Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors

[areaseven]

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
DIC Entertainment, 1985
Shout! Factory, 2008
Created by Jean Chalopin (founder of DIC) and J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future)
Running Time: 22 minutes per episode
Rated TV-G. Enjoy the show.

Thundering across the stars to save the universe from the Monster Minds. Jayce searches for his father to unite the Magic Root and lead his Lightning League to victory over the changing form of Saw Boss. Wheeled Warriors explode into battle. Lightning strikes!

Cast
Darrin Baker as Jayce
Charles Jolliffe as Gillian
Len Carlson (1937-2006) (Ganon in The Legend of Zelda, Green Goblin in The Amazing Spider-Man) as Herc Stormsailor
Valerie Politis as Flora
Luba Goy as Oon
Guilio Kukurugya as Saw Boss
Dan Hennessey (Chief Quimby in Inspector Gadget, Brave Heart Lion in Care Bears) as Audric
Ernie Anderson (1923-1997) (famous '80s voiceover) as the Narrator

"Ring of Light, Magic Might!"

Audric, a renowned scientist, does experiments with plants to find a cure to galactic hunger. But when a solar flare hits his laboratory, the plants mutate into evil creatures known as the Monster Minds - led by the maniacal Saw Boss. As the Monster Minds conquer most of the galaxy, Jayce is given one-half of the Magic Root and leadership of the legendary Lightning League. Allied with the magician scientist Gillian, the squire robot Oon, the plant-human girl Flora and the intergalactic courier Herc Stormsailor, Jayce travels across the galaxy in search of his father to unite the Magic Root and eliminate the Monster Minds for good.

Story: B+
I remember the good old days of coming back from school and watching this show on KTTV 11 before Thundercats. Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors is what some people like to call "Star Wars on wheels." The series' title character has some Luke Skywalker in him, while Herc Stormsailor is clearly a Han Solo copy. And then there's the rather hokey premise of our heroes battling evil vegetable vehicles. Still, the characters are likeable and the storylines are involving. This show is everything Titan A.E. should've been, and more.

Animation: B
As with Thundercats, Centurions and many other popular '80s American cartoons, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors is Japanese animated. The quality on many episodes was state-of-the-art back in 1985, and it still holds its own today when compared with other '80s cartoons released on DVD.

Soundtrack: A-
Perhaps the strongest point of this series is the music. The orchestral score by Shuki Levy (Inspector Gadget, M.A.S.K.) and Haim Saban (Power Rangers, Macron 1) fits perfectly with the series, but the biggest selling points are the hair metal-oriented opening and ending themes.

DVD Extras: C
It's great that Shout! Factory has given this series a proper DVD release, after the cheap and disappointing Escape from the Garden of Evil single DVD by NCircle Entertainment. But while you have the first 33 episodes in one boxed set, there isn't much else included other than some screenplays and concept art.

The Bottom Line
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors is an underrated series that remains one of DIC Entertainment's best titles. Now if only Mattel reissued the toys...

Links
Shout! Factory's Official Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors Page
Cindy's Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors Page

References
Wikipedia Edited June 16, 2016 by areaseven

[Roy Focker]

The magic root? Is this a pro-pot cartoon?

[Jasonc]

Is this getting a full release on DVD or a re-release?

[taksraven]

The magic root? Is this a pro-pot cartoon?

Heh, here in Australia, magic "root" would have a different context altogether. :lol:

[areaseven]

Is this getting a full release on DVD or a re-release?

According to what I read online, the release of Vol. 2 was canceled, probably because Vol. 1 didn't sell well. However, you can download all 65 episodes on iTunes.

[Renato]

I loved this show as a kid. Growing up in Peru, my uncle in New York sent me Beta cassettes taped off TV before I could speak any English. Same with Transformers, I saw this show before its domestic broadcast, in a language I couldn't understand, but the visuals were so amazing I didn't care. Then later all these shows were shown in Spanish, and later still when I moved to the UK I caught the re-runs on satellite for years afterward. Good memories.

That said, I personally think this is yet another of those shows like Transformers, Thundercats, Voltron, etc., that has little re-watch value outside of nostalgia, unless you have kids. I just can't get back into those shows now. I'll watch the odd episode on Youtube or something, but I'm not surprised that they only released the first half of the show on DVD. It's a shame, really, but not unexpected. However, I still do think that relatively speaking it is a much better-written show than those others I listed, and I heard that the writers went on to do Babylon 5 or something like that.

Overall, I like the characters, the concept, the music, and it was a cool show for its time. I put it alongside Dungeons & Dragons, but just below Ulysses 31 (because I can watch that one as an adult with hardly any issues whatsoever).

Did anyone else have a crush on Flora (I think that was her name)?

[jenius]

I think this was on the USA channel at 7AM when I was a freshman in high school. I used to watch it every morning while I got ready for school.

[myk]

I think this was on the USA channel at 7AM when I was a freshman in high school. I used to watch it every morning while I got ready for school.

Lol, that's why "I" was always late for school...

Edited April 24, 2011 by myk

[Solscud007]

That is a shame. I would only buy it as a complete set. Did Jayce ever find his father?

[Keith]

That is a shame. I would only buy it as a complete set. Did Jayce ever find his father?

Yeah, I've been eye-ing it too, but Shout seems to be a bit hesitent about finishing it, a shame too since they're apparently about to release all 3 Japanese transformers series that didn't make it out here. After Exosquad's 13 ep season 1 release (universal, not shout factory) with no follow up, I d hate to leave another show hanging like that.

[areaseven]

That is a shame. I would only buy it as a complete set. Did Jayce ever find his father?

Nope. There were plans to conclude the storyline with a theatrical release, but that was scrapped when the toys flopped in sales.

According to Straczynski, the movie would have united Jayce's Lightning League with the original Lightning League. Jayce and Audric would reunite, but Audric would be killed by Saw Boss. In the final battle to save the galaxy, Jayce would unite the Magic Root and destroy Saw Boss and the Monster Minds forever.

[myk]

Actually, didn't Jayce and Audric see each other from time to time through trans-dimensional mumbo-jumbo, only to be torn apart at the end of the episodes?

Quick Draw FTW, btw...

Edited April 26, 2011 by myk

[Renato]

Actually, didn't Jayce and Audric see each other from time to time through trans-dimensional mumbo-jumbo, only to be torn apart at the end of the episodes?

Quick Draw FTW, btw...

Yeah, often Audric and Jayce missed each other by a hair's breadth, kind of like An American Tail!

Oh, and I thought Arm-Force was the best of the lot in terms of the mecha.

Also, I remember there was one episode where they did meet the orginal Lightning League, and it turned out that they were a bunch of lazy losers now, who just played games (fighting robots etc) to amuse themselves, instead of actually doing anything heroic. I always liked that the main characters were not a "dream team" of heroes, like the X-Men or Avengers or something, but that they had been inspired by legendary heroes and did their best just to live up to that ideal. Then when they did meet up, they were shocked to learn the truth. But their inspiration was still real, and their causes were just. That was a good episode animation-wise, too.

[myk]

Yeah, often Audric and Jayce missed each other by a hair's breadth, kind of like An American Tail!

Oh, and I thought Arm-Force was the best of the lot in terms of the mecha.

Also, I remember there was one episode where they did meet the orginal Lightning League, and it turned out that they were a bunch of lazy losers now, who just played games (fighting robots etc) to amuse themselves, instead of actually doing anything heroic. I always liked that the main characters were not a "dream team" of heroes, like the X-Men or Avengers or something, but that they had been inspired by legendary heroes and did their best just to live up to that ideal. Then when they did meet up, they were shocked to learn the truth. But their inspiration was still real, and their causes were just. That was a good episode animation-wise, too.

Dang I gotta see that episode. Also, Armed Force was my favorite up until I actually bought a Quick Draw, which wasn't until a few years ago. In all honesty I liked all of the vehicles that this series offered-hokey as they may be...

[areaseven]

Mill Creek Entertainment announced last week that they will be reissuing the first 32 episodes of Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors on February 14, 2012. In addition to the 3-disc set, Mill Creek will also release a single-disc "Best Of" compilation featuring 10 episodes. There is also speculation that Mill Creek will, indeed, have all 65 episodes on DVD in the long run.

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors - Picked Up by Mill Creek! A 3-DVD, 32-Episode Collection is Coming

Edited July 29, 2011 by areaseven