Live Action Cybersix Adaption (Partially Found)
May 30, 2023 7:28:57 GMT
lammyvox and sigmahero045 like this
Post by magentahamster on May 30, 2023 7:28:57 GMT
A lot of progress has been made in finding this show in the last few years, so I thought I'd bring it outside of the small Cybersix fandom and try and get more eyes on it.
Most people who're familiar with Cybersix know it from the 1999 animated adaption. It's based on an Argentinian comic that ran from June 4, 1992 to February 5, 1999 for almost 6000 pages. In 1996 (not 1995. I'll get to that later) it was adapted into a live action series for the Argentinian channel Telefe, airing Wednesday nights at 9pm. It was canceled soon after, receiving poor reviews. While there isn't confirmation on how many episodes were made/aired, an often cited number is 8 episodes and between the episodes and commercials that have been found, that number seems correct.
What's believed to be the first episode (Un Secuestro en Meridiana/A Kidnapping in Meridiana) was found (then lost, then found again) several years ago. A title card for another episode (El Escape) is very briefly shown at the end. vimeo.com/251730884?share=copy
For a while, the only other footage came from a handful of cast member's acting reels and a few commercials.
In the last year or so, more and more commercials and even episodes have been uncovered by Argentinian Youtubers digitizing their VHS collections. Often the commercials were found hidden in compilation videos.
The first half of another episode (Fratello Pippo) was found two years ago.
(BTW, a user on the Cybersix Discord was kind enough to subtitle these two episodes, so if you want to watch and understand them, use this link and this link).
And just last month, another episode (Doble de Cuerpo/Body Double) was found. The youtuber says in one of the comments that this was the last episode that aired. There's also a commercial for the Monaco Grand Prix "this Sunday", which would have been May 19 of 1996. I'll get into when this show aired a bit more later, but for now, this lines up with my research. Unfortunately, the uploader had to cut about 90 seconds from the episode to bypass Youtube's copyright detection. I'm honestly surprised this doesn't happen more often since all the music used in this show is "borrowed" from American bands and movie soundtracks.
New commercials are always being found. The latest one was actually found yesterday. If you're familiar with the comic, you can figure out what the plot of the episodes are. In roughly chronological order, these are the commercials that have been found so far:
- Because this one says "Coming Soon" and is the only one to incorrectly spell the show's title, it's theorized that this is an early commercial promoting the show before it aired.
-This one was found yesterday (starts at 3:38). The narrator starts with "That's how Cybersix was born. This is the origin of the mysterious woman that wanders through the nights of Meridiana" and ends with "This Wednesday at 9:00 PM on Telefe". This commercial seems to either have aired a few days before the show premiered, or very early in the show's run.
-The original video was deleted from youtube, but this is a reupload. A commercial for the found episode "Un Secuestro en Meridiana". vimeo.com/831382499?share=copy
-Two similar but different commercials for one episode (based on an issue from the comic called "The Hero and The Victim") were uploaded by an archivist on youtube. The second link gives a date of 4/17/1996 (a Wednesday that year). I believe this is the airdate for this episode.
-Another video that's sadly been deleted from youtube, but has been reuploaded. vimeo.com/831383595?share=copy This one doesn't appear to be based on any story from the comic. The same commercial, but in poorer quality, was uploaded last year with a bunch of commercials from April 22 and 23 of 1996 (starts at 23:44).
I say same, but there is a slight difference. Along the bottom it says "Special Schedule - At the end of "Argentina - Bolivia" referencing the World Cup qualifier that happened on April 24, 1996. A Wednesday that year.
(BTW, if you're familiar with Cybersix, you might be wondering if the panther Data7 was included in the live action series. He does appear in this commercial, and yes, it is a real wild cat).
-(starts at 0:48) Again, I'm not sure if this is based on a story from the comic. The uploader says this commercial break aired April 29, 1996. If that's true, this would have been the episode that aired on Wednesday, May 1, 1996.
-This was the most random find. A commercial break during the Spanish dub for Beavis and Butthead had part of a new commercial. Although there's only a few seconds of footage, what is there looks to me like it's based off of a two part story from issue 4 and 6 of the comics. There's a commerical at 5:49 for a concert that was on the 10th and 11th of May. I suspect this episode aired May 8, 1996.
So far that's what's been found. I excluded a few scenes from actor's Christopher Garrison and Ivan Espeche's acting reels to keep this post from being too long. Poor ratings aside, I think the music used in the show will keep it from ever being re-released. I think the only hope of this show being found is Argentinians digitizing their VHS collections and finding it randomly. In the meantime, I've been trying (and failing very hard) to find TV schedules that would confirm what days Cybersix aired. Which brings me to...
Despite what is often repeated, this show didn't air in 1995. I think this comes from this page which lists the year it was produced as 1995 and people assumed that also meant it was the year it aired.
I've also seen people say the first episode aired March 15, 1995, but I have no idea where that date came from. This link from La Nacion (dated March 3, 1996) mentions the show will be premiering soon.
And this link from Clarin (dated May 3, 1996) says it will be canceled at the end of the month.
Taking into account all the episodes and airdates that have been confirmed, my best educated guess is this:
Episode 1: March 27, 1996
Episode 2: April 3, 1996
Episode 3: April 10, 1996
Episode 4: April 17, 1996
Episode 5: April 24, 1996
Episode 6: May 1, 1996
Episode 7: May 8, 1996
Episode 8: May 15, 1996
It's a highly educated guess, but still a guess. If anyone has VHS recordings of Telefe from this time period, or if they can find TV schedules/newspapers, if would greatly help the search for the remaining episodes and commercials.
There's more I want to add, but this post is already very long, so I'll add it later, but I just want to quickly say there is a little bit of evidence that the live action series aired in other countries. There's an imdb review where someone mentions watching it in Russia. I also have a page from a Spanish magazine called Comiqueando that briefly mentions it airing in other countries. I wouldn't have the first idea how to figure out which countries or channels might have aired it, but I did want to mention it.
Most people who're familiar with Cybersix know it from the 1999 animated adaption. It's based on an Argentinian comic that ran from June 4, 1992 to February 5, 1999 for almost 6000 pages. In 1996 (not 1995. I'll get to that later) it was adapted into a live action series for the Argentinian channel Telefe, airing Wednesday nights at 9pm. It was canceled soon after, receiving poor reviews. While there isn't confirmation on how many episodes were made/aired, an often cited number is 8 episodes and between the episodes and commercials that have been found, that number seems correct.
What's believed to be the first episode (Un Secuestro en Meridiana/A Kidnapping in Meridiana) was found (then lost, then found again) several years ago. A title card for another episode (El Escape) is very briefly shown at the end. vimeo.com/251730884?share=copy
For a while, the only other footage came from a handful of cast member's acting reels and a few commercials.
In the last year or so, more and more commercials and even episodes have been uncovered by Argentinian Youtubers digitizing their VHS collections. Often the commercials were found hidden in compilation videos.
The first half of another episode (Fratello Pippo) was found two years ago.
(BTW, a user on the Cybersix Discord was kind enough to subtitle these two episodes, so if you want to watch and understand them, use this link and this link).
And just last month, another episode (Doble de Cuerpo/Body Double) was found. The youtuber says in one of the comments that this was the last episode that aired. There's also a commercial for the Monaco Grand Prix "this Sunday", which would have been May 19 of 1996. I'll get into when this show aired a bit more later, but for now, this lines up with my research. Unfortunately, the uploader had to cut about 90 seconds from the episode to bypass Youtube's copyright detection. I'm honestly surprised this doesn't happen more often since all the music used in this show is "borrowed" from American bands and movie soundtracks.
New commercials are always being found. The latest one was actually found yesterday. If you're familiar with the comic, you can figure out what the plot of the episodes are. In roughly chronological order, these are the commercials that have been found so far:
- Because this one says "Coming Soon" and is the only one to incorrectly spell the show's title, it's theorized that this is an early commercial promoting the show before it aired.
-This one was found yesterday (starts at 3:38). The narrator starts with "That's how Cybersix was born. This is the origin of the mysterious woman that wanders through the nights of Meridiana" and ends with "This Wednesday at 9:00 PM on Telefe". This commercial seems to either have aired a few days before the show premiered, or very early in the show's run.
-The original video was deleted from youtube, but this is a reupload. A commercial for the found episode "Un Secuestro en Meridiana". vimeo.com/831382499?share=copy
-Two similar but different commercials for one episode (based on an issue from the comic called "The Hero and The Victim") were uploaded by an archivist on youtube. The second link gives a date of 4/17/1996 (a Wednesday that year). I believe this is the airdate for this episode.
-Another video that's sadly been deleted from youtube, but has been reuploaded. vimeo.com/831383595?share=copy This one doesn't appear to be based on any story from the comic. The same commercial, but in poorer quality, was uploaded last year with a bunch of commercials from April 22 and 23 of 1996 (starts at 23:44).
I say same, but there is a slight difference. Along the bottom it says "Special Schedule - At the end of "Argentina - Bolivia" referencing the World Cup qualifier that happened on April 24, 1996. A Wednesday that year.
(BTW, if you're familiar with Cybersix, you might be wondering if the panther Data7 was included in the live action series. He does appear in this commercial, and yes, it is a real wild cat).
-(starts at 0:48) Again, I'm not sure if this is based on a story from the comic. The uploader says this commercial break aired April 29, 1996. If that's true, this would have been the episode that aired on Wednesday, May 1, 1996.
-This was the most random find. A commercial break during the Spanish dub for Beavis and Butthead had part of a new commercial. Although there's only a few seconds of footage, what is there looks to me like it's based off of a two part story from issue 4 and 6 of the comics. There's a commerical at 5:49 for a concert that was on the 10th and 11th of May. I suspect this episode aired May 8, 1996.
So far that's what's been found. I excluded a few scenes from actor's Christopher Garrison and Ivan Espeche's acting reels to keep this post from being too long. Poor ratings aside, I think the music used in the show will keep it from ever being re-released. I think the only hope of this show being found is Argentinians digitizing their VHS collections and finding it randomly. In the meantime, I've been trying (and failing very hard) to find TV schedules that would confirm what days Cybersix aired. Which brings me to...
Despite what is often repeated, this show didn't air in 1995. I think this comes from this page which lists the year it was produced as 1995 and people assumed that also meant it was the year it aired.
I've also seen people say the first episode aired March 15, 1995, but I have no idea where that date came from. This link from La Nacion (dated March 3, 1996) mentions the show will be premiering soon.
And this link from Clarin (dated May 3, 1996) says it will be canceled at the end of the month.
Taking into account all the episodes and airdates that have been confirmed, my best educated guess is this:
Episode 1: March 27, 1996
Episode 2: April 3, 1996
Episode 3: April 10, 1996
Episode 4: April 17, 1996
Episode 5: April 24, 1996
Episode 6: May 1, 1996
Episode 7: May 8, 1996
Episode 8: May 15, 1996
It's a highly educated guess, but still a guess. If anyone has VHS recordings of Telefe from this time period, or if they can find TV schedules/newspapers, if would greatly help the search for the remaining episodes and commercials.
There's more I want to add, but this post is already very long, so I'll add it later, but I just want to quickly say there is a little bit of evidence that the live action series aired in other countries. There's an imdb review where someone mentions watching it in Russia. I also have a page from a Spanish magazine called Comiqueando that briefly mentions it airing in other countries. I wouldn't have the first idea how to figure out which countries or channels might have aired it, but I did want to mention it.
