''Spiral Zone'' is a 1987 American science-fiction animated series produced by

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

/ Kushner-Locke. Spiral Zone was animated by Japanese studio Visual 80 as well as South Korean studio

AKOM AKOM Production, Ltd. (Animation KOrea Movie 애이콤 프로덕션) is a South Korean animation studio in Songpa-gu, Seoul that has provided much work since its conception in 1985 by Nelson Shin. Its biggest claim to fame is the overseas animat ...

. Based in part from a toy line made by Japanese company

Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine ...

, the series focused on an international group of soldiers fighting to free the world from a scientist who controls much of the Earth's surface. It only ran for one season, with a total count of 65 episodes. Tonka acquired the license from Bandai and created a different treatment to the series, plus a short-lived toy line.

Plot

In the year 2007, a brilliant but twisted military scientist named Dr. James Bent uses a neon military space shuttle to drop his deadly Zone Generators across half of the Earth, thus creating a region called the Spiral Zone due to its shape. Millions of people are trapped in the dark mists of the Spiral Zone and transformed into "Zoners" with lifeless yellow eyes and strange red patches on their skin. Because they have no will to resist, Dr. James Bent - now known as Overlord - makes them his slave army and controls them from the

Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel f ...

in New York City. His followers are known as the Black Widows: Bandit, Duchess Dire, Razorback, Reaper, Crook, and Raw Meat. They are immune to the mind-altering effects of the Zone because of a special device called the Widow Maker. However, due to prolonged exposure to the Zone, they display the same physical effects to their bodies as normal people caught inside the Zone, which has dark skies and Zone

spores In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, ...

growing in many places. Overlord seeks to conquer the world by bringing everyone under control with the Zone Generators. The Zones feed off human energy, which is why Overlord does not kill anyone inside. With major cities Zoned, the nations of the world put aside their own differences to fight the Black Widows. However, only five soldiers using special suits to protect themselves from the Zone could do it. While easy to destroy, Zone Generators are impossible to capture because of

booby traps A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm or surprise a human or another animal. It is triggered by the presence or actions of the victim and sometimes has some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. The trap m ...

. Overlord would also drop more generators on remaining military and civilian centers and force the Zone Riders into a standoff.

Characters

Black Widows

Bent not only invented the Zone Generators but also an antidote process giving him immunity to the bacteria. He uses this process on his small group of soldiers. While immune to the mind-altering effects, each Black Widow still has lesions on their skin and have yellow dilated eyes. * Overlord (Dr. James Bent; voiced by

Neil Ross Neil David Ross is a British-American voice actor and announcer. Noted for his Trans-Atlantic accent, he has provided voices in many American cartoons, most notably '' Voltron'', '' G.I. Joe'', and ''Transformers'', as well as video games, inc ...

) - commander and rebel scientist. * Bandit (information unknown; voiced by Neil Ross) - master of disguise, a terrorist of Middle Eastern origin. * Duchess Dire (Ursula Dire; voiced by

Mona Marshall Mona Marshall is an American voice actress, known for her work in a number of cartoons, anime shows, films and video games. Her major credits include '' South Park'', where she voices many of the female characters on the show; '' Fraggle Rock: Th ...

) - a charming woman of British nationality, she is an assignment expert, hardened criminal, and Overlord's mistress. * Razorback (Al Krak; voiced by

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

) -an aggressive loudmouth who specializes in bladed weapons. * Reaper (Mathew Riles; voiced by Denny Delk) - manhunter. * Crook (Jean Duprey) - French scientist who tricks Reaper into becoming immune to the spiral zone in the episode " Shall You Reaper." * Rawmeat (Richard Welt; voiced by

Hal Rayle Hal Rayle (born January 4, 1955) is an American voice actor. He has done many roles for both animated series and live action movies. Career Rayle has had a number of voice acting jobs over his career. Rayle's animated series roles include Miss Pi ...

) - a truck driver who got tricked through Bandit in episode called " Bandit and the Smokies ".

Black Widow vehicles

Overlord rides the ''Bullwhip Cannon,'' an eight-wheel

all-terrain vehicle An all-terrain vehicle (ATV), also known as a light utility vehicle (LUV), a quad bike, or simply a quad, as defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI); is a vehicle that travels on low-pressure tires, with a seat that is strad ...

equipped with a large laser cannon. The other Black Widows ride ''Sledge Hammers,'' a one-man minitank that has triangular caterpillar tracks and has whirling

mace Mace may refer to: Spices * Mace (spice), a spice derived from the aril of nutmeg * '' Achillea ageratum'', known as English mace, a flowering plant once used as a herb Weapons * Mace (bludgeon), a weapon with a heavy head on a solid shaft used ...

arms on either side. They also have a special delta-winged aircraft called the ''Intruder.''

Zone Riders

Overlord's initial strike put all the major capitals of the world in the Zone. The chaos sparks international cooperation even between the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. To counter the effects of the Zone bacteria, British scientists create a rare material called Neutron-90. However, only a limited amount of Neutron-90 is remaining in the world after the

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

orders the destruction of the only laboratory where the material is produced. There is only enough material left to build combat suits for five specially-trained soldiers called the ''Spiral Force,'' also known as the "Zone Riders." * Cdr Dirk Courage (voiced by

Dan Gilvezan Daniel John Gilvezan (born October 26, 1950) is an American actor, known for playing Peter Parker / Spider-Man in the 1981 animated series, '' Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends'' and Bumblebee in the original 1984-1987 '' The Transformers'' se ...

) - Zone Riders leader,

* MSgt Tank Schmidt (voiced by Neil Ross) - heavy weapons specialist,

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

* Lt Hiro Taka (voiced by Michael Bell) - infiltration specialist, Japan * 2nd Lt Max Jones (voiced by Hal Rayle) - special mission expert,

* Cpl Katerina Anastacia (voiced by Mona Marshall) - medical officer,

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

As the series advances, the Zone Riders discover that there is still enough Neutron-90 left over from assembling the five suits, sufficient to build two additional suits. They are issued to Australian demolition specialist Lt Ned Tucker and field scientist Lt Benjamin Davis Franklin.

Zone Rider vehicles

The Zone Riders are deployed around the world from a mountain base called the Mission Command Central, or MCC. Dirk Courage rides the ''Rimfire,'' a

monowheel A monowheel, or uniwheel, is a one-wheeled single-track vehicle similar to a unicycle. Hand-cranked and pedal-powered monowheels were patented and built in the late 19th century; most built in the 20th and 21st century have been motorized. ...

vehicle equipped with a large cannon on top. The other Zone Riders ride armored combat monocycles and wear special backpacks.

Episodes

# Holographic Zone Battle (written by Richard Mueller) # King of the Skies (written by Francis Moss) # Errand of Mercy (written by Eric Lewald and Andrew Yates) # Mission Into Evil (written by Fettes Gray) # Back to the Stone Age (written by

Michael Reaves James Michael Reaves (born September 14, 1950) is an American writer, known for his contributions as scriptwriter and story editor to a number of 1980s and 1990s animated television series, including '' Disney's Gargoyles'' and '' Batman: The An ...

and

Steve Perry Stephen Ray Perry (born January 22, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the rock band Journey during their most commercially successful periods from 1977 to 1987, and again from 1995 to 1998. He also wrote/co ...

) # Small Packages (written by Mark Edens) # Zone of Darkness (written by Mark Edens) # The Gauntlet (written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry) # Ride the Whirlwind (story by Lydia C. Marano and

Arthur Byron Cover Arthur Byron Cover (born January 14, 1950, in Grundy, Virginia) is an American science fiction author. Cover attended the Clarion Writer's SF Workshop in New Orleans in 1971, and made his first professional short-story sale to Harlan Ellison's ...

, teleplay by Mark Edens) # The Unexploded Pod (written by Patrick J. Furlong) # Duel in Paradise (written by Mark Edens and Michael Edens) # The Impostor (story by

Paul Davids Paul Davids is an American independent filmmaker and writer, especially in the area of science fiction. Often collaborating with his wife Hollace, Davids has written and directed several films. He has also written episodes for the television seri ...

, teleplay by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry) # The Hacker (written by Patrick J. Furlong) # Overlord’s Mystery Woman (written by David Schwartz) # The Sands of Amaran (written by Eric Lewald and Andrew Yates) # Zone Train (story by David Wise, teleplay by David Wise and Michael Reaves) # Breakout (written by

Buzz Dixon Buzz Dixon (December 7, 1953) is an American writer of comic books, film, and cartoons. He has written comics for multiple companies, including Eclipse Comics (where he wrote '' Destroyer Duck'' alongside Steve Gerber), Marvel Comics, and a ''B ...

) # When the Cat’s Away (written by Mark Edens) # Island in the Zone (written by Michael Edens and Mark Edens) # The Shuttle Engine (written by R. Patrick Neary) # The Mind of Gideon Rorshak (written by Haskell Barkin) # Canal Zone (written by

Gerry Conway Gerard Francis ConwayThomas, Roy. "Roy's Rostrum" (" Bullpen Bulletins") in '' Marvel Super-Heroes'' #43 and other Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1974. (born September 10, 1952) is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, screenwriter, t ...

and Carla Conway) # The Lair of the Jade Scorpion (written by Kent Butterworth) # The Man Who Wouldn’t Be King (written by Mark Edens) # The Way of the Samurai (written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry) # The Best Fighting Men in the World (written by Frank Dandridge) # The Ultimate Solution (written by Patrick Barry) # Hometown Hero (written by Francis Moss) # In the Belly of the Beast (written by Mark Edens) # The Last One Picked (written by Mark Edens) # So Shall You Reaper (written by Mark Edens) # The Secret of Shadow House (written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry) # Zone of Fear (written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry) # Bandit and the Smokies (written by Mark Edens) # Heroes in the Dark (written by Kenneth Kahn) # Zone with Big Shoulders (written by Mark Edens) # Behemoth (written by Patrick Barry) # The Power of the Press (written by Gerry Conway and Carla Conway) # Starship Doom (written by Ray Parker) # The Electric Zone Rider (written by Mark Edens) # Australian in Paris (written by Mark Edens) # The Enemy Within (written by Mike Kirschenbaum) # Anti-Matter (written by Brooks Wachtel) # The Siege (written by Mark Edens) # A Little Zone Music (written by Mark Edens) # Element of Surprise (written by Mark Edens) # Seachase (written by Francis Moss) # The Right Man for the Job (written by Mark Edens) # High and Low (written by Mark Edens and Michael Edens) # Profiles in Courage (written by Mark Edens) # The Darkness Within (story by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry, teleplay by Carla Conway and Gerry Conway) # Power Play (written by Kent Stevenson) # Duchess Treat (written by Mark Edens and Michael Edens) # Oversight (written by Mark Edens) # Assault on the Rock (written by Frank Dandridge) # They Zone by Night (written by Mark Edens) # Conflict of Duty (written by

Cherie Wilkerson Cherie Dee Wilkerson is an American writer best known for her work on animated television series such as '' Batman: The Animated Series, DuckTales, The Transformers'' and the 1988 version of ''Superman'', amongst others. Her TV writing career las ...

) # The Final Weapon (written by Ray Parker) # The Face of the Enemy (written by Mark Edens) # Brother’s Keeper (written by Carla Conway and Gerry Conway) # Little Darlings (written by Francis Moss) # Nightmare in Ice (story by Steven Zak and Jacqueline Zak, teleplay by Mark Edens) # Evil Transmissions (written by James Wager) # Zone Trap (written by James Wager and Byrd Ehlmann) # Countdown (written by James Wager and Scott Koldo)

Japanese version

The suits and some of the vehicles in ''Spiral Zone'' originated from a line of action figures produced by

that was sold from 1985 to 1988. Conceptualized by

Gundam is a Japanese military fiction media franchise. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), the franchise features giant robots, or mecha, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with '' Mo ...

mecha designers

Kunio Okawara is a mechanical designer in the Japanese anime industry. Okawara was the first in the industry to be specifically credited as a mechanical designer. He designed mecha for the '' Gundam'' and '' Brave Series'' franchises, as well as those of nume ...

and Kazuhisa Kondo, the ''Special Force Group Spiral Zone'' series depicted a team of special operations soldiers fighting a war in the early 21st century. The line only had 12 items, organized into ''Acts''. They include: three 1:12 scale six-inch figures with full equipment codenamed ''Bull Solid'', ''Hyper Boxer'', and ''Sentinel Bear'', two ''Bull Solid'' cloth uniform and armor sets, two ''Hyper Boxer'' cloth uniform and armor sets, two equipment backpacks, two bare human figures, and one vehicle called the ''Monoseed''. The figures had 30 points of articulation. Non-toy media included a notebook, a novel, and an LP/story compilation released in 1986 by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

and

Pioneer Corporation commonly referred to as Pioneer, is a Japanese multinational corporation based in Tokyo, that specializes in digital entertainment products. The company was founded by Nozomu Matsumoto in January 1, 1938 in Tokyo as a radio and speaker repair ...

called a ''Hyper Image Album''. The LP disc in particular contains songs composed by

Toshiyuki Watanabe Toshiyuki Watanabe (渡辺俊幸 ''Watanabe Toshiyuki'') (born February 3, 1955, in Nagoya, Japan) is a Japanese musician and composer who has scored multiple films and anime. His most notable works are the Mothra trilogy in the 1990s and the awa ...

and performed by Tomoko Aran, with the accompanying stories written by

Kazunori Itō is a Japanese anime screenwriter and artist who is well known for his work in the ''.hack'' franchise and his writing for the 1995 ''Ghost in the Shell'' movie. Itō supervised the writing for the novel, '' .hack//Another Birth'' which was writ ...

. He wrote the novel with

HEADGEAR Headgear, headwear, or headdress is the name given to any element of clothing which is worn on one's head, including hats, helmets, turbans and many other types. Headgear is worn for many purposes, including protection against the elemen ...

colleague Akemi Takada as illustrator. The series' story and other machines, such as a mobile base and special transport for the Monoseeds, were also detailed in Bandai's Model Making Journal. Bandai had plans to release a fourth action figure (codenamed ''Fireball'') and additional vehicles before the line was cancelled. They include a

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful e ...

, a small flight pod called the ''Beaufighter'', a

radio-controlled Radio control (often abbreviated to RC) is the use of control signals transmitted by radio to remote control, remotely control a device. Examples of simple radio control systems are garage door openers and keyless entry systems for vehicles, in ...

assault jeep resembling the Chenowth DPV called the ''Fat Lynx'', a fast-attack vehicle called the ''Mad Lemming'', a

bipedal Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an organism moves by means of its two rear limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from Latin ''bis'' 'double' ...

mech, two personal transport backpacks, and the ''Monoseed Mk II'' assault cycle, among others. The ''Monoseed'' and ''Monoseed Mk II'' were the respective basis for the Zone Riders' standard motorcycles and Courage's Rimfire Cannon, while one of the two unreleased backpacks, a monocycle called the ''Monodrive'', was remodeled as Max Jones' ''Zone Runner'' backpack. The unreleased vehicles later appeared in the series'

gashapon , also called , is a trademark of Bandai. Among the variety of vending machine-dispensed capsule toys that originated in the 1960s, it became popular in Japan and elsewhere. "Gashapon" is onomatopoeic from the two sounds "gasha" (or "gacha") fo ...

line, which also had a special ''Spiral Zone''

super-deformed Chibi, also known as super deformation, or S.D. is a style of caricature originating in Japan, and common in anime and manga where characters are drawn in an exaggerated way, typically small and chubby with stubby limbs, oversized heads, and ...

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a ...

and other products not developed in 1:12 scale, such as new personal mecha units, weapon packs, and three figures (codenamed ''Zone Bolt'', ''Eagle Eye'', and ''Zone Acorn''). Because of their extensive detail and high-quality construction, the Japanese ''Spiral Zone'' figures are well regarded among toy collectors and often fetch high prices. The American ''Spiral Zone'' animated series was dubbed into Japanese and aired on the satellite network NHK-BS2 in 1990. The episode order for the Japanese broadcast was substantially altered from the order used in the United States. For example, US episode #1 was aired in Japan as episode #3. However, the series' opening theme was left unaltered. The complete Japanese dubbed version of ''Spiral Zone'' was released on VHS format in Japan by NHK under their "VOOK" line in 1991 thru 1992.

Releases

Toys

Although best known for producing toys of construction vehicles,

Tonka Tonka is an American producer of toy trucks. The company is known for making steel toy models of construction type trucks and machinery. Maisto International, which makes diecast vehicles, acquired the rights to use the Tonka name in a line of ...

licensed the rights to ''Spiral Zone'' from Bandai and created a line of seven-inch figures that were later based on the animated series. The toy line, which hit the market in 1986, comprised four of the five original Zone Riders and all five original Black Widows, plus their vehicles, six cloth uniforms, and six equipment sets. However, the cancellation of the series left the figures of Zone Riders Anastacia, Tucker, and Franklin, Black Widows Crook and Raw Meat, and a Zone Generator playset out of Tonka's 1988 release. The figures were also highly detailed, but were not as articulated as the Japanese figures. Each figure has a special audio cassette tape.

Home video

first released ''Spiral Zone'' on VHS in 1987 with two episodes per tape. Only three tapes were produced before the series was cancelled. Tonka has not announced plans to release the series on DVD. However, an unofficial DVD set containing all 65 episodes and bonus materials was released in November 2006 b
SpiralZone.com
with the cooperation of the show's supervising director, Pierre de Celles. The site's operator said that de Celles volunteered for the project by providing the original

master tapes Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...

of the series, which were converted to DVD. He added that Tonka and parent firm

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

never responded to his offers to acquire the

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical th ...

Comics

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their f ...

released a ''Spiral Zone'' four-issue limited series in February 1987. It was written by

Michael Fleisher Michael Lawrence Fleisher (November 1, 1942 — February 2, 2018) was an American writer known for his DC Comics of the 1970s and 1980s, particularly for the characters Spectre and Jonah Hex. Biography Early life and career Fleisher was raised ...

with art by veteran artist

Carmine Infantino Carmine Michael Infantino (; May 24, 1925 – April 4, 2013) was an American comics artist and editor, primarily for DC Comics, during the late 1950s and early 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comic Books. Among his character creations are ...

Production

According to the show's former supervising director Pierre De Celles, he wanted to get Spiral Zone to go for the fantastic science fiction direction, but the producers and sponsors discouraged him for doing anything too unusual.

References

External links

SpiralZone.com: The #1 resource for both the Tonka and Bandai SPIRAL ZONE series (unofficial)
* {{IMDb title, 0169492, Spiral Zone 1987 American television series debuts 1987 American television series endings 1980s American animated television series 1980s toys Action figures Post-apocalyptic animated television series 1980s American science fiction television series American children's animated science fiction television series Bandai brands Comics based on toys Comics by Michael Fleisher First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Orbis Communications Television series set in 2007 Tonka brands Television shows based on toys English-language television shows