Cybersix

Cybersix is a series of Argentine comics first published in 1992, drawn by Carlos Meglia and written by Carlos Trillo for the Italian comics magazine Skorpio (Eura Editoriale). The series first appeared in Spanish in November 1993.

The heroine of the series is the eponymous character, Cybersix (more properly Cyber-6), a leather-clad, genetically-engineered superhero who by day masquerades as a male high school literature teacher, and by night battles the monstrous biological weapons of her creator. She is aided in her adventures by her younger brother Cyber-29, who was reborn in the body of a black panther known as Data-7. The extended cast includes Cybersix's colleague and love interest Lucas Amato, a student named Lori who is in love with her male guise, and a young streetwise boy named Julian, among others.

In 1995, the comics were adapted into a live-action television series, and again in 1999 into a much more successful thirteen-episode animated series by TMS/NOA, with positive critical reception from sources like the Pulcinella Awards, which first aired in Canada on Teletoon and was later dubbed in several other countries.

Meglia and Trillo filed a lawsuit against James Cameron and Fox Broadcasting Company, claiming that Cameron's 1999 television series Dark Angel plagiarized Cybersix. Trillo and Meglia accused the show from stealing most of the plot from the comic and its most recognizable elements. In a 2007 interview Trillo stated that he and Meglia weren't able to carry on with the lawsuit due to lack of financial resources, so they dropped it, although the issue is still a matter of controversy.

Plot

The evil and psychotic Dr. Von Reichter, a member of the SS and the Nazi party, is an expert in genetic engineering. He initially began his work in concentration camps during World War II, implanting cybernetic organs in the bodies of dead prisoners in an attempt to bring them back to life to serve in the Führer's army. However, the Allied forces intervened to defeat the Nazis, so he fled to South America, where he once again continued his sinister experiments.

From one of his experiments emerged the Cyber Series — artificial humanoids possessing superhuman strength and agility. But something was amiss: The 5000 original Cybers, engineered to be the perfect servants, mimicked human emotions too closely, displaying free will of their own. When they began disobeying their creator, Von Reichter ordered all of the Cyber Series to be destroyed. By this time, Cyber-29 had already died in a playtime accident when he fell from a tree (a cliff in the animated series), but Von Reichter managed to transfer the dead child's brain into the body of a panther to be reborn as Data-7. Cyber-6 was the only true Cyber to survive the massacre, escaping with the help of a black slave who hid her away in a fishing village. When the slave was later interrogated and killed by Von Reichter, Cybersix escaped once again and made her way to the fictitious city of Meridiana, where she adopted the identity of a boy killed in a car wreck, Adrian Seidelman, and now battles her evil creator and his minions.

Like all of Von Reichter's creations, Cybersix depends on a mysterious life-giving fluid called "Sustenance". When her supply ran out, she was forced to prowl the city, hunting other creatures of Von Reichter's creation, such as Frankenstein's-monster-like "Fixed Ideas" or the more human-like "Technos", to murder them and take their Sustenance to survive. Almost by accident, she became a hero by defending the people of her city from Von Reichter's malevolent plans, often carried out by his cloned "son" José. Along the way, she meets the resurrected Data-7, as well as a young boy named Julian, and falls in love with biology teacher/reporter Lucas Amato, while her male alter-ego, Adrian, became the object of affection of one of "his" students.

Production history

Comics

The Cybersix comics were originally published in Italy on the magazine Skorpio in 113 weekly 12-pages installments between May 1992 and July 1994, then in 45 96-pages comic books between November 1994 and January 1999. Part of this material was later translated in Spanish and published in Argentina (since 1993 by El Globo Editor) and in Spain (since 1995 by Planeta De Agostini). Collections were released in French, with twelve volumes distributed by Editions Vents d'Ouest between 1994 and 1998, but no English or Japanese versions were ever made available.

Live-action series

The Cybersix live-action series debuted in Argentina on March 15, 1995. It was produced by Luis Gandulfo, Sebastián Parrotta, Fernando Rascovsky, and Andre Ronco, and written by Ricardo Rodríguez, Carlos Meglia, and Carlos Trillo. The series aired on Telefé, but was cancelled after only few episodes due to low ratings. Cybersix was played by former model and actress Carolina Peleritti, José was played by Rodrigo de la Serna, and Doguyy was played by Mario Moscoso.

Animated series

Cybersix
Cybersix as she appears in TMS/NOA's 1999 animated series.
Genre	Action, Adventure, Mystery, Comedy
Created by	Chu Takara Carlos Meglia Carlos Trillo
Voices of	Michael Dobson Cathy Weseluck Alex Doduk Janyse Jaud Andrew Francis Terry Klassen Brian Drummond L. Harvey Gold Chantal Strand
Opening theme	Lyrics by Robert Olivier Sung by Coral Egan Music by Robbi Finkel
Country of origin	Canada Argentina Japan (overseas animation)
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	Teletoon (Canada) Fox Kids (U.S.) Kids Station (Japan) Telefe (Argentina)
Release	September 6 – November 29, 1999

The Cybersix animated series debuted in Canada and Argentina on September 6, 1999, and was subsequently dubbed for French, Japanese, Malaysian, Polish, South American, Spanish and Thai viewers. It was animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha and NOA; produced by Herve Bedard, Toshihiko Masuda, and Koji Takeuchi; with storyboards by Atsuko Tanaka, Hiroyuki Aoyama, Nabuo Tomizawa, and Kazuhide Tomonag; and written by Catherine Girczyc, Carlos Meglia, and Carlos Trillo. Original music was composed by Robbi Finkel, and character designs were overseen by Teiichi Takiguchi. This show aimed at children by toning down the comics' darker themes.

The title sequence and closing credits featured lyrics written by Robert Olivier, which were sung by jazz vocalist Coral Egan.

On April 28, 2001, Cybersix won "Special Mention for the Best Science Fiction Program" at the Pulcinella Awards in Italy for that year's competition.

On August 5, 2013 Discotek Media announced through their Facebook page that they had licensed the home video rights to the series and planned a DVD release of the series for some time in 2014.

Voice Cast

• Cathy Weseluck as Cybersix
• Michael Dobson as Lucas Amato
• Terry Klassen as Von Reichter
• Andrew Francis as Julian
• Alex Doduk as José
• Janyse Jaud as Lori Anderson

Additional voices were provided by Janyse Jaud, Brian Drummond, Chantal Strand, and L. Harvey Gold.

Episode list

Ep#	Title	Original airdate
1	"Mysterious Shadow"	September 6, 1999 (1999-09-06)
High school teacher Lucas Amato befriends fellow teacher Adrian Seidelman and encounters the dangerous minions of José and Von Reichter by night, not knowing that Adrian is actually the mysterious Cybersix, who comes to his rescue. Cybersix heads off to stop José from counterfeiting money and to rescue the engraver and printer being forced to make it.
2	"Data-7 & Julian"	September 13, 1999 (1999-09-13)
Von Reichter sends a panther called Data-7 to seek and destroy Cybersix. Adrian meets a young boy named Julian, who is forced by his master to pick pockets. Cybersix finds José in an abandoned theatre where Julian lives and battles Data-7, until the panther looks at a picture from Adrian's wallet and saves Julian's life. Data-7 is revealed to be a resurrected Cyber-29 and defects to join Cybersix against Von Reichter.
3	"Terra"	September 20, 1999 (1999-09-20)
Von Reichter creates a monster named Terra. When the creature battles Cybersix, her altruistic essence transforms his malevolent heart to goodness. José traps Terra and restores his aggression. After luring Cybersix into a trap, José sets the tower that Cybersix and Terra are trapped in on fire. Terra regains his free will and sacrifices himself to save Cybersix.
4	"Yashimoto, Private Eye"	September 27, 1999 (1999-09-27)
José kidnaps Julian and his new friend Ikiko, to blackmail Ikiko's older brother Detective Yashimoto into hunting down Cybersix. Yashimoto meets Cybersix in her apartment deducing she is Adrian. Yashimoto uses a Cybersix mannequin to fool José, while Julian and Ikiko make their escape. José summons a giant ammonite-like creature, then Cybersix and Data-7. Cybersix destroy it.
5	"Lori is Missing"	October 4, 1999 (1999-10-04)
Lori, a student at Meridiana High School has a crush on Adrian and finds out where he lives but is disgusted to find Cybersix there talking to someone (Data-7). After Lori has a talk with Lucas, he realises Adrian knows this Cybersix. Lori is caputed by José's gang. Cybersix rescues Lori and foils José's mission to rob the national bank.
6	"Blue Birds of Horror"	October 11, 1999 (1999-10-11)
Meridiana is beset by swarms of hostile birds those who step outside. Eventually after a visit from Cybersix, Lucas deduces the birds are being controlled by José paused only whenever new broadcasts are transmitted. Lucas creates diversions to allow Cybersix to get to the TV tower and electrical broadcaster. Cybersix and Data-7 battle and destroy José's giant bird abomination.
7	"Brainwashed"	October 18, 1999 (1999-10-18)
Meridiana's top six detectives including Julian's friend Henrique are brainwashed by José's new mind-control device to seek out Cybersix. Julian catches wind of this but is captured by José and becomes bait to lure Cybersix into a trap. Julian removes the mind control device on Henrique, who helps Cybersix escape, then they all battle José's goons as a thunderstorm destroys the base.
8	"Gone With the Wings"	October 25, 1999 (1999-10-25)
A horde of winged goblins attack Cybersix but they retreat at dawn. Julian finds the goblins' lair and is trapped by them, but Data-7 rescues him. After a second encounter with the goblins, Cybersix realises their weakness. Cybersix brings a train to the goblin lair and as she keeps the goblins at bay, Data-7 and Julian load the eggs on the train. Cybersix traps the goblins on the train and destroys them and their eggs in the sunlight.
9	"The Eye"	November 8, 1999 (1999-11-08)
José receives from his father an eyeball creature capable of draining its victims' consciousness and growing in the process. Cybersix reflects the eye's gaze back at it with mirror glass, but the eye intensifies its power at a stadium. As José struggles to capture the now out of control eye, Cybersix destroys it with a tank of liquid nitrogen, thus restoring the city's population.
10	"Full Moon Fascination"	November 11, 1999 (1999-11-11)
A werewolf monster infects other people into werewolves as a new teacher named Elaine signs on to work at the high school and dates with Lucas, envying Adrian. Lucas has been infected into a werewolf and Cybersix realises Elaine is the werewolf monster. Cybersix snaps Lucas out of his wild trance and destroys Elaine, purging the infection from Lucas.
11	"The Greatest Show in Meridiana"	November 15, 1999 (1999-11-15)
José captures Data-7 and stages a circus show in Meridiana. Cybersix coming to the rescue, is overwhelmed by robotic animals and being used in the attraction. Lucas is taken backstage, but manages to free Data-7. Lucas disables the robots' programming, while Data-7 rescues Cybersix. All three of them fight and destroy the robots along with the circus.
12	"Daylight Devil"	November 22, 1999 (1999-11-22)
A reptilian woman named Griselda, who has invisibility powers stalks Cybersix relentlessly in a deadly chase. During a class field trip, she discovers that Adrian is Cybersix. Griselda injures Adrian who can't retaliate which would expose his true identity to others. After a long ambulance chase at Adrian, Griselda drives off a bridge. Adrian tries to help Griselda, but she compassionately sacrifices herself to save Cybersix from a moving train.
13	"The Final Confrontation"	November 29, 1999 (1999-11-29)
Von Reichter sends an island-sized living bomb to destroy Meridiana with Cybersix in it at midnight. Before heading off for a final confrontation, Adrian reveals who he really is to Lori and Adrian. José determined to keep Meridiana for himself reverses the direction of the bomb, while Cybersix with the help of failed experiments overwhelms Von Reichter and the living bomb destroys his laboratory.

Characters

• Cybersix

Number 6 of the murdered Cyber Series, Cyber-6 dons the fictional identity of male high school teacher Adrian Seidelman by day, and foils her evil creator's plans by night. In the animated series, not much is revealed about her past. In the comics, she was rescued by a black slave during the massacre of the other 4998 Cyber Series because of their developing rebellious nature and growing human emotions. She befriends a young poor boy named Julian and a fellow teacher at school named Lucas Amato, whom she begins to fall in love with. Later on, she is reunited with her "younger brother", Cyber-29, reborn in the body of a panther named Data-7 after he fell of a cliff. Together, they work to protect Meridiana from Von Reichter. She is the central protagonist in the show.

• Data-7

Previously known as Cyber-29, Data-7 is Cybersix's "younger brother". He was killed after he fell off a cliff, but unbeknownst to the other Cyber Series, Von Reichter transplanted Cyber-29's brain into the body of a panther. Now known as Data-7, the panther has a series of flashbacks of his previous life before remembering Cybersix. After seeing a picture of the two of them as children, Data-7 remembers how he died and who Cybersix was. Data-7 joins Cybersix in her plans to foil Von Reichter's plans. Although he cannot talk, he is her most powerful ally in the war against Von Reichter. He is seen to be fiercely protective of Cybersix, often taking hits for her, trying desperately to save her from danger and even following her during a school field trip after she is injured from the previous night. Data-7 is very respectful to Cybersix, following her lead and rarely ever objecting to what she says.

• Julian

Julian is a young street kid and probably an orphan, due to the fact that he is seen living on his own with no family. He is forced to be a pickpocket against his will until Cybersix takes him somewhere safer. He tries to help Cybersix during her fights, but as a human child, he is completely outmatched by her enemies, and thus is a liability in battle instead, often needing to be rescued by her. He now lives on a small boat tied to the harbour of Meridiana. Data-7 is often sent by Cybersix to make sure that Julian doesn't interfere or get in trouble. Julian is last seen in a non-speaking role watching the explosion of Von Reichter's seaside lab.

• Lucas Amato

Lucas is a fellow teacher who meets Cybersix one night. He is also her friend and colleague when she is pretending to be Adrian Seidelman at the school. He often has dinner with "Adrian" at the cafe, while Lucas talks endlessly about Cybersix, who visits him almost every night. He eventually begins to fall in love with Cybersix and kisses her before she heads off to fight Von Reichter. In the epilogue, he holds Adrian's glasses after finding that Adrian is Cybersix and heads to her apartment to see a light on, realizing that she is still alive.

• Dr. Von Reichter

A Nazi war criminal and psychotic genius, Von Reichter is the creator of Cybersix and the other Cyber Series. He is the main antagonist in the show. His plans are often carried out by his clone/son José. Von Reichter is often disappointed with José because he is constantly being defeated by Cybersix. After José's betrayal, Von Reichter was presumed to be killed by his own creations, some of whom he tried to send to kill Cybersix in their final showdown. If not, Von Reichter was almost certainly killed in the explosion of his living island bomb.

• José Von Reichter

A very stuck up, ill-tempered, and bossy little boy, José is the clone and "son" of Dr. Von Reichter, created to succeed him in case of death, and is usually the one to carry out Von Reichter's plans, though under his terrible leadership, they never work. Despite his childlike appearance (and behaviour), José is mentally an adult, but his father engineered him to have eternal youth to prevent him from growing up to be a potential rebel. In the end, he betrays Von Reichter anyway, after feeling cheated by his final plan, as the plan would have ruined the "Meridiana crimelord" legacy José worked very hard for. He survives in the series, and it is clear that he intends to continue his reign of terror against Meridiana.

• Lori Anderson

Lori is a young student in Adrian Seidelman's class. She has a huge crush on Adrian, not realizing she is a woman. Though Lucas does vouch for her, calling her a good kid if a little energetic. She heads to "his" apartment in one episode, only to see Cybersix inside talking to Data-7 (she could not see Data-7 and simply assumed she was talking to Adrian). Cybersix later reveals who she is to Lori and gives her Adrian's glasses. Her parents are seen in the last episode trying to flee the city with Lori. She looks a lot like her mother, but has her father's red hair. Since no one else is seen in the family, it is relatively safe to say Lori is an only child, or at least that any siblings live away from Meridiana.

Differences between media

The method by which Cybersix obtains sustenance is different among the series' incarnations. In the comic book, Cybersix sucks sustenance directly from the neck of those she hunts as if she were a vampire; however, she does not have fangs, instead, simply making a wound in the victim's neck with her teeth, then drinking the Sustenance that bleeds from it instead of blood. Conversely, in the animated series, Von Reichter's creations carry glowing vials of Sustenance with them, which Cybersix would open and drink.

Cybersix's outfit of black bodysuit, high heels, hat, cropped gloves, and cape with red lining was taken from a Techno prostitute in the comics, while its origin is never explained in the animated series.

Some of the more mature story elements, such as José engaging in sexual intercourse, despite appearing to be a little boy, Von Reichter's Nazi background, or Cybersix's youth, are not openly revealed in the animated series, but some of these elements are suggested through dialogue, flashbacks, or visual clues, such as the military-style goose-stepping that both José and Von Reichter engage in, and José's Hitler Youth style of clothing.

External links

• Cybersix at IMDb
• Telecom's official Cybersix page (English)
• Telecom's official Cybersix page (Japanese)
• Cybersix @ International Superheroes
• Complete list of the comics [1]