The TV Series
What is the basic plot of the show?
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The show is primarily about the efforts of Jayce, leader of the Lightning
League, to locate his father and defeat the evil Saw Boss. When Saw Boss
came into existence, Jayce's father, Audric, created two Roots. When combined,
these Roots have the power to destroy Saw Boss and his plant-based minions,
called the Monster Minds, for all time. However, one Root is with Audric
and one with Jayce. Jayce must find his father so that they can unite
the Roots. Along the way he frees worlds enslaved by the Monster Minds.
Jayce is aided in his quest by the Lighting League, made up of Flora,
a young girl created from a plant, Gillian, a wizard, Oon, a robot squire,
Herc, the captain of the Pride of the Skies II, Brock, Flora's
pet flying fish, and the Zoggies, Flora's pet robot puppies.
When was this show on the air in the US?
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Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors originally aired in America in syndicated
form in 1985 and 1986. It also appeared on the USA cable network's "Cartoon
Express" in the last few months of 1994, although a few scenes were taken
out of those aired episodes in order to make room for more commercials.
Rumor has it that the show was seen briefly in 1996 on the Sci-Fi Channel,
but this is unconfirmed.
Where else did the show air?
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The Root has been able to verify broadcast in the following countries:
Britain, Spain, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and the Slovak
Republic), Holland, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Algeria, Canada,
Brazil, France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Brunei, Malaysia, and Mexico.
Was the show different in other countries?
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The episode plots and scene sequences remained the same, but character
voices were dubbed over in the native language. Occasionally character
names were changed in order to make them more familiar to the viewers.
Thus in Mexico, Audric was called Odrik and Saw Boss was called Saboss.
In Brazil, Saw Boss was called Monstroide, Herc Stormsailor was called
Herc Tempestade, and the Monster Mind troopers were called Sawbots. In
Holland, Armed Force was called Strijdros, Spike Trike was called Spiesrijder,
Quick Draw was called Snelscheerder, and Trail Blazer was called Padbaander.
Try saying those names ten times fast. In France, Saw Boss the leader
was called Diskor, Saw Boss the trooper was called Monstror, Terror Trooper
was called Karnivor, Gun Grinner was called Grinnor, K.O. Kruiser was
called Kruisor, and the Monster Minds in general were called Monstroplantes.
The Lightning League vehicles in France were called Forcair (Armed Force),
Vrillair (Drill Sergeant), Trigulair (Spike Trike), Blindair (Quick Draw),
and Depistair (Trail Blazer). French storybooks, apparently written by
someone unfamiliar with the French cartoon, called the Monster Minds Cerveaux
du Crépuscule and Armed Force Super Commodor.
What was the show called in other languages?
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In Mexico the show was called Jayce y los Guerros Rodantes (Jayce
and the Wheeled Warriors). In France it was Jayce et les Conquérants
de la Lumière (Jayce and the Warriors of Light). In
Brazil the name was also Jayce and the Warriors of Light, though
the title was in Portuguese rather than Spanish. Jayce and the Space
Knights is the English translation of the show's title in Italy. The
Root is unclear on the precise Italian form of this name so it is
not given here.
Why is the title Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors? Why not just Wheeled Warriors?
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The main focus of the series is on Jayce, not the vehicles. In addition,
there were many vehicle-oriented shows that aired during the same period.
M.A.S.K., Transformers, Voltron, Tranzor-Z,
etc., all technically dealt with "wheeled warriors" as well. Adding Jayce's
name to the title distinguished the show from the rest.
When and where is this series supposed to take place?
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One theory says that the series takes place in our universe in the far
future. Another says that it is set in another dimension entirely. And
yet another says that it takes place in both our universe and our time,
but far, far, away from the Milky Way galaxy. The writers themselves never
offered an answer. However, it should be noted that in Ghostship,
Herc refers to Earth as well as to Neptune's moons. In Liberty
Stone Part I, Herc refers to Jupiter's moons. So if the series takes
place in another dimension, it is one that has a similar solar system
to ours.
Do the episodes have a specific order in which they're supposed to be watched?
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No. The episodes were designed to stand entirely alone, except in the
case of the Liberty Stone miniseries,
which is made up of five continuing parts. A few episodes contain clues
that allow us to place them on a general time-line, but most of the stories
could have occurred at anytime in the series. Escape
from the Garden is the only episode that has a definite chronological
placement. It is the origin story, and was the first episode to be aired.
Circus Planet was the last
episode made, but since the follow-up movie never materialized, it is not a finale by any meaning of the word, and should
not necessarily come last on the episode timeline. When the show was broadcast
in the US, many stations aired the episodes over and over again in the
same order, but the order they chose was entirely arbitrary and utterly
unofficial. The same holds true for the Wheeled Warriors videos,
which, other than placing Escape
from the Garden at the beginning, seem to have recorded the episodes
in a random order.
Why does almost no one remember this show?
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Because of bad release timing. Wheeled Warriors aired at the same
time as the hyper-popular Transformers, He-Man, She-Ra,
Robotech, Thundercats, and G.I. Joe. A kid can absorb
only so much animation in an afternoon, you know.
Isn't this series racist towards plants?
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No. It shows both good and evil plants. It's no more racist towards vegetables
than Transformers was towards computers and robots. (Lizzard's
Note: This question must have come from a hopeful lawyer.)
Why does this show remind me of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker?
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As anyone who has watched even one episode can tell you, the writers of
Wheeled Warriors were heavily influenced by Star Wars. The
most obvious tribute occurs in Vase
of Xiang, in which a dismantled C-3PO appears in the thieves' marketplace.
In Underwater, Underpaid,
Flora insults Herc by calling him scruffy, just as Leia calls Han a "scruffy
looking nerf-herder" in Empire Strikes Back. Needless to say, Herc
responds just as Han does: "Who are you calling scruffy?" The entire Herc
character is based on Han Solo, and the Pride of the Skies II is
based on the Millennium Falcon. Cyrilla, from Frostworld,
is disturbingly like Leia. She leads rebels against a tyrant and tells
Jayce: "You're our only hope." The series as a whole is full of lightswords,
hyperspace drives, and bounty hunters. In short, Star Wars and
Wheeled Warriors are virtual cousins.
The show seems to be similar to Babylon 5. Why?
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If Star Wars is the show's cousin, then Babylon 5 is its
younger brother. J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of and primary writer
on Babylon 5, was one of the primary writers on Wheeled Warriors.
Another Babylon 5 writer, Larry DiTillio, also wrote some Wheeled
Warriors scripts. Thus it should come as no surprise that there are
so many similarities between Gillian and Lorien, Herc and Garibaldi, Herc
and Marcus, Jayce and Marcus, Oon and Lennier, Oon and Vir, the Visani and the First Ones,
and Flora and B-5's resident telepaths. Both series have Epsilon star
systems. Some clothing styles are similar as well, especially in the case
of vests, headbands, and wizard robes. There is even an identical quote
in the two series: "Between the candle and the stars." Gillian uses this
quote in a chant to open a capsule left by the original Lightning League,
while in Babylon 5 it is part of an initiation chant into the Minbari
Gray Council.
Who made the show? Who owns the rights to the show?
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Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors was made by and copyrighted to DIC
Audiovisual and ICC TV Productions in 1985. DIC is the same company that
created Inspector Gadget, C.O.P.S., and the American version
of Sailor Moon. The series was, and presumably still is, distributed
by the SFM Entertainment Division of the SFM Media Corporation. Magic
Window, a children's video company, was given permission to distribute
videos of the show in the mid to late 80s, but their rights to the show,
as far as we know, have expired.
Who wrote the episodes?
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DIC's way of acknowledging the writers was to place all of their names
in the end-of-episode credits, whether or not they had actually participated
in the writing of that particular episode. However, the authorship of
many of the episodes has been determined by The Root thanks to
the generous help of the writers involved.
- Larry DiTillio wrote at least six produced scripts.
His known ones include Double
Agent Zorg, Jal's Tale,
Liberty Stone Part IV,
The Purple Tome, Swampwitch,
and A Touch of Madness.
DiTillio also wrote scripts for the original He-man cartoon, Babylon 5, and Transformers: Beast Wars.
- Barbara Hambly remembers writing three episodes of Wheeled
Warriors, but can only recall one of the titles: Doomflower.
She is now a much-published fantasy and sci-fi author. Her books include
Dragonsbane, The Time of the Dark, The Walls of Air,
and The Armies of Daylight. She has also written two Star
Wars novels, called Children of the Jedi and Planet
of Twilight.
- Seth Hill wrote at least two Wheeled Warriors
episodes, Critical Mass
and The Hunt. Hill is also known
for writing, producing, and directing 12 episodes of In Search
Of, the Leonard Nimoy mystery series that aired on the A&E Channel.
Hill was heavily involved in creating shows for the PBS station known
as KQED, in San Francisco. By the time he finished his stint at the
station he had worked on over 250 projects. Wheeled Warriors
was one of Hill's two forays into the cartoon world. His other cartoon-related
work involved Defenders of the Earth, a little-known Marvel
Productions 80s cartoon. Perhaps reflecting his time at PBS, Hill's
episodes are both noted for their heavy reliance on literary themes
and references. Critical Mass
involves the search for the Treasures of Kubla Key and Xornadu, obvious
references to Kubla Khan and Xanadu, subjects of poems from 18th century
England. The Hunt is a modern adaption
of a famous American short story in which a hunter, bored of stalking
animals, turns to hunting humans.
- J. Michael Straczynski, creator of and primary writer on the television series Babylon 5, Crusade, and Jeremiah, also worked on Wheeled Warriors and other 80s cartoon shows. He remembers penning eleven episodes, although he admits rather sheepishly that if his memory serves, he may have written up to three undetermined others as well. The scripts he remembers writing are Circus Planet, Do Not Disturb, Final Ride at Journey's End, The Great Gardener, Liberty Stone Part V, Lightning Strikes Twice, Quest Into Shadow, A Question of Conscience, Squiresmith Wixland, Steel Against Shadow, and Underwater, Underpaid. Straczynski was also the writer of the never-produced Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors movie.
Who did the character voices?
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DIC's way of acknowledging the voice actors was to place all of their
names in the end-of-episode credits without identifying who performed
which character.
- Darrin Baker performed Jayce's voice. In addition to
his work on Wheeled Warriors, Baker did the voice of Hardtop
in C.O.P.S. His other 80s cartoon voice credits are Little Shop
of Horrors, Maxie's World, Prince Valiant, Robocop,
and US Starcom. Live television credits include Almost Grown,
Crime and Punishment, Law and Order, Melrose Place,
My Secret Identity, and War of the Worlds. Today he works as a
stage actor and director in New York. Counted among his Broadway and theater works
are Footloose, Les Miserables, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and
Sunset Boulevard. On March 28th, 1999, he had this to say:
"I am in the midst of rehearsals at Footloose. Yes, Footloose
(the musical). I am standing-by for a few of the lead characters including
the Reverend Moore (John Lithgow's role in the film).... I also have
a CD coming out of a new show that I just finished. It is called Little
by Little and will be in stores on May 11th on the Varese Sarabande
Label. It is ashow that I starred in opposite Christiane Noll, who
just finished providing the singing voice for the role of Anna in
the Warner Bros. release of the new animated feature film The King
and I." Busy boy, that Darrin Baker! Since then, he has directed the
Personals production in New York State during the Summer of 1999 and
acted in the musical play Scandals in Richmond, Virginia during the
Fall of that same year.
To date, the Lizzard has interviewed him twice on the Root's behalf: Darrin Baker Interview and Darrin Baker Interview II .
- Dan Hennessey did the voices of Oon, Audric, some of the Monster
Minds, and many minor characters. He was also the director and a voice actor on
C.O.P.S., as well as doing voices for Dinosaucers
and Robocop. More recently, he was the voice director for the
Ace Ventura and X-Men cartoons. On X-Men, he
made occasional guest appearances as Senator/President Kelley.
- Len Carlson was the voice of Herc along with many other Wheeled Warriors characters.
He still works as a highly talented voice actor and likewise performed voices for C.O.P.S., Dinosaucers,
and Robocop with Dan Hennessey. Among his many other voice credits are the parts of Vanity Smurf and the
Jolly Green Giant.
- Charles Joliffe played the voice of Gillian, lending the role the kindness and warmth he truly
possessed in life. A retired schoolteacher who decided to become an actor, his credits include numerous movie
and television appearances.
- Guilio Kukurugya infused Saw Boss with a loud, booming voice drawn from his opera training and
experience as an actor.
- Valerie Politis gave Flora her voice. Now all grown up, Politis is best known for playing Miles' girlfriend on an episode of Murphy Brown. No other information about Politis is currently available. If you're out there, Ms. Politis, we'd love to hear from you!
What are the words to the opening and closing theme songs?
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The official lyrics to the theme songs have never been verified by DIC.
However, after an extensive debate, the following words were agreed upon
by the Wheeled Warriors fan community on the internet.
- Opening Theme:
(spoken)
Thundering across the stars,
To save the universe from the Monster Minds,
Jayce searches for his father,
To unite the magic Root and lead his Lightning League to victory
Over the changing form of Saw Boss!
Wheeled Warriors explode into battle!
Lightning Strikes!(sung)
There's a power that comes from deep inside of you,
'Cause every day you're reaching toward the light!
And you know there's a long long way ahead of you,
But when your wheels get you there,
Things will turn out right!Just keep 'em turning, don't stop 'em rolling,
The fire is on -- Wheeled Warriors!
Battle drums burning, wheels moving!
Wheeled Warriors!
Wheeled Warriors!
Cause we can just keep 'em turning, don't stop 'em rolling,
The fire is on -- Wheeled Warriors!
Battle drums burning, wheels moving!
Wheeled Warriors!
Wheeled Warriors! - Closing Theme:
Drivin' down on the highway,
And my wheels are spinnin' fast!
I've been driving now for a long long time,
And soon I will be there!
Keep on rollin'!
Keep on rollin'!
There's no turning back, we're goin' all the way!
What are the words to the theme song in French?
As far as The Root has been able to discern, there is only one French theme, as opposed to two English themes (one for the opening and one for the closing). But boy is that one theme a doozie! The full version clocks in at a whopping 3 minutes and 20 seconds! Of course, the actual version used for the cartoon's opening sequence was shortened a great deal.
The words to the full version...
(spoken)
Va, Jayce, Conquérant du lointain
Recherche ton père
Illumine les chemins obscurs de l'univers
Va, Jayce, Conquérant de demain
La racine que tu portes à ton cœur
Doit s'unir à celle que porte ton père
Va, Jayce, Conquérant du bonheur
Viens libérer le monde de la terreur des monstro-plantes(sung)
Une force sans flammes, qui brûle tout au fond de toi
Et l'espoir qu'un jour tu nous rendras la joie
Tes chemins sont de feu, les monstro-plantes foudroient
Mais si tu ne perds pas la foi, tu trouveras la voie
Toi, Jayce, conquérant de la lumière, tu dois conquérir
Et la victoire viendra tout refleurir
N'abandonne pas, ne laisse pas ta foi mourir
Parce qu'un jour tu gagneras la liberté de vivreJayce conquérant, le monde t'attend
Fier et combattant, tu défies les méchants | Sauve l'univers
Jayce conquérant, le monde t'attend
Tu dois sauver ton temps et l'univers | Sauve l'univers
Jayce conquérant, le monde t'attend
Fier et combattant, tu défies les méchants | Sauve l'univers
Jayce conquérant, le monde t'attend
Tu dois sauver ton temps et l'universUne force sans flammes, qui brûle tout au fond de toi
Et l'espoir qu'un jour tu nous rendras la joie
Tes chemins sont de feu, les monstro-plantes foudroient
Mais si tu ne perds pas la foi, tu trouveras la voieJayce conquérant, le monde t'attend
Fier et combattant, tu défies les méchants | Sauve l'univers
Jayce conquérant, le monde t'attend
Tu dois sauver ton temps et l'univers | Sauve l'univers
Jayce conquérant, le monde t'attend
Fier et combattant, tu défies les méchants | Sauve l'univers
Jayce conquérant, le monde t'attend
Tu dois sauver ton temps et l'universJayce conquérant, le monde t'attend
Fier et combattant, tu défies les méchants | Sauve l'univers
Jayce conquérant, le monde t'attend
Tu dois sauver ton temps et l'univers | Sauve l'univers
Jayce conquérant, le monde t'attend
Fier et combattant, tu défies les méchants | Sauve l'univers
Jayce conquérant, le monde t'attend
Tu dois sauver ton temps et l'universSauves l'univers
Is it true that there was going to be a Wheeled Warriors movie?
-
Yes! J. Michael Straczynski, one of the regular series writers, wrote
a never-produced Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors movie script at
DIC's request. In this movie, Straczynski says, Jayce found his father,
destroyed the Monster Minds forever, and found everlasting love. The reason
DIC abandoned plans to produce the movie is unknown. Unfortunately, Straczynski
is not able to share the script with The Root due to copyright
difficulties.
