraft. Shaider occasionally pummels them before going on to fight the Strange Beasts. Destroyed at the end of the series when the fortress crumbled apart and exploded.
• Fushigi Beasts (不思議獣, Fushigijū): Psychedelic, deceptively comical-looking creatures that Kubilai "gives birth" to in the form of pearls called Fushigi Beast Eggs (不思議獣卵, Fushigijū Tama) using a special ceremony with the help of Poe. Placed within boiling Fushigi Seawater, the pearl enlarges into a giant egg that Kubilai hatches with his beam. Their naming system is two syllables, then those two syllable repeated. According to Poe in episode 5 they are considered as Kubilai's offspring, not just creations. During a fight with Shaider, a Fushigi Beast retreats into a Fushigi Dimension (不思議次元, Fushijigen) where it becomes four times more powerful in an attempt to get the upper hand against Shaider along using the realm itself as a weapon.

Other Villains

• Meteor Gunman Omega (流れ星のガンマン オメガ, Ryuseino Ganman Omega, Movie 1): An alien assassin who makes a living been hunting down Space Sheriffs, previously fighting Gavan and later Sharivan. Arriving to Earth, adapting a helmet, twin shoulder cannons, and other weapons into his fighting style after losing to Gavan and Sharivan, Omega targeted Shaider and challenges him to a fight to the death. However, Hessler and the Girls' Army intervene out of pride by holding Annie and children hostage, Omega stops them from killing Shaider. Soon after saving the children, Shaider battles Omega with Annie and the Fuuma as witnesses as Omega finally falls to Shaider's Shaider Blue Flash.

Cast

• Hiroshi Tsuburaya as Dai Sawamura/Alexis (Philippine version)
• Naomi Morinaga as Annie
• Toshiaki Nishizawa as Commander Com
• Wakiko Kano as Mimi
• Kyoko Nashiro as Marin
• Masayuki Suzuki as Kojiro Oyama/Dr. Ang (Philippine Version)
• Shōzō Iizuka as Great Emperor Kubilai (voice)
• Jun Yoshida as Priest Poe/Ida (Philippine Version)
• Kazuhiko Kubo as Hessler/Drigo (Philippine Version)
• Tōru Ōhira as the narrator

Episode list

Movies

Two movies were also filmed. Space Sheriff Shaider (宇宙刑事シャイダー, Uchū Keiji Shaidā) takes place between episodes 19 and 20, and was released on July 14, 1984. Pursuit! The Strange Kidnappers! (追跡! しぎしぎ誘拐団, Shikisiki! Shingi-Shingi Yukaidan) takes place between episodes 39 and 40, and was released on December 22, 1984.

Songs

Opening theme

• "Space Sheriff Shaider" (宇宙刑事シャイダー, Uchū Keiji Shaidā)
  • Lyrics: Keisuke Yamakawa
  • Composition and Arrangement: Michiaki Watanabe
  • Artist: Akira Kushida

Ending theme

• "Hello! Shaider" (ハロー！シャイダー, Harō! Shaidā)
  • Lyrics: Keisuke Yamakawa
  • Composition and Arrangement: Michiaki Watanabe
  • Artist: Akira Kushida

In other countries

Space Sheriff Shaider was released in the Philippines as Shaider in the mid-1980s, where it became the first tokusatsu show to be dubbed in Tagalog by ABS-CBN. In this release, Dai Sawamura was renamed Alexis. In 2007, the GMA Network would produce a loose sequel series with Zaido: Pulis Pangkalawakan. It was met with mixed reception from fans.

The series was also broadcast in Brazil, also under the name Shaider, in the early 1990s. Different from other tokusatsu series in Brazil, Shaider was broadcast on a channel not as popular as the main ones around that time in Brazil, Rede Gazeta. As a result, only a few people saw the show. Rede Globo, though one of the most popular television channels, later began broadcasting Shaider in the early morning, around 5am, until it disappeared completely from television.

Video game

A video game based on the television series, The Space Sheriff Spirits, was released for the PlayStation 2 system on May 25, 2006 by Bandai Namco. This product was made available in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The actors for Gavan and Sharivan reprised their roles, but Hiroshi Tsuburaya died before the game was developed. So anime voice actor; Takuo Kawamura took over the role of Shaider instead.

References