Captain Dick - Spiral Zone

Captain Dick (original title Spiral Zones) is a 1987 American science fiction animated series produced by Atlantic / Kushner-Locke. Captain Dick (Spiral Zones) was animated by the Japanese studio Visual 80 and the South Korean studio AKOM. Based in part on a line of toys made by Japanese company Bandai, the series focused on an international group of soldiers fighting to rid the world of a scientist who controls much of the earth's surface. It only aired for one season, with a total of 65 episodes.

Tonka acquired the license from Bandai and created a different treatment for the series, as well as a short-lived toy line.

The Italian edition was broadcast in 1989 on local channels belonging to the Italia 7 network.

The initials "Capitan Dick" is sung by Giampaolo Daldello, the text and the music are the work of Vincenzo Draghi and is recorded in December 1988 and distributed the following year. The music was also used in Spain for the theme song of the local edition of "The queen of the thousand years" ("Explorers of the Space")

History

In the year 2007, a brilliant but twisted military scientist named Dr. James Bent uses a neon military spacecraft to drop his deadly Zone Generators on 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 spots on their skin. Because they have no will to resist, Dr. James Bent - now known as Overlord - makes them his army of slaves and controls them from the Chrysler Building 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 Zone's mind-altering effects thanks to a special device called the Widow Maker. However, due to prolonged exposure to the Zone, they show the same physical effects on their bodies as normal people captured within the Zone, which has dark skies and Zone spores growing in many places. Overlord seeks to conquer the world by bringing everyone under control with Zone Generators. The zones feed on human energy, which is why Overlord doesn't kill anyone inside.

With major cities zoned, the nations of the world put their differences aside to fight black widows. However, only five soldiers who used special suits to protect themselves from the Zone could do this. While easy to destroy, Zone Generators are impossible to capture due to booby traps. Overlord would also launch more generators on the remaining military and civilian centers and force the Zone Riders into a stalemate.

Characters

Black Widows
Bent not only invented zone generators, but also an antidote process that gave him immunity to bacteria. He uses this process on his small group of soldiers. Though immune to mind-altering effects, every Black Widow still has skin lesions and dilated yellow eyes.

Overlord (Dr. James Bent) - commander and rebel scientist.
Bandit (information unknown) - master of disguise, a terrorist of Middle Eastern origin.
Duchess Dire (Ursula Dire) - a charming woman of British nationality, she is a homework expert, hardened criminal and lover of Overlord.
Razorback (Al Krak) - swordsman.
Reaper (Mathew Riles) - hunter of men.
Crook (Jean Duprey) - French scientist who tricks Reaper into becoming immune to the spiral zone in the episode "Shall You Reaper".
raw meat (Richard Welt) - a truck driver who was duped by Bandit in the episode called "Bandit and the Smokies".

Vehicles of the Black Widows
Overlord drives the Bullwhip Cannon, an eight-wheel all-terrain vehicle equipped with a large laser cannon. The other Black Widows ride Sledge Hammers, a one-man minitank with triangular tracks and swirling club arms on either side. They also have a special delta-wing aircraft called the Intruder.

Area pilots
The initial Overlord strike put all of the world's major capitals in the Zone. Chaos also triggers international cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union. To counteract the effects of the Zone's bacteria, British scientists create a rare material called Neutron-90. However, only a limited amount of Neutron-90 remained in the world after the British government ordered 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 Spiral Force, also known as "Zone Riders".

Cdr Dirk Courage - Leader of Zone Riders, United States
MSgt Tank Schmidt - Heavy Weapons Specialist, West Germany
Lieutenant Hiro Taka - infiltration specialist, Japan
2nd Lieutenant Max Jones - Special Missions Expert, United States
Cpl Katerina Anastacia - medical officer, USSR
As the series progresses, the Zone Riders discover that there is still enough Neutron-90 left over from assembling the five seeds, enough to build two additional seeds. They are issued to the Australian demolition specialist, Lt. Ned Tucker and to the field scientist, Lt. Benjamin Davis Franklin.

Zone Rider vehicles
Zone Riders are deployed around the world from a mountain base called Mission Command Central, or MCC. Dirk Courage drives the Rimfire, a single-wheeled vehicle equipped with a large cannon on top. The other Zone Riders ride armored combat unicycles and wear special backpacks.

Episodes

1. Holographic Zone Battle (written by Richard Mueller)
2. King of the Skies (written by Francis Moss)
3. Mercy Commission (written by Eric Lewald and Andrew Yates)
4. Mission Into Evil (written by Fettes Gray)
5. Back to the Stone Age (written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry)
6. Small Packages (written by Mark Edens)
7. Zone of Darkness (written by Mark Edens)
8. The Gauntlet (written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry)
9. Ride the Whirlwind (story by Lydia C. Marano and Arthur Byron Cover, screenplay by Mark Edens)
10. The Unexploded Pod (written by Patrick J. Furlong)
11. Duel in Paradise (written by Mark Edens and Michael Edens)
12. The Impostor (story by Paul Davids, screenplay by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry)
13. The Hacker (written by Patrick J. Furlong)
14. The Mysterious Woman of Overlord (written by David Schwartz)
15. The Sands of Amaran (written by Eric Lewald and Andrew Yates)
16. Zone Train (story by David Wise, screenplay by David Wise and Michael Reaves)
17. Breakout (written by Buzz Dixon)
18. When the cat is away (written by Mark Edens)
19. Island in the Zone (written by Michael Edens and Mark Edens)
20. The Shuttle Engine (written by R. Patrick Neary)
21. The Mind of Gideon Rorshak (written by Haskell Barkin)
22. Canal Zone (written by Gerry Conway and Carla Conway)
23. The Lair of the Jade Scorpion (written by Kent Butterworth)
24. The Man Who Wouldn't Have Been King (written by Mark Edens)
25. The Way of the Samurai (written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry)
26. The best fighters in the world (written by Frank Dandridge)
27. The Ultimate Solution (written by Patrick Barry)
28. Hometown Hero (written by Francis Moss)
29. In the belly of the beast (written by Mark Edens)
30. The Last Chosen (written by Mark Edens)
31. So Shall You Reaper (written by Mark Edens)
32. The Shadow House Secret (written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry)
33. Zone of Fear (written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry)
34. Bandit and the Smokies (written by Mark Edens)
35. Heroes in the Dark (written by Kenneth Kahn)
36. Zone with Big Shoulders (written by Mark Edens)
37. Behemoth (written by Patrick Barry)
38. The Power of the Press (written by Gerry Conway and Carla Conway)
39. Starship Doom (written by Ray Parker)
40. The Electric Zone Rider (written by Mark Edens)
41. Australian in Paris (written by Mark Edens)
42. The Enemy Within (written by Mike Kirschenbaum)
43. Anti-Matter (written by Brooks Wachtel)
44. The Siege (written by Mark Edens)
45. A Little Zone Music (written by Mark Edens)
46. Element of Surprise (written by Mark Edens)
47. Seachase (written by Francis Moss)
48. The right man for the job (written by Mark Edens)
49. High and low (written by Mark Edens and Michael Edens)
50. Profiles in Courage (written by Mark Edens)
51. The Darkness Within (story by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry, screenplay by Carla Conway and Gerry Conway)
52. Power Play (written by Kent Stevenson)
53. Duchess Treat (written by Mark Edens and Michael Edens)
54. Supervision (written by Mark Edens)
55. Assault on the Rock (written by Frank Dandridge)
56. They Zone by Night (written by Mark Edens)
57. Conflict of Duty (written by Cherie Wilkerson)
58. The Ultimate Weapon (written by Ray Parker)
59. The Face of the Enemy (written by Mark Edens)
60. Brother's Keeper (written by Carla Conway and Gerry Conway)
61. Little Darlings (written by Francis Moss)
62. Nightmare in Ice (story by Steven Zak and Jacqueline Zak, screenplay by Mark Edens)
63. Evil Transmissions (written by James Wager)
64. Zone Trap (written by James Wager and Byrd Ehlmann)
65. Countdown (written by James Wager and Scott Koldo)

Technical data

Original title Spiral Zones
Original language English
Country United States
Author Diana Dru Botsford
Film script Steve Perry, Michael Reaves, Michael Edens, Mark Edward Edens, Joseph Michael Straczynski
Music Richard Kosinski, Sam Winans
Network syndication
1st TV September 1987 - December 1987
Episodes 65 (complete)
Italian network Italia 7
1st Italian TV 1989
Italian episodes 62 (complete)
Gender science fiction, action

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Zone