HomeEpisode 1 - Knockover on Planet Zi
Screenshots - Sound Clips - My ThoughtsThe episode opens with a montage of clips, including a showdown between the Zero and BF not in any episodes and a heavily pixelated Fire Phoenix. Tilly realizes this does not bode well for the quality of Magna Pacific's releases. Otherwise, it's a decent intro for a dubbed series, though not as fun as the Japanese one.
Once we get past the title screen (sporting Liger Zero, which leads to a million silly fan rumors that it must be Bit's in approximately 5.2 seconds), the episode begins.
The camera sweeps over a city far more futuristic than past Zoids series, done in CGI. It's full of sweeping skyscrapers and crazily suspended roads. Cars drive happily along, prompting viewers to wonder how long before something bad happens as we focus in on one red car and its ditzy passengers...
Something is a Liger Zero, barreling happily down the street like a squirrel, hopping cars and scaring innocent civilians. After traumatizing the red car's driver and his blind date (her name is Julia, he calls her Jamie), the Zero bounds on, followed by two Peacekeeping Bureau Zoids-Aro Saurer (piloted by Ciao) and Gorhecks (piloted by Deed). They scold its pilot, who we now know is RD, for riding his Zoid on the streets. He tells them to chill out, then scolds his Liger for not listening...as he runs smack dab into Gummie and his Gojulas Giga. Gummi takes the role of the stereotypical cowboy, cornering him with a "fee fie foe fum, it's over RD...you're done!".
The Liger Zero doesn't agree, and neither does RD. Proving that the buildings of the future have windows that can withstand even the toughest of 80-ton cat impacts, he bounces the Zero off a building-"let's blow this popsicle stand!"-and over the Gojulas Giga's head, skittering away down a corridor. Gummie laughs, saying RD got away fair and square. Before Ciao can protest too much, Gummie is contacted about a burglary-someone's stolen a "truckload of jewels".
RD arrives back at his team's base, bragging about his Liger's crimefighter-fighting abilities and saying hello to Hop, their manager. He's interrupted and scolded by Sweet, who reminds him that he's technically breaking the law, and he may be a reckless hero type, but that doesn't make him cool. Her hair looks slightly like Leena's, leading to thankfully briefly lived fantheories that she must be Bit and Leena's daughter. (By that logic, Ciao must be related to Störmer!)
We then get a view of RD's teammates, Sigma and Helmut. Sigma teases RD that he and Helmut are out rounding up rogue wild Zoids and RD's stuck with the courier job again-something Liger Zero is perfect for. (how the mighty have fallen...) Helmut, being the resident serious type, has a Command Wolf, and Sigma has a Boldguard-together they set off with a dramatic pose and a painful run cycle.
RD wanders off to sulk, finding the courier job beneath a cool fighter type. Sweet is again the one to knock some sense into him while hanging up a t-shirt with a fiery bird on it (foreshadowing!), reminding him that all jobs are important to Mach Storm (their team) and that remember, he'd said that he'd do "whatever it took" to find the legendary Alpha Zoid his father talked about, and that'll take money. The flashback-o-matic screen shows a Liger Zero, obviously taken right from the intro...or what's obviously Liger Zero Falcon if you're watching the Japanese version. More foreshadowing at ten o'clock, captain.
The courier order leads to a place with a shady-looking guy, who mocks RD for looking like a kid. I would think the blue hair would be more weird, but this is anime. RD gets annoyed, and the guy continues being shady, saying he needs the container they just stuck to the Liger Zero's back delivered to Easy Town, "pronto", and that the package contains some ambiguously high-tech components. A mysterious woman watches from the shadows as the Zero bounces off...
We cut back to the Mach Storm base, where we find out the wild Zoid roundup went smoothly, they haven't heard from RD, and that Hop can't work the remote to their giant-screen TV. Sweet manages to turn it on, getting a home-shopping channel until Zoids Battle comes on-Renegade Force versus Black Impact. Sweet promptly goes fangirl over Black Impact, which has Rastani as a member. Rastani turns out to be the head of a team of Blade Liger BI (the jokes, they are too easy)-charcoal Blade Ligers that for all their gimpy run look a thousand times better than the old animation model. They easily slaughter Renegade Force, being as it's a team of three Godos. Rastani then shows up on screen, looking cool, and we cut briefly to RD muttering about how he can't stand him.
Not that this is a comment on the fandom. Especially not RPG characters. Never!
We then see the shady guy and some other shady guys, talking about how RD couldn't possibly figure out that his package contains the stolen jewels. Shady guy does not realize that there's a rather obvious blinky red voice recorder on the ceiling-one belonging to Savage Hammer, the obligatory Rival Team. Their evil plotting session consists of Sandra (obligatory evil lady with cat), Burton (obligatory guy with cheesy fake accent), and Blake (obligatory rival). They're plotting to steal the stolen jewels from RD, of course, while he has no idea what's going on...
"But lucky for us, pilfering the jewels will be as simple as taking candy from a baby."
"And I adore candy."
Meanwhile, the Liger Zero bounces through the desert, with RD complaining how bored he is and that the only music disks he has have been listened to death or suck, something I can greatly sympathize with. I can't really sympathize what happens next, though: his warning radar goes off, warning as warning systems should when there's a Berserk Führer...er...Fury on your tail.
It's Blake, who fires, knocking the Zero off its feet. It seems he and RD know each other, leading to an exchange of witty banter mainly consisting of random threats and RD saying he'll fight him when he's not in the middle of a courier job, proving that he has some sense of responsibility, as all good heroes should. Blake doesn't listen, of course. Taking the Zero up into some rocks, RD comes back down at him from the sun, bounding off the BF's back to get ahead and run away. Blake follows, shooting.
We cut ahead to Easy Town, where the mysterious woman from before makes a pass at the flunky of mister shady guy from before, tricking him into telling what's in the package...
...and it's back to Blake and RD, with the Zero running full tilt and the BF shooting pink laser beams of death. Their not-showdown is interrupted by Burton, piloting a Lord Gale. He blasts the Zero off its feet and scolds Blake for not taking care of RD. Blake, in turn, menaces the Lord Gale with his eggbeaters-Burton isn't impressed. RD comments that this is gettin' freaky, and Burton tells him he isn't anything like his father was.
As anyone knows, that is a bad thing to say to a hero with an absent parent.
The Liger Zero charges, missing the Lord Gale, but dodging Blake's attempts to spork it. The eggbeaters knock the cargo carrier off the Zero's back, scattering the jewels into the air. The Zero roars and gallops forward, RD saying it's time to finish what the other guys started. Charging a poorly-animated Strike Laser Claw (er, Laser Claw Attack), the Zero makes up for the rest of the move by slicing through the Lord Gale's lances in a shower of torn parts and actual damage. It's then that RD notices the jewels-the Liger does too, staring down as if tempted to play with them until the BF roars. Blake advances, RD insisting that he's still got to deliver his cargo and refusing to back down.
The Peacekeeping Bureau arrive just in time to save RD from potential sporkage, firing off flares and scaring off Blake and Burton with the combined bitey-power of the Gojulas Giga, Aro Saurer, and Gorhecks from before. Once the villains are gone, Gummi explains the stolen jewels, telling RD they found them and him thanks to a girl with a sweet voice...and that RD isn't going to get any money since the people paying him turned out to be criminals. He thinks that bites, and I agree :p.
Cut back to Mach Storm's base, with Sweet having fun staring at the shiny stuff the team got as a reward. Hop tells her that the person who gets to keep them is actually the mysterious tipster, who is our watcher from before-Amy, another member of the team. She waltzes off with her shiny things, Sweet grumbling. Rather than being stuck amid the silly, RD is wandering the streets. He's pretty much ignoring the battle with Rastani on the big screen TV on one of the buildings (the three Blade Ligers from before versus a Dark Spiner and a Killer Dome) until the crowd watching gasps in shock.
RD looks up, seeing the Blade Ligers already beaten by a single Zoid...the Killer Spiner.
Cue end credits, featuring a running Liger Zero and random shots of characters, plus a rather catchy remix of what would become Enemy of Life, the Japanese intro.
My Thoughts
So, first episode. It's got some nice action in it and gives an idea of the characters and thus succeeds there, but it fails in the animation department...though the Liger riding on the BF's back is kinda cool, as is the mess SLC makes of the Lord Gale's lance.I have to admit, the whole thing didn't grip me from the start-then again, neither did Fuzors. It's an acquired taste, I say. But this combined with the new animation company (who were working with less money and time) and the fandom's misconceptions and expectations gave Fuzors a poor start from the beginning.
Some issues (like the animation and the PKB's portrayal as goofy) were partially its fault. Others weren't: people thinking it was a sequel to /Zero and that characters would somehow end up being tied to it, people expecting the Zero and BF to be equally smitey, people expecting everything to be doom and war? Nope. In fact, the Zoid overlap between it and /Zero is more from certain designs lasting longer in the battle story-read: the model line, aka what the show is selling.
I can't help but be amused by the number of people who said the Liger Zero still used for the Alpha Zoid meant nothing because the animators were being lazy. After all, it meant plenty, but was the animators being lazy. I also can't remember what I thought of the issue-ah, memories lost to time and messageboard crashes...
The US Cartoon Network airing of the credits for episode 1 had Sweet walking on the right hand side of the screen. It disappeared from future airings, and is also not in the DVD credits. I'm not sure if it made it into any other airings-any info on this is welcome.
Next up: 1 + 1 = ?
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