Collection Recommendation: Johnny Cypher in Dimension Zero, the Complete Series

I do, indeed, remember Joe Oriolo/Seven Art's "Johnny Cypher in Dimension Zero", though it took the release of a Warner DVD complete-series set to make me realize it. In fact, the catchy theme (sung by Marilyn Meyers) lived in my subconscious, even if I couldn't quite pinpoint its origin. (In fact, I used to sing a version of it in the '60s when playing with my red-suited Johnny Hero action figure, no doubt inferring Hero was Cypher.)

Cypher is an adventurer cut from the Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Rocky Jones, John Carter and Adam Strange cloth: the sort of character who DC Larson and Lloyd Smith write about these days. 

Though Cypher operates a saucer satellite for his trekking, he relies on his ability to catapult through space for trickier jaunts (via a tornado-type effect), triggered by a yellow dial on his spiffy suit. Dimension Zero is the cosmic realm from where he gained this amazing technique (the origin details are vague, but so be it), and he uses it to patrol sectors susceptible to threat, whether Earth's City of Tomorrow or "infinity and beyond". 

Cypher's friends are Zena, a pretty lass of the Wilma Deering/Dale Arden kind, and Rhom, a wee, amicable Martian. In truth, Zena is reminiscent of Helena and Rhom of Newton (the gleeful centaur) of Oriolo/Seven Arts' "The Mighty Hercules". (The series' voice talent stems from Peter "Speed Racer"/"Ultraman" Fernandez and his expressive troupe. Fernandez also wrote for the show.) 

In all, "Johnny Cypher" consists of one-hundred and thirty-one, six-minute, anime episodes, all produced and aired in '67. The plots feature a spectrum of galactic scenarios and characters, including mad scientists (in the "Wild Wild West" vein); a circus of horrors; space pirates and prospectors; a dimensional portal; time travel; a black vapor (that turns folks to stone); an amnesia ray; a liquifier gun; a multiplier gun; a fire beam; mutants; sea monsters; electronic monsters; a mist monster; a sponge man; mothmen; shadowmen; torchmen; Cypher replicas; a glass giant; giant robots; a stellar Satan; the Frankenstein Monster (of the Karloffian, kaiju kind); and the unethical use of ESP.

My favorite episode is "The Dyer Moth": a "Mothra" ripoff, but with loads more spunk than Toho ever invested into its superfluous titan. Cypher's version has a cruel edge to it, with the monster traveling across the cosmos to conquer Earth (why not?), but Johnny and his pals intervene per their always reliable, no-nonsense means. 

That's pretty much Johnny's style: right to the point. Yeah, he's an evident intellectual, enough to know when talk is cheap and kicking butt is the best means to resolve a problem.  

"Johnny Cypher" isn't the sort of cartoon that would be made today, which is a shame. Here's hoping that there are parents out there bright (and ballsy) enough to recognize the series' value. 

This one shouldn't have sat in a vault this long, but I'm pleased that Warner has finally released it for all to see and (for those of us who relish super, Space Age spunk) enjoy.