Additional Information about the TV Cartoon Shitô! Suna No Umi No Kyôfu

This TV series ran for 31 episodes.

Based on Buichi Terasawa's 1978 manga in "Shonen Jump" magazine.

A 99-minute movie, "Space Adventure Cobra," preceded the series. The script was written by Terasawa and Haruya Yamazaki. The movie is often represented as a sequel set two years after the events in the TV series. It does not refer to Mr. Johnson's induction at the Trip Movie Corporation, which appears in the TV series.

The movie "borrows" from such science-fiction films as "Barbarella" (1967), "Flash Gordon" (1980), the carbonite-freezing scene from "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) and the Genesis project from "Star Trek: Wrath of Khan" (1982).

Scenes from the feature film were reused for Matthew Sweet's pop promo "Girlfriend."

The TV series changed composers (Osamu Tokaibayashi was brought in) and replaced original Cobra voice actor Shigeru Matsuzaki with Nachi Nozawa.

Manga Entertainment dubbed the series for the United Kingdom market, replacing the Japanese soundtrack with new (copyright 1995) material from the group Yello in an attempt to make the film appear up-to-date.

The series has had a strong fan following in Japan and Europe, but was most popular in South Korea, where Cobra's relationship with Jane was copied (this time with Hyesong and Marie Kim) in Lee Hyun-se's "Armageddon" (1996).

English Title: "The Sea Of Sand."

Alternate Series Titles: "Space Adventure Cobra," "スペースコブラ," "スペースアドベンチャー コブラ."

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