Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs started out in Japan as a 51-episode anime series titled Star Musketeer Bismarck. In 1986, World Events Productions acquired the rights to the series. World Events reorganized and rewrote the series, as well as included six new episodes, and renamed it as Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs. Saber Rider ended up having 52 episodes, and ran on syndicated American television from September 14, 1987-September 2, 1988.

In the series, humankind has colonized planets across the universe, creating a New Frontier. In order to protect the new settlers, as well as to maintain laws and regulations, Calvary Command was created on Earth. Calvary Command is essentially a military organization, and maintains an army and a fleet of ships to protect the New Frontier. There is special group of operatives in Calvary Command known as the Star Sheriffs, who investigate crimes and plots against the security of the New Frontier.

The main adversary in the series is a race of non-human creatures known as the Outriders (known as Deathculas in the original Japanese version). They jumped into our dimension to conquer it, because they have exhausted all the resources on their planet and are now forced to live on an artificial planet.

The Outriders attack settlers, destroy their settlements, and kidnap humans in order to have workers to mine metals and crystals. The Outriders are superior to humans when it comes to battle technology, and possess gigantic robots. To combat these giant robots, Calvary Command developed a prototype ship called the Ramrod Equalizer Unit (Ramrod for short); in the original Japanese version, the ship was known as the Bismarck. Ramrod can transform from a spaceship into a powerful robot.

The lead of the series is Saber Rider, the Scottish captain of Ramrod. In the original Japanese version, his name was Richard Lancelot, and he was of British nationality. Also, in the original Japanese version, this character was not the captain of Bismarck; instead, he was part of a multi-national team assembled to battle the Deathculas.

Saber Rider is a young man with incredible skills and marksmanship, but is also a gentleman with a cool head for tactics and decisions. Saber Rider has a robotic horse named Steed, which has high-powered thrusters and the ability to fly, run, and is able to travel through space long enough to travel down to planets from orbit.

Fireball (known as Shinji Hikari in the original Japanese show) was a race car driver, and was the youngest champion of all time. He's the pilot of Ramrod, and also controls the cannons and weaponry located in Ramrod's chest region. He drives a race car called the Red Fury Racer, and it's armed with an extensive arsenal of weapons. He has a somewhat quick temper, as well as a crush on fellow Star Sheriff April Eagle.

Colt (known as Bill Wilcox in the original Japanese show) starts out as a bounty hunter on the trail of Vanquo, an Outrider spy. He has great skill with firearms, and controls Ramrod's six-iron. Colt is somewhat of a loner, but also tends to flirt rather unsuccessfully with every woman that he meets. For his personal transportation, as well as for solo battles, Colt uses a blue and white one-man spaceship named Bronco Buster.

April Eagle (known as Marian Louvre in the original Japanese series), is the daughter of Commander Eagle (known as Charles Louvre in the original series). April is the engineer in charge of the Ramrod project. April has a robotic horse named Nova, which has the same abilities as Saber Rider's Steed. Over the course of the series, April was involved with three love interests: Saber Rider (which was one-sided on her part), Jesse Blue (which was one-sided on his part), and Fireball (which is eventually reciprocated on both sides).

Nemesis (known as Hyuza in the original Japanese series) is in charge of the Outriders. He was the one who created the Vapor Trail that allows the Outriders to cross over from their dimension into the human dimension.

Jesse Blue (known as Perios in the original Japanese series) has a sarcastic streak, and was a promising cadet at Calvary Command. He fell in love with April Eagle during a training exercise, but after she rejected his advances and inadvertently embarrassed him in front of the other cadets, Jesse turned against the Star Sheriffs. Jesse became a fugitive, and joined forces with the Outriders. However, it should be noted that in the original Japanese version, Perios is a Deathcula, and that there was no love affair between him and Marianne/April.

With the way World Events dubbed the series, there's really nothing inappropriate for younger viewers in this series. Personally, I would recommend Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs to anime viewers who are 10 or 11 years of age and older.

Title	Episodes	Release Year(s)	Director	Studio	N.A. Licensor
Sei Jushi Bismarck	51	1984-1985	Masami Anno	Studio Pierrot	N/A
Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs	57	1987-1988	Franklin Cofod	Studio Pierrot/World Events Productions	World Events Productions