I can’t believe it took me this long do add this to the list. I even noted in 2020 when I did a Saturday Night Showcase on this show that I should have done this already. Better late than never, I guess.
Cybersix is an American kids show produced by the Japanese and based on a very NOT for kids Argentinian comic. It’s international, but that’s not how “all-ages” works. Specifically, TMS Entertainment produced the show for Fox Kids. It only ran for one season, which is a shame because the show is amazing in animation (of course, it’s TMS), acting, writing, dialog…if you want to see what a superheroine story looks like, you should watch this.
The show follows Cybersix, an escaped experiment by the crazed scientist Doctor Von Richter. She goes underground in the city of Meridiana, but Von Richter’s “son” Julian, a kid with megalomaniacal tendencies, has set up operations to control the city. Disguising herself as the male literature teacher Adrian Seidelman, Cybersix finds love, a pushy teen with a crush, a young street urchin she rescues from a life of thievery, a fellow escapee in the form of a panther named Data-7, and a whole lot of monsters running loose in the city to fight. As for the intro? It knows how to sell the show to an audience.
Readers of previous Favorite/Not-So-Favorite Videos articles know I have a pet peeve when it comes to an intro that just uses clips rather than original animation. Cybersix is the rare exception because the animation, character designs, camera angles, and art work are just so damn good. It shows off what the show and its title character can do by picking the right clips to show off. I really can’t complain about the choice.
I’ve also said that it takes more than a good theme to make a good intro, but this is one amazing theme. “Deep In My Heart” and the outro song, “As The Rain Falls On The Mountains” (which I’m not as crazy about but it’s still pretty good), was composed by Robbi Finkel and written by Robert Oliver. The English version, which is the one I know, was sung by the amazing voice of Coral Egan. “Deep In My Heart”, and I would love to hear the full version, doesn’t speak directly to the plot, but does capture Cybersix’s emotions at her situation, and since her alter ego is a male literary teacher, it makes sense that the words are like a poem. By the way, her male guise (also as a kid in the comic) makes it easier to hide–not because she’s “trans” as I saw the title of one video claim (granted, I didn’t watch the video but that’s not how that works as she wants to be a woman and started out as a little girl). Check out the lyrics.
There’s a time when the moon reveals its face through the clouds
I let out a sigh and want to cry out loud
But deep in my heart I feel love so alive
In the depths of my soul I know we will survive
I’m the one they would break in their greed and their pride
But deep in my heart I feel love so alive
In the depths of my soul I know we will survive
In the series, both comic and cartoon, plus a shorter live-action series, Cybersix starts out isolated until her love interest Lucas, who is platonic friends with her alter ego, a boy named Julian, and Data-7 enter her life. The show doesn’t end with Julian and Cybersix becoming a couple but in the comics they have a kid together, that unfortunately gets kidnapped and brainwashed by Von Richter but I’m going by the Fandom wiki. Apparently the big goons are called “Fixed Ideas”, which is funny when you see the show and they don’t seem like they’ve ever had an idea fixed between them.
The intro doesn’t really show much of her allies, nor does it show off the main villain of the show, Von Richter’s clone kid Jose, beyond a “blink and you miss it” appearance near one of the monsters. He even does the Nazi goosestep in the show since in the comics (again, according to the wiki) his “dad” is a former Nazi scientist. Von Richter shows up for a second at the start of the intro, while Lucas shows up a bit as Adrian’s friend, ignoring that he does more in the story than have breakfast with Adrian. Lucas, Data-7, and Julian are important characters in her life and adventures, as is the teen crush student Lori. Lucas especially is tied to both identities, being Adrian’s best friend and Cybersix’s love interest. It’s her interactions with them in the show that start making her feel more human to herself rather than another of Von Richter’s creations. It’s kind of a shame they aren’t more in the front, though Lucas is heavily featured in the outro and Julian makes a cameo. Wish we saw more of the cool panther sidekick/brother, too.
The intro focuses on the various monster experiments Von Richter sends to Jose for experimentation or to recapture/destroy Cybersix. They are some great designs, while Cybersix’s outfit, even the ridiculously long cape, looks very cool. She looks sexy because she’s fit and the outfit is form fitting, matching her fighting style and holding up to her superhuman strength and leaping. The part where the cape wraps around her as she fades into the night of the city was the right clip to end on before cutting to the only original part of the intro, the title card. Simple, but effective with a glow similar to the “substance” chemical she needs to survive in the early episodes, which the show forgets about most of the time.
Cybersix is a wonderful show, and while more episodes might have been nice it has a great ending. That’s a rarity in Saturday morning, even if there was a tease that a second season was at least possible. Check out the Saturday Night Showcase featuring the first two episodes. The show isn’t hard to find streaming free on demand and it is very much worth your time.
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