This animated syndicated television series was based on a range of action figures, vehicles and playsets by Coleco.
Stories followed the adventures of Starcom – an American peacekeeping force comprising Starbase Command, Airwing, and the Astro Marines.
The three principal characters were all colonels: Slim (Philip Akin) was the best marksman and insisted on doing everything “by the book,” while tech expert Crowbar (Robert Cait) frequently went against regulations to fix the problem at hand, and Dash (voiced by Rob Cowan) – who the best pilot – often had to mediate disputes between the other two.
Together they protected a growing planetary community while defending against attacks by “Shadow Force” (mostly robots called “Mecha-Mooks”) led by the nefarious Emperor Dark.
The animation was superb, and the storylines surprisingly mature, but the show earned poor ratings and was cancelled after only 13 episodes.
Similarly, the toy range proved popular in Europe and Asia but largely failed in the North American market. Coleco subsequently declared bankruptcy and was purchased by Mattel, who continued to produce Starcom toys for the European market until 1990, albeit in very small numbers.
Colonel John ‘Slim’ Griffin
Philip Akin Colonel Paul ‘Crowbar’ Corbin
Robert Cait Colonel James ‘Dash’ Derringer
Rob Cowan Admiral Franklin Brinkley
Don Francks Lt. Kelsey Carver
Susan Roman General Von Dar
Marvin Goldhar Major Klag
Dan Hennessey Major Romak
Louis Di Bianco Shadow Emperor Dark
Neil Munro Lianna
Marla Lukofsky Prof. Malvanna Wilde
Elva Mai Hoover
Episodes
Nantucket Sleighride | Trojan Crowbar | The Long Fall | Caverns of Mars | Fire and Ice | Galactic Heartbeat | The Boys Who Cried Dark | Dark Harvest | A Few Bugs in the System | Turnabout | Hot Enough for You? | Flash Moskowitz, Space Cadet | The Last Star Ranger
Stories followed the adventures of Starcom – an American peacekeeping force comprising Starbase Command, Airwing, and the Astro Marines.
Similarly, the toy range proved popular in Europe and Asia but largely failed in the North American market. Coleco subsequently declared bankruptcy and was purchased by Mattel, who continued to produce Starcom toys for the European market until 1990, albeit in very small numbers.
Admiral Franklin Brinkley
