User Reviews

I can truthfully say that I know of no better American science fiction animated series, outside of Transformers, than Exosquad. It's unfortunate then that this show never gained as wide recognition as it deserved. The time is the middle of the 22nd century. A united Earth has terra formed Mars and Venus using a genetically engineered slave race of humanoids called Neo sapiens. Years after their rebellion was brutally crushed, the Neo sapiens were freed and granted a measure of autonomy on Mars still suffering under the prejudice of humans and harboring a bitter hatred for their former masters. Now, their leader, Phaeton, has secretly constructed a massive military and waits for the right time to unleash his vengeance. The only thing that stands between humanity and extinction is the Exo Fleet and its legions of E-frames, powerful robotic chassis that can fight on land and space and carry an awesome array of firepower. The first five episodes, Fall of the Human Empire, introduces us to Able squad, an elite troop of E-frame pilots led by J. T. Marsh, and to their adventures during a long war that blazes across the solar system. Exosquad is not plum with the visual spectacle of Japanese anime, but the story threads achieve an incredible depth of maturity and intelligence considering this show would air on Sunday mornings. No side is depicted as being wholly good or evil. The characters have unique, complex personalities, and it's a pleasure to watch them evolve over 2 seasons of top notch science fiction storytelling. Wars in space may not be an original plot in SF, but the stories and characters make this series stand tall above the rest. I recently rented a few episodes of Robotech and noticed the lack luster stories, characters and animation (it seemed so cool when I was a kid). How Exosquad failed to grab as dedicated a following is beyond me. I especially recommend the 4 part season 1 conclusion: Abandoned, Betrayal, The Brood and Defying Olympus.

...If you don't consider Saban's "X-Men" from 92 to 95 (until the animation went downhill).

I Remember always getting up and watching this at 6:00 am... I looked forward to it every morning. I had seen "Battletech" on the Fox Kids network (if that is indeed the network they showed it on) and was not impressed- I do in fact like playing Mechwarrior 2 through 4 though. The Battletech cartoon did not last long, but this one lasted at least 2 years or so, and even though it was similar to Battletech in that the "pilots" flew a man-shaped "robot" armed with weapons, the story was considerably different than Battletech... This is not about Clans fighting under strict rules of engagement as in Battletech, this is about all out war, and touches on many ideas that have been floating around: Man creating a race of Servants, and the servants decide to be the masters- Slavery, the NeoSapiens had revolted against Slavery "50 years ago" in the cartoon- And now Phaeton, the Neosapien governor of Mars decides to attack Earth while the entire Exo-Fleet is in heated battle with Pirates in the outer solar system. Some of this is pretty parallel to Germany building up arms in stark denial of the Versaille treaty, but the NeoSapiens are not representative of Nazis. I watched every single episode as it was originally shown as much as I was able. I do not understand how cartoons are syndicated, but I remember the original series, seeing episodes that were later re-run and edited somewhat, with new music and a new intro at the beginning. I always wondered if the episodes I saw in 1994 were first run or re-run, but after watching "The Fall of The NeoSapien Empire" and the couple of episodes that came after that, ending with "Beyond Chaos"- They never showed the series on KCOP/13 or KTLA/5 again and later that year channel 13 in LA became UPN's mother station- And UPN had their own cartoons to show, if in fact KCOP was allowed to be shown in San Diego- The damned Syndex Law caused whole channels to be blocked out... so, I was only able to watch this show when I was allowed to see KCOP-13. The same thing happened when I was trying to follow Babylon-5: The channel was blocked out because of Syndex and channel 6 in San Diego, stopped carrying the show, so about half of a season was missed, some people did not get to see it at all until it was re-run on Sci Fi channel some years back.

This show was well animated, well acted by the voice talent, well written, the first 3 episodes by Mark Edens, who adapted several famous X-Men stories to Cartoon Script. So the writing was top notch. There were virtually no "filler" episodes, the story was told until the show was canceled after the episode "Beyond Chaos." Another thing that was important, is that this was no kids cartoon, it was a about a war, and they showed people getting blown up and shot and killed in various fashions- Even in GI-Joe cartoons, they would show the enemy pilots parachuting safely away. Well, "In Space there are no Parachutes" so when a nuclear reactor exploded, there were casualties. Even my father agreed with me that this was not for kids, and he was on Guam in WW-II. He actually sat down and watched this with me sometimes, I believe he liked it, even though he would never admit it. There were several very good voice talents in this, but most identifiable was Teryl Rothery, Dr Janet Frasier from Stargate SG-1 as Maggie Weston. But for about a year, all these characters were endeared to me, especially Bronski- And his relationship to Takagi... "The old man and The Kid" I loved the idea of these people having little "exo-frames" that were not identical, each one was designed for the person who flew them, my favourite was the E-Frame that Marsala and Nara flew, I still have one of those Playmates models of Marsala's Eframe... I have it in a display case. The missiles still shoot, the impact panels still pop off, and all the lights still work, and Marsala is still there in the pilots seat, but no Nara.

There is so much more to say about this... I would be very happy if this were to be released on DVD- Or maybe shown in it's entirety on The Cartoon channel. It was just one of those things: From 1990 to 1995 these kinds of cartoons were shown on Fox and other channels, but not on Saturday AM. If this ever comes out on DVD... I highly recommend it, for older kids, but not for very young ones.

Exosquad came out when I was about 9, and I was immediately obsessed with it. I remember coming home from school every day and plopping myself in front of the TV all excited, just to catch a rerun. It was seriously that good. The story, when it is boiled down, is basically a futuristic World War II. The insane, brutal tyrant leading his people in a fight for global (or in this case, multi-global) domination, and the extermination of an "inferior" race. (Note the Neosapien officer's uniforms and the constant striving to create the superior breed of Neo and tell me that's not Nazism). But the show was so much more than that. The characters were all given a chance to develop, and the writers always managed to reveal the reasons behind the actions. The audience could understand the motives of the Neos, and could even justify the carnage they wrought. The depth of the series surpasses anything else American animators have produced, and easily rivals the best of Japanese anime. The only negatives I can find are the animation (but it was a decade ago, so I can forgive that) and the abrupt ending. There was so much more they could have done with the series if only given a chance. But, if it was appealing to the marketers' key demographic, it wouldn't be nearly so good, so I guess we should be grateful for what we got. If you get the opportunity to watch, or even relive Exosquad, I highly recommend it. I recently acquired the majority of the series, and I can say that my childhood memories hardly do it justice. Now I'm able to appreciate it so much more, and I hope you can too.

This is an absolutely incredible series. I watched every episode throughout my Freshman year in High School (I even woke up early on Saturdays to watch it 6 days a week). The story is very drawing and compelling. Any sci-fi fan, fan of animation, or fan of drama or action will be engrossed in this.

When this show was on the air, my father and I watched it repeatedly. We rewatched every episode untl it was pulled off. He and I stil miss it. The animated shw had a strong storyline, lovable (likable is to weak a word for these characters) heroes, villains that had reasons for their hatred of humanity, and strong dramatic moments. Characters die, planets are treatened, and the heroes of ExoFleet continue till they finally win the war. But, on the very last episode, the stage was seat for a third season, which was never made. There are rumors of a movie being made. I hope to god there is. This is the best of it's kind folks. I hope you can find it. Amazon has videos, but they are from th first season only. There are 52 episodes total; season one consisted of 13.

To call Exosquad a "cartoon" is unfair. This saga is absolutely brilliant with its parrallels to the reality of war, racism, prejudice, ethnic cleansing, and the brutalities of totalitarianism.

In Exosquad, a race of artificialy created humanoids -bred for slavery - revolt against natural humans in order to exterminate them and take their own place as the rightful rulers of the Sol system.

In the outer reaches of the solar system, are the Space Pirates who were prisoners forced to mine the outer planet's moons for raw materials for building spacecraft. A group of violent, angry people bent on revenge against the people of earth.

In the middle are humans, who make up the populous of Earth, Venus and the space Navy, The Exosquad. Besides commanding a large force of battleships, they are trained for heavy weapons - including E-Frames - powered armor battle suits that increase the destructive power of individual soldiers.

While the plot sounds like the run of the mill anime, the show is given a distinctive American feeling by a cast of western actors, as well as a distinctive sense of realism and authenticity by graphic violence and actual death of characters as well as other brutalities of war such as forced labor, starvation, summary executions and stories of resistance, betrayal and honor.

This show goes well beyond the average cartoon and despite its watercolor animations, the high quality artwork and voice acting ranks Exosquad right up there with other space sagas such as Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica.

This show was highly enjoyable and I rate it a perfect 10.

My only disappointment is that the show was unfinished. The episode "Beyond Chaos" begins an incomplete story arc that would have been better left concluded in the episode "Fall of the Neosapien empire". In many ways, this left me disappointed - like the final episode of Space: Above & Beyond but, if you can overlook "Beyond Chaos", the rest of the series is unfortgettable and brilliant.

We did our take of episodic series(many more for sure to follow in the US)but reason it's no.1. It did it first. Universal. How can you neglect releasing this show on DVD? The voice actor's went on to be the most sought after in the industry. It had top notch but yet nostalgic looking ship's like Flash Gordon. Many people had no opportunity to see it but how many household's now have DVD player's? DVD has created it's own culture of show's and film's that might have never been seen by the general public either. You need to release this show before it's completely forgotten but only a loyal few will remember this "classic cult" series. Even the opportunity to meet the few voice actor's I've met at con's has been great and Richard Newman was the top's in presentation of his panel of his many work's including Exo Squad. I can do at least one more thing. Thank you for Exo Squad.

The animated series was created in the nineties, it is time to make a remake with live actors. Let it be a series or a series of blockbusters in a movie theater. The main thing is not to skimp on a budget. Exosquad is a rare example of a fantastic action - animated series with a deep meaning, realistic narrative and expressive characters. Oh yes. I forgot about his great military music. Due to such animated series as Exo squad, the age of the viewers of cartoons and its intellectual level increase.

I, having grown up quite a long time from children's pants, having recently watched Exo-squad, declare that this is the most serious of all the American fantasy animated series. Because, unlike many of those that I watched as a child, I can still watch with interest.

And in spite of all his shortcomings, for the elapsed time since his publication, he never found competitors in the genre. He's the best fantastic animated series made in America.

I'll admit that in general, I'm fond of cartoons, but I despise one trick ponies. ExoSquad is far from being a one trick show. The storylines were diverse and interesting, yet connected nicely for an ongoing plot. The characters developed better than most television shows.

Essentially, the premise boiled down to the genetically altered NeoSapiens revolting from their slave positions and taking over Earth, Mars and Venus. The ExoSquad must attempt to liberate their home planets, but at the same time, by both necessity and inclination, realize that the NeoSapiens are not as evil as one might think, and neither are the pirates that have always been their enemies.

The beautiful thing about the show was that it was intelligent. Attitudes changed as characters grew. The viewer was not treated to random violence every time they turned on the show. This show deserved better than to be unceremoniously cancelled at episode 52.

I too watched this entire series several times straight thru my freshman year of high school, and I just picked up the newly released official Season 1 DVD! This show was like Babylon 5 & Battlestar Galactica combined. It had the long story arcs of Babylon 5 and the NeoSapien revolt is similar to the Cylon revolt (except they're genetically engineered slaves instead of robotic slaves). Complex social themes, dynamic characters, and the 2 season story arc made the show addictive and definitely targeted at teenagers/young adults. Other posts describe the show in great detail, so no need to go into that again, but I can't say how highly I recommend this show!

I had the benefit of rewatching this show after finding some DVDs for season 1 and 2. It's everything I remember it being, just great storytelling and was far ahead of it's time. If there was ever a series that deserved a refresh it is this series. Though they would probably mess it up so just watch the original and take the at times campy action and animation with a grain of salt and concentrate on the story! I'm still a huge fan of the jumptroops, those soldiers were just awesome!

It's just refreshing to reminisce on a series that was as well thought out and voice acted as this, even though it was an early '90s "kids" show.

I am watching it on Peacock Streaming and it still is exactly what I remember it being when I was 10 years old. This show still holds up and should be remade as either a movie series or a TV series. Hands down my favorite cartoon growing up, I wanted to grow up and be J. T. Marsh.

YOU CAN WATCH THE ENTIRE SERIES ONLINE AT: "http://www.myspace.com/exo_squad"

That said, Exo Squad is truly the single greatest animated series to ever come out of the west. In terms of plot depth, character complexity, weight of issues and so many more factrors it is wholly without peer in American animation. It is a lone and shining example of what the format could be if only our animators would hold themselves to a higher standard. Wuite easily, Exo Squad, is indeed one of the greatest stories ever told. So often in our culture, we believe animation to be a format restricted only to telling simple children's stories, yet Exo Squad delves deeply and articulately into extremely complex sociopolitical issues that challenge even adult viewers. The characters are so multifaceted and multidimensional that one often forgets that they are but two dimensional representations of people and not actual human beings. It is a sad and despairing truth that Exop Squad was cancelled, and as of yet, has not been released to DVD, but perhaps someday that will, hopefully change. Until then, you can watch the entire series online at "http://www.myspace.com/exo_squad". ENJOY!

I was so excited to hear Exo-Squad was finally on DVD. Hopefully Season 2 will be out in stores shortly instead of ordering online. I am 30 years old, still young at heart, and I still enjoy the show now as I did at the age of 14.

A live action MOVIE Series must be in the works. Universal Studios doesn't understand that they are sitting on the next best thing since Star Wars. I have composed a list of actors and actresses that is a match to the cartoon version as far as looks and attitude to their role. I have started a draft of the story and battle scenes from the first season (being in the Military has its advantages), so true fans can enjoy the movie. Then from there later on, do a prequel when Marsala lead the Neo-Sapions 50 years from the series.

The Technology today and the story line is there to make the movie. It only has to take some one with pride and creativity to make it into a reality. I wish I had the funds because I would make the movie myself, with of coarse the permission of all the owners and creators of Exo-Squad.

This show is not just my favorite cartoon show ever but one of my favorite TV shows in general. It was truly head of it's time it was dark, it had real depth to it, story arcs and development, it really took unfun turns, to me the show really helped pave the way for other really dark animated shows with this range like "Batman: The Animated Series", "Gargoyles", "Young Justice" and many more out there.

This show had in my opinion great animation that still hold today, just the amount of detail you can tell they worked their butt of to give us something great. From the mecha E-Frame technology which reminds me of the power loader from Aliens, seeing how it worked and it's different capabilities was impressive I wanted to drive one. Personally these are my favorite kinds of mech because they look accessible and plausible as opposed to the cliché giant mechs you seen in anime. Don't get me wrong I love those as much as any anime fan but you can't ignore the fact that sometimes it looks like their having trouble balancing at times, why the armor is so flimsy, let alone why they have to be so big and look human. The E Frames I love there designs each of them are distinctly unique, have different capability's, my favorite one is J.T. Marsh's E-Frame which is sort of a jet fighter design. But most importantly I love the world of tomorrow constructed, it looks like something that can actually happen, like seeing how we've colonized and made all the planets in the star system livable. From todays scientific and technological advances these things may soon become reality. The character animation is also great from the humans whom are top notch to the neo sapians whom are an interesting looking race which makes them both similar and different at the same time in both feelings and physical features. The action is great well choreographed, really violent and people actually get hurt and die.

I even like the music score which I think is great and criminally underrated it has an epic and sometimes dramatic tone to it, the theme song to me is one of my personal favorite themes.

The strength of the show was in story and character. The story is a Philp K. Dick like tale, his stories were always in the future background, really dark and always showed that no matter how far we have advanced in technology and culture, we've never evolved past our human trespasses and mistakes. This show indeed is very dark and deals with subjects on a rather mature level; racism, war, technological progress and evolution, holocaust, fascism, cloning, post traumatic stress and the personal dilemma and traumas of war. But also philosophical territory as it asked the questions on what it means to be human and the future of humanity itself.

The characters are all great because of how realistic they feel you can easily forget their animated characters and think that their real people, also their voiced by a superb voice cast. Usually in animated action cartoons would look and act super heroic, it's all about their life style but not their lives or them as a person. But in this show all of them feeling like human beings. They all have wants, needs, feelings, and can get hurt physically and emotionally. There are lots of characters and usually in a show and movie that's a bad idea but here they are all balanced out because of how well developed all of them are which is why we deeply care. From Lt. J.T. Marsh (voiced brilliantly by Robby Benson) whose main desires are to fly and find true love, and he really struggles acquiring those desires from how far out of reach they feel. Alec Deleon and Maggie Weston both are one of the first genuine couples in a cartoon which I though was beautiful because it was something I've been waiting to see in a long time, in past cartoons there would be boyfriends and girlfriends but would never kiss or really do much with one another which I always found weird. Nara Burns is the most sympathetic character in the show, she's an inexperienced soldier that is forced to deal with her long separation and unfortunately loss of her family.

Finally my favorite character Wolf Bronski he's sort of a Walter Mathau like character, a slob, sort of has that blue collar regular guy look and mannerism, is fun and funny. And he's a butt kicker is able to do do his job and complete the mission despite how unsmooth he is. And two side notes his E Frame is my second favorite because it really does fit him, both the arms of it being gatling guns, with missiles and a grabling hook just capable of doing ton of damage, and second he does get a girl at the end Eve whom is hot physically and in persona, so more points for him.

It's too bad it didn't have a third season or even a forth and a movie (ok I know I'm pushing it on that but still wouldn't that of been great to see) I just felt it could of gone even further.

EXO SQUAD is a show that despite it's life span has not just became a cult classic but one of the greatest sci-fi sagas ever.

Rating: 4 stars

When I watched as a kid it was for the awesome looking E-Frames and the cool characters. I remember going to KB toys and buying an E-Frame every week with my allowance I sure wished I saved them lol. When I got a little older I decided to watch it all over again. I never really paid alot of attention to the story in my younger years. In watching it the second time the story was very deep and well written in my opinion. The more I watched the episodes the more I became a huge fan all over again. From the Neo sapians to the pirates and almost everything in between the story covers a view from all sides. I am currently in my 40's and I started watching the entire series again. It is really to bad that this series could not continue.

In the future mankind has terraformed Venus and Mars with the help of genetically engineered beings called Neo-Sapians. The Neos, who are treated as slaves, revolt. First they take the still inhospitable Mars and make it their home. Unsatisfied, they move to take Earth and the fully terraformed Venus. The armies of Earth and Venus fight back. This is a very well put together scifi war drama. The first couple of seasons held some amazing stories of the day to day struggles of war torn lives as well as some weighty insights into humanity.

ExoSquad is the second best American animated series I've seen. The first being Robotech(though American produced, had heavy japanese anime origins). ExoSquad had great character and plot depth. Each laser shot during the battles counts(meaning people could get hit and could possibly die). I use the battle casualty factor as a way of measuring as to whether an animated series is mature or for children. ExoSquad's plot was inconsistent at times which gave me the impression that they didn't write the entire saga before producing the episodes. An example of this inconsistency were the seemingly invincible mutant creatures that were impervious to laser fire in one episode and in later episodes could be killed easily with one laser shot. Unfortunately America doesn't seem ready for mature cartoons. Each mature American cartoon produced seems to get abruptly cancelled(there were quite a few, some cancelled at less than 10 episodes). Just for the record the Marvel superhero cartoons shouldn't be considered mature as they pale in comparison to their comic book counterparts maturity wise(nobody dies). If you can find a channel with reruns of ExoSquad, check it out.

This show was the best cartoon/show ever created by anyone. The character were deep, well drawn. The story line was solid. You could feel the hatred of the Humans that the Neo-sapiens had. It was the best war/drama cartoon; because people died. You could sympathize with the plight of Human as they fought for the freedom from the Neo (for the people who watched the show religiously) tyranny. The set-up for the third or fourth season was great, but the stopped and that so totally sucked. I have also heard the rumor of the movie and i pray feverently that Universal get up off their butts and decides to make a movie from the absolutely great series. the people who watched this show as much as i did, will agree.

Being a fan of anime, I always have low expectations for American cartoon series. Most American cartoon lacks good story, character development, and animation, since they were mostly made for kids. I had the same low expectation when I first watch this series, but after a few viewings, I realized there was a really good story in the series. The animation could be a lot better but I was too absorbed into the story to notice.

Some other American cartoon series that I liked are Gargoyles, Spiderman, Transformers, etc.