Rekka Dragon Jay here! And thought I give you another review from Toon Ninja Reviews. I haven't done one in quite a long time (because of reasons) but I thought I could get back on track and do one. In this review, I will talk about one of the underrated gems in the 1990s, and robots is the word. And one cartoon can do justice with robots better than...
( In a sly, fast, low-whispered voice) THE BOTS MASTER!
The Bots Master (known in France as Le Maître des Bots) was a French/American cartoon released in 1993. It was created by Saban International and Créativité et Développement, under the helm of Jean Chalopin (one of the original founders of DIC Entertainment) and co-produced by Avi Arad (who was involved with most of the Marvel cartoons in the 1990s). One of the underrated cartoons in the 90s and one of the few who displayed 3D effects at the time. More on that later. Right now, let's get crackin' and in the words of the aforementioned hero of show...
IT'S LAZER TIME, BOYZZ!!
Story: It is the year 2025, mankind has been prosperous, thanks to a line of high advanced robots, made by super genius and inventor, Ziv Zulander (ZZ to his friends). Unfortunately, the people he works for, the Robotic Megafact Corporation (RM Corp or simply The Corp), has other ideas. The Corp's president and CEO, Sir Louis Leon Paradim (LLP to his employees), has plans for world domination, by turning all the world's robots into his own personal war machines. When ZZ learns of Paradim's evil plot, he resigns from the Corp and plans to shut him down. To combat the Corp's evil machinations, ZZ created his own group of robotic creations, the Brain Operated Young Zygoetopic Zoids (BOYZZ for short). Although he is fighting to expose their treachery, the Corp labeled ZZ as a terrorist by the news media because he knows too much. But with the aid of his BOYZZ Brigade and his little sister, Blitzy, ZZ fights to clear his name and expose the Corp's evil schemes to save the world and all of humanity.
This...is his story.
Synopsis: The Bots Master is about robotics genius/freedom fighter, Ziv Zulander (ZZ for short), fighting against the evil machinations of the Robotic Megafact Corporation. ZZ, branded a terrorist by the Corp, fights a covert battle against them while trying to clear his name, with the aid of not only his little sister, Blitzy, but also by his creations, his BOYZZ Brigade. As the show progressed, the Corp's scheme of global conquest goes from using Krang Chips to turn all the bots in the world into their own personal war machines to Paradim wants to be president of a country of his choosing. The show lasted 40 episodes, ending on a cliffhanger (more on that as I explain my retrospect on the show and our "What if" scenario).
Characters: The characters are a mixed bag, both organic and robotic. Let's start with the human characters, both the main hero and his little sister, the BOYZZ themselves, the villains and other characters. Let's begin, shall we?
Ziv Zulander: ZZ to his friends and Blitzy, Zulander is the aforementioned Bots Master himself. He is a super genius and inventor and a decent fighter in his own right. He use to work for the RM Corp, using his genius to create bots to benefit mankind until learning of the Corp's treacherous plot for world domination. And when he did that, the Corp labeled him as a terrorist. Now ZZ has to not only has to clear his name, but expose the Corp as the real criminals, with the aid of his creations, the BOYZZ. ZZ lives in his grandfather's bomb shelter, which he uses as his headquarters to monitor the Corp's activities. ZZ was voiced by Mark Hildreth, who was not only a stage actor, but did other voices in gaming and in other animated shows, movies and specials, including doing the voice of Terry Bogard in the Fatal Fury anime trilogy and as Alex Mann from the CGI version of Action Man.
Blitzy Zulander: ZZ's spunky little sister. Unlike her big brother, Blitzy is spunky and headstrong, a deadly combination, especially in the battlefield. She rides her VAF jet and is responsible for bringing Jungle Fiver, the 5-Bot Mecha, together. While ZZ and his main BOYZZ fight in the frontlines, Blitzy does the fighting as backup when needed, hence her name, Blitzy, taken from the word, blitz, as in blitzkrieg, which is German for lightning war. Blitzy was voiced by Crystaleen O'Bray.
And now, here are the aforementioned creations of ZZ, the BOYZZ. Like I said, BOYZZ are an acronym, which stands for Brain Operated Young Zygoetopic Zoids (Zygoetopic? I don't know what that word means. Probably an artificial intelligence thing, who knows). The BOYZZ are automatons with artificial intelligence built in them, making them think and feel like humans. But, whatever you do, do not, I repeat, do not, under any circumstances, call them Bots. And if you do, they will let you know how they feel about. After all, they are no Bots, they're BOYZZ, and very proud of it, I might add. Without further ado, here are the BOYZZ themselves.
The Street BOYZZ: Toolzz and Jammerzz, two BOYZZ who are fun and easy going. Toolzz, hence his name, has two sets of tools on his arms, a drill on one arm and pliers on the other. Although easy going, Toolzz's one weakness is his acrophobia, his fear of heights. As for Jammerzz, he likes to rhyme while bashes the Corp's bots with his piledriver arm, which doubles as a double-barrel laser cannon. Toolzz was voiced by Stefano Giulianetti while Jammerzz was voiced by Cusse Mankuma, who also voiced Mamoo in Super Duper Sumos.
The Sports BOYZZ: BOYZZ who specializes in sports and use their sports equipment as weapons.
All-Ball: The lead Sports BOYZZ, whose moveable arms and legs are use for comical effect when he runs real fast.
Bogey: Specializes in golf, hences his name.
Batzz: Baseball is his specialty. He had his day in the limelight in the episode, Lost, where he temporally lost his memory after a mission gone wrong.
Ace: With one arm, with tennis racket attached to it, let the tennis balls fly.
Science BOYZZ: They are the lead BOYZZ into science, ingenuity, repairs and everything in between.
Watzon: Programmed to be the doctor of the team, with a dry wit to boot. He is voiced by Matt Hill, in his pre-Ed, from Ed, Edd and Eddy, type voice, but without the dimwitted nature that Ed is known for.
D'Nerd: A BOYZZ programmed to be a, well, nerd. Though very brilliant, his true programming is that of a living and talking dictionary. You say a word in front of him, he will say the word, tell you whether its a adjective or a noun and finally its meaning. And time and time again, he gets into trouble, especially when his programming gets the best of him, or get disassembled sometimes. D'Nerd is voiced by Terry Klassen, who was the original voice of Krillin from the original Ocean Group/Saban dub of Dragon Ball Z and as Kwirk the Chillin' Tomato from The Power Team.
Genesix: The lead Science BOYZZ, responsible for helping ZZ with all the battle bots and other equipment in their fight against the Corp. He was the first prototype BOYZZ ZZ built and his name was taken from the word, "Genesis" He is voiced by, believe it or not, Michael Donovan.
Other BOYZZ:
Twig: An humanoid BOYZZ and ZZ's Bodyguard, designed to be his transport, an expy of Transformers, no less, from vehicle mode to robot mode and vice versa.
Cook: A BOYZZ programmed to be, well, a cook.
Kiddie: A BOYZZ programmed to be a kid, a perfect playmate for Blizty at her age. Although being the "Scrappy" of the BOYZZ, his day in the limelight was in the episode, "Bringing Down the BOYZZ" where he helped ZZ find an anti-virus program to save the other BOYZZ who were contaminated.
Swang: A bug like BOYZZ that bounces around and slashes things with its claws. Mostly used for reconnaissance.
Birden: A bird BOYZZ that flies around blindly, due to its missing guidance system.
Freehand: An arm with a propeller that helps around ZZ's place, especially with the Talking Heads.
The Talking Heads: 5 robotic heads that talk too much.
T1 - A green robot head with fins
T2 - A pink robot head who laughs alot
T3 - A rectangular purple robot head
T4 - A green robot head with eye stalks
T5 - A golden robot head who speaks in a quiet type tone
Of all the Talking Heads, T2 is the most annoying of the bunch. T2's laugh makes Lewis Skolnick's laugh sound tolerable.
Jungle Fiver: A 5 robot combiner mecha, mostly used when ZZ and Blitzy brings out the big guns and I do mean, "Big", especially dealing with the Corp's giant bots.
Ninjzz: The first BOYZZ ZZ built for combat. Ninjzz, hench his name, is a ninja BOYZZ, programmed for stealth and combat. Fused by the DNA scan of the greatest ninja warrior who ever lived, Dragon Lee, Ninjzz is quite formidable. Being in mind and body, Ninjzz fills the role as leader when ZZ and/or Blitzy were out of action or something similar. Of all the BOYZZ, Ninjzz is my most favorite. His style does measure up to the other fictional ninjas such as Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Joe Musashi and, of course, Ryu Hayabusa. So awesome.
With that said, now, we talk about the main villains of the Robotic Megafact Corporation. Before that, let's talk about their bots before the main baddies. All the Corp's bots, all are 3A type bots, are different in many ways like the Security Bots, Green Bots, Police Bots, Private Police Bots, Helibots, Beast Bots and so on and so forth. When the bots speak, they sound like when Stephen Hawking uses his computer to say something due to a crippling disease that prevents him from speaking and moving slowly. Then, there are the Huma-Bots, human-robot hybrids that combine brute strength with robotic parts. And finally, the Corp's crowing achivement, their giant bots, the 3Ps and the aforementioned MDB, which stands for the Massive Destruction Bot, whose strength and firepower can only be stopped by Jungle Fiver itself. With that said, now let's talk about the main baddies from the Corp.
Sir Lewis Leon Paradim: The president and CEO of the Robotic Megafact Corporation. Paradim (or LLP to his employees) is not thrilled of being the richest man in the world. In fact, he wanted more than just running a corporation. World domination is all he seeks. And with his employees and his army of bots, Paradim will have the world at the palm of his hand. Paradim is as clever as he is ruthless. Not only he can replace himself with a robotic clone of himself with explosives, but he can also get his hands dirty on occasion, especially fighting against Ninjzz in hand-to-hand combat. Like Lex Luthor and every other real life executive, Paradim embodies what corporate greed and deception truly is. And seriously, "LLP?" That sounds like a Patent Trademark than a nickname to me. Anyway, Paradim was voiced by Dale Wilson, who also voice Ja-Kal from Mummies Alive!, Mr. Big from The Power Team and Big Boss Graves from The Adventures of T-Rex.
Lady Frenzy: Paradim's number two. Even though she is loyal to the Corp, Frenzy has an infatuation with ZZ, despite seeing Ziv as her enemy. Despite her calm demeanor, hence her name, when things don't go her way, she will get angry and get into a, frenzy, so to speak. And like most fictional characters like Jessica Rabbit, Lady Frenzy speaks with a low, sexy, husky type voice, that was based on the late, great Lauren Bacal. Frenzy was voiced by Janyse Jaud, who also voiced Jezmine from Conan the Adventurer, Sgt. Rita Torres from EXO-Squad, Orange Blossom from Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures and Panni, one of Laocorn's henchmen, from Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture.
Dr. Hiss: The Corp's bionically insane scientist, with a strong, profound hatred for Zulander. He is the one responsible for not just with all the Corp's bots, but also responsible for installing every, single Krang Chip (which he created) to every other 3A type bot all over the world that will turn on their masters and obey only the Corp. No one knows how Hiss became so disfigured and turned into a cyborg. But he can be as dangerous as the bots he created. His name and personality was based on real life Nazi politician, Rudolf Hess. Dr. Hiss was voiced by Ian James Corlett, who uses the same hissing accent for Snakeman in the Ruby-Spears Megaman cartoon and as Inferno from G.I. Joe: Extreme, but without the hissing accent.
Other characters appear in the show, such as:
Lonnie Chang: A news reporter, who reports Zulander's "terrorist" activities and buying into the Corp's lies and propaganda. But, that doesn't mean she's a bad person. Just following some bad leads due to the Corp's deceptive nature. If the show would've continue, she would've seen the Corp's treachery first hand and help ZZ. Her name was a take from real life reporter, Connie Chung, who is married to the poor man's version of Jerry Springer, Maury Povich (Oh, boy).
Alicia: She is ZZ's on and off girlfriend. The Betty to Lady Frenzy's Veronica.
President Bando: President of the United States of Africa (yes, it does exist in the show, not real life) and one of many people who believe in ZZ's true character and skeptical on the Corp's business practices.
Now that that's taken care of, let's talk about the animation and the music. Besides, there is not much to talk about it, but here it is, anyway. Let's start with the music.
Music: The music was done by Alain Garcia, which brings the techno-pop feel into his music, which almost similar to some of the shows done by Saban like Power Rangers or X-Men.
Animation: Since it was made by Créativité et Développement, it's like a cross between past cartoons from DIC with an early Japanese anime feel to it. Créativité et Développement later became involved with other shows like season 2 of King Arthur and the Knights of Justice and season 2 of Conan the Adventurer. And what makes The Bots Master so unique at the time, was its 3D effects. Most of the episodes start off 2D, but when a character (mostly ZZ, Blitzy or one of the BOYZZ) says the line, "It's Lazer Time," it turned from 2D into 3D when the action picks up in intensity. But when the battle ends, they say "Game Over," and it goes back being 2D. This effect was done using a method called the Pulfrich effect, a psychophysical percept wherein lateral motion of an object in the field of view is interpreted by the visual cortex as having a depth component, due to a relative difference in signal timings between the two eyes. And the only way the viewers can see the show through 3D is if they had the special 3D glasses that came with the short-lived action figures (which I will get to in a moment). The 3D effects was done by Nuoptix 3-D. This show wasn't the only one with 3D effects at the time. The other show with similar 3D effects was Space Strikers, which I call 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea...in Space. But that's for another time. Anyway, as the intro itself, when the show first came out, the first version it has clips from the first 3 episodes, including episode 2, Enter the Ninjzz, where the BOYZZ fought to save ZZ from the Corp's Bots, including the prototype MDB codenamed Goliath, Ninjzz smashing a Beast Bot with his Nunchucks. But, as the series progressed, they created the second, but new intro from scratch, from the BOYZZ introducing themselves to Jungle Fiver fighting both the MDB and the 3B. Between the two, I think the second intro is much better than the first. Trust me, I know.
Experiences and What Ifs: Like many cartoons in the 90s, I use to watch it before I head off to school. Most of the time, I left to school before the episode finishes. And those days I stood home or having summer vacation, I saw all 40 episodes in its entirety. Here are some of my favorite highlights from The Bots Master.
"Adios, ZZ!," The first episode, where we introduced to ZZ, his sister Blitzy, the BOYZZ and the villains of the RM Corp, which establishes the status quo of the show.
"Enter the Ninjzz," Here we are introduced to my favorite BOYZZ, Ninjzz. Truly an awesome ninja, just like Snake Eyes and Ryu Hayabusa. That, and seeing the BOYZZ throw down against the Corp while saving ZZ.
By the way, some of the sound effects were used from other media. For instance, when Ninjzz yells like a ninja, it was taken from the Bruce Lee flick, Game of Death, along with the nunchucks sound effects and when he fires his ninja stars, the sfx was taken from Rambo: First Blood Part II, where Rambo fires his arrow. It's true, look it up sometime. Anyway, moving on.
"Blitzy and her Battlebot Brigade," Here where ZZ was trying to broker a truce with Lady Frenzy, but it was a trap by the Corp and it's up to Blitzy and the other BOYZZ to save ZZ once more.
"Stop The Bot," Here we see the Massive Destruction Bot and Jungle Fiver for the first time.
"This Land is My Land," In this episode, ZZ and the BOYZZ protects a businessman's property from the Corp.
"Bringing Down the BOYZZ," The Corp affected most of the BOYZZ with a virus and guess whose saves the day? Kiddie saves everybody. Not bad for a little kid BOYZZ.
"Climb the Mountain," ZZ heads to Peru to see his old college professor who, against his own will, made some special alloy the Corp's Special Green Bots, which can be easily be dissolved by citric acid, straight from lemons.
"Blind Date," ZZ, feeling bored and alone, meets Alicia, the Betty to the Veronica that is Lady Frenzy.
"Bobby and his Bots," ZZ meets a fellow robot maker named Bobby. At first he was in the same page as ZZ, but it turns out that he was working for the Corp, especially taking T2, the most annoying Talking Head of them all, for the Corp's unusual experiments.
"Friendly Frenzy," By using a special flower and turning it into a potion spray of sorts, ZZ used it on Lady Frenzy, turning her nice and kind, which is a contrast to her mean and ruthless nature.
"The Setting Sun," The Final Episode. In this one, the president's daughter gets kidnapped and it's up to ZZ and BOYZZ to save her. And the president's daughter, she looks a bit like Blitzy. In the end, the president's daughter is saved and the Corp's treachery have been exposed. However...
That leads us to the show's downfall. Even though ZZ has exposed to Corp's true nature, the Corp themselves has succeed installing artificial intelligence into one of their Green Bots, thus, Paradim declares the end of Ziv Zulander and the beginning of the day of the Corp. After that, the show was cancelled after 40 episodes, due to poor merchandising with their toyline. A trend that will continue to this day, especially with shows like the ThunderCats reboot and Young Justice getting canned by not just poor merchandising, but an overwhelming involvement by executive meddling.
And if the show was still on the air, ZZ would continue to convince all the world leaders that the Corp are the real terrorists and the end game with the Corp's 3A bots with A.I. will be their undoing. But, if you have any suggestions on how this show would've continued, leave me a comment.
Other than that, The Bots Master, like many other underrated cartoons in the 90s, was a unique one. Usually, most shows lasted either 13 or 26 episodes. But since it was never on a big time network, syndication was always a cartoons best friend and The Bots Master was no different. Check it out sometime and who knows, maybe someday, we will see the BOYZZ throw down against the Corp once again. Before I call it a day, I want to thank Pete Amoroso aka Byakko for refreshing my memories on this show. If you want to see his reviews and his artwork, here are his links to his pages:
https://www.facebook.com/pete.amoroso
https://www.youtube.com/user/PeteTehBeastDX
And with that said, I'll see you next time. Stay frosty and keep on rollin'.
GAME OVER, BOYZZ!
