Space Sheriff Shaider

Space Sheriff Shaider
Genre Tokusatsu
Superhero fiction
Created by Toei
Starring Hiroshi Tsuburaya
Naomi Morinaga
Narrated by Toru Ohira
Opening theme "Space Sheriff Shaider" by Akira Kushida
Ending theme "Hello! Shaider" by Akira Kushida
Composer(s) Michiaki Watanabe
Country of origin Japan
No. of episodes 49
Production
Running time 30 minutes
Release
Original network TV Asahi
Original release March 2, 1984 – March 8, 1985
Chronology
Preceded by Space Sheriff Sharivan
Followed by Kyojuu Tokusou Juspion

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 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

Babylos Crew

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

Arsenal

Earth

Galactic Union Police

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, 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.

Fushigi Beasts

The Fushigi Beasts (不思議獣, Fushigijū) are 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

Cast

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, Tsuiseki! Shigi-Shigi Yukaidan) takes place between episodes 39 and 40, and was released on December 22, 1984.

Songs

Opening theme
Ending theme

In other countries

Space Sheriff Shaider was released in the Philippines as Shaider in the late-1980s, where it became the first tokusatsu show to be dubbed in Tagalog by ABS-CBN (1988-1991), IBC (1992-1994), GMA Network (2003-2005), Hero TV (2006-2009), TeleAsia (2014). In this release, Dai Sawamura was renamed Alexis. Also in this version Kojiro Oyama is called Dr. Ang, Kubilai is called Fuuma Lei-ar, Priest Poe is called Ida and Hessler is called Drigo. 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 aired in France under the title Captaine Sheider. The theme song was performed by Bernard Minet.

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

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.