Toon Zone Talkback - Chris Millar Regenerates the Spiral Zone

[Duke]

This is the talkback thread for Chris Millar Regenerates the Spiral Zone (http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=14147).

It's like if Resident Evil was created back in the 80's!

http://news.toonzone.net/images/2007-01/SpiralZone/splash-spiralzoneint2lg.jpg (http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=14147) http://news.toonzone.net/images/2007-01/SpiralZone/splash_spiralzonein1lg.jpg (http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=14147)

[Jon T]

This must be the only one of the many action-adventure 65-episode series made in the 80s that I've never seen anything from. A good comparison seems to be Centurions, another 65 ep series that never really took off, although unlike that show, SZ was never shown on TV over in the UK. Looks like this "semi-official" set may be the only way to see the entire series for the foreseeable future.

I was always curious as to where the animation was done, considering just how many 80s series had superior animation from Japan. So I must say it was quite the surprise to discover that it was AKOM who apparently did the better looking episodes while the actual Japanese studios did the worse-looking ones! I'd heard that there were quite a few clip shows in the series, possibly indicating some production problems.

[Chris Wood]

This must be the only one of the many action-adventure 65-episode series made in the 80s that I've never seen anything from.

Here's a link to a very low resolution clip of the opening credits, but its upbeat nature doesn't give a very good sense of the show's atmosphere:
Spiral Zone intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvfgr3KGLqs)

A good comparison seems to be Centurions, another 65 ep series that never really took off, although unlike that show, SZ was never shown on TV over in the UK. Looks like this "semi-official" set may be the only way to see the entire series for the foreseeable future.

I have to say that in all levelheadedness Spiral Zone is a better show than Centurions. Not that Centurions isn't good stuff, but in terms of animation, story and characters it's several steps behind. I think part of it is that Spiral Zone goes a long way to create its own, grim universe, and the focus on toys is much less obvious. Speaking of which I believe the Centurions toys were fairly successful for a while, whereas the Spiral Zone merchandise sunk without a trace almost immediately. Which is probably why it never reached the UK.

The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers is a better comparison I believe. It's also more sophisticated than competing shows at the time, and similarly met a quick death to the complete failure of merchandising efforts.

I was always curious as to where the animation was done, considering just how many 80s series had superior animation from Japan. So I must say it was quite the surprise to discover that it was AKOM who apparently did the better looking episodes while the actual Japanese studios did the worse-looking ones!

I was very surprised by this as well. Perhaps I'll try to interview the director and ask him directly. I guess the thing was that due to time and financial restrictions they were stuck using very small Japanese studios (something called Visual 80), and not the cream of the crop like Tokyo Movie Shinsha that worked on great looking series like Galaxy Rangers, Mighty Orbots, Batman The Animated Series, and Spiderman/Amazing Friends.

I'd heard that there were quite a few clip shows in the series, possibly indicating some production problems.

There are a few at the tail end of the series. Apparently the production schedule was extremely tight (6 episodes a month) and I suppose they ran out of time at the end.

SInce Bruce Timm worked on the art design in some capacity it would be interesting to see if he could tell us more about the situation.