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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The final Filmation cartoon, November 21, 2007
Bravestarr is the end of a long line of great cartoons from Filmation studios, and this also ended the era of television animation done completely by Americans (today, animation is outsourced). In 1987, following Ghostbusters, Filmation created Bravestarr and sold the rights to Mattel, who then made the toyline which had special electronic guns (which are often shown during combat scenes).
Bravestarr is a hybrid of two common television themes, half science fiction and half western. The main character, Marshall Bravestarr (a native American) is the primary law enforcer on a planet called New Texas. New Texas has a valuable mineral called Kerium, which yields a great deal of energy when destroyed, but emits a gas that causes hallucinations if the Kerium is partially damaged. To help Bravestarr, his primary sidekick is a robot horse (Equestroid) named 30-30 and Bravestarr has a prairie humanoid deputy named Fuzz. In addition to 30-30 and Fuzz, there are a number of other characters, with a local female Judge who goes by the initials JB (a romantic interest is hinted at, but not really explored on the TV series), a bartender named Handlebar and finally a mentor and spiritual protector to Marshall Bravestarr known as Shaman (an older more traditional looking native American).
Predictably, Bravestarr is good versus evil. Bravestarr's criminal roster includes Tex Hex (the main nemesis), Outlaw Skuzz (the opposite of Deputy Fuzz), and several other villains. Tex Hex answers to a powerful spirit named Stampede, who is the rough equivalent to Shaman.
The transfer quality is good, although there are visual artifacts here and there, and the audio is nearly flawless for a monaural soundtrack. The 4 DVD's include the first 33 episodes and includes interviews with Lou Schiemer, Pat Fraley (voice of Bravestarr), and two directors. On disc 4, Filmation apparently did an experimental show that would have followed as a spinoff to Bravestarr called "The quest of the prairie people", although the spinoff does not feature any of the main Bravestarr characters.
The DVD packaging is of good quality-two discs per side, stacked in a way I haven't seen before (one DVD tray on top of the other, which fold out), and while it doesn't have an embossed package like in He-Man, it is easy to tell that a lot of effort was made here.
DISC 1
Episode 1-Tunnel Of Terror
Episode 2-Memories
Episode 3-The Day The Town Was Taken
Episode 4-Brother's Keeper
Episode 5-Kerium Fever
Episode 6-The Taking Of Thistledown 123
Episode 7-No Drums, No Trumpets
Episode 8-Showdown At Sawtooth
Episode 9-Bravestarr And The Law
Episode 10-Eye Of The Beholder
Episode 11-Eyewitness
DISC 2
Episode 12-Big 30 And Little Wimble
Episode 13-Bravestarr And The Medallion
Episode 14/15-Sherlock Holmes In The 23rd Century
Episode 16-Hail, Hail, The Gangs All Here
Episode 17-Thoren The Slavemaster
Episode 18-To Walk A Mile
Episode 19-Skuzz And Fuzz
Episode 20-Who Am I?
Episode 21-The Vigilantes
Episode 22-The Witnesses
DISC 3
Episode 23-The Wrong Hands (stereo background music)
Episode 24-The Good, The Bad And The Clumsy (stereo background music)
Episode 25-Wild Child (stereo background music)
Episode 26-Jeremiah And The Prairie People (stereo background music)
Episode 27-Unsung Hero (stereo background music)
Episode 28-An Older Hand (stereo background music)
Episode 29-Hostage (stereo background music)
Episode 30-Runaway Planet
Episode 31-Bravestarr And The Treaty (stereo background music)
Episode 32-Lost Mountain (stereo background music)
Episode 33-Rampage
Unlike most all other Filmation shows, this show doesn't rely so much on stock footage (for example, there are no shots of anyone laughing based on the original Tarzan Lord Of The Jungle stock animation). While the show was targeted towards children, adults can still enjoy the show as the plots aren't really "dumbed down." Filmation studios has no problem saying the "K" word unlike most other animation studios, past and present. "K" meaning kill, of course.
"The Legend Of Bravestarr", which is not included, explains background information on all the characters.
If you like Filmation cartoons, this is a good final effort from them, and I wanted to see all of the episodes I missed when it was broadcast long, long ago. I'm giving the boxed set a "4" because on disc 3, many of the episodes have a full stereo musical soundtrack. If this had been a minimal release (all mono-soundtrack, no DVD extras at all), the show by itself is pretty average-closer to a "3" in Amazon's rating system. Sherlock Holmes in the 23rd century started out very interesting, but by the second half of the episode I didn't think too highly of it. Anyway, a big thanks to BCI Eclipse for treating Bravestarr respectfully in Filmation's afterlife!
Because this is a hybrid western/science-fiction show, it has aged pretty well. As far as the stories go, they are average in quality but I still personally like Flash Gordon and Tarzan Lord Of The Jungle (unreleased) better.
Note-for some reason, on my Lou Scheimer interview, halfway through the audio completely cuts out.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Surprise, December 28, 2007
I missed this show as a kid. It came out when I was probably a senior in high school and would have been off my radar at that point, though I was a child of the 80's Golden Age of Animation (He-Man, Thundercats, Voltron, etc.). Anyway, boy did I miss out on something. I picked this up because the themes intrigued me, and the reviews I read seemed to indicate it might be up my alley. I will not go into all the detail others have, but felt I needed to tell folks that if they are a fan of the He-Man/Thundercats era of animation, then this is something you have to own. Not only is it apparently an important piece of animation history (being the last American animation project of any real size), but it is a body of work that stands the test of time. Watching a show like the original He-Man has nostalgic value to someone my age, but those episodes do contain a certain amount of cringe-value, and I don't know if my kids will enjoy them as much as I did for as long as I did (though I sincerely hope they will). But Bravestar really lacks that dated, this-would-never-fly-today feel that you get from some of the vintage animation those of us who grew up in the 80's have such a soft spot for. Good stuff. Has the main character giving the viewer the moral for the day as He-Man used to--which is something you just can't picture a show doing anymore, but also can't figure out why the heck not. Great production values, great transfer. Great extras. Really a pleasure to view and I am really glad I rolled the dice on it. If you want the feature movie that kicked this series off, you need to get the Best of Bravestar DVD release. It's worth owning as well, and the extra episodes it brings with it are just a bonus, especially at the price it's going for now (like 12 bucks). All the Bravestar products are highly recommended. I really hope the second volume actually comes out and I will definitely be picking that one up, too. So should you!
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Science Fiction + Western + Animation = Great series!, November 24, 2007
I'm 33 years old now, but I can still remember the greatest cartoon decade ever, the 1980s, so fondly. Now with many of the cartoons being released on DVD, reliving those fun days isn't so far away anymore. Bravestarr was one of those toons I really enjoyed watching because it was a wicked mix of sci-fi and western style, turning it into an animated "Westworld," only without Yul Brenner going out of control. Having a Native American-style character in the lead was impressive, always referring back to its culture, even if the action took place on a whole other planet. The character mix couldn't have been more diverse, especially with characters like Thirty-Thirty, Fuzz, J.B., Shaman, and a whole bunch of others. Looking at them all made it such a pleasure to watch.
Now, it's possible Thirty-Thirty's gun Sarah Jane and Skuzz's cigar-smoking may be a bit bothersome for some, which by today's standards is completely understandable. However, go on and have fun watching the marshall and his friends maintaining law and order on New Texas!
Edit: I'm thrilled to see my all-time favorite (and the series' only two-part) episode: "Sherlock Holmes in the 23rd Century"! I made the earlier mistake of saying it would be in the 2nd half of the series.
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