Customer Reviews

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors: Escape from the Garden of Evil

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I never got to watch this show when I was a kid. We didn't get any channels with it on. I had to get all the information on this show second hand from friends and magazines. Now, I finally got to see just how good it was for myself.

The four episodes on this disc are easily some of the best, albeit there are a few things that now seem cheesy that wouldn't have then, but that's par for course for all eighties shows. Kids gotta start somewhere, I suppose.

If you like eighties shows, and overgrown plants out to destroy the universe as a whole, and transmutation of other substances into gold, this will definitely be a great show for you.

This was one of the better, if not the best, animated series of the eighties. The animation was for the most part of the highest standard (although I can remember some "dud" episodes), the main character (Jayce) had both a realistic personality and motivations. And....he was pretty! One of the prettiest male cartoon characters I can remember from my childhood (although Mark from "Battle of the Planets" was a real cutie too). Oon (the animated mini-suit of armor) got on my nerves, Gillian (the tech-wizard) was sort of like a spacefaring version of the Professor from "Gilligan's Island", Flora (the little plant-girl and Jayce's foster "sister") was just plain adorable and not in that cloying, if not irritating, manner of "kid characters". Herc Stormsailor, while *obviously* based on a certain Mr. Solo, had his own personality elements that removed him from being just a Han-Clone. Of all the characters, his evolution from sarcastic out for himself mercenary/smuggler to someone who was almost a surrogate big brother for Jayce and Flora as the series progressed was very engaging to watch.

Yes, the concept of sentient plant mutants that could transform themselves into vehicles was lame at best, but hey! this was the eighties!

So you have very high-quality animation from the "Golden Age" of DIC, very interesting characters, nice design work and a storyline that doesn't talk down to the viewer. You don't get a Message Segment at the end of an episode which was almost a hallmark of cartoons from the seventies and eighties...the actual episode WAS the message.

Oh, and did I mention that the series was created and written by J. Michael Straczynski, he of "Babylon 5" fame?

To begin this review, I have to clear the air for those individuals out there who may become upset with the realities of restricted 1980s animation and hence not appreciate my review as a result. Nostalgia is a powerful thing and as a child of the 1980s I'm as guilty as the next person of ordering DVD sets in effort to recapture a little bit of the magic.

I vaguely recalled Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors during its broadcast debut in the States (clearly distracted by Transformers and Robotech) back in 1985 but that changed the instant I watched the first episode on this collection. There was no doubt that the respective Mattel toy line graced the pages of my well-worn Sears Wishbook of the era!

Anyway, the show itself is, in my opinion, very hard to define. The very basic premise is that a teen boy and his small band of comrades set off on a quest to find his missing scientist father. So far so good, but things get strange in a hurry. We are told right in the intro that the Monster Minds were created by a surge in radiation that caused regular plants (developed by Jayce's father Audric) to develop evil brains. If that isn't odd enough, these plants apparently simultaneously developed the ability to transform into vehicles. Must have been some radiation blast!

The peculiarity doesn't end there, as, after watching it for several days, it's never made clear who exactly the Wheeled Warriors are. Jayce's crew is called the Lightening League, his vehicle force are distinguishable only by their specific uses (ground vehicles, aerospace vehicles, etc.). Sure the Monster Minds can transform into vehicles themselves but those too are classified into ground legions, aerospace legions and so on. Maybe the title was designed to include all of them? But one can't help but think that Jayce and The Lightening League may have been a better choice.

Considering the series ran for 65 episodes, each individual installment feels surprisingly condensed. In other words, in effort to fit the overly ambitious plots into the 22-minute time-slot, a lot of questions go unanswered throughout. To make matters worse still, with such a singular goal of the premise and a massive 65-episode run, it is quite disheartening to note that the show ended unresolved! Jayce never does end up reuniting with his long-lost father.

Other strange aspects of the show include the magically animated suit of armor Oom (complete with candy cane striped lance), a girl who was made from a flower, a flying fish that doesn't breathe water, and Jayce's magic ring which could, if you want to be technical, get Jayce out of 99% of the predicaments he finds himself in along the way. Perhaps the most interesting character in the lot would be the pirate smuggler named Herc Stormsailor who will undoubtadly remind all who watch of a key Star Wars character.

Perhaps all of the oddity that is this show could be chalked up to originality had the era not been dictated so heavily by toy-sales. It is widely acknowledged that an animated movie was written designed to have provided closure to the show but since the toy line flopped, the movie never made it to production. Considering the laughable concept of plants that transform into cars (clearly playing off the popularity of the transforming craze of the time), Mattel really shouldn't have been too surprised that the toys weren't an overwhelming success.

This four episode Jayce dvd from N Circle Entertainment offers the best picture quality of the now three diffent Jayce releases available. This being the first, the second a subpar picture quality 4-disc set called "VOL.1" offered by Shout Factory and third, Mill Creek's newly released, vhs quality 3-disc set "80's Cartoon Bundle". This four episode budget release has the best picture by far of all the other which I own. Which is worth mentioning if you are a Jayce fan or curious as to which collection to buy.

"Jayce:Escape from the Garden of Evil" by N Circle Entertainment works for the casual fan who doesn't want to spend more than $5 bucks. Plus you get the best picture of all the Jayce releases.

"Jayce:VOl 1" collection from Shout Factory offers the more extensive 4-disc, 33 episode first part of the entire series (or first season). However, the picture quality is not as good as N Circle's, which is probably from using the broadcast masters for the source material, as SF does alot. Not a huge problem, just a HUGE visible difference from N Circle's superior picture.

80's Cartoon Bundle: by Mill Creek is their newest, great priced collection that offers Pole Position (see my review), Cops and Jayce, each show getting their own ten episode disc. Though attractively priced and packaged, the picture quality of these dvd's looks as if they were tranferred from vhs, complete with occasional lines, conterbalanced by a clean picture. This collection works for the both casual and bigger fans of Jayce (and the other shows) that want more than just four episodes but still want to stay under $10.00. This collection also works for longtime fans looking to finally own Pole Position on dvd (in region 1).

As I am writing this review, I notice a fourth Jayce dvd called "VOL 2" to be released early this spring. Judging by the title, I'm assuming that it will contain the last remaining episodes or the series (see VOL 1 above) and possibly released by Shout Factory, which means broadcast master picture quality.

I bought this because I was a fan of the show when I was younger. Its a little cheesier than I remember, but it was bought for nostalgia nothing more.

I loved this cartoon when I was little specifically because it did not talk down to it's audiences. It assumed that we would be interested in and then capable of following along a complex storyline.

Yes (like many cartoons in the 1970's and 1980's) there was lots of tie-in-merchandise for us to bug our parents about. But this series was always so much more than a transparent toy commercial. It is a powerful tale about humanity, biology, science, ethics, technology, and justice.

Audric is a scientist, but one of his experiments goes bad and creates the Monster Minds. Led by the psychotic Saw Boss, these machine-plant hybrids are bent on world domination. Taking over Audric's lab, the Monster Minds subsequently make it their lair.

Meanwhile Audric must reunite with his son, Jayce if the Monster Minds are to be defeated.

Audric created a magic root to defeat the Monster Minds, but it was split into two halves and his son has the other. If the world will be saved, that root has to be reunited.

Jayce is only 19 years old this season (and still acts brash) but he demonstrates considerable maturity in the face of everything he has to deal with on a regular basis.

Jayce is aided by Gillian (the technowhiz who designed the vehicles and the pragmatic pacifist).

Flora is Gillian and Audric's experiment which turned out right. She was literally born of a plant and thus can communicate with plants and animals. This also means that she can sense when the Monster Minds are near--and it is time for battle. Jayce and the other people think of her as a little sister, but she really has a pivotal role in this series. Because I was around her age when the series originally aired, she was my favorite character.

Other than the bad people (who we're supposed to not like) I don't hate anybody on this series. There is some violence, but it is generally mild compared to some of the other 80's 'battle cartoons' and certainly mild against some of today's offerings. Made at the height of broadcast cartoon popularity, this series is one of the few which really can draw in viewers of all ages.

It's neat seeing the first episode of this series and remembering how the Lighting League came into being, but I think season DVD sets should be released.