This article is about the television series. For other meanings, see Space Ace.
A 13-episode animated series based upon Space Ace was produced by Ruby-Spears Enterprises, Inc., distributed by WorldVision Enterprises Inc., and originally aired as part of the CBS 1984 Saturday Supercade cartoon block (which was composed of animated shorts based on current video games). The regular cast featured Ace voiced by Jim Piper, his alter ego Dexter voiced by Sparky Marcus, Kimberly voiced by Nancy Cartwright, Commander Borf voiced by Arthur Burghardt, and new character Space Marshall Vaughn voiced by Peter Renaday. The episodes were later aired on Cartoon Network as part of its "Super Adventures" programming block (1995-1997) and later appeared as filler segments in Boomerang's Boomeraction block.[1] Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd. contributed some animation for this series. The show's opening narration introduces the show's formula: "Space Ace, Defender of the Galaxy! Together with his partner Kimberly they battle the forces of the evil Borf, who seeks to conquer Earth with his dreaded Infanto Ray."
List of episodes[]
| No. | Episode title | Original airdate | Summary[2] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cute Groots | 8 September 1984 | Borf’s direct attack on the Moon Colony masks his true plan, which involves using the Infanto Ray on his Groots and getting Trader Ed to sell them to the unsuspecting colonists. |
| 2 | Cosmic Camp Catastrophe | 15 September 1984 | Ace and Kim are assigned to watch a group of kids (including Vaughn’s nephew) on a camping trip; Borf makes the task more difficult than they expected. |
| 3 | Dangerous Decoy | 22 September 1984 | Borf attempts to kidnap schoolgirl (and inventor) Emmy Sue Perkins to help him create the ultimate weapon; however Ace (as Dexter) disguises himself as the girl to thwart his plan. |
| 4 | Moon Missle Madness | 29 September 1984 | Ace and Kimberly infiltrate a space biker gang in an effort to keep Borf from blasting the Earth with a top secret missile. |
| 5 | Perilous Partners | 6 October 1984 | Ace and Kimberly must team up with Borf to keep (Commander) Parch (of Drix) from stealing all of Earth’s water. |
| 6 | Frozen in Fear | 13 October 1984 | An ancient alien creature thaws out of its icy prison; Ace and Kimberly have to get it back from Borf (who wants to train it to be his attack beast). |
| 7 | Age Ray Riot | 20 October 1984 | Borf accidentally gets hit by his Infanto Ray and is transformed into a teenager. Borf and Ace (Dexter) must race (and fight) each other to the Age Ray, which each hope will make them normal. |
| 8 | Wanted: Dexter! | 27 October 1984 | Vaughn sends Ace and Kimberly to a frontier planet to assist the local authorities. The crook that’s giving 'em such a rough time just happens to bear an uncanny resemblance to Dexter. |
| 9 | The Phantom Shuttle | 3 November 1984 | Officer Kimberly and Space Ace discover what seems to be an abandoned spaceship. When they explore it the Space Command officers discover that the ship belongs to an alien mad scientist who wants a strong life force to animate his monster. |
| 10 | Spoiled Sports | 10 November 1984 | Kimberly gets stuck with guard duty at Space Command HQ while Ace competes in the Galaxy Games. Naturally, Borf tries to capitalize on this situation. |
| 11 | Calamity Kimmie | 17 November 1984 | Borf uses his Infanto Ray on Kimberly and it has a delayed effect. Young Kimmie must escape and try to get back to normal while trying help other Infanto Ray victims escape as well. |
| 12 | Three Ring Rampage | 24 November 1984 | Borf has an evil plan to capture Space Marshall Vaughn and 2 planetary leaders when the Cosmic Circus comes to Earth. |
| 13 | Infanto Fury | 1 December 1984 | Space Marshall Vaughn and two other Space Command Officers got hit by the Infanto Ray. Ace and Kim had to deal with that and kick Borf’s big blue butt out of the Moon Colony. |
Cast[]
- Jim Piper – Ace
- Sparky Marcus – Dexter
- Nancy Cartwright – Kimberly
- Arthur Burghardt – Commander Borf
- Peter Renaday – Space Marshall Vaughn
- William Woodson – Opening Narration
Reception[]
Independently-published animation critic Scott Gillespie was displeased with Ruby-Spears’ minimalistic production which was an obvious downgrade from the Bluth Studio’s work on the arcade game: “This show, like Dragon’s Lair, is sadder than the rest because it emerged from such a great piece of work by Don Bluth. I sympathize with Bluth; they needed the money (from selling the rights to Ruby-Spears) in order to turn out the good stuff they’re capable of.”[3]
Trivia[]
- With each episode being half the length of a typical half-hour program, the Space Ace segments were originally broadcast alongside other cartoons in the CBS Saturday Supercade and, as a consequence, shared end credits with the block's other licensed shows: Donkey Kong (Nintendo), Q*Bert (Mylstar Electronics, Inc.), and Kangaroo (Atari, Inc.). Most animators, composers, and voice actors were listed together without distinction of their respective shows.[4]
- Nancy Cartwright's surname was miscredited by Ruby-Spears as "Cartwrights."
Gallery[]
Ruby-Spears Main Models[]
Ruby-Spears Character Model Sheets[]
