In 1991, Argentinian writer Carlos Trillo and artist Meglia put together their original title of Cybersix in the pages of the Italian comics magazine Skorpio. This wasn’t an adult comic book, but was certainly not intended for younger readers, so it’s strange that 8 years later it would get turned into an American Saturday Morning cartoon show. Premiering on Fox in 1999, this 13-episode TV series was produced by the Canadian-based Network Of Animation and animated by TMS Entertainment which is the same anime studio that prior to this gave us Lupin III, The Rose Of Versailles, Cobra, Sherlock Hound, and Magic Knight Rayearth. TMS also contributed to several American productions like Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Duck Tales, Inspector Gadget, The Real Ghostbusters, Animaniacs, Little Nemo, Mighty Orbots, and Tiny Toons. The series director was Toshihiko Masuda who has worked in everything from Thundercats to Death Note, and he carried TMS’ fluid style of animation throughout the entire series. TMS regularly handles some of the animation of various American animated projects, but in Cybersix they were given much more freedom to show the world how their attention to detail and slick style shines when it puts the pedal to the metal.
The premise for Cybersix was pretty revolutionary for its time, decades ahead of the curb as far as the depiction of unconventional life choices. The main character was originally a young boy who was transformed into a cybernetic woman named Cybersix, part of a type of artificial humanoids called Cybers created by the ex-Nazi scientist Von Reichter. The criminal mastermind is constantly trying to take over the coastal town of Meridiana with his genetically engineered monsters. Von Reichter’s schemes are constantly thwarted by Cybersix who wears a dramatic outfit of black leather, a wide brimmed hat, and profoundly long cape which she uses as a parachute. Cybersix hides her nocturnal activities by taking on the identity of a high school literary teacher, and a male one at that named Adrian, so Cybersix is not only a transgender character but a cross-dresser as well.
Before the animated series came out, Cybersix had a live-action TV adaptation made for Argentinian audiences even though the title character didn’t have her eye-catching ensemble and was played by a model. The first series was quickly cancelled due to low ratings, but somewhere along the way TV developers Judy Valyi and Barry Whittaker managed to convince the production companies of three separate countries to invest in the creation of an animated series. The cartoon premiered on Fox Kids in America, Teletoon in Canada where it was dubbed, plus Kids Station in Japan. The American version was heavily edited, and not all 13 episodes were shown on Fox even though they did give it a decent enough advertising campaign. This became one of those lost 90s animated series like The Legend Of Calamity Jane which came and went within a short period of time, so it never got the kind of attention that heroes like Batman or X-Men received.
The original Argentinian comic was published in Italian and later Spanish but has never had an official English translation. The comic was an elaborately mature title with sexual situations. Cybersix was one of the only surviving test subjects of Von Reichter’s experiments called Cybers, and Von Reichter wants to claim her back. Other creations were his Datas that are similar to Cybers put in animal form, as well as the Technos which look the most human, and the most common ones are the Fixed Ideas which are hulking big thugs who carry out Von Reichter’s grunt work and resemble Frankenstein including the female ones. Whenever Cybersix defeats one of these minions, they’re reduced to a vile of green liquid which she consumes for sustenance just like a vampire which is an idea that got left out of the TV series after the first episode, otherwise you’d have a main character who kills monsters only to leech off their life energy. One of the Datas was given the brains of Cybersix’s brother who had them put into the body of a panther named Data-7 who eventually becomes her sidekick.
The original artist Carlos Meglia started out as an artist for the Skorpio magazine and then as an animator on shows like Scooby-Doo and Smurfs. He teamed up with writer Carlos Trillo on a comic titled Irish Coffee involving paranormal investigations. Trillo came up with the idea about a Nazi scientist who escaped the SS by having his brain transplanted into a different body on two separate occasions. The character designs are reflections of old pulp fiction heroes like The Shadow and Miss Fury which worked well in comparison with Batman: The Animated Series which was equally inspired by the early Fleischer Studios’ Superman cartoons. The Cybersix comic had a gratuitous amount of nudity in them which is common for a few European publications. The short-lived live-action series did help get the ball rolling on Cybersix’s progression into an American animation. TMS Entertainment did a spectacular job honoring the original comic’s style with long flowing shots in action scenes and breathtaking fight choreography. The character designs maintain that of Carlos Meglia’s original incarnations combined with TMS’ crisp animation.
Cybersix was a major attraction for those seeking transgender representation in animation as the title character was a male put into the body of a female disguised that kept the dual-identity of a male named Adrian who was befriended a man named Lucus who in turn was attracted to Cybersix, thus setting up a love triangle which is a common staple of superheroes. Lucus in the original comic was a reporter, but in the cartoon he is a science teacher that works at the same school Adrian does and the two of them are work buddies, even though Lucus finds himself going out of his way to help Cybersix on her latest case acting as the Steve Trevor to her Wonder Woman. The trans allegory came out more in the cartoon series than it did in the comic as Cybersix and Lucus’ relationship was physical as well as emotional.
Despite the lack of success of the Cybersix cartoon, the show premiered around the same time as James Cameron’s Dark Angel TV series which was also on Fox. Both creators believed that Cameron had lifted the idea for their series about a female vigilante from their source material and filed a lawsuit against, but ultimately the suit never went anywhere because they didn’t have enough money to support it. Part of the problem Cybersix had was maintaining the difference between a cartoon intended for children while still having it based on a mature comic book. Another was that the series was very formulaic with its standard Monster of the Week cliché.
Cybersix had an exceptional premise about a female superhero beating up Nazis which is one of the most time-honored traditions in comic books. It worked for Captain America, Spy Smasher, Shazam and several other Golden Age superheroes, so for that idea to be carried over into a modern-day production gives it major appeal. Nazi-punching is what superheroes do best, and having it be done by a woman is even cooler. Cybersix would normally fight Von Reichter’s latest lab experiment gone wrong with everything from werewolves, flying eyes, winged goblins, brainwashed birds, krakens, shapeshifting mud, and an entire kaiju-sized living island. Each episode had her defeating the new challenger along with her panther/brother Data-7 usually with Lucus’ assistance plus a homeless boy Julian who they never seem to get a home for. Von Reichter regularly has his youthful clone Jose carrying out his fiendish plans, although Jose sometimes has his own agenda when carrying out his father’s schemes.
The animated cast had a roster of anime dub professionals with Cathy Wesluck who most know as Shampoo from Ranma 1/2 as Cybersix. Terry Klassen, aka: Krillin is Von Reichter. Michael Dobson who portrayed Starscream in the Transformers Unicorn Trilogy was Lucus. One of the best is vocal chameleon Scott McNeil who was half of the cast of Beast Wars voiced Data-7 who despite having human intelligence communicated like any other panther would.
Cybersix gained little ground during its initial American TV run thanks to getting cancelled to early and lasting only a single episode. Thankfully, the rescue department of Discotek Media managed to put the entire series on both DVD and Blu-Ray including several bonus features including the original pilot. The fact that this was one of the earliest American cartoons that was inclusive to LGBTQ audiences should have guaranteed its place as an icon among other series like Steven Universe and The Owl House. Hopefully its underground status will peak out more as it is available free on multiple streaming formats. It’s got sweeping superhero action, romance, enthralling animation, and one of the greatest theme songs for a Saturday Morning cartoon ever made.
