The Best Of BraveStarr (BCI Eclipse/Filmation/Animation/DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: C Extras: B Episodes: B- Feature Film: B+
The Best of BraveStarr is the two disc set presentation
of Filmation Studio's most ambitious and best produced series and film of the
studio's history. BraveStarr – The Legend (or BraveStarr
– The Movie as it is sometimes called) is a mix of science fiction and the
Hollywood Horse Opera Western and blends them together beautifully to tell the
story of a young Native-American becoming a hero on a far off planet that
models itself after the American West of legend.
Disc One: "BraveStarr – The Legend" (1988) tells
the story of Marshall BraveStarr, who as a young boy is saved by Shaman, an
ancient Indian mystic from their dying world. Shaman "sees" the potential that
Bravestarr will have in the future and sends the young boy to the Marshall
Academy for training, as he himself settles on New Texas, a lawless, desolate
planet that looks like Tombstone. New
Texas is rich in a powerful crystal called "Kerium", a ruby colored
glass stone that can be used as fuel to fly a ship, or to be used as
"bullets" for a gun. Because
of this, the planet is over run with criminals looking to get rich by any means
necessary. The worst of these outlaws is
Tex Mex, a ruthless hombre who enslaves the planets inhabitants, The Prairie
People, to mine the Kerium for him. The
Prairie People, who look like a cross between trolls, the Jawas of "Star
Wars" and moles, are little creatures that can borrow quickly underneath
the ground, and regularly pop-up at the most in-opportune times.
After
disposing of his partner, Tex Mex tries to make off with his ill-gotten booty,
but the load of Kerium is too heavy, and causes Tex's ship to crash. The crash is witnessed by Stampede, a giant,
mystical creature that is a cross between a dragon and a steer. Stampede
transforms Tex Mex into a skeletal demon with mystic powers of his own. With his newly granted powers, Tex transforms
a group of the planets outlaws into his demonic army called The Carrion Bunch
and proceeds to wreck havoc on an already lawless planet, especially the town
of Fort Kerium.
Having
had enough of Tex Mex's attacks, the town's Mayor sends for a squad of
marshalls to fight them and bring back law and order. What they get is Marshall Bravestarr who
arrives with the town's new Judge, Bean, also called J.B. J.B. is a beautiful
young woman who is the daughter of Tex Mex's ex-partner and can take care of
herself in hand-to-hand combat. None of
the town's people expect these two new arrivals to be what they are. The Mayor was expecting a squadron of
marshals, not one lone young Indian. The
town soon finds out that Marshall Bravestarr is more than he seems as he stops
a group of outlaws. Soon after,
Bravestarr meets Shaman who tells the young marshal of his origins and sends
him on a quest for a great weapon, on which he will find out that he is the
weapon himself.
On this
quest BraveStarr meets Thirty/Thirty, a horse who can change into a human-like
creature. Thirty/Thirty is an ornery critter;
literally, as he starts a fight with BraveStarr over a rifle that the young
marshal confuses to be the weapon that he was sent to find. Thirty/Thirty revels in the fight and comes to
respect the young brave and agrees to join up with him, but not before getting
in the last blow.
Also on
this quest, BraveStarr discovers that he has the power to call upon the
strengths of four animals: The sight of a hawk, the hearing of a wolf, the
speed of a puma and the strength of a bear. BraveStarr himself learns that appearances can
be deceiving when help comes from one of The Prairie People. One of the little creatures named Fuzz saves
BraveStarr from one of Tex's attacks and he learns the value of these natives. As a reward, the young Marshall makes Fuzz a
deputy. With the help of the "spirit animals", Shaman and his new
found allies, BraveStarr is able to defeat Tex Mex and his gang and bring
peace, law and justice to New Texas.
Others
have tried to mix Sci-fi and Westerns in the past, and only other than The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (reviewed
elsewhere on this site) has it been done so successfully. The town of Fort Kerium looks like Dry Gulch,
Tombstone or The OK Corral, but it's metallic. The settlers and cowboys ride floating
metallic steers called "mounts". The stagecoaches float along being
pulled by the aforementioned mounts. The
townspeople wear traditional western garb, but things like belt buckles, hat
bands, spurs, etc., have a futuristic look. BraveStarr's sidearm appears magically on his
hip when he his ready to draw his weapon. And in the film's climactic battle,
there is a futuristic take on "circling the wagons".
I enjoyed
this film immensely and it is definitely the best thing that Filmation has ever
done. Even better than their great
adaptation of Alex Raymond's Flash
Gordon, also reviewed on this site. The
art is the best I've ever seen on their productions that feature realistic
humans. At times it reminded me of the art
done for the animated film Heavy Metal.
The production values are great and the
special effects are well done. Listening
to the film's commentary and watching the "Making Of" extra's, you
can tell the enthusiasm the film makers had in producing this ambitious
project, especially from Producer Joe Scheimer. Disc One's only extra is the film's commentary
track. I usually don't care for these
commentary voice-overs, but the artists, directors and producers dialogue is
infectious and enjoyable.
Disc Two: Disc Two contains five
entertaining episodes of the BraveStarr
syndicated series that Filmation produced for television. Each episode is a morality play as the viewers
learn at the end of the each show lessons in tolerance, acceptance, worshipping
false idols, consequence, and in a very powerful episode, the dangers of drug
abuse. The TV shows have the same
production values as the film, but Filmation's infamous use (and reuse) of
stock footage in the series is once again a part of it, but at least it is the
beautiful footage of the film. These
episodes are a lot of fun to watch. I
missed this show when it originally aired in 1988, but this collection makes me
hope that they will release the complete series on disc.
The 1.33
X 1 image on all programs look good for their age, but you will see some minor
aliasing or detail problems on larger monitors.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is simple stereo at best and weaker than
expected all around. The film sounds a
little different, but not much. Extras
include The Making of Documentary,
the promotional presentation of the film and series, the theatrical trailer,
rare live-action footage that was used for rotoscoping and promotional art and
model sheets. The hand-book that comes
with the set includes a reproduction of the movie poster.
- Marc Greisinger
