Comparison between the American Version (represented by the German DVDs released by Anime House) and the Japanese Version included in the limited Seijushi Bismark DVD box-sets 1 and 2 released by Pioneer LDC.

Runtime of the American Version: 00:21:42:09
Runtime of the Japanese Version: 00:24:08:05


Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs is a 52-episode American TV series with a Japanese origin. The series combines Mecha-Anime and western-elements.
The theme song (performed by Dale Schacker) has a cult status and alwaysw brings back childhood memories every time you hear it.

Naturally, the series was also licensed for other countries: England, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland, Russia, China, and others just to name a few. The series was also very popular in southeast Asia. It was pracically marketed and released all over the planet so you can really say that it was a huge success.

The Story of Saber Rider

In a remote future humanity lives on the planet Yuma. Soon, they start to colonize other planets. The Galaxy soon is called "New Frontier". To maintain all the laws and regulations, humanity created the Cavalry Command to protect all the planets. The peace is disturbed when aliens known as Vapor Beings or Outriders attack the planet Alamo. Unfortunately, the Cavalry Command's intervention comes too late - the battle of Alamo ends in a tragedy. Both the Outriders and the Alamos lost heavily. The Outriders fall back and planet Alamo breaks contact with Yuma. 15 years later, the Outriders strike again. The humans are heavily ountnumbered and seem to have no chance. Their last hope is a secret project which is called Ramrod - a huge battleship which is capable to transform into a giant robot. The project is planned under the direction of Commander Eagle - leader of the Cavalry Commando's special unit "Star Sherrif". When a spy named Vanquo finds out everything about Ramrod they face a race against time. Star Sheriff agent Saber Rider is supposed to catch Vanquo before he makes Ramrod's secret location public. When his mission fails, Saber Rider forms an alliance with race driver Fireball and headhunter Colt. In company with Commanrer Eagle's daughter April they're able to save Ramrod and use to obtain and keep peace for the New Frontier.

The Origin of Saber Rider

The series is based on the anime series Sei jûshi Bismarck produced by the Japanese company "Studio Pierrot.CO LTD". In Japan, the series bombed, therefore it was sold to the American company "World Events Productions"(WEP) in 1986. WEP wanted to create a child-friendly series for afternoon television in the tradition of other Sci-Fi-western series such as Galaxy Rangers or Bravestarr. Therefore, they had to change a lot of things.

The Story of Seijûshi Bismark

It's the year 2069. Humans have left the earth to colonize other planets of the solar system. However, the peace they wanted to achieve recedes into the distance - the aliens "Deathcula" attack the planets of the solar system. The humans mobilize against the offenders and form a confederation to fight against the Deathculas. However, some sectors refuse to be a b part of this confederation and choose to fight on their own. One of these "mavericks" is planet Ganymed. While the confederation is already able to defend itself against the attacks, there's a decisive battle between the Deathculas and the army of planet Ganymed. The battle is lead by General Domes. Domes asked the earth for help but didn't get any. The battle seemed to become a shellacking when susdelny pilot Shinjiro Hikari steps in the battle. Thanks to the spacepilot's brave behavior they were able to beat the Deathculas. However, Shinjiro pays for his fame with his life. The following time of piece is characterized by the cold-hearted relationship between Ganymed and the earth since general Domes lost any trust in the humans living on planet earth. The Deathculas had to return to their home planet Meteus and then tried to rebuilt their army. 15 years later in the year 2084 the enemy strikes again and starts to attack all the peoples (who now live in peace with each other) of the solar system. The solar system cofederation can't protect all the humans on all the planets who are unable to defend themselves against the enemies. Scientist Dr. Charles Louvre develops a new battle group which is called "Bismark". It is a special unit which is capable to transform into a giant robot. With this weapon they now have the strength to fight back. The team consists of 4 high qualified and very different persons: 17-year-old Japanese Shinji Hikari, 16-year-old American Bill Willcox, 18-year-old Richard Lancelot from Scotland on his Majesty's service, and 15-year-old Marianne Louvre from France who is Bismark-designer Charles Louvre's daughter.

This information was taken from the German "Seijûshi Bismark" webpage.

Editing the Series

Names

• The series (obviously) was renamed from "Seijûshi Bismark" to "Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs".
  
• Almost all the persons, places, planets, organizations, and vehicles were changed / Americanized (for this, take a look at the chart below).
  
• Many of the places/vehicles/etc. were named after American words/cities such as Eagle, Yuma, Colt, New Dallas, Dakota, Alamo, and so on. Thus, they eliminated all the Asian-sounding names.
  
• By changing the names they also blanketed any connection to the real world. In the Japanese version the series takes place in our solar system. Because of the different names for the planets, the American version takes place in an unknown galaxy far away.
  
  Intro and Credits
  
• The intro as well as the credits are completely different. For further details, look at the main report of the first episode.
  
  Music and Sounds
  
• All the music for the American version was composed by Dale Schacker and has a "Wild West" feel to it.
  
• All the sounds were (gunfire, engines of space ships, and so on) were edited / added by the American company.

Story

The central topic of the Japanese original is an unadorned war where innocent people die.
Thus, the Japanese version is rather violent and (despite the humor) has a very serious and aggressiv undertone.
To form this into a childrens TV series they had to change this undertone as well as reduce the violence.
They also changed a lot of other things (either for the different American notion or other reasons), resulting in a completely different series in terms of story as well as mood and style.

• Different Background Story
  The background story of the series was completely changed (for this, read the paragraph "Outriders").
  
  
• Different Story of the Episodes
  The crucial course of the episodes stayed intact but had to be adapted to the American mentality as well as the American TV standards (some characters stayed alive even though they were killed in the Japanese version). This sometimes changes the whole story of the episodes.
  
  
  
  
  

  Shortened Scenes

  
  
• Violent Scenes
  They mainly cut out violence against human beings (especially if the scens show humans being shot, hit, or blown to bits). However, they also cut out drastic violence against the alien Outriders.
  
  
• Morally Alarming Scenes
  Morally alarming scenes (e.g. the consuming of alcohol, bad/aggressive behavior, violence against kids, kids carrying guns, ...) had to be cut out.
  
  
• Humor and Emotional Scenes
  Funny scenes (including weird facial expressions) as well as emotional scenes were cut out.
  
  
• Dialogues
  For each episode they shortened numerous dialogues. They did this in order to fit the dialogues to the American dialogues (which were more or less rewritten) in terms of length, timing, and lip synch.
  
  
• Various Scenes
  For all the episodes thes deleted various scenes (e.g. pan shots of buildings and places).
  These scenes probably didn't quite fit in the American storyline or were just not needed there.
  However, they mainly cut such scenes away to achieve a consistant runtime for every episode.
  
  
• Framecuts
  There are numerous cuts that only cut away a few frames and that would fit into the above-mentioned category. Lots of these cuts are probably a result of a faulty master or something like this.
  Every now and then they cut a few frames away to eliminate minor mistakes (e.g. a black screen in the middle of a scene).

The Characters

One of the major changes of the series are the characters. Especially the "leader issue" has far-reaching consequences for the whole series.

• Alteration of the Ages
  The main characters are older. In the Japanese version they're aged between 15 and 18. In the American version they seem to be way older.
  
  
• The Leader Issue
  The "leader issue" is one of the main differences of the series and concerns the characters Saber Rider and Fireball.
  
  While in the Japanese version Fireball (Shinji Hikari) is the leader of the Star Sherriffs (Team Bismark), the American version made his older brother Saber Rider (Richard Lancelot) the leader of the team.
  He's the leader because he's the oldest, most experienced and most balanced characters of the bunch; Fireball is a little younger and hastier.

They had to change several things in order to make Saber Rider the leader of the troop.

• Saber Rider now is the name giver of the series.
  
• Saber Rider also is the narrator of the story. In the first episode he introduces the series like a story by telling the audience what the series is all about. In the individual episodes he always introduces and ends the story. This makes him a person of authority which makes it easier to accept him as the leader.
  
• Whenever Fireball gives orders or commands, they tried to cut these out as often as possible or just replaced them by orders/commands given by Saber Rider.
  
• Even though Saber Rider often rather stays on the sideline, he still very often is a conversational topic and gives orders.

Even though they really tried to cover up Fireball's position as the leader of the group, it still doesn't work every time.
Fireball still is a way too dominant character. He mostly assumes control and almost constantly gets the final word for important decisions. Additionally, he's always standing in the front while Saber Rider can rather be seen in the far right.

Additional Changes of the Characters

• In the Japanese version, April Eagle (Marianne Louvre) is 15 years old and therefore acts more childlike and emotional than the other characters. In the American version she seems to be a little more mature.
  
  
• Archenemy Jesse Blue (Perios) is not a human being in the Japanese version, he's an Outrider (Deathcula) and also their security chief.
  In the American version he's an arrogant ex-cadet of the Star Sherriffs who fell in love with April Eagle. Because of injured pride and rejection he leaves the team and defects to the Outriders. He wants to prove to April that he's a good fighter. This background story is told in 2 additional episodes that were exclusively produced for the American version.
  
  
  
  
  The Outriders (Japanese: Deathcula)
  
• In the Japanese version, the Outriders are an intelligent and brutal alien race who want to conquer the human galaxy.
  
• In the American version teh Outriders are rather stupid. They often have sily conversations along with dumb-sounding voices (one example would be a scene where one Outrider asks another one what time it is. The other Outrider replies that he doesn't know the time since he doesn't know how to read a clock.).
  
• The Outriders are said to be "phantom beings" who don't die but rather jump back to their own dimension every time they're wounded/shot. The American version underlines this fact by several dialogues that talk about this ability.
  This change suggests that the Outriders can't die. This also means that it doesn't matter how many Outriders are killed in each episode. This makes the American version a little less menacing than the Japanese version.
  
• The reasons to why the Outriders attach the humans is rather ridiculous:
  
• In the Japanese version, the Outriders want to conquer a new habitat since their home planet was completely destroyed and exploited. Additionally they want revenge for their critical defeat.
  
• In The American version the Outriders attack the humans just for fun.
  Since the Outriders neither have feelings nor fun they want to win a war against the humans in order to find out what fun is.

The Dubbing

The dubbing is the key element of the changes as well as the censorship of the series. Due to the change of names and the plot as well as the censorship, most of the dialogues had to be re-written. Some dialogues were just rephrased, while several were mitigated / changed in order to make them funnier than in the Japanese version. Other dialogues were completely changed. The American version also offers dialogues where the Japanese version is just silent. Most of these additional dialogues are just for the sake of fun.


Censorship via Dubbing
With the help of the dubbing the characters sometimes say things that are included to censor the series. These dialogues are mostly very conspicuous and one of the series' trademarks.

• One of the best examples are the stupid dialogues of the Outriders (for a more detailed description, read the paragraph "Outriders").
  
• Humans are never killed but shot with capture guns (they often switch their guns to a torpidity-mode).
  
• If any secondary characters die in the Japanese version, the American version usually contains dialogues that "save" them from death (such as "He's just unconscious but not heavily injured.").
  
• Every time the Outriders attack, they only destroy remote-controlled cars or emptiy / evacuated buildings.
  
  
  
  
  

  Miscellaneous

  
  
• Deleted Episodes
  5 Japanese episodes were completely deleted since they didn't fit in the concept / idea of the American producers. Two of these episodes include a character named "Captain Holiday" who's constantly drunk.
  
  
• Added Episodes
  6 episodes were exclusively produced for the American version. The drawings are a little worse than those of the original episodes and are include a very stereotypical Wetern community by e.g. also including native Americans.
  
  
• Inserted Scenes
  A regular method was to include scenes from other episodes. Most of the time they added some dialogue-scenes to feature characters that were originally not included at this point in the Japanese version of the episode. Many of these scenes are rather irrelevant for the story and often just inlcude funny dialogues.
  
  
  
• Altered Order
  For the American version they altered the order of the episodes. One can only spaculate to why they did this. Maybe the storyline was the main reason for this akteration. In the first two thirds of the episodes, Commander Gattler is the opponent of the Star Sheriffs. In the last third you only have Jesse Blue as the main villain. By changing the order of the scenes, the series seems to have a little more variety, however, this also carries problems. During the episodes with Jesse Blue, Commander Eagle originally was taken hostage - not so in the episodes with Commander Gattler.
  Additionally, there are episodes including Gattler that take place after his last appearance in the episode "Gattler's Last Stand". Even though they could explain this inconsistency by saying that the Outriders don't die but just warp back to their own dimension - then again, if that's the case, why did they call the episode "Gattler's Last Stand"? This just causes confusion.
  
  For the German version (which is the main source of this report) they used the original Japanese order of the episodes. Only the 6 episodes that were exclusively produced for the American version were not included in a sensible way but rather just included after the last epsiode. For the DVD they remedied this mistake.
  
  
  
• Inserted Transitions
  The American version regularly fades from one scene to the next one. In the Japanese version this happens way less frequently / not at all.

Animated Transitions
In the American version there are 2 types of transitions:

• Sword-Transition

A transition-effect that pays tribute to the titular character.

• Transition

This type of transition moves fast from right to left / left to right. Depending of the direction of the movement, the transition is either green or brown. This type of transition originates from the Japanese version, however, there it occurs way less frequently.

• Non-Animated Transitions

Most of the transitions are just regular transition effects that you know from movies.

Examples:

The DVD

Saber Rider

• In the years 2003/04 the complete season was released as a DVD box-set with 10 DVDs. In april 2007 they also released a limited collector's edition that included pewter figures of the main characters.
  After this limited box-set was (almost) out of print, they released yet another edition of the series in september 2009. It was released in 2 different boxes (each including 5 DVDs).
  
• In the USA they at first released a "Best Of" DVD, including 10 episodes of the series. Then in november 18th, 2008, they startet releasing the complete series in 3 different box-sets. Finally, in October 2009, they also released a complete box-set (including 6 DVDs) with all the episodes in 1 box.
  
• In the UK they momentarily just sell a DVD that includes 4 episodes.

Seijûshi Bismark
The Japanese original was released in 2 seperate DVD-boxes as a limited edition in Japan.
Unfortunately they don't include any subtitles and have so far only been released in Japan. By now, these DVD-boxes are very rare and unbelievably expensive. So far, there are no future plans to release the series in any other country.

Comparison of the Names

You now will see a list of the most important characters along with their names in both versions.

Japanese Version:	American Version:
Deathcula	Outrider
Team Bismark	Star Sheriffs
Solar System Confederation	New Frontier
Planet Earth	Planet Yuma
Planet Ganymed	Planet Alamo
Shinji Hikari	Fireball
Richard Lancelot	Saber Rider
Bill Wilcox	Colt
Marianne Louvre	April
Chales Louvre	Commander Eagle
General Domes	King Jarred
Hyuza	Nemesis
Perios	Jesse Blue
Zatora	Gattler
Bismark	Ramrod
Road Leon	Red Fury Racer
Donatello	Steed
Arrow Striker	Broncobuster

Comparison of the Images

The Japanese version has a better image quality than the American version.
For this comparison, the images come from the German and the Japanese DVD. Generally, the image of the German DVD is more blurred and paler. Additionally, the German DVD includes interlace flickers (resulting from a bad transition from NTSC to PAL) which are very apparent when you watch the DVDs.

Japanese DVD:	German DVD:

Conclusion

It's not easy to say which of the versions is the better one. The Japanese version is more complex, more serious and more realistic than the American version. The American version tones down the violence and pretty much erased death from the series. There are a few plotholes which most of the time result from all the alterations from the American version. However, the great dubbing of Saber Rider as well as the music are a great advantage of the American version. Still, the Japanese version has quite a good soundtrack as well.

So, it pretty much is a matter of your own taste, so check out both versions and make up your own mind.

If you want to have more information on Saber Rider and Seijûshi Bismark, there are plenty of webpages to choose from.


We would like to thank the following webpages for supplying us with background information about both of the series, covers, and translations for this report:

• Yuma City
  
• Seijushi Bismark
  
• Saber Rider Kreativ Portal

Note:

• The time designations refer to the Japanese version.
  
• To ensure a comparison that is frame-exact, the version was converted from NTSC to PAL.
  
• The Japanese titles of the episodes will be translated - therefore, they might not be 100% accurate.
  
• Framecuts up to 5 frames will be ignored for the reports - after all, they're already very extensive; including every single difference would just simply break the mold. However, if any of these cuts include important footage, they (of course) will be mentioned.
  
• Both versions always include a little preview of the following episode. These previews won't be mentioned in the reports.

Little Hombre

The Outriders have mounted an offensive against the Planet Pecos. On their recon flight, Colt anf Fireball find a boy named Miguel hanging out with his father in a secluded shack. Miguel's father has a dangerous past: he used to be a bounty hunter and also worked for the Outriders. The Outrider Viperon can spot him in his shack and kidnaps his son. Fireball can't prevent the kadnapping and radios his fellows. Meanwhile Miguel's father prepares to free his son evtn though Fireball adviced him not to go. He makes it and can free Miguel but gets attacked by Viperon in the last moment. The hitman has sworn to never ever become violent again but this is different because his son's life is at stake. So he gets a gun and takes Viperon out. The Star Sheriffs have to deal with two Renegades and free the planet for now.

Plot differences in Episode 5

Please note: Due to the SJB HP being down, I can't say anything about the story differences but I'm gonna add that information asap.

Intro

00:00:00
Running time Japanese Intro approx. 1.43 min
Running time US Intro approx. 1.29 min
A detailed comparison of the intro can be found in the comparison of the very first episode.
14 sec

Title of the Episode

The Japanese Version shows the title of the episode in an additional scene after the intro. In the US Version, the title pops up at the very beginning of the episode. The Japanese Version is 5 sec 24 frames longer.


Seijushi Bismark

Saber Rider

Saber Rider's Monolog

The episode begins with one of Saber Rider monologs again.
He explains he could still that day they had met Little Hombre for the first time. They had been on a secret mission. While flying over new borderland, none of them could have foreseen that they were going to be in the prairie of the night soon.



Added Transition
Transition at the beginning of the US Version.
no difference



01:49:03
Exchanged scene
The first scene after the intro has been exchanged. The Japanese Version shows interferences on Saber Rider's screen (6 sec). The US Version contains a scene from another episode instead: Ramrod is flying through a valley (8 sec). The US Version is longer.
+2 sec


Seijushi Bismark

Saber Rider

02:11:17
Cut
Shortened shot.
7 frames

02:17:23
Cut
Extended shot of flying Ramrod in the Japanese Version.
21 frames

02:49:04
Cut
Extended shot of flying above the ground Ramrod in the Japanese Version.
14 frames

Little Hombre

The Star Sheriffs see smoke in the distance. Colt and Fireball want to check it out and spot a bonfire. In the Japanese Version, they get shot at out of the blue. After having fired back several times, they can spot the shooter. It's a little boy named Miguel. He accidentally thought they were Outriders, that's why he shot at them.
Of course there's no way that a kid gets a gun and actually shoots at people in the US Version, so the scene has been removed. But the gun is still in his hand, so the dialog has been modified. It now implies it's just a toy gun in his hand.



03:04:17
Cut
Shortened shot.
15 frames

03:07:06
Cut
Fireball and Colt get shot at from the bushes. They start running to avoid getting hit.
24 frames

03:10:16
Cut
While Colt and Fireballs are flying sideways with their jetpacks, they start shooting at the bushes the shot came from.
3 sec 20 frames

03:26:06
Extended scene
Extended shot because of Colt's longer dialog.
+17 frames

03:32:11
Cut
Shortened shot of Fireball.
6 frames

03:32:17
Cut
Shortened shot of Miguel before the dialog starts.
11 frames

03:37:16
Cut
The end of Migueld's dialog has been shortened.
12 frames

03:46:05
Cut
The shot of Miguel is shorter.
17 frames

03:53:02
Extended scene
Colt's dialog has been distinctly extended.
+2 sec 20 frames

03:53:03
Cut
The beginning of the shot os shorter.
24 frames

04:12:13
Extended scene
Extended shot because Fireball says sth. offscreen.
+11 frames

04:18:00
Extended scene
Fireball's dialog is shorter.
+1 sec 10 frames

Miguel's Father

Because some Outriders could be close, the Star Sheriffs take Miguel home. His father is pretty upset about his son's behavior. The Star Sheriffs begin to speak for Miguel but his father sends them away. In the Japan Version, the scene is harder (as usually). Miguel gets slapped but at least he's got a real gun, not a toy gun (like he has in the US Version).



05:12:08
Cut
Miguel's dialog is shorter.
1 sec 1 frame

05:24:19
Cut
Miguel gets slapped by his father and goes down. Fireball steps forward and begins to speak. The father points his gun at Fireball and says sth. Fireball replies.
8 sec 18 frames

05:47:03
Cut
For continuity reasons, the shot of Miguel getting up and holding his cheek is missing.
1 sec 18 frames

05:54:02
Cut
For some reason, the shot of Fireball turning around to Colt is slightly shorter.
7 frames

06:15:19
Added Sword Transition
A sword transition has been added here. The shots before and after the transition are being covered by the transition for approx. 0.5 sec each. The US Version is longer.
+17 frames

06:33:01
Cut
Explosion on the wall plus some screams. Only if the scene is being watched frame by frame, one can notice that three soldiers got blown up. Subsequently a civilian gets shot.
5 sec 14 frames

06:42:16
Cut
Further soldiers get killed. Strangely enough that this particular scene is also in episode 1.
16 frames

06:51:20
Added Starting Sequence
Fireball's starting sequence has been added here. He says: "Red Fury Turbo on."
+4 sec 19 frames

07:50:11
Cut
A short scene is missing here. The tail of the Outrider ship is burning. Tbhe Outrider gets out of the cockpit and gets tossed on the top of the ship by an explosion. The Outrider sits on the top until he gets tossed to the ground by the exploding ship. This scene might be missing because it doesn't suit to the previous and following scene at all. To explain that: Saber Rider shoots at the ship, then the cut scene follows. Right after that, the unscathed ship goes down and finally explodes. So the cut scene doesn't make any sense at all.
4 sec 7 frames

07:57:16
Exchanged scene
Some scenes have been replaced during the Outriders' escape.


Seijushi Bismark
Pan shot over the destroyed city. Fireball and the Commander shake each others hand in a close-up. Then a distance shot of them letting loose each others hands. The US Version goes on when the handshake is over. That scene has been removed because the audience would come up with the question why the Commander shakes Fireball's hand instead of Saber Rider's.

Saber Rider
Though the Japanese Version contains a shot of the fleeing Outriders, an additional scene from another episode, which shows the fleeing Outriders, has been added here. Bad luck that it's dark in the new scene. Then a transition effect to the scene after the cut.

The Japanese Version is longer.
9 sec 12 frames


08:20:00
Cut
Shortened shot.
2 sec 2 frames

08:42:15
Cut
After Fireball and April argued, the Commander's reaction is missing (he asks sth. pretty short). Fireball and April turn around to him, then Fireball's dialog.
4 sec 20 frames

08:55:17
Cut
Shortened dialog.
17 frames

09:02:18
Cut
Missing dialog from the Commander during the shot of Fireball.
2 sec 22 frames

09:17:13
Cut
The beginning of the shot is missing.
17 frames

09:40:06
Cut/Added Sword Transition
Now a bigger scene has been cut out and replaced by a sword transition.
17 sec 15 frames


Seijushi Bismark
Fireball's dialog (screen 1) is 2 sec 5 frames shorter. Then a conversation between Fireball and Colt. Finally a missing pan shot of the countryside.

Saber Rider

Taking Hostages

10:11:11
Cut
The beginning of the shot with Miguel at the river has been shortened.
18 frames

10:23:23
Added scene
Now a scene which pops up later one more time has been added here. We're talking about a shot of Miguel being scared here. Furthermore there are 5 more frames before the added scene starts.
+1 sec 22 frames

10:53:17
Cut
Shortened shot.
1 Sek 3 Frames

11:00:12
Cut
The Outrider makes a few steps to the house and yells sth. like "Don't move!"
21 frames

11:15:24
Cut
The Outrider hits Miguel's father with the rifle butt in the face. He "flies" sideways in slow motion. The US Version only contains a shot of the Outrider reaches back. Then a shot of the father going down.
3 sec 10 frames

11:28:06
Cut
Extended shot of Miguel being scared.
+1 sec 2 frames

11:29:12
Cut
Extended shot of the father.
+2 sec 3 frames

11:33:24
Cut
The pan shot over the Outriders stops down to a black screen in the Japanese Version.

Missing eycatch scenes.

A further pan shot over the Outriders is missing.

16 sec 16 frames


11:53:13
Cut
Close-up of an Outrider pointing his gun at Miguel and his father.
1 sec 16 frames

12:01:00
Cut
Missing dialog from one of the Outriders (the right one). The beginning of the shot is also in the US Version but without dialog.
1 sec 17 frames

12:43:21
Cut
A couple of frames have been removed due to lip synch.
10 frames

14:09:03
Added Transition
Added transition (screen 3) between two scenes (screen 1+2).
no difference

14:29:18
Cut
The shot of the gunshot wound is different. In the Japanese Version, the camera zooms out three time. In the US Version only once.
2 sec 28 frames

14:42:21
Cut
Fireball's dialog is slightly shorter.
24 frames

14:54:00
Cut
The father's dialog is shorter.
10 frames

15:00:01
Cut
Shortened shot in the middle of the dialog.
15 frames

15:10:16
Cut
Fireball's dialog is missing.
1 sec 13 frames

15:22:02
Cut
The beginning of the shot is shorter.
11 frames

15:36:18
Cut
Fireball gets a reply to his radio message in the Japanese Version.
1 sec 13 frames

15:39:22
Recut
Recut and shortened scene when Fireball goes back in the shack to Miguel's father.



Seijushi Bismark
Fireball enters the shack, calls for the father and says sth. Fireball walks on the right and goes to the side exit (shot from his POV). Meanwhile he keeps calling for the father.

Saber Rider
Fireballs enters the shack and asks for the father. Before he goes to the right, the shot from his POV has been added but it's 1 sec 5 frames shorter than the Japanese equivalent. Then the shot of Fireball walking on the right side. While he's walking he says it was bery likely the father was looking for Miguel.

1 sec 5 frames



15:46:05
Cut
In the Japanese Version, Fireball also leaves the shacl and keeps calling for the father. He says sth. during the close-up.
5 sec 5 frames

Added Transition
Instead of the previous removed scene, a transition (screen 3) has been added between the two scenes before and after the cut (screen 1+2). The US Version is slightly shorter because the scene in screen 1 is longer and the one in screen 2 shorter.
3 frames

16:10:14
Cut
Shortened shot because Fireball talks to April on the radio in the Japanese Version while he talks to himself in the US Version.
2 sec 4 frames

16:16:23
Extended scene
Extended shot of Fireball because his conversation with April via radio ends in the Japanese Version but he keeps talking to himself in the US Version.
+2 sec 5 frames

Recut
The order of two scenes has been changed here. The Japanese Version begins with a shot of Miguel's father, followed by a shot of the machine. It's the other way around in the US Version. Furthermore both shots are shorter.
7 frames

Seijushi Bismark

Saber Rider

Miguel's Release

18:04:23
Added scene
Two scenes of Viperon ahooting at Miguel's father have been added here. These scene pop later later once again.
+3 sec 1 frame

18:15:23
Cut
A shot of Miguel's smiling father avoiding a blaster hit has been removed here. That exact scene recently popped up in both versions.
1 sec 24 frames

18:33:05
Cut
Viperon's execution has almost completely been removed. The US Version contains the actual shot in slow motion and than a transition to a white screen. It continues with Viperon lying on the ground. The following is missing:

The bullet is on its way to Viperon and finally its his helmet visor. He goes down with a scream and a lot of black blood. Then a cut to Viperon on the ground. A blood fountain is leaking out of his wound. The shot without the blood illustration has been removed as well. The remaining footage of that scene is also in the US Version (last screen).
9 sec 18 frames

18:50:06
Cut/ Added scene
The second Outrider gets bloodily shot by Fireball.
To cover up that cut, the US Version contains a short flash of light including gun sound. I deducted these 6 frames difference from the total difference at once.
1 sec 14 frames


Seijushi Bismark

Saber Rider

18:56:24
Cut
Shortened shot.
10 frames

18:57:09
Added scene
After Fireball shot the second Outrider, he lands next to Miguel and his father. In the Japanese Version, he immediately turns his head sideways and looks at Viperon lying dead on the ground. In the US Version, 8 frames of a previous shot have been added before Fireball turns his head.
+8 frames

18:58:06
Cut
Fireball looks at Viperon lying dead on the ground.
1 sec 12 frames

19:06:16
Cut
Shortened dialog of Miguel's father.
8 frames

19:13:02
Cut
Shortened dialog.
20 frames

Ramrod's Transformation

This time, only the shot of Ramrod is different during the transformation sequence.



19:54:24
Cut/Alternate scene
The shot of Ramrod's legs is different. The background varies and only the Japanese Version contains the lightnings. The US Version is longer.
+1 sec 11 frames


Seijushi Bismark

Saber Rider

21:22:16
Cut
Shortened explosion.
4 sec 14 frames

21:32:18
Cut
Shortened shot of Ramrod.
12 frames

21:33:05
Exchanged scene + New scene
The scene after the Renegade's destruction has been exchanged. The US Version continues with a new scene, taken from episode 5. That's why the transition to the last scene of this episode is also different.



Seijushi Bismark
The Japanese Version contains a shot of Fireball. He gets his helmet without saying a single word. Then a transition to the next scene, a shot of the mountains, before the camera pans down to Miguel's shack.

Saber Rider
The US Version contains a shot of Saber Rider instead. He says the others did good work.

Now the new scene pieced together with footage from episode 5.
A short conversation between Nemesis and a stranger follows, then a monolog by Nemesis.
Nemesis wants to know if there were any news about planet Yuma. The stranger replies Viperson had been defeated by the Star Sheriffs. Nemesis can't believe it and says Outriders didn't lose against humans. He adds the Star Sheriffs only sent them back to their own dimension where the Outriders could regroup and attack again until victory was going to be theirs.

Transition to the tracking shot of Miguel's shack at the end of the scene.

The entire scene is pretty lousy method to remind the audience that Outriders just can't die.

The US Version is longer
+21 sec 15 frames

Saying Goodbye

21:47:18
Cut
The beginning of Miguel's dialog has been removed.
1 sec 24 frames

21:54:01
Cut
Extended shot of Miguel's father talking to his son.
20 frames

21:58:04
Cut
Extended shot in the Japanese Version.
1 sec 1 frame

22:05:17
Schnitt
Shortened shot.
18 frames

22:06:10
Cut
Extended shot of Miguel's father.
1 sec 13 frames

22:11:21
Cut
After having tossed his gun in the fire, he also tosses his weapon belt in the fire.
2 sec 7 frames

22:16:21
Cut
Another shortened shot of Miguel's father.
2 sec 6 frames

22:21:13
Cut
Extended shot of the burning shack in the Japanese Version.
12 frames

22:24:09
Cut
Extended shot of Miguel's father.
2 sec 6 frames

22:40:18
Cut
Earlier down stopping to the credits at the end of this shot.
7 sec 13 frames

Saber Rider's final monolog

The episode concludes with a monolog by Saber Rider again.
Miguel's father finally left his past behind. He took Little Hombre and they lived near the fort where he became a scout and a reliable counselor of the base commander. And he became a personal friend of Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs.

The Credits

A detailed comparison of the different credits can be found in the comparison of episode 1.

Running time of the credits in the Japanese Version 00:01:20
Running time of the credits in the US Version 00:01:03
17 sec