"Exosquad" (1993) TV series 1993-1995

Writer:

Michael Edens (animated series) (writer) (episode) (writer) (episode "Blitzkrieg") (writer) (episode "Resist!") (writer) (episode "Hidden Terrors") (writer) (episode "Scorched Venus") (writer) (episode "Sabotage") (writer) (episode "Defying Olympus") (writer) (episode "Abandon Hope")

Seasons:

1 | 2

Genre:

Animation | Drama | Sci-Fi | Adventure

Plot Keywords:

Genetic Engineering | Space War | Space | Futuristic | Fictional War

Cast

Robby Benson	...	Squad Leder Lt. J.T. Marsh / ... (12 episodes, 1993)
Gary Chalk	...	Marsala / ... (12 episodes, 1993)
Lisa Ann Beley	...	Field Liaison Lt. Nara Burns / ... (10 episodes, 1993)
Michael Donovan	...	Ground Assault Officer Exotrooper Wolf Bronski (10 episodes, 1993)
Wally Marsh	...	Admiral Winfield (10 episodes, 1993)
John Payne	...	Earth Resistance Leader Sean Napier / ... (10 episodes, 1993)
Michael Benyaer	...	Pilot Exotrooper First Class Kaz Takagi / ... (9 episodes, 1993)
Richard Newman	...	Gov.-Gen. Phaeton (9 episodes, 1993)
Janyse Jaud	...	Field Sgt. Rita Torres (7 episodes, 1993)
David Kaye	...	Draconis / ... (6 episodes, 1993)
Rob Morton	...	Minister of Battle Forces Typhonus (5 episodes, 1993)
Teryl Rothery	...	Field Repair Specialist Lt. Maggie Weston (5 episodes, 1993)

Runtime:

30 min (52 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

New Zealand:G | USA:TV-Y7

Company:

Universal Cartoon Studios

Quotes:

Squad Leder Lt. J.T. Marsh: You can review the tapes a thousand times to see what you did, what you should have done. But the only battle that really counts... is the next one.

One of the best epic space sagas ever

To call Exosquad a "cartoon" is unfair. This saga is absolutely brilliant with its parrallels to the reality of war, racism, prejudice, ethnic cleansing, and the brutalities of totalitarianism.

In Exosquad, a race of artificialy created humanoids -bred for slavery - revolt against natural humans in order to exterminate them and take their own place as the rightful rulers of the Sol system.

In the outer reaches of the solar system, are the Space Pirates who were prisoners forced to mine the outer planet's moons for raw materials for building spacecraft. A group of violent, angry people bent on revenge against the people of earth.

In the middle are humans, who make up the populous of Earth, Venus and the space Navy, The Exosquad. Besides commanding a large force of battleships, they are trained for heavy weapons - including E-Frames - powered armor battle suits that increase the destructive power of individual soldiers.

While the plot sounds like the run of the mill anime, the show is given a distinctive American feeling by a cast of western actors, as well as a distinctive sense of realism and authenticity by graphic violence and actual death of characters as well as other brutalities of war such as forced labor, starvation, summary executions and stories of resistance, betrayal and honor.

This show goes well beyond the average cartoon and despite its watercolor animations, the high quality artwork and voice acting ranks Exosquad right up there with other space sagas such as Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica.

This show was highly enjoyable and I rate it a perfect 10.

My only disappointment is that the show was unfinished. The episode "Beyond Chaos" begins an incomplete story arc that would have been better left concluded in the episode "Fall of the Neosapien empire". In many ways, this left me disappointed - like the final episode of Space: Above & Beyond but, if you can overlook "Beyond Chaos", the rest of the series is unfortgettable and brilliant.