You need to watch episode 7 and 8 of Avatar together, it’s two parts LOL.
I only know of Spiral Zone as I am some what a toy aficionado. 
When I first got a PC and internet in the summer of 2003 I came across it on one of the many toy sites I was on like Super Toy Archive and Virtual Toy Chest.
I seen some of the Bandai toys reviewed over on CollectionDx and did a little research into them and the US Tonka toys.
I watched episode 7 last night, I’ll watch episode 8 tonight.
Yeah, Spiral Zone, like I say, I don’t believe it was ever shown over here. Probably the dark premise, they didn’t feel it was suitable. So most people in this neck of the woods have never even heard of it.
It’s strange as the concept is a lot more appealing and interesting than various other 80’s cartoons.
As I have said before if I had seen it back then I know it is a show I would have really liked.
Episode 8 is really good, but as I said it is central to the plot. Things get a lot more interesting now.
I’ve just this minute finished watching episode 8 - it’s not bad at all.
As for Spiral Zone, I can only guess that that’s the reason it wasn’t shown here. It’s only because of those two episodes I saw by chance in Spain that I’ve even heard of it.
It could be that CITV or BBC just were not interested in purchasing it as they already had a pretty big action line up of imported cartoons already.
BBC had Thundercats, Defenders of the Earth, TMNT and Bravestarr etc.
CITV had Ghostbusters, He-Man and She-Ra etc.
So with no UK station interested in buying the rights to air the TV show I guess it makes sense that Tonka didn’t think it would be wise to distribute the toys in the UK.
And even channel 4 had a few, mainly Jayce And The Wheeled Warriors at that time.
Probably a bit of both then. It’s got one of the naffest theme songs of any 80s cartoon, the concept was dark, and the characters are hard to tell apart when they’re all suited up. Given that they had plenty of shows from across the pond, I can understand them passing. It sure as hell wasn’t the only one that wasn’t shown over here. I’m sure Silverhawks never made it to our screens for instance.
Just saw episode 3 of Galaxy Rangers. Strange one.
That’s right even Channel 4 had their cartoons. The only cartoon on Channel 4 I remember watching regularly was Dennis the Menace.
I don’t recall Silverhawks being shown here at all. In fact that is one cartoon I have never watched. There is definitely quite a few shows that were never shown here.
Absolutely. I’ve never seen it either. I did look at the title sequence a few years back, and you can tell the song was done by Bernard Hoffer, it sounds like an alternate idea for the Thundercats theme.
I think I heard the theme tune once but I don’t remember it.
I looked at the toys once and I noticed there is a jet which I in a different colour. Kenner re-coloured it and released it as part of the Batman Returns toyline in the early 90’s.
I said to myself a while back (probably about 3yrs ago), that I’d have a look at the show at some point. I still haven’t got round to doing that! That’s your fault, that is, recommending all these other shows to me! Starcom, Avatar, Galaxy Rangers . . .
On the flip-side, have you watched any more Spiral Zone?
I do plan on watching more but I have to finish watching a couple other things first and get this painting finished as it is proving to be quite time consuming.
But the shows I recommended are good where as Silverhawks isn’t supposed to be very good at all. 
If you end up really liking season one of Avatar wait until you see season 2 and 3.
Know the feeling. Trying to think of the last few lines for this song I’m working on is taking an age. Particularly frustrating, because it means until it’s finished, I need to keep the person who inspired it in my mind at all times. And that’s not healthy.
I guess that’s why I’ve got back to that Visionaries story. My recent experiences will lend a touch of realism on the emotional side of things, particularly the finale.
When you do watch more Spiral Zone, make sure you watch episode 6, “Small Packages”. When I originally selected a handful of episodes to show Andrew at the end of 2012, I went for a combination of the important, the interesting and the irresistible. This episode is one of those that ticks all three boxes. Episode 33, “Zone Of Fear” does the same.
But the shows I recommended are good where as Silverhawks isn’t supposed to be very good at all.
Well, I understand it wasn’t as successful; although I think Stephen Perry was quite pleased with it overall. I remember in his interview on here he made an interesting point about the people who remember it fondly remember it more fondly than the people who remember the more successful shows. Because it’s something not as many people know, it’s more special to them. A bit like me with Visionaries I guess!
If you end up really liking season one of Avatar wait until you see season 2 and 3.
Well, I’m certainly giving it a chance, I’ll stick with it until at least the end of season 1.
Well having said that, maybe Silverhaks is good. I am only going on what I hear but I can’t really say until I see it as I don’t really trust other peoples reviews of things in general. Look at Guardians of the Galaxy for example, everyone raved about how brilliant it is, yet when I seen it I thought it was only okay. I have seen far better Sci-Fi/comic films.
I seem to recall reading that Silverhawks is something like cops in space so I might see if I can see episode 1 sometime and see what it’s like. The bad guy action figures looked quite interesting but the good guys definitely wouldn’t really have appealed to me as a child. Even with not seeing the cartoon if I had seen the toys in the shops here back then they wouldn’t have appealed to me enough to want any of them.
Also Galaxy Rangers is pretty solid from episode 1-10 with the only exception being 3. It definitely does have some ‘odd’ episodes sprinkled through it though.
In fact the run I remember on CITV over the summer of 93 seemed to consist mostly of episodes 1-10, maybe 14 as I recall seeing most of them and recording over half of them.
Well if you have liked Avatar up until now I think you will like it a lot more when you finish season 1.
Yeah, episode 3 didn’t grab me, but episodes 1-2 were good enough for me to want to stick with it.
Once I’ve got to the end of Avatar season 1, then I’ll have a look at the first episode of Silverhawks. Two “new” shows is quite enough for the moment, especially when I’m also watching C.O.P.S., which although not technically new to me as I know I enjoyed what I saw back on its original run, what I saw wasn’t very much.
There is a lot of really good episodes in the first half of season 1 of GR.
Like I said, I’m going to stick with it. I’ve heard a lot of good things about the show, and for the most part, I like what I’ve seen so far.
I’ve made a bit more progress on the Visionaries story today; the other Spectral Knights have just been informed by Arzon that Ectar is in love, and their immediate reaction was to burst out laughing, believing it to be a practical joke. Natural enough, of all the Spectral Knights, Ectar is the last one to ever be so afflicted (which is of course precisely why I chose him for this story!).
What I really liked about GR aside from the stories is that it’s a small team and they all get to show their worth in different episodes. It’s not just focused on one character all the time.
Sounds an interesting story.
Yes, that is sort of the problem with the original Thundercats most of the time, not to mention He-Man and Bravestarr.
The story I’m working on again is a curious one. I can’t recall precisely, but about 4yrs ago I was reading a Visionaries fanfic, where someone had put Witterquick in a relationship with a new female Spectral Knight, and a new male Darkling Lord wanted her for himself. Well, it wasn’t very good, and I thought, “if you’re going to do a love story, do it from a more interesting angle. Who would be the last Spectral Knight to fall in love? Ectar. So put him in the starring role here . . .”
And I got a few ideas for the basic idea, and some scenes, but there were certain points in the story that I couldn’t get a handle on. Until I started writing the outline down in detail. Suddenly everything just fell into place with such precision . . . it was really the “end of act cliffhangers” that were the problem. I didn’t initially have much tension in the early part of the story, and I couldn’t think of how to get to the big capture later on. But when I wrote everything down, both problems sorted themselves out just like that! The second one was so obvious I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it earlier . . .
The Darkling Lord just wanting her seems a bit odd…
I don’t think it odd Ectar would fall in love, I think there is somebody for everyone out there LOL. Oddly enough Ectar was one of my favourite Visionaries, probably second to Cryotek.
Well to be honest Bravestarr wasn’t always the main focus of the story. But yes Bravestarr, Lion-o and He-Man were always in every episode. Although in He-Man and Bravestarr’s case they are the title characters so I guess they would have to be in them. If the show had just been Masters of the Universe or New Texas Marshalls, or something along them lines it would have given them more room to work on other characters.
Also I think if Masters of the Universe ever makes a comeback they need to get rid of the He-Man character, or at least change his name to just Adam Grayskull or King Grayskull or something like that and have it more about the Masters as protectors of the realm something like Visionaries.
Speaking of realms. Another thing I really like about Avatar is the way they flesh out the map of their world. You really feel the epic journey they go on because of the places they visit and revisit and the people they meet and meet again. Some of the 80’s shows didn’t really map out their worlds, they just seemed to leave it open for the writer of that weeks episode to put in whatever they want. The only places I can think of in Bravestarr is the town of New Texas and The Bad Lands. He-man had some continuity to the world of Eternia, although there seemed to be a lot of ancient items with unspeakable evil power scattered through out it.
Basic episode formula was Skeletor discovers some evil ancient item and sets about retrieving it only for the residents of the area to tell He-man and for him and some Masters to go off and stop his scheme…every week.
Back in april-may of this year, I would have been willing to believe that, as I thought I had found just that someone. Given how wrong I was there - specifically the way I discovered my mistake - I am a lot less convinced. Let’s just say there’s a question mark over trust. We’re still friends, but the wound has not yet healed (nor will it get a chance to until I finish this song!). Hence my returning to this story, because there’s a line at the end concerning love and trust, and I figured, yes, my recent experiences will bring a touch of realism to this.
You really don’t think it odd that Ectar would fall in love? Ectar, the hardened cynic of the bunch? He’s one of those “married to the job” types, the job in this case being security, he’s an ex-detective who obsesses over matters of security. He’s the least likely to of all the Spectral Knights. Obviously Leoric has Fletchen, Cryotek and Galadria have each other; of the remaining four, he’s the only one you can’t really imagine settling down like that. He’s not going to give his heart to someone just like that. (Not without a little help from an equally cynical writer, at any rate!)
Well to be honest Bravestarr wasn’t always the main focus of the story. But yes Bravestarr, Lion-o and He-Man were always in every episode. Although in He-Man and Bravestarr’s case they are the title characters so I guess they would have to be in them. If the show had just been Masters of the Universe or New Texas Marshalls, or something along them lines it would have given them more room to work on other characters.
Fair enough. Yes, I know Bravestarr wasn’t always the absolute centre of attention, I’ve seen episodes that put the spotlight on Fuzz, Thirty-Thirty, and even guest characters, BUT it was always his powers that saved the day at the end.
Also I think if Masters of the Universe ever makes a comeback they need to get rid of the He-Man character, or at least change his name to just Adam Grayskull or King Grayskull or something like that and have it more about the Masters as protectors of the realm something like Visionaries.
Yeah, we’ve discussed this before. The name He-Man has become a cliche.
Speaking of realms. Another thing I really like about Avatar is the way they flesh out the map of their world. You really feel the epic journey they go on because of the places they visit and revisit and the people they meet and meet again.
That should be interesting then. (I’m about to watch episode 9.)
Some of the 80’s shows didn’t really map out their worlds, they just seemed to leave it open for the writer of that weeks episode to put in whatever they want. The only places I can think of in Bravestarr is the town of New Texas and The Bad Lands.
I thought New Texas was the name of the whole planet. I know there’s a town called Sawtooth, because that episode “Showdown At Sawtooth” was virtually identical to “Quest For Courage” in King Arthur And The Knights Of Justice, and the concept was re-used with just a few minor changes of detail in episode 6 of Avatar!
He-man had some continuity to the world of Eternia, although there seemed to be a lot of ancient items with unspeakable evil power scattered through out it.
Basic episode formula was Skeletor discovers some evil ancient item and sets about retrieving it only for the residents of the area to tell He-man and for him and some Masters to go off and stop his scheme…every week.
I can believe that. I know when my friend Jake copied some episodes for me, he tried to vary things a bit by not having episodes that stick to that formula, but still, it doesn’t take any stretch of imagination to believe it.