I'm writing this on August 30, 1998. Last viewing: 1.2 years ago

One of the classics of American kid's anime, but I never saw it until a roommate wanted to rewatch it for the nostalgia value (and again, thanks to Dan Forrest, for having tapes of the series).

The first series was indeed classic. Nicely memorable characters: Rick Hunter, Minmei, Lisa Hayes, Captain Globall, Max Sterling, etc. Even some of the bad guys had a coolness factor, something essential for an interesting show. It also has the episode involving my favorite re-use of existing footage I've ever seen: Rick's hallucination after an accident was nothing but scenes from previous episodes (perhaps there was a minute of new footage), re-voiced over. It was great! They twisted it in wonderful ways, and I had to laugh out loud.

Favorite things: Captain Globall's supremely cheery outlook ("We are all DOOMED!"... "The fate of the entire world rests in your hands."...."Do you think we'll make it?" "No." "Ahhh!!??"); Lisa Hayes evolving into a nice, rounded character; Breetai getting some depth of character; actually interesting plot twists; Myria before turning sappy; the narrator's running dramatic commentary.

Then there was the second series. Ugh. The voice acting was just plain annoying, but I think that they may have been doing what was called for by the scripts. And that was just plain bad. There weren't any characters that could be liked. I watched about the first 6 or so before giving up completely (Jon, the roommate, dropped out earlier). Then I saw the last 1 1/2 episodes... they complete their goals, come to a happy ending, then...

Boom. The Invid invade. Apparently, all of the characters from Southern Cross die, and the third series begins. A surprisingly smooth transition when watching the tapes, and the narrator's voice told just how little anyone cared that the old characters died. This one developed a few neat characters, but they weren't as strong as any of the many greats in the first series. And the plot moved, but it wasn't as internally consistant, and therefore any plot twists just weren't as cool. Again worth watching for nostalgia for those who had seen any of the series before, and somewhat interesting for first-time viewers.

A worthy series for getting people hooked on anime.