The Xyber 9 Memorial

Picture courtesy of Lightwave Labs. (They did the CGI.)

Once, a proud civilization lived in a technotopia, but it was all but totally destroyed. All that is left are remnants and the technology of war. Conquering monarch King Renard pushes his troops over more and more areas, destroying and controlling more settlements, while Queen Tatania struggles valiantly to preserve her people and lands. Renard, however, has a secret ally in Machestro, leader of the Machina--an underground culture thought only to exist in myth. Machestro seeks the last of the Xybers, which has the potential to power the greatest cog in his war machine and give him rule over the world. However, when an orphaned young man claims this last Xyber, the plans change. Now, the young man and his cohorts must follow the Xyber--the only one of its kind with free will--in the hope of restoring their lost civilization before Machestro reaches them or Renard gains full control.

Xyber 9: New Dawn aired on Fox Kids Saturdays in 1999. It aired ten of its (rumored) thirteen episodes, then vanished in favor of an animated version of the god-awful Dean-Emmerich “Godzilla” (which, in itself, was a rip-off of Hanna-Barbera’s old “Godzilla” series, which at least had designs by Doug Wildey, but I digress). Yes, it’s your basic good-vs-evil story. Yes, it was shown out of order. Yes, it was--in the words of one commentator--”stylistically schizophrenic.” But it also had good storylines, great acting, smooth traditional animation, and (overall) compelling characters. It was produced by Bokabi, but it was distributed--and later killed--by Saban.

This page is a memorial. It has character bios, episode info, toy reviews, and some theories of mine. It is also spoiler-rich, since the likelihood of people seeing it now is fairly slim. This was a show that had potential to be very good, to go into a complex and interesting story, but it was killed by crass programmers in favor of movie-leeching unoriginality. There were two major influences on this series, the trappings of the Arthurian romances and Star Wars.

THE ARTHURIAN INFLUENCE. This is most evident in Xyber 9 itself, an Item of Power along the lines of Excalibur; like Excalibur led to the rule of Arthur and the creation of Camelot, Xyber 9 has the potential to open The Vault and return the world to glory. Also, there’s a sense of royal intrigue about the Arthurian stories that’s evident in the major secondary plot, namely the war between Tatania and Renard.

THE STAR WARS INFLUENCE. Oh, yeah! Both in story elements and fandom, there’s a noticeable SW vibe. Some of the characters have obvious Star Wars analogs: Jack=Luke, Xyber 9=C-3PO, Ikira=Obi-Wan, Mick=Han, Machestro=Darth Vader, just off the top of my head (also, Rozalyn=Jar Jar, because both are annoying and useless). The atmosphere of the setting (clearly not Earth, due to at least two moons and some strange florae & faunae) feels as if the characters are trapped on Tatooine at times. Are you ready for a reach? Here it comes--there’s something about the “Xyber 9” action figure line (which I have, natch) that is pretty popular with people who do custom Star Wars figures. The vehicles look like some of the pre-Episode I ones, and the figures themselves are easily manipulated for custom characters (many an Anakonda figure has become a Mara Jade Skywalker).

Finally, please remember that everything on my site has a tendency to be very opinionated--this is no exception. There is only one character I actively dislike, while there are two that I practically worship, and it will become VERY clear who fills what roles. A favorite episode will have more on it than an episode that’s good but not remarkable or features that one character in a prominent role (take a guess). Other than that, I’ve tried to make this a resource. I’ve tried to provide the VA information and some credits where possible.

Hopefully, this'll stir up some interest in X9, even faintly. If so, I recommend you visit this site & pick up the episodes. You can get them in SLP (so there's only one tape) or SP (so they last longer), and it's a good deal, price-wise. (I'd also offer Phillip Thorne's, but since that was a private offer, I won't.)

"Xyber 9: New Dawn" is the legal property of Bokabi, Saban, or the current owners of these companies, copyright ©1999-2002. This page is being made without their consent, and it is a non-profit work, made solely as an act of love & appreciation for the series. All images and official material seen on here are their property and are being used without permission.

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