Why so much hype?

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

As Good As It Gets

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

I never saw this series on Saturday morning as a little kid. In 1977, I was 6 years old and if I wanted to watch SuperHeroes, I was watching the All New SuperFriends Hour on ABC and then flipping over to CBS to watch the Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour. I rarely watched any Saturday morning shows on NBC since that network had the least amount to offer me. But I acquired the Space Sentinels/Freedom Force series on DVD last year. And I must say, since I've watched lots of Filmation shows in my lifetime, I knew what to expect and I love this show as if I had seen it years ago. The Space Sentinels is true genius from Lou Schemimer and the animation team at Filmation. I already knew Hercules because of the Freedom Force series. In this series, Hercules sounds younger and seems somewhat like a dumb jock who loves organic and health foods. Mercury reminds me of Robin with those orange shoes, but he is fast and is the jokester of the bunch. Astrea is the leader of the group as well as the shape shifter and the most intelligent. That to me was cool. Sentinel One was the Sentinel computer that appears as a holographic head and of course for comic relief, Filmation head Lou Scheimer is the voice of the Maintenance Operator or MO for short, falling in line with similar characters like BatMite and Orko. The Space Sentinels came out the same year that Tarzan Lord of the Jungle and the New Adventures of Batman did. Great quality animation through the use of rotoscoping, but you got the same old cost cutting repeated use of stock footage, plus there was always a moral lesson to be taught. I bought this series and Blackstar and was shocked to discover that the same guy voiced over Hercules, Sentinel One, and later on, John Blackstar. George DiCenzo. The Space Sentinels is also cool in the use of racial diversity. The black female is the intelligent leader, the Asian with the speed of light is the Humorist, and the strong man is a jock with a good tan and a health conscious mind. I really admire this series, short lived as it was. I highly recommend picking up the DVD today.

I liked most of Filmation's stuff, but this one is near the top! Definitely one of my favorites of all time (along with 'Janna the jungle'! :D) I remember my cousins and I would play the parts in the cartoon right after we finished watching them on Saturday morning (and 2 of us would always fight over who got to play Hercules! As I was smaller than my cousin, I usually had to play the Mercury guy! LOL :D) I would also like to see this on DVD. With Rhino bringing out everything else, I don't see why this one wouldn't be possible. I would actually like to see Filmation's ENTIRE catalog on DVD! :) C'mon, Rhino (or Filmation or whomever) Hook us up!

The Space Sentinels, or The Young Sentinels, as it was originally named; was a fun series with flaws. Like much of Filmation's shows, it was done on the cheap, with repeated use of stock footage. The concept owed much to other sources, with the robot MO conjuring up Star Wars, and the Sentinels from different worlds, taken from Green Lantern (although, to be fair, Green Lantern borrowed it from the Lensmen saga). The voice acting was typical for Filmation, bland at times, but with some good moments. Still, the stories were imaginative, for the most part.The Sentinels faced adversaries like Morpheus, a rogue Sentinel with all of their powers; Anubis, an alien being who was worshipped as a god by the ancient Egyptians; a sorceress; giant robots; and other menaces. Astrea was the leader, able to change shape into any animal form. Hercules was the strong man, and a bit of a dope. Mercury was the speedster and resident jokester; and MO, short for Maintenance Operator, was the comic relief and handy-robot. They were advised by Sentinel One, a sentient computer, which provided information and ran the functions of their ship. He appeared as a holographic projection of a head.Filmation did have one feature that made them stand out from other studios: they were very socially progressive. There was a diverse racial mix within the group; Astrea was African,Mercury was Asian. Astrea was the leader, and clearly the most intelligent. This was still fairly radical in the 70's.I have never seen the show in syndication and only a few episodes were released on video in the US. In fact, little of Filmation's catalogue has been released on any video format, except Star Trek. Hopefully, with DVD, we may see some of their better shows see the light of day.

Produced by Filmthon (the people who brought us the 1970's anime of Tarzan and Star Trek) in 1977 and with a run of sadly only thirteen episodes this became my favorite (well one of at least) show of the time. "Hercules empowered with the strength of a hundred men..Astrea, able to assume any living form..Mercury , the amazing athlete who can match the speed of light...working together with me sentinal one and my maintenance robot , Mo" This is how the show began each week and each week and new and deadly foe would make the sentinals fly off from their lair inside a volcano (in which was hidden their space craft) to do battle , which they won and had the "team" laugh scene which everyone knows is the staple of all classic shows ! Somebody must release them soon, with the advent of DVD and the fact that each show was 20m mins long it would be easy to do but who would?