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: 00:21:43:23
Runtime of the Japanese Version: 00:24:30:08


Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs is a 52-episode American TV series with a Japanese origin. The seriescombines 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.

• Diferent 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.

Famous Last Words

This is a three-part episode (the story continues in episodes 23 and 24).

The Star Sheriffs fly to kingdom Jarr on planet Alamo. On behalf of the Cavalry Command they're supposed to forge an alliance with king Jarred. When they arrive on the planet, prince Roland (Jarred's son) leads them to the royal palace. The Star Sheriffs then propose to forge an alliance - however, Jarred refuses and then places the Star Sheriffs under house arrest on their ship. Commander Eagle explains to them why Jarred acts this way: 16 years ago the kingdom was attacked by the Outriders. The Cavalry Command intervened too late - Jarr's troops took a hammering. Since then the 2 systems never spoke again. Meanwhile, prince Roland starts an attack on one of the Outriders' bases. However, a Renegade smashes the Jarr-troops. Prince Roland radios the Star Sheriffs and asks them for help. The Star Sheriffs are able to defeat the Renegade without any troubles. King Jarred is thankful, yet again he's still not interested in an alliance with the Cavalry Command. Maybe the Star Sheriffs will one day be able to reason with the king.

Plot Differences in Episode 22

Note: Since the official SJB webpage was offline while this report was made (the webpage's operators were also not available) it is possible that the story differences are not complete. Everything that's still missing will be added as soon as possible.

The Intro

00:00:00
Runtime of the Japanese intro: approx. 1.43 min
Runtime of the American intro: approx. 1.29 min
If you want to have a look at a more detailed comparison of the intros then have a look at the report about episode 1.
14 sec.

Title of the Episode

In the Japanese version, the title of the epsiode is shown during an additional scene right after the intro. In the American version the title of the episode is shown during the beginning of the episode.

Seijushi Bismark

Saber Rider

Added Fade-In
The American version begins with a fade-in while the Japanese version just immediately starts. The difference in time is so small that one can't call it a cut.

02:00:06
Cut
The shot of Fireball's screen (which looks out on the sandstorm) was shortened.
21 frames

02:11:10
Cut
The shot of Saber Rider was shortened.
9 frames

02:11:20
Cut
5 missing frames before Colt starts to talk.
5 frames

02:59:18
Cut
Saber Rider's dialogue was shortened.
18 frames

03:31:10
Extended Scene
Fireball's dialogue was extended.
+3 frames

03:39:05
Exchanged Scene/ Character Alteration
At this point they exchanged a scene to show that Saber Rider is the leader of the Star Sheriffs.
In the Japanese version Fireball tells Colt to attack (or something similar). Colt affirms it by saying "OK" and giving a thumbs up.
In the American version Fireball says something else (and less important). Instead of Colt's reaction (which wouldn't fit to Fireball's dialogue anymore) they added a dialogue of Saber Rider. He says: "OK champs, let's do it!"
Again, the American version underlines Saber Riders status as the leader.
+15 frames

Seijushi Bismark

Saber Rider

Battle for the Base

When the Star Sheriffs arrive at kingdom Jarr they pass a base which is attacked by Outriders. The Star Sheriffs intervene. In the American version they cut out pretty much all the violence,

03:43:01
Cut
A shocked soldier looks at a pole which is about to fall on him. The first frame of the pole was cut out as well.
1 sec. and 14 frames

03:53:11
Cut
3 soldiers get killed.
1 sec. and 15 frames

03:57:08
Cut
A soldier is shot. His weapon falls to the ground.
3 sec. and 11 frames

04:06:06
Cut
The last frame of the explosion was cut out. The explosion kills a few more soldiers. One of the soldiers lands on his back and you can see that he's heavily injured. With the last of his strength he tries to move but is shot in the back. Then you see his twitching hand. When the hand stops moving the Outrider flies through the shot and then is shot down by Ramrod (happens off-screen).
11 sec. and 7 frames

04:18:07
Cut
The shot of the Outriders was shortened.
5 frames

04:37:04
Cut
When the camera pans over the destroyed base you don't see the dead soldier.
2 sec. 12 frames

Unfriendly Welcome

The Star Sheriffs cleared the Outriders out. However, they don't know that Jarr's troops (under the control of prince Roland) are already waiting for them. After the Outriders are gone prince Roland gives the Star Sheriffs an ultimatum to surrender. Soon they're shot at with rockets which the Star Sheriffs are able to dodge. Due to the language barrier I can't really tell if the rockets were fired by prince Roland's troops (which is very much possible) or not. In the Japanese version April radios the attackers to arrange a meeting. A few moments later the Star Sheriffs and prince Roland meet each other. In the American version you get the impression that the Outriders fired the rockets. Additionally April doesn't radio - instead prince Roland's troops radio the Star Sheriffs.

05:03:01
Cut
After April spotted the rockets on teh radar and told the others about them there's a missing camera panning to Fireball. He says something about the "Deathcula" since he thinks that the rockets were fired by the Deathcula/Outriders. April says something. Fireball's confusing look could indicate that April has proven Fireball wrong - in reality, the rockets were fired by Jarr's military.
2 sec. and 7 frames

05:23:00
Cut
Saber Rider's dialogue was shortened.
10 frames

05:25:15
Cut
Fireball's dialogue was shortened.
7 frames

05:33:23
Cut
April's dialogue was shortened.
5 frames

05:37:05
Cut
The mobile radio is shown longer. The following shot was shortened.
4 sec. and 16 frames

Prince Roland

06:20:05
Cut
Prince Roland's confused glimpse was shortened.
14 frames

06:42:11
Cut
The end of the shot of Fireball was shortened. The following shot of prince Roland is also shorter towards the beginning.
11 frames

06:47:08
Cut
The end of prince Roland's dialogue was shortened.
9 frames

07:03:11
Cut
The end of Fireball's dialogue was shortened.
6 frames

07:07:17
Cut
A missing dialogue of Colt.
3 sec.

07:23:06
Cut
The end of Fireball's dialogue was shortened.
8 frames

08:11:22
Extended Scene
The last shot of this sequence freezes for 1 second while the music fades out.
+1 sec.

08:11:23
Cut / Added Transition-Effect
A missing tracking shot of the city. Instead the American version shows the typical Saber Rider transition-effect. Overall, the Japanese version is 6 seconds and 11 frames longer.
6 sec. and 11 frames

Seijushi Bismark

Saber Rider

08:48:08
Cut
The shot of the royal palace was shortened. The following shot was shrotened as well.
1 sec. and 14 frames

The Audience

The Star Sheriffs are received in audience by king jarred. On behalf of the Cavalry Command they offer him to forge an alliance. Unfortunately, the king refuses to do this.

While editing this scene, the American producers really screwed up - it's simply not possible to hide Fireball's leading position during this scene and instead trying to give Saber Rider the leading position.

Course of the Scene in the Japanese Version:
Prince Roland introduces the 2 parties (Star Sheriffs and king Jarred) to each other.
Fireball steps forward and introduces himself as the leader of the team.
Then he introduces the king to April who is the one to propose the possibility to forge an alliance.

In the American version they tried their best to manipulate this scene with the dubbing.

Course of the Scene in the American Version:
Prince Roland: "These are the Star Sheriffs who convinced the Outriders to hold their attack. Their leader is Saber Rider and this one is......"
Fireball steps forward and interrupts the prince: "My name is fireball your highness."

The rest of the scene is identical to the Japanese version. In the American version Fireball seems to be quite cheeky, after all, he interrupts the prince and takes over the conversation. However, you still ask yourself why neither Saber Rider nor the king have any problem with this behavior.

Overall, this scene is one of the best examples of mistakes in the American version - even though the American producers did a pretty good job, they still screwed up a few times while editing the series.


Cut
While prince Roland introduces the Star Sheriffs you see a shot of king Jarred looking a little critical. This shot was shortened (10 frames). Subsequently there's a missing shot to Fireball. In the American version you get the impression that king Jarred's critical glimpse comments all the Star Sheriffs. In the original version, however, you know that he actually looks at Fireball. Fireball's father used to be Jarred's best friend until he died during the final battle against the Outriders. Jarred probably immediately realizes Fireball's similarities to his father.
2 sec. and 11 frames

American Version	Japanese Version

09:44:23
Cut
Fireball's dialogue was shortened.
21 frames

10:12:10
Cut
The shot of April was shortened. The following shot is also 1 frame shorter.
11 frames

10:43:05
Cut
The shot of king Jarred as well as the following shot both miss out on 4 frames.
8 frames

10:48:13
Cut
The last 2 frames of this shot (=image 1) are missing. The following shot (=image 2) is 12 frames shorter.
14 frames

10:57:06
Cut
The shot of prince Roland (=image 1) misses out on 3 frames. Subsequently there's a short missing dialogue of Fireball.
1 sec. and 16 frames

11:00:09
Cut
The last 7 frames of this shot (=image 1) are missing. The following shot (=image 2) is 3 frames shorter.
10 frames

11:08:03
Cut
The shot of the Star Sheriffs is slightly longer in the Japanese version and at the end fades to black.
1 sec. 14 frames

11:09:17
Cut / Added Scene Transition
The Japanese cutscenes were cut out. The following shot of the base and the beginning of the following tracking shot towards Ramrod were cut out as well. In the American version you instead just see a scene transition..
13 sec. and 24 frames

Seijushi Bismark

Saber Rider

House Arrest

After king jarred refused to forge an alliance with the Cavalry Command he places the Star Sheriffs under house arrest and locks them up in their ship. Commander Eagle explains to them why Jarred acts this way: 16 years ago the kingdom was attacked by the Outriders. The Cavalry Command intervened too late - Jarr's troops took a hammering. Ever since that happened the 2 systems don't really get along.

11:29:20
Cut
The shot of the guards was shortened. An additional camera panning was cut out.
6 sec. and 8 frames

12:06:02
Cut
Eagle's dialogue was shortened. 2 frames of the following shot were cut out as well.
1 sec. and 7 frames

12:16:02
Cut
Again, Eagle's dialogue was shortened. The following shot was shortened as well.
17 frames

12:32:11
Cut
Eagle's dialogue was shortened. So was the following shot.
22 frames

The Flashback

During the conversation with Eagle there's a flashback to the battle which happened 16 years ago.
In the American version the whole scene is surrounded by a white frame to clarify that this is a flashback. During this scene Eagle tells them: "We had never even heard of Outriders at that time. They appeared suddenly out of the Vapor-zone, jumping in our dimension. Their attacks had no reason and no warning. It was like a plague from some ancient prophecy. It all happened so quickly... By the time we got there, it was all over."
In the Japanese version the scene is only accompanied by music.

12:45:15
Cut
The tracking shot over the Outrider squadron was shortened.
2 sec. and 15 frames

12:54:10
Cut
The zoom towards the pilot is 13 frames shorter. Then follows an additional shot of the ship being fired at. Then you see the pilot again.
3 sec. and 11 frames

13:01:06
Cut
While the pilot aims at the Outrider ship there's a missing shot of the Outrider ship. As soon as the ship is within reach you see Outriders fleeing from the ship's control room. The following shot is 2 frames shorter.
5 sec. and 1 frames

American Version	Japanese Version

13:09:19
Cut
The explosion was shortened.
2 sec. and 14 frames

13:55:20
Added Effect
Eagle tells the Star Sheriffs that king Jarred rules his kingdom with an iron fist and that his nation supports him. While he talks about this, the American versin again includes a white frame to clarify that the events you see are a flashback.
No difference in time.

American Version	Japanese Version

14:13:24
Cut
The last few frames of Eagle's dialogue were cut out.
3 frames

15:29:06
Added Transition-Effect
At this point they added the typical Saber Rider transition. The American version is 1 second longer.
+1 sec.

Help my Son

Prince Roland attacks the Outriders' base to destroy them once and for all. However, the prince has no chance against the huge Renegade unit. At the last moment he's able to call the Star Sheriffs and his father for help. King jarred radioes the Star Sheriffs and asks them to help his son.


17:50:18 – 17:59:18
Exchanged Scene/ Character Alteration
Since Saber Rider is the leader in the American version the producers again had to alter the scenes a little.


Seijushi Bismark
After April received Roland's appeal for help she tells Fireball (=the leader) all about it. Then you see Fireball commenting on it.

Saber Rider
In the American version April tells Saber Rider (=the leader) about the situation. At the beginning of the scene you see a transition effect. Therefore, the first shot of April is shorter than in the Japanese version. Additionally there are another 8 missing frames of this scene. In the American version you (after April's dialogue) don't see Fireball but Saber Rider. He says that he just received a radio message from king Jarred.

Overall, the American version is 21 frames longer.
+21 frames


18:17:24
Cut
In the Japanese version Fireball is shown a little longer.
9 frames

18:24:06
Cut
In the Japanese version the screen is shown a little longer.
11 frames

18:24:17
Cut
Fireball looks around with quite a dumb facial expression. In the American version you only see 4 frames of this scebe.
1 sec. and 2 frames

18:52:01
Added Scene Transition
In the American version you see a scene transition (image 2). Still, there's no difference in time.
No difference in time.

19:18:01
Cut
Prince Roland screams while his vehicle goes head over heels. The first frame of the following shot was cut out as well.
1 sec. and 2 frames

19:41:02
Cut
This shot was shortened.
13 frames

19:52:09
Cut
Fireball's dialogue is distinctly shorter.
2 sec. 14 frames

19:75:22
Cut
Prince Roland's vehicle reverses a little logner to escape the Renegade.
1 sec. and 16 frames

20:30:01
Cut
Ramrod jumps up in the air. The scene was probably cut out since it was already shown before. 5 frames of the following shot (=image 4) were cut out as well.
3 sec. and 5 frames

20:43:12
Cut
Colt's dialogue was shortened.
2 sec. and 6 frames

20:59:21
Cut
Ramrod's hand is hit.
1 sec.

21:03:08
Exchanged Scene/ Character Alteration
At this point they again exchanged a scene to show that Saber Rider is the leader.
In the Japanese version Fireball says "Organic Formation" (which is the command for Ramrod's mode to fire all lasers at the same time) and then gives the order to fire.
In the American version it's Saber Rider who gives the order to attack. For this they added a short dialogue scene from this episode. Overall, the American version is 1 second and 4 frames longer.
+1 sec. and 4 frames

Seijushi Bismark

Saber Rider

21:20:05
Cut
Colt looks at the exploding Renegade a little longer.
3 sec. and 16 frames

21:35:12
Added Transitions / Cut
In the American version the first scene fades out, followed by a short black screen. Then, the next scene fades in. They did this in order to ne able to fade out/in the music as well as to have a better transition from the one scene to the next one. The shot of the base (=image 2) was slightly shortened. Overall, the Japanese version is 17 frames longer.
17 frames

Seijushi Bismark

Saber Rider

21:45:09
Cut
Due to reasons of lip-sync they had to cut 5 frames of prince Roland's dialogue out.
5 frames

22:33:16
Exchanged Scene
Even though the Star Sheriffs destroyed the Renegade and saved the prince, king Jarred still refudes to forge an alliance with the Cavalry Command. The Star Sheriffs are not excited but still stay optimistic.
The episode ends with a short monologue of the leader. In the Japanese version it's Fireball who talks, while in the American version it's Saber Rider. The Japanese version is 1 second and 15 frames longer.
1 sec. 15 frames


Seijushi Bismark
Fireball stands up (shown with 2 seperate shots). While the camera zooms towards him he has a short monologue.

Saber Rider
At this point they added a scene from a different episode. This, however, results in a mistake since Saber Rider still wears his armor during this added scene while je just seconds ago still wore his normal clothes.

22:38:08
Cut
In the last scene before the credits the camera zooms to Ramrod. Then the scene fades out. In the Japanese version Ramrod is shown slightly longer before you see the final long shot. The fade out to is a little longer as well. Overall, the American version misses out on 2 seconds and 12 frames of footage.
2 sec. 12 frames

The Credits

A more detailed comparison of the credits can be found in the report about the first episode of Saber Rider.

Runtime of the Japanese credits: 00:01:19
Runtime of the American credits: 00:01:02
17 sec.