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The Cybersix animated television series is the second and last adaptation of the Cybersix series and is loosely based on the comics. The show first aired in Canada and Argentina on Teletoon and Telefe as a Saturday morning cartoon on September 6, 1999, and finished its original run on October 23, 1999.

Episodes[]

The series has one season consisting of 13 episodes running for approximately 23 minutes. Each episode had cost $360,000 USD to make.[1]

Season 1[]

Ep# Episode Title Original Airdate
1 Mysterious Shadow September 6, 1999
2 Data 7 and Julian September 12, 1999
3 Terra September 18, 1999
4 Yashimoto, Private Eye September 19, 1999
5 Lori is Missing September 25, 1999
6 Blue Birds of Horror September 26, 1999
7 Brainwashed October 2, 1999
8 Gone with the Wings October 3, 1999
9 The Eye October 10, 1999
10 Full Moon Fascination October 9, 1999
11 The Greatest Show in Meridiana October 16, 1999
12 Daylight Devil October 17, 1999
13 The Final Confrontation October 23, 1999

Story overview[]

The story follows the eponymous protagonist and Hero , Cybersix, as she encounters and fights the monster-of-the-week villains. After having escaped her creator, Doctor Von Reichter, Cybersix adopted the male identity of Adrian Seidelman. She escaped to the city of Meridiana and later became a literature teacher of the local delinquent high school. By night she fights the creations of her creator, and is soon aided by her surviving brother, now named Data 7. The extended cast includes Cybersix's colleague and love interest Lucas Amato, a student named Lori Anderson in love with her male guise, a young street wise kid named Julian as well as others.

History[]

Production[]

According to an interview with Carlos Meglia, after the cancellation of the live-action television series a friend of Meglia's had told him of a Canadian who was looking for a project for a cartoon, they sent him a pilot and some scripts and soon he came to Argentina to sign a pre-contract. Production then started in 1998[2].

Herve Bedard, president of NOA, originally envisioned the animated series to be a more "adult-oriented story, enlivened with campy gender-bending, vampirism and not-so-vague references to drug addiction". But sometime before June 15, 1998, Bedard became the first Canadian animator to strike an international co-production with Japan, with TMS involved the demographic shifted towards the pre-teen market for a wider appeal.[3]

The series was produced by Network of Animation (NOA) and Tokyo Movie Shinsha (TMS Entertainment), who also did the overseas animation in Japan in collaboration with Telecom Animation Film. The series was produced by Koji Takeuchi, Herve Bedard, and Toshihiko Masuda. And directed by Toshihiko Masuda, Atsuko Tanaka, Kazuhide Tomonaga, Hiroyuki Aoyama, and Nobuo Tomizawa. Robbi Finkel had composed an original music score for the entire series, including the Opening and Ending Theme songs, all of which were composed in Montreal, Quebec, and totals over four hours. The songs were written by Robert Olivier, and sung by Coral Egan. Jean Paré did the programming and recording, and along with Finkel and Terry Brown, they had also mixed the music[4]. The voices were recorded at Ocean Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The English voice casts consists of Cathy Weseluck as Cybersix, Michael Dobson as Lucas Amato, Terry Klassen as Von Reichter, Andrew Francis as Julian, Alex Doduk as José, Janyse Jaud as Lori Anderson, L. Harvey Gold as Terra, and additional voices by Brian Drummond and Chantal Strand. The series is originally voiced in English, and was later dubbed in Spanish, French, Polish, Japanese, Malaysian, and Thai. It was then broadcasted on Teletoon in Canada, Telefe in Argentina and HBO-Olé for the rest of Latin America, Canal+ in France, Fox Kids in the US, Kids Station in Japan, and Hyper+ in Poland. It also aired in Malaysia, Thailand, and Hong Kong. It had apparently aired in Singapore as well on the channel Kids Central[5]. The series was planned to air in Italy in 2001[6] but the copyright holders were ultimately advised from doing so due to the ambiguity of the protagonist's disguise[7]. The series however did win an award in Italy[8]. The series ran for thirteen episodes and had re-aired in Canada, France, Japan, and Poland[9] in subsequent years, but was pulled off the air in the US after airing ten episodes. US viewers were finally able to legally watch the entire series online on the streaming website, Hulu, in 2013. A second season was planned but was cancelled after conflicts between production studios and due to the high production costs.

Fox Kids TV edit[]

The series was created with the US audience in mind. Despite this, the series was heavily edited and criticized[10]. It had aired on the now-defunct television channel, Fox Kids, who had heavily censored the series in an attempt to make it more appropriate for its young audience, as well as cutting down on the run-time for commercials. These edits included shortening the Opening Theme song in half from 61 seconds down to 31 seconds, removed scenes of violence and replaced it with sped up clips from various episodes[11]. The title screen had its black background replaced by the episode as it played, with the text overlaying it. Approximately 5 minutes were cut from each episode, making each episode about 18 minutes, and the Ending Theme song would be minimized to the side and silenced as a narrator announced schedules and upcoming episodes with accompanying clips.

Home release[]

North America[]

Cybersix The Complete Series

The English 2014 DVD release.

The Cybersix animated series was initially released in Canada as VHS tapes around the early 2000s, available in both the English and French language. It was distributed by ImaVision Distribution, who distributed both the English and French versions. In 2013, the series was licensed to DVD and published by Discotek Media/Eastern Star inc., it was distributed by Alternative Distribution Alliance:Film Works (ADA), and was released on August 26, 2014. The two disk set contains episode commentary and liner notes by DVD content producer Brady Hartel and commentary by Cathy Weseluck on the first and last episodes, it also contains the TMS Sample, production art, and the instrumental and creditless opening and ending theme songs.

International[]

The series was released in France as region 2 DVDs in the French language. The French DVDs were published by DVDy Films and distributed by Fravidis; and also published by Declic Images and distributed by Manga Distribution. The DVDs includes special features such as images for character designs and locations.

Reception[]

The series was generally well-received internationally having won awards, including "Special Mention for the best Science Fiction" at the Pulcinella Awards on April 18, 2000 in Positano, Italy[12], and "Best Animation Program or Series" and "Best Overall Sound in an Animation Program or Series" at the Leo Awards on May 6, 2000 in Vancouver, British Columbia[13]. The series had a mixed reaction in Japan, it was not popular in Poland, and in the US the series was criticized for being too violent and mature for its target audience [14] and was heavily edited in the Fox Kids version[15]. Along with the censorship, the poor timeslot it was given, and having been taken off the air prematurely, the series was doomed to fail in US which lead to its poor reception. The series holds a 8.2/10 on IMDB, a 8/10 on TV.com and a 7.4/10 on MyAnimeList.

Trivia[]

  • In an interview with Carlos Meglia, he has revealed that after the cancellation of the live-action TV series, his friend, Alejandro Fasce[16], had made a three-minute pilot on his computer and sent it to NOA who was looking to make a cartoon.[17]
    • Meglia was able to speak with the Japanese team and was told by them they would have to make changes from the original comic to do well in the USA. One of the biggest concerns was Cybersix biting the necks of Fixed Ideas, so they collaborated for two days before coming up with the vial idea.
      • Despite the toning down from the comics, the series was still criticized for being too violent.
    • Meglia was very interested in making the animated series and has said he loved the finished version and was sure there would be a second season.
    • Meglia did not know how the second season would have continued with Lori and Lucas knowing Adrian is Cybersix's alter ego.
  • Parts of the TMS Sample, which was used to pitch the series, is used in the Opening and Ending Theme and in the main series itself.
  • Some of the VHS and DVD covers used the series' production art.
  • Stan Lee commented on the series' music as "beautiful and haunting."[18]
  • The animated series has four lost media: the live-action series[19], the full theme songs[20], the various dubs[21], and the Fox Kids censored episodes[22].

References[]

  1. http://playbackonline.ca/1998/06/15/21922-19980615/ Playback online website, mentions the cost of the series
  2. http://www.quintadimension.com/node/49 Carlos Meglia interview
  3. http://playbackonline.ca/1998/06/15/21922-19980615/ Playback Online
  4. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2238888409/permalink/10150630548578410/ Cybersix public Facebook group
  5. https://web.archive.org/web/20011210122909/http://kidscentral.mediacorptv.com:80/tv/spotlight/nov/cyber.htm Cybersix on a Singapore channel website
  6. https://web.archive.org/web/20010414010310/http://www.telecom-anime.com:80/cybersix/english/faq/faq.html Official Telecom website FAQ
  7. http://xoomer.virgilio.it/fedgrame/tms.htm TMS:Unofficial History Page
  8. https://web.archive.org/web/20110928132846/http://www.telecom-anime.com/cybersix/english/prize/prize.html Cybersix prize mentioned on the TMS website
  9. http://east.sakura.ne.jp/aniba/aninews/poland.htm Polish anime news website
  10. http://www.animationartist.com/ubb/Forum5/HTML/000069.html US viewers detail the Fox Kids edit
  11. http://www.animationartist.com/ubb/Forum5/HTML/000069.html Forum where fans discuss the Fox Kids edit
  12. https://web.archive.org/web/20110928132846/http://www.telecom-anime.com/cybersix/english/prize/prize.html Pulcinella Award
  13. https://web.archive.org/web/20160808084026/http://www.leoawards.com/2013/2000_winners.html Leo Awards
  14. http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2000-10-15/entertainment/0106070442_1_fox-kids-prime-time-rating Cybersix review
  15. http://www.animationartist.com/ubb/Forum5/HTML/000069.html US viewers detail the Fox Kids edit
  16. According to an interview with Carlos Meglia in the January 2001 issue Comiqueando #49, his friend was Alejandro Fasce
  17. http://www.quintadimension.com/node/49 Carlos Meglia Interview
  18. http://www.robbifinkel.com/v2/contact.html Robbi Finkel website
  19. https://lostmediaarchive.fandom.com/wiki/Cybersix_(live-action_TV_adaptation_of_comic_book_series;_1995)
  20. http://lostmediaarchive.wikia.com/wiki/Cybersix_(full_theme_songs) Full theme songs
  21. http://lostmediaarchive.wikia.com/wiki/Cybersix_(various_dubs) Various dubs
  22. http://lostmediaarchive.wikia.com/wiki/Cybersix_(2000_Fox_Kids_edited_episodes) Fox Kids episodes

External links[]

See also[]

Gallery[]

Character Model Sheets[]

Background Artwork[]

Production Bible[]

Production Art[]

VHS and DVD Covers[]

Promos[]

Misc[]

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