Space Travelers: The Animation
Plot. In the New Cosmic Century 038, humanity is suddenly attacked by a mysterious alien civilization known as the Orbital Ring System. Soon, the entire Earth Civilization Sphere has been cut off from the space colonies, and is under the control of the ORS. Only Hayabusa Jetter, along with his band of misfit space pirates and smugglers, can break through ORS lines. Aiding an underground resistance movement, the Space Travellers risk their lives to transport vital supplies to and from Earth. One day, however, a mysterious gentleman hires them to deliver an unmarked spherical container. Hayabusa  accepts the mission, with no idea that this simple package may hold the key to mankind's destiny! Production. "Space Travelers: The Animation" began as a throwaway gag in Katsuyuki Motohiro's popular 2000 live-action movie "Space Travelers", in which a Tokyo bank robbery goes disastrously wrong. As the police surround the building, the staff and hostages volunteer to help the robbers bluff their way out; each is given a code name based on a character from the robbers favorite cartoon, a nonexistent show called "Space Travelers"-hence the large cast of anime archetypes. Scraps of animation were made as  inserts for the original movie and are reused here-hence the strange pacing of the overlong opening credits that were not originally intended to be shown in this manner. An afterthought following the movie's success, "Space Travelers" was reputedly inspired by Motohiro's love of "Star Blazers", Gundam, and Evangelion. Distribution. Space Travelers: The Animation English version was distributed by Media Blasters for the North American release of the anime. Both DVD and VHS copies of the English dubbed version was released on September 25, 2001.