Some very good animation is combined with a very good score by Andrew Belling in what sadly was a bomb at the box office. I suppose a lot of money was pumped into this production due to it being produced in 3D. According to this site it cost $15 million to produce. The film only garnered in over $3 million at the US box office, which ain't bad, because it was the 80s and this was a cartoon.

The big influence for this film was George Lucas' STAR WARS. Not to mention the opening credits are a little reminiscent of the STAR TREK films as well. Anyways it is the story of a slave named Orin (Joe Colligan) who along with his people spend their lives mining for crystals for Zygon (Anthony De Longis). Orin though finds the hilt of a mythical sword which only he can use. He escapes the underground to find what life looks like elsewhere. Along the way he meets a smuggler named Dagg (Carmen Argenziano),a couple of droids (Tyke Caravelli and Les Tremayne) and a beautiful princess (Noelle North). It must be sounding quite similar to STAR WARS now.

It is a fun cartoon, although it is a little more adult orientated as it does have some sharp language and a little bit of sexuality blended in as well. It was rated PG for good reason.

Despite being a rip off of Star Wars in parts, the animation was solid enough and the story moved along at a decent clip. The action was interesting (for the time) and the villain was suitably harsh. The whole spirit of heroes past thing was odd, but any movie with the balls to kill off a character by brutal strangulation at the start of the story is got to be given a look.

To me as a kid it's always a joy whenever I see sci-fi in animated form which to me is something not done enough. This film is an under the radar gem, which I really like.

The animation I personally think is very good, it was revolutionary for it's time as it was a combination of both 3D visual technology, a bit of rotoscoping, and regular common animation. Personally I felt this was a beautiful combo and it predates the technique of the combination of 2-D animation with CGI and even 2-D and 3-D graphical design in video games. I really love the visuals on each of the worlds which are unique, really captured that sense of the broadness in space operas. And the character designs I think are great as well from the aliens, robots, and humans.

The music score is great, the theme song is one of my favorite themes of all time and I think one of the most underrated. It just has that adventurous and epic tone.

The story is solid, it's nothing too special it does takes it's cues from plenty of other space opera stories out there mainly "Star Wars" (no surprise),so it's nothing really new but everything done right. The characters are good/decent, their not really deep but they all serve their functions. Orin is solid the typical up and coming underdog young hero, but I like his motivation which isn't the typical want to save the universe but revenge, which I think is something a bit different and I don't see much anymore. Aviana is the typical beautiful sweet significant other that helps Orin, both of them have decent chemistry, I know not a great romance but I take this over any bad romance film any day; it's also kinda funny in a way since this character is voiced by the same actress that did Orin's slain significant other, so you can say it was fate giving Orin another chance.

However the character that stands out for me is Dagg, whom yeah is a rip on Han Solo but a good one and a fun character all the same. I kinda like his mannerism his sort of reminds me a bit of actor Burt Renalds whom always had this sharp and rough charisma, he has some solid lines, he's a bit reluctant but he does come though because well what else is he going to do action is pretty much his job anyway. I even like his back and forth with the female robot, Orin, but most of all the computer that helps run the ship, kinda like the computer Gideon in the anime series "Outlaw Star".

However were really in it for the adventure and is a good one at that. As I said I like the planets they explore, I even like that their not afraid to be a bit dark as we see a planet where there are aliens that steel body parts to continue to put themselves together. And the action is great, I really like the sequences when Odin uses the light sword, yeah I know a rip on the light saber but it still looks cool and I like the fact that you activate it with you mind whenever you want, and there is a little twist at the end with that weapon. The shootouts are solid but it's really the aerial assault battles that I love, those to me are the best action sequences in the film because the visuals and cinematography are just amazing, the choreography is sharp and when they flying in certain places it really looks and feels like their coming right at you.

Overall it's a solid animated film that like a star shines brightly and is worth looking at.

Rating: 3 stars