BattleTech: The Animated Series
BattleTech is an animated television series based on the BattleTech fictional universe, produced for syndication by Saban Entertainment in 1994. Written by Robert N. Skir and Marty Isenberg, the series ran for 13 episodes and focused on the character of Adam Steiner, a military officer in the distant future who struggles to liberate his home planet from an attacking faction. The series was noteworthy for its blending of animation techniques, with computer animation used to depict most battle sequences and traditional animation used for most other scenes. Story. The series takes place in the year 3050  as the Inner Sphere, the central region of settled interstellar space, is suddenly invaded by a powerful human faction identifying itself as the Clans. One of the many planets that falls to the Clan onslaught is a small, mostly unimportant world in the Federated Commonwealth called Somerset. Far away on the planet Tharkad, Major Adam Steiner, a teacher at the Nagelring Military Academy and native of Somerset, receives word of the attack on his homeworld and the loss of all communication with the forces there, including his brother Andrew. Using his relationship to one of the Federated Commonwealth's ruling  family, he gains permission to assemble a force to gather intelligence on the Clans and, if possible, liberate Somerset. Unfortunately for Steiner, the only available JumpShip is the "Katana", a Draconis Combine spacecraft recently seized for smuggling. The early episodes focus on Steiner recruiting and developing his team and reconciling differences between them, particularly between the Draconis JumpShip crew and the Federated Commonwealth soldiers, while gathering information about the Clans and their technology. After several successes Steiner's unit is given BattleMechs enhanced with stolen Clan technology and begin offensive missions against the Clans, culminating in a Trial of Possession  for the planet Somerset. Steiner wins the duel, but the Clan commander, honouring the letter of the deal, gives Steiner the planet but keeps the planet's population as prisoners. The series ends with Steiner vowing to rescue the people of Somerset. Characters. Clan Wolf. Clan Wolf only appear in the "Road to Camelot" episode where they act as a rival to Clan Jade Falcons claims to the Camelot base. They do not appear in any other episode. Episodes. Intro. Every episode begins with a voiceover and intro sequence narrated by Adam Steiner: "This is the Inner Sphere - thousands of  planets colonized by humankind. Once it was united under the Star League, but for the last three hundred years, it has been consumed by savage wars. Until a new enemy appeared - mysterious invaders known as "The Clans". Powerful and ruthless, they struck like lightning, attacking every sector at once! But they made one big mistake - they attacked "my home planet!" Now, in the spirit of the Star League, ancient enemies have reunited! And we're gonna take "back" our galaxy!" Sourcebook. In 1995, FASA published "1st Somerset Strikers", a sourcebook companion for the animated series. The book provided background  information on the BattleTech universe for viewers of the series, as well as stats and scenarios for use in the franchise's wargaming products, including "BattleTech", "MechWarrior", "AeroTech" and "Battlespace". The book also provided synopses for all 13 episodes and attempted to address the contradictions of the series with the established BattleTech canon.