Sky Dancers

Sky Dancers is the name of a line of toys and an animated show spin-off that were popular in the mid-1990s.[1] The toys were constructed of a pull-string base and a doll with foam wings. When the doll was inserted into the base and the string pulled, the doll would launch into the air, spinning its wings like a propeller as it flew. The flight was like that of a bamboo-copter.

Toys

Initially Galoob launched the toys during the 1994 winter holiday season, and they proved to be successful.

The toys were re-released in 2005 with an adapted design, manufactured by Play Along Toys. Galoob released a similar toyline aimed at boys called Dragon Flyz.

Recall

While the foam wings on the dolls provided a limited amount of safety, nonetheless, there were over 100 injuries reported, ranging from temporary blindness to facial lacerations requiring stitches. Galoob, the manufacturer of the toys, recalled them in June 2000 after less than six years on the market.[2]

Animated series

In 1996, the toy series spawned an animated television spinoff produced by Gaumont Multimedia[3] in association with Abrams Gentile Entertainment. The series premiered on France 2 on April 12, 1997. There were twenty-six episodes.[4] The five characters were said to be students at the High Hope Dance Academy under the widowed Queen Skyla. Queen Skyla and her students defended her kingdom from Skyla's jealous brother-in-law Sky Clone, who sought revenge for his brother Skyler (Skyla's husband) being selected as king over him. Sky Clone had successfully killed Skyler but was unable to gain control of the Sky Swirl Stone that gave the Sky Dancers their powers.

Characters

• Jade – She is a prima ballerina at High Hope Dance Academy with the power to turn invisible in the Sky Realm.[5] Jade gets along with all the Sky Dancers, but she argues with Slam a lot, who serves as potential romantic opposite at points throughout the series. They both like each other but are afraid to show their feelings. Though caring and compassionate, Jade can be stern, disapproving, and aggressive when she has a point to make. She is never one to avoid verbal confrontation, despite her powers leading her to more indirect physical confrontations. Jade has a close relationship with her father, a scientist who mostly raised her by himself. Their interactions highlight Jade's desire for black and white solutions. Jade's mother began teaching her to dance but the lessons ended when her mother decided to become a professional ballerina and left her family.[6] Jade has long black hair, often in a ponytail, with an orange streak down the middle, and brown eyes. She wears a short fuchsia dress and white boots as a human. As a Sky Dancer, she has large fuchsia wings and her outfit is pink and white.
• Slam – He is High Hope Dance Academy's "Hero of Hip Hop" and controls the gravity beam in the Sky Realm.[7] While lacking focus, interest, and patience for traditional dance class, he excels at break-dancing and hip hop. Slam has a large ego, reckless personality and can come across as a rebel. He is very competitive and hates ties, claiming that "the only thing a tie means is that I didn't win."[8] He is also easily the bluntest of the group, often coming across as insensitive and lacking empathy. Deep down, Slam is fiercely loyal to his friends and always there when they need him the most. There are several episodes that suggest he has a crush on Jade, but his "tough guy" exterior holds him back. Even when he does approach Jade, it's a love/hate relationship, as they have two very different personalities and tastes in dance and music. Little is known about Slam's family or past. One episode hints that his finances are still directly tied to his mother's,[9] and in another he indicates that he views himself as the one guy to make it big from his neighborhood.[10] Slam has spiky red hair and black and yellow wings.
• Angelica – High Hope Dance Academy's "Queen of Country Rock," she acts as leader of the Sky Dancers, with the power to briefly stop time.[11] Angelica is very optimistic and witty, and tends to flirt with Breeze quite a bit, getting jealous when another high school girl in turn flirts with him.[12] Angelica is a little spoiled by her parents and her love for pretty clothes and dancing late at night clubs gets her into trouble often. Her cardinal rules are, "Never miss a rehearsal, a dance step, or a jammin' party!"[13] Angelica has blonde hair with pink streaks. She also wears a pair of pink heart earrings. Her outfits are white and blue.
• Camille – She is High Hope Dance Academy's "Modern Dance Aficionado," and can create any shape from clouds. Her parents, as lawyers, do not approve of Camille's dancing, and she doesn't have the heart to tell them that she wants to pursue it instead of following in their footsteps.[14] In the group, she is the responsible and smart one who often stands as the voice of reason. Yet when left alone, she can be her own worst enemy. Though a stand-up person all-around, Camille can seem overly dramatic at times, due to how seriously she takes her relationships. She is the most forgiving and generous member of the team, but not a pushover by any means. She is not afraid to stand up for herself or her friends. Camille has light, curly brown hair that she wears in a ponytail with a blue streak up the middle.
• Breeze – He has a unique Native American Heritage dancing style, with the power of wind and nature, which is very effective against Sky Clone's minions. Breeze is more or less romantically connected to Angelica throughout the series, flirting with and complimenting her often. He is quiet, a bit shy, and mysterious, despite his rugged image. Breeze is the most level-headed member of the group. He does not get into many disagreements, but when he does takes them very personally. Little is said of Breeze's family. His tribe seems to have some degree of reserve land for ceremonies,[15] and Breeze mentions that his grandmother lives in Chicago.[16] He also comments that he feels he was gifted with his late grandfather's wisdom.[17] Breeze attended Lincoln High School and does a free performance for them during the series.[18]
• Queen Skyla – Queen of the Sky Kingdom, she is also the dance headmistress of High Hope Dance Academy, where she is known as Dame Skyla. She is Skyler's wife and Sky Clone's sister-in-law. She wears a long green dress on earth, and a white and green gown in the Wingdom (a portmanteau of "wing" and "kingdom"). Her hair is blonde, and has pink and blue streaks in the Sky Realm. Skyla is notoriously timely, and one of her biggest pet peeves is when someone is not on time. Whirl and Twirl have been her pets since her childhood. She grew up in the palace with Skyler and Sky Clone, though it is unclear how she was connected with the royal family. However, she is called "Princess Skyla" as a teen, suggesting that she is perhaps a ward to the royal family. She is often seen mourning her husband Skyler, who was supposedly killed by Sky Clone.
• Sky Clone – Skyla's evil brother-in-law and the main villain of the series. He is determined to take over the Sky Realm and defeat the Sky Dancers once and for all. He wants revenge against the Sky Realm because his brother Skyler took his right of flight, a fate he wishes on all of the sky citizens. He has tried multiple times to kill Skyla.
• King Skyler – Skyla's husband. He sacrificed himself by performing a death spin with Sky Clone in order to defeat him, but unfortunately did not actually kill him. It is revealed that Skyler is not dead, but trapped in another dimension. He is seen often in Skyla's flashbacks and frequently comes to her aid when she is in danger.
• Whirl and Twirl – They are Skyla's faithful canine companions, and can use their ears to fly while helping the Sky Dancers.
• Muddle, Jumble and Snarl – Sky Clone's minions. The three imps offer comic relief throughout the series and often go head-to-head with Whirl and Twirl.
• Caroline – A red-haired high school reporter, Caroline is dedicated to "getting the story." She meets Breeze at a school carnival and immediately becomes obsessed with him, leading to bad feelings between her and Angelica, Breeze's unofficial girlfriend. Caroline then proceeds to follow the Sky Dancers into the Sky Realm and gets on all their nerves, including the usually calm Skyla. She has an urge to interview everyone, and when she is kidnapped by Sky Clone, he gives her back just to get rid of her.
• The Tinker – The Tinker is a friend of Queen Skyla's. As his name implies, he fixes things and is usually a great help to the Sky Dancers, providing them with information and his skills as a tinker. His constantly rhyming dialogue is a running joke in the series.
• Brandon – Known by the girls as "Blowhard Brandon," he is another student at the High Hope Dance Academy and very full of himself. Jade, Camille, and Angelica fight over who should get stuck dancing with him. Later in the series, he plays mean pranks on the other students (particularly Angelica) and is paid to trick Slam into quitting the academy, which Slam figures out. Brandon is never seen after this, implying that he permanently left the High Hope Dance Academy.
• King Skyhawk – The father of Sky Clone and Skyler and the former king of the Sky Realm. The Sky Dancers meet him when they travel back in time. He hires them as companions for Sky Clone, Skyler, and Skyla. Skyhawk is very kind and trusting, and the grown Skyler bears a strong resemblance to him. Skyhawk's wife and the reason for being a father figure to Skyla is never revealed.

Episodes

No.	Title
1	"The Sky's the Limit"
Skyla recruits the five top dancers at High Hope Dance Academy to become Sky Dancers and defend the Wingdom. Can they find their new powers in time?[19]
2	"On Wings Of Song"
Sky Clone's imps steal a harp which gives flight to inhabitants of the Skyridium. Can the Sky Dancers brave the maze of the Nether World and retrieve the harp?[20]
3	"Broken Stone"
Slam and Jade break the stone on Queen Skyla's glove, removing the Sky Dancers' ability to fly. Can they find a way to fix it before Sky Clone destroys the Wingdom?[21]
4	"Getting the Story"
An obnoxious reporter with a crush on Breeze accidentally gets brought along to Sky Hive. Can the Sky Dancers save the day and keep their identities a secret?[22]
5	"Lonely Heart"
When the Sky Dancers try to cheer Skyla on the anniversary of Skyler's death spin, Sky Clone absconds with Skyla and the Sky Swirl Stone to the Nether World. Can the Sky Dancers save Skyla when their right of flight is taken away?[23]
6	"A Friend in High Places"
Sky Clone sends singing Horrorcanes to the Wingdom to disrupt the harmony. Can the Sky Dancers save the day when the Horrorcanes blow them back home?[24]
7	"Dance Jade, Dance"
The Sky Dancers take lessons from Rudolph Fareev, who it turns out would rather insult them than teach them. Can the Sky Dancers uncover his motives in time to save a love-struck Jade and to foil Sky Clone's latest plan?[25]
8	"Love Lost, Love Found"
Jade's long-estranged mother reenters her life the day before Skyla falls prey to Sky Clone's trap at a Skyridium harp performance. Can Jade overcome her turmoil and free Skyla and her friends?[26]
9	"The Last Dance"
Sky Clone teams up with the shape-shifter Ghorr to destroy the Sky Dancers, who are in the Wingdom for Camille to teach her dance the "Minueasy" to Skyla's subjects. Will the Sky Dancers be able to stop this new adversary?[27]
10	"Skyler vs. Skyler"
Sky Clone uses the power of science to make himself look and sound like King Skyler, but Angelica learns the truth. Can she convince the rest of the Wingdom despite being named a fugitive?[28]
11	"Spread Your Wings"
When Angelica is injured on a skiing trip, she loses confidence in herself and decides to quit the Sky Dancers. Can the Tinker restore Angelica's confidence in time to help the now out numbered Sky Dancers fend off Sky Clone's latest attack?[29]
12	"Time and Again"
The Sky Dancers fool around with the Sky Swirl Stone and accidentally transport themselves to the Wingdom's past, when Skyla, Skyler, and Sky Clone were teens. Will they be able to find a way back home?[30]
13	"Statues"
Angelica's all-night partying leads her to sleep through the imps turning all of the Wingdom's inhabitants, including Queen Skyla, to stone. Can she pull herself together to lead the Sky Dancers on a raid of the Nether World for the antidote?[31]
14	"Blue Heaven"
Sky Clone makes use of an ancient prophecy to appear as Azure's heaven-sent leader, who the realm's inhabitants have expected for generations. Can the Sky Dancers figure out how Sky Clone managed to mimic the legend in time to save Skyla from her sudden strange illness and prevent a Wingdom-wide War? [32]
15	"The Alliance"
None of the girls want to dance with Brandon, an arrogant student assigned to their group for the academy's final paired dance show. This leads to a massive fight between the girls just as the three Harpies of the Wingdom arise from their thousand year sleep to spread terror across the Sky Kingdom. Can the girls stop their fighting in time to save the day? [33]
16	"Forever Love"
The Sky Dancers form a plan to bring King Skyler back. How much will this act cost them and the Wingdom?[34]
17	"The Imp's Trap"
Slam and Camille give up their schooling for roles in a high budget, big name film. Meanwhile, the imps are left unsupervised, and Jumble goes mad with power. Can the Sky Dancer's best the now haywire Nether World with two fewer members?[35]
18	"Long Live Sky Clone!"
Slam's ego threatens to break up the Sky Dancers, while Sky Clone's Maelstrom Mixture threatens to break up the Wingdom. Can blackmail finally give Sky Clone his ultimate dream of sitting beside Skyla on the throne?[36]
19	"Where's My Body?"
Sky Clone creates a new invention that can make two people switch bodies. When the Sky Dancers scramble to protect Sky Hive, Sky Clone switches bodies with Slam. Can the Hero of Hip Hop convince his friends that he's not Sky Clone and get his own body back?[37]
20	"Moment of Truth"
The Baroness Skyvia's long-buried jealousy for Skyla resurfaces and leads her to hatch an assassination plot with Sky Clone. Will Skyla's trust in Skyvia be her undoing?[38]
21	"Heartbreak"
Devastated by her latest break-up, Camille buries her sorrows in comfort food. In the Sky Realm, Sky Clone gets hold of Azure's Organ and puts it out of tune, allowing him to control the population. Can the now slightly out of shape Camille free them in time to prevent war?[39]
22	"Troublemakers"
Breeze invites the Sky Dancers to his tribe's celebration in the desert. Angelica flirts her head off, but Breeze puts her off. Meanwhile, in the Sky Kingdom, the three imps disguise themselves and create havoc in each realm, leading each sky city to close its borders.[40]
23	"Dark Star"
The Academy's Christmas show is delayed when Sky Clone attacks the Wingdom with the Sky Swirl Stone's legendary, malevolent counterpart. All the Sky Dancers are neutralized except Camille, whose disapproving parents are waiting at High Hope. Skyla eventually sneaks away from the school's audience to challenge Sky Clone to a duel, Stone against Stone, Good Vs Evil.[41]
24	"Slam Bang"
Slam falls in with Brandon and aids him in wreaking havoc on the academy, leading to their expulsion. The Sky Dancers leave without Slam for the Wingdom, where Sky Clone manages to steal the Sky Swirl Stone. When Slam finds out that Brandon was paid by a rival academy headmaster bring him to their school, he races back to High Hope to try to help his friends.[42]
25	"Treasure Cloud"
When High Hope Dance Academy is destroyed by a hurricane, Skyla has to find a way to pay for repairs. She brings the Sky Dancers to the Wingdom to retrieve money from the royal treasury, only to find that the Wingdom is broke. An ancient map leads them on a treasure hunt to find the funds they need, but Sky Clone is determined to beat them to the prize.[43]
26	"The Purple Tide of Skyridium"
Sky Clone goes to Skyridium and forces the local population to build him an immense pyramid to replace the Den. The Sky Dancers and Skyla try to put a stop to Sky Clone, but he uses a terrifying new weapon against them - a giant purple Horrorcane exhaling poison gas! Additionally, Slam and Breeze get into an argument about using a field full of wildlife for a concert.[44]
27	"The Operation"
During a performance at the High Hope Dance Academy, Angelica slips and hurts her knee badly. She undergoes emergency surgery but has to wait for the surgeon to know whether or not she will be able to dance again. The Sky Dancers take turns to remind her of past adventures to keep her spirits up.[45]

UK VHS releases

VHS Title	Release Date	Episodes
Sky Dancers: The Sky's the Limit and 2 Other Episodes (VC1425)	14 October 1996	"The Sky's the Limit", "On Wings of Song", "Broken Stone"
Sky Dancers: Getting the Story/Lonely Heart/Dance, Jade, Dance (VC1442)	14 July 1997	"Getting the Story", "Lonely Heart", "Dance, Jade, Dance"

Other materials

Sky Dancers also generated a children's book series in 1997. The stories were, for the most part, not tied to the animated series. The art style mimicked the toy line's aesthetics.

A board game was also generated and appears to be based on promotional material for or at least earlier drafts of the animated series. Some of the art in the theme song is close to the art and characters that appear on the board game.

In 2005 a Sky Dancers game was released for the Game Boy Advance. It used some of the names from the animated series,

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-06-18. Retrieved 2015-01-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-01-11. Retrieved 2008-01-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 558. ISBN 978-1538103739.
4. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 750–751. ISBN 978-1476665993.
5. "The Sky's the Limit." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
6. "Love Lost, Love Found." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
7. "The Sky's the Limit." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
8. "Where's My Body?." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
9. "Slam Bang." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
10. "The Purple Tide of Skyridium." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
11. "The Sky's the Limit." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
12. "Getting the Story." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
13. "Statues." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
14. "Dark Star." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
15. "Troublemakers" Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
16. "The Last Dance." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
17. "The Last Dance." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
18. "Getting the Story." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
19. "The Sky's the Limit." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
20. "On Wings of Song." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
21. "Broken Stone." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
22. "Getting the Story." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
23. "Lonely Heart." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
24. "A Friend in High Places." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
25. "Dance Jade, Dance." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
26. "Love Lost, Love Found." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
27. "The Last Dance." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
28. "Skyler vs. Skyler." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
29. "Spread Your Wings." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
30. "Time and Again." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
31. "Statues." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
32. "Blue Heaven." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
33. "The Alliance." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
34. "Forever Love." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
35. "The Imp's Trap." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
36. "Long Live Sky Clone!." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
37. "Where's My Body?." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
38. "The Moment of Truth." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
39. "Heartbreak." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
40. "Troublemakers." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
41. "Dark Star." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
42. "Slam Bang." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
43. "Treasure Cloud." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
44. "The Purple Tide of Skyridium." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.
45. "The Operation." Sky Dancers. 1996. Television.

External links

• Sky Dancers – Galoob (Archive)
• Sky Dancers Recall – Galoob (Archive)
• CPSC, Galoob Toys Inc. Announce Recall of Sky Dancers Flying Dolls
• Sky Dancers at IMDb