Can anyone tell me the cartoon series that HBO ran between 1980 and
1983? I remember a particular one about a princess or something... and
have been trying to find the name ever since.

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 06 Jun 2003 12:13 PDT

Does this description sound like your show?

In the distant future, after man has destroyed the earth, only small
pockets of humanity survive. In one such enclave, a princess tries to
understand (rather than destroy) the hostile environment, which
includes giant insects and poisonous fungi spores.

Any further details that you can remember may be helpful.

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Clarification of Question by rohaab-ga on 06 Jun 2003 20:51 PDT

There was a princess who is joined by a couple of heroes.    There is
also a villain with some kind of prison colony who carried a whip (i
*think*)

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Request for Question Clarification by techtor-ga on 06 Jun 2003 20:57 PDT

Since you mentioned "anime", would you recall if this princess was in
a spaceship, and she was protected by three heroes, two of which
joined in early episodes in the series. The three ride and fight on
top of their fighter spaceships, one with a staff, another with a
mace, and the other with a trident gun. Do tell me if this the series.

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Clarification of Question by rohaab-ga on 06 Jun 2003 21:14 PDT

That sounds VERY Familiar.

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Request for Question Clarification by techtor-ga on 07 Jun 2003 03:36 PDT

I'd just like to make sure. I found this picture. Do you remember if
the characters in this pic are what you watched then?

http://web.mit.edu/sseligma/www/spac112s.jpg

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Clarification of Question by rohaab-ga on 07 Jun 2003 09:23 PDT

Yup-- i think that's it.

Thank you Rohaab,
You are right to label this an anime series. The TV show's original
name is Starzinger, and it was released in Japan in the late 70’s. One
website says that it is a collaboration between Ozamu Tezuka
(Astroboy, Kimba the White Lion, Tetsuzin 28/Gigantor) and Leiji
Matsumoto (Space Warship Yamato, Galaxy Express 999, Captain Harlock).
If you look at one of the characters carefully, Jan Cogo/Jesse Dart,
he was derived from the star of the Chinese Monkey King/Journey to the
West tale. Son Goku of Dragonball Z (if you watch this) is also
derived from the Monkey King.

The story is about a princess sent by the Empress to a certain place
in the Universe to restore cosmic balance, but since she is beset by
evil enemies on the way, she is assigned a protector, Jan Cogo/Jesse
Dart, the staff-bearing warrior. Later on, two other heroes join, and
they journey with the princess to help restore the “Galactic Energy”.

In the US in the early 80’s, the series was renamed Spaceketeers and
made part of Jim Terry’s Force Five TV Program, along with Danguard
Ace, Gaiking, UFO Robo Grandizer and Starvengers. I in the Philippines
though was lucky enough to watch Starzinger in its original form on
TV. The Force Five series was also shown recently (in the late 90’s!).
I suppose what you watched on HBO then is the Force Five version.

Sources:
Starzinger/Spaceketeers no. 1
http://welcome.to/starzinger/
Alternate URL:
http://biphome.spray.se/dhenriks/starzinger/index.htm

Spaceketeers website
http://web.mit.edu/sseligma/www/space.html

Force Five website
http://web.mit.edu/sseligma/www/force5.html

Google Directory of Starzinger links (some are dead though)
http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Animation/Anime/Titles/S/Starzinger/

If you want to get copies of the series, they’re available. The first
site above has some sources for the Spaceketeers video. I doubt
however if you’ll find any in the original form of Starzinger.

Some Starzinger items for sale on Ebay, I think:
http://alldesktopentertainment.com/am/s/n0003861.html


Google Search Terms used:
Starzinger
Spaceketeers

I hope this has been a most helpful answer. If you have any problem
with it, do please post a Request for Clarification and I shall
respond. Thank you.

Hello rohaab,

This doesn't really fit your description, but it's the first thing
that came to my mind :

FraggleRock
http://www.fragglerocker.com/

No, that wasn't a cartoon.

Greetings...might you be thinking of Aeon Flux from MTV?