Starcom: The U.S. Space Force
Entry updated 26 January 2026. Tagged: TV.
US animated tv series (1987). Produced by DIC Enterprises for first-run syndication. Created by Brynne Stephens. Writers include Arthur Byron Cover, Barbara Hambly, Lydia Marano, Richard Mueller, Steve Perry, J Michael Reaves, Brynne Stephens, David Wise, and Marv Wolfman. Voice cast includes Philip Akin and Neil Munro. 13 episodes of 22 minutes each. Colour.
Starcom: The U.S. Space Force is a late-Cold War Children's SF television series combining Military SF and Space Opera tropes within a Toy line-driven production model characteristic of the mid-1980s US animation boom. Set in the Near Future, it depicts an extrapolated Earth-space military organization, the United States Space Force, engaged in a solar-system-scale conflict with the Shadow Force, a technologically advanced faction led by Emperor Dark (Munro) operating from concealed bases within the Asteroids and other bodies of the Solar System. Narrative emphasis falls on space battles, particularly tactical deployment of small fighter craft vying for the strategic control of orbital infrastructure, positioning the series firmly within a Future War framework. Starcom makes a valiant attempt to ground its action in quasi-realistic space Physics, including repeated attention to zero Gravity, inertia, and orbital mechanics; the use of magnetic boots for extravehicular combat is a recurring motif, directly tied to the toys' real feature of magnets in figures' feet.
The Shadow Force's mobile asteroid stronghold functions similarly to a Big Dumb Object, simultaneously a fortress, carrier, and symbol of hidden power, while its commanders' recurring skull iconography – including skull-shaped explosive devices – introduces a faintly Gothic SF visual register unusual for US children's animation of the period. No Aliens are featured, but the Shadow Force units include Robots. The antagonists' preference for concealed bases and asymmetric tactics places them closer to the category of Secret Masters than to conventional Galactic Empire models, although the details of the Shadow Force (their origins and motivations) remain unclear, nonetheless the series' moral alignment remains quite unambiguous.
Although episodic in structure, Starcom gestures toward serialization through recurring strategic conflicts and technological escalation, stopping short of the fully cumulative plotting seen in contemporary Japanese Anime such as Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (1982-1983) or Uchū Senkan Yamato (1974-1975). In contrast to those works, Starcom largely avoids Sense of Wonder cosmology or mythic framing, favouring a technocratic worldview aligned with late-Cold War US optimism about military space dominance. Its visual language – clean-lined spacecraft, cockpit-focused action, and a restrained colour palette – situates it stylistically between SilverHawks (1986) and the more overtly baroque Defenders of the Earth (1986).
Ironically, despite being overtly American-centric in its geopolitical assumptions, the show was more popular in Europe and Asia than in the US, where poor ratings led to its cancellation. Its limited episode count curtailed broader world-building ambitions, but its comparatively sober tone and interest in plausible space combat have earned it retrospective attention disproportionate to the original broadcast impact. In historical terms, Starcom occupies an intermediate position between purely episodic 1980s action cartoons and the later resurgence of serialized animated Military SF in Western television. While overshadowed by both Japanese imports and more flamboyant US franchises, it remains a revealing artefact of late-twentieth-century American attitudes toward space, warfare, and technological authority – a restrained, procedural vision of Space Opera at the moment when the genre was fragmenting into divergent national traditions. [PKo]
links
previous versions of this entry