I’ve reviewed quite a few obscure cartoons over the years. This time we’re looking at Saban’s Sci-fi work from the late 90s, Xyber 9: New Dawn. Interestingly enough, only the first ten episodes aired initially in the US before the show was cancelled. But the thing aired in its entirety in Ireland and in 2007 Disney aired the entire thing as part of its Jetix line-up. So, this show refused to die but my question is whether or not it was worth saving. Let’s have a look.
Story:
In the distant future, two monarchs, King Renard & Queen Tatania, are waging a war. Renard is being supported by the shadowy figure, Machestro. An unaffiliated boy named Jack gets caught up in the middle of a battle and discovers an ancient piece of powerful technology, this is the titular Xyber 9. This is bad news for Jack since Machestro will stop at nothing to possess the Xyber.
Let’s start with the big narrative issues with the show. First of all, the show is really bad about expanding on its story elements. For example, we know the Xybers are ancient technology but there’s never anything to explain why they’re considered so powerful or why Xyber 9 itself is in such high demand. It has knowledge about the ancient world and it can interface with technology. That’s about all we see. And Machestro doesn’t want it for its knowledge. But we see some pretty advanced technology from him and his subjects so it begs the question of why he can’t have his people design something else that can interface with various technology. The show also never explains how the whole situation started. How did King Renard fall under Machestro’s control? How did the entire war start? I feel like this is one of those rare shows that actually would have benefited from a flashback heavy episode or two. The romance aspect is also pretty bad. They basically put Jack in a love triangle and have his potential love interests take jabs at each other like they’re in a bad sitcom instead of a sci-fi adventure.
Another problem is with the ending. It’s legitimately awful. They shoehorn in this weird message about pacifism being the true way and force a very unsatisfying climax with it. They also pull a rescue for one of the characters out their ass. You remember how the Owl House crew knew their last season was going to be cut short and did their utmost to tie up everything in a satisfactory way and they largely succeeded? This feels more like they had all the episodes made except for the very last one when they found out they weren’t getting more and they just had to try and cram everything in there. Which may have been what happened. Maybe they had twenty one made when they initially got cancelled from American television and they just rushed a final one to give their Irish viewers a conclusion. Either way, it’s a rubbish ending.
I wish I could say that the series at least had some good ideas in its plot but it really doesn’t. The whole setup with the factions waging war and a powerful MacGuffin emerging that can turn the tide is pretty generic. As is the whole concept of the monarch being controlled by a shadowy Puppet master. And Xyber 9 isn’t exactly a better example of this type of story. It takes those elements in a heavily simplified direction. And you might argue “But it’s for kids. It has to be simple.” To that I would say, nonsense. There’s a difference between presenting a story in a way that’s digestible for kids and presenting a story that’s not challenging or complex in any way. This is something that the best children’s cartoons I’ve reviewed like Gravity Falls, The Owl House, She-Ra and The Princesses of Power & X-men all understood. It’s not something Xyber 9 understands.
Characters:
The characters largely suffer from the same problems as the narrative. They’re painfully generic and shallow. Jack is a cocky little shite. Xyber 9 is the sagacious guide. Ikira is the old mentor. Anakonda is the action girl love interest. Mick is the scoundrel who we’re supposed to find charming but he just comes across as a douchebag. Willy is the taciturn giant. Machestro is the evil one. You get the idea.
There are three characters who could have been significantly more interesting based on what little we get of their back stories. The first is Ikira. The man was part of Machestro’s forces but was abandoned and left to die which led to his revelation that his people have a virus that makes them sensitive to the sunlight but that the virus is treatable. The issue is that the show barely touches on this nor do we know shit about his people and their culture beyond them serving Machestro and having this virus. Does Ikira have a family he might want to get back to? Friends he could reach out to? Do his people even have cities or do they just hang around in the tunnels? These questions will never be addressed. The second character is Anakonda. She was raised by snakes, can turn invisible, rides a giant bat creature, can soothe wild animals and comes from some kind of naturalist tribe. On its surface, that could be a very compelling character concept. But, like with Ikira, we get very little about her people and culture. Instead she’s just the action girl part of Jack’s love triangle. Finally, we have Princess Roselyn. A naïve girl who learns that her father is a tyrant and decides to help the resistance against him. Maybe not the most original concept, but it’s definitely one that can be very interesting. But the show pretty much reduces her to the second part of Jack’s love triangle and largely treats her actions as being more for him than they are for moral concerns.
Another thing worth mentioning is that Machestro’s evil plan is really fucking stupid. Basically, he wants to block out all sunlight so that he and the others with sensitivity to it can emerge from the darkness and rule the world. Ignoring that they couldn’t actually survive very long with zero sunlight and that it would be much easier to go through the same curative process Ikira did.
Art:
The art isn’t bad. The character designs are decent enough. The CG integration looks fine. The action sequences flow pretty well. The animation can be a little janky at times but it’s not noticeable enough to be a major issue.
Sound:
The voice acting in this varies. You have people like Rene Auberjonois, Nika Futterman, Chris Marquette & Tim Curry who all do really well. Then you have people who are just okay. You also have people who are kind of obnoxious in their delivery like Jolie Jenkins, Quinton Flynn & Jason Marsden.
The music is pretty good. David Ari Leon did a solid job with it.
Areas of Improvement:
1: They really needed to do a better job of expanding on their world, the scenario and the character’s backgrounds. I truly believe that a more relaxed, gradual pacing would have made for a more engaging, and compelling show. Maybe then people would have tuned in for it.
2: They really should have given Anakonda and Roselyn personalities and interest outside of Jack before worrying about setting up their stupid love triangle.
3: Machestro’s plan really needs a lot of fine tuning in order for it to make even some semblance of sense. You can’t just rely on your audience not noticing the flaws. No, not even if your target audience is children.
Final Thoughts:
I understand why this cartoon was canceled early on. It takes some very generic ideas, pairs them with generic character tropes and executes them in a dumb way, It seems like an example of a cartoon that didn’t bother putting in much effort because they assumed children would watch it for the bright colours, robots and action. I’m giving this one a 3/10. It’s really not worth tracking down.
Anime Reviews 