Everyone remembers the dolls...but the TV show is worth a trip down memory lane too.
"If it is to be, it's up to me!"
Sky Dancers was an animated cartoon series, based on a series of Galoob toys of the same name, featuring five students studying at Dame Skyla's High Hope Dance Academy. Jade, Camille, Breeze, Angelica and Slam are called upon by Dame Skyla, who is secretly Queen of the Wingdom, to protect her territory from her evil brother-in-law, Skyclone. The nefarious Skyclone terrorizes the kingdom of her deceased husband, Skyler, with his Horrorcanes, Terrornadoes and a trio of imps named Muddle, Jumble, and Snarl in their attempts to capture The Skyswirl Stone.
A France-U.S. co-production between Xilam, and Abrams / Gentile Entertainment (the original creators), the series was launched in 1996. A total of 28 episodes were produced. Apparently, the reason behind the show not getting any more episodes after that was the then-new E/I rules having just taken into effect, preventing its continuation (another possible factor was the toy line getting recalled).
In 2005, video game publisher Crave Entertainment joined Abrams / Gentile Entertainment (the original creators), to work on a continuation of the animated series for the Game Boy Advance. The video game had Jade, Camille and Angelica once again fighting to protect their land from Skyclone, who had kidnapped Queen Skyla in exchange for their Skyswirl Stone.
Examples:
- Ad Bumpers: At least two of them reference the show's general catchphrase:"If it is to be, it's up to me!"
- Big Bad: Skyclone is the main villain of the series, and most other forces of evil work for him.
- Birdcaged: After capturing Skyla in "Lonely Heart," the imps lock her in a birdcage.
- Brandishment Bluff: In "Broken Stone", Tinker spends the episode threatening the Sky Dancers with a gun-like object he's inventing. The end of the episode reveals that it wasn't a weapon at all, but a musical instrument.
- Broken Bird: Skyla used to be a happy-go-lucky girl who didn't involve herself in the Wingdom's affairs. After Skyler's death, she took an active role as the Wingdom's ruler and became a strong, and sometimes stoic, monarch.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Neither Breeze nor Slam can just tell their love interests (Angelica and Jade respectively) how they really feel. Belligerent Sexual Tension results.
- Christmas Episode: "Dark Star." Fittingly, the performance that the Sky Dancers are going to do is The Nutcracker.
- Crusading Widow: Skyla, who is trying to rule and protect the Wingdom after the death of Skyler (her lover and husband).
- Dance Battler: All the Sky Dancers qualify for this trope, since dance is how they activate their magic powers.
- Deadpan Snarker: Slam is by far the most sarcastic of the Sky Dancers. Every once in a while, the Tinker gets a snarky line as well.
- Dead Person Impersonation: One episode had Skyclone impersonate Skyler.
- Disposable Love Interest: Camille's love interest Gorp is never seen or mentioned again after the end of his episode, despite Camille's promise never to forget him.
- Doppelgänger Attack: Skyclone can clone himself and split into ten miniature hims.
- Double Jump: In the GBA game, Camille has this power.
- Dream Ballet: Skyla goes into a trance on the anniversary of Skyler's death and dreams that they are dancing together. In actuality, she is dancing alone.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: After Skyla thanks Jade and Slam for returning the repaired Sky Swirl Stone in time to save the day, the Tinker appears out of nowhere to demand credit for fixing it.Tinker: Hey! Without me, none of this could come to be!
- Elemental Powers: Breeze has control over wind, rain, and nature.
- Enemy Mine: "The Alliance" has Skyclone helping the heroes against the evil Harpy Sisters, though he ditches them as soon as his part's done.
- Enhanced on DVD: Some animation was improved on the DVDs, though it used all-new music and altered some lines.
- Evil Is Hammy: Skyclone constantly rants about he is going to TAKE OVER THE WINGDOM and how THE WINGDOM IS MIIIINNNEEE! He's very prone to Evil Gloating in general. His Imps have a touch of it, too.
- Evil Minions: Skyclone has a Terrible Trio of imps to help with his evil plans. Jumble, Muddle, and Snarl are bumbling sidekicks for the most part, but they can cause a lot of mischief under the right circumstances. Snarl is usually dominant among the trio, calling the shots when they're on solo missions without their boss.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: The Harpy Sisters are eventually crushed by stalactites and rocks.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: The episode "Where's My Body" has this as part of Skyclone's latest plan to conquer the Wingdom.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: In the GBA game, Skyclone and his minions are mentioned but don't appear at all, nor do Skyla and the others even though you're supposed to be rescuing them.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Angelica becomes one when high school reporter Caroline starts to flirt with Breeze. Villains Skyclone and Skyvia also count, as does Rudolph Fareev for an episode.
- Harp of Femininity: Skyla and Jade are the most graceful members of the female cast. Naturally, both play the Harp of Peace beautifully.
- Harping on About Harpies: The Harpie Sisters from "The Alliance" are so dangerous Skyclone is forced to ally with the heroes to stop them.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Skyler used a Death Spin against Skyclone, robbing the latter of his wings and banishing him to the Netherworld, but dying in the process. Or so Skyla thinks .
- The Hermit: The Tinker lives on the outskirts of the Wingdom. His eccentric and cranky personality may have something to do with it.
- The High Queen: Queen Skyla, ruler of the Wingdom, is very regal and beautiful. She is a Universally Beloved Leader according to her subjects and is willing to fight and die on their behalf.
- Imagination-Based Superpower: Camille can make anything she imagines out of clouds, and imbue it with a life of its own.
- Incredible Shrinking Man: When transformed, the Sky Dancers are the same size as the toys.
- Invisibility: Jade's special power, activated by ballet dancing, is to turn completely invisible.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Slam's competitive and brash nature and tendency to trend towards rather unsportsmanlike behavior often makes him come off as this.
- Jerk Jock: Though he has nothing on Brandon, who exemplifies all of Slam's negative traits with none of his positive ones.
- Jumped at the Call: The five teenagers have very few questions about being shrunk down and thrust into a different dimension where flying is basically required.
- Mad Scientist: The Tinker. He is also a Mad Inventor.
- Magical Native American: While on Earth, not so much, but while Breeze is in the Wingdom, his Sky Dancer costume and power-set are very much evocative of this.
- Making a Splash: A variation: Breeze is able to conjure rain clouds torrential enough to flood a room.
- Merchandise-Driven: The show was created to sell the toys.
- The Mentor: As a teacher and queen, Skyla mentors the Sky Dancers in both their dance skills and their magic powers. She also serves as Team Mom, helping Jade and Camille to cope with family issues, caring for Angelica's multiple sports injuries, and taking Slam back into the academy after he and Brandon get expelled.
- Missing Mom: Jade's mother was absent for several years due to leaving Jade and her father to pursue her ballet career.
- Mommy Had A Good Reason For Abandoning You: Well, Jade's mother thought she did anyway. She claims that she chose her career over raising her because "a woman couldn't have a family and a career 'in those days'".note Jade naturally thinks it's just an excuse.
- The Mourning After: Skyla still mourns for her lost husband Skyler, and this tragic romance plays a pivotal part in many of the episodes.
- Mr. Fixit: The Tinker is the only person in the Sky Kingdom who can repair or maintenance the Sky Swirl Stone, so he's bound to get a visit when something goes wrong with it. This can be a problem sometimes, he's also a True Craftsman who values perfection above urgency.
- My Little Panzer: The Sky Dancer toys are basically flying, spinning, helicopter-dolls that leave their base at high speed when a string is pulled. Guess what happens when they hit people.
note - Not-So-Harmless Villain: Sky Clone constantly zig-zags between being a bumbling oaf and a genuine threat who, on multiple occasions, very nearly brings ruination to the entire Wingdom.
- Pity the Kidnapper: In "Getting the Story" Sky Clone kidnaps side character Caroline and demands the Sky Swirl Stone for her return. Her Motor Mouth and prying, personal questions drive him to the brink of sanity and he ends up dropping the ransom demands and just giving her back.
- Posthumous Character: Skyler's death is shown in the first episode via flashback Averted, because he is MIA but not really dead.
- Power Floats: Skyclone, as opposed to straight-up flying.
- Replaced the Theme Tune: The cartoon had a different opening and entirely new background music when it was released in volumes on DVD. All in all, there have been three different theme songs.
- Revenge by Proxy: Skyclone cannot get revenge for Skyler taking his right of flight away, so he decides to take his anger out on the Wingdom and on his sister-in-law.
- Rhymes on a Dime: You can count on one hand the number of the Tinker's lines that don't rhyme. The Sky Dancers also fall victim to it from time to time.
- The Rival: Skyvia sees Skyla as this, though Skyla just wants to make peace with her.
- School Newspaper News Hound: Caroline takes this to obnoxious levels, peppering everyone she meets with increasingly personal questions for her newspaper articles. Even the patient Queen Skyla dubs her a "sneaky little journalistic snoop".
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: As soon as the heroes get the upper hand against the Harpy Sisters, Skyclone and his forces retreat.
- Shapeshifting: Gorp, a one-episode villain that worked for Skyclone, but then saw the error of his ways.
- Shock and Awe: One of Breeze's abilities is to fire directed lightning blasts.
- Sibling Rivalry: Skyclone, the king's eldest son, attempts to kill his younger brother Skyler who was named the Wingdom's king.
- Skewed Priorities: In "Broken Stone" the Tinker refuses to save the Wingdom and help his best friend Queen Skyla because two of her students are having a fight.
- Smitten Teenage Girl: Caroline was gushing over Breeze before meeting or even seeing him. Her style of flirtation is very aggressive and involves unsolicited physcial contact. Neither Breeze nor Angelica are pleased by her obsessive attraction.
- Spear Counterpart: Dragon Flyz took the same concept as the Sky Dancers toys and turned them into an action figure line (and cartoon) marketed to boys.
- The Spock: Jade was raised by her scientist father to always think logically and base her conclusions on fact. This way of thinking sometimes puts her at odd with the Clap Your Hands If You Believe magic in the Wingdom.Jade: This is completely illogical!
Slam: Yo, Mrs. Spock! Nothing makes sense here. We're in the Netherworld. - Stationary Wings: Because they're modeled after the toy, the wings seem suited to gliding and rarely ever flap. Sometimes the Sky Dancers just hover without their wings moving.
- Stripperiffic:
- The two boys' outfits emphasize their muscular physiques. Slam has a half-shirt, and Breeze's outfit shows off his chest, arms, and legs.
- In the GBA game, the Sky Dancers on the password screen and level introductions have very skimpy outfits.
- Super-Strength: Slam, sometimes to the point of him not knowing his own strength.
- Tagalong Reporter: While flirting with Breeze under the guise of a news interview, Caroline gets dragged into the Sky Dancers' latest mission. Even though the team tries to convince her to stay out of the way, she refuses to "miss out on the action", which makes the Sky Dancers' job harder than it should be and gets Caroline captured.
- Taken for Granite: One episode has Skyclone turning the citizens of the Wingdom into statues with a poisoned lemonade.
- Taking You with Me: Skyler tried to do this with Skyclone, but it ended up taking away Skyclone's wings and trapping Skyler in another dimension.
- Theme Tune Roll Call: This happens during the U.S. theme song, but not the international or home video themes.
- Time Master: Angelica's special power is to make time stand still for anyone caught within the perimeter of her dancing.
- Two Girls to a Team: Gender-inverted, since the show was targeted at young girls. The Sky Dancers team is made up of three girls and two guys. All five are actually very diverse in appearance and personality.
- Villain Exclusivity Clause: The only villains who were unaffiliated with Sky Clone were the Harpies from "The Alliance."
- Villain Team-Up: Skyclone and Gorp the shapeshifter team up in one episode, before The Power of Love breaks them up.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Angelica can stop time, Breeze can create wind, Slam can control gravity, Jade can turn invisible...and Camille can make shapes out of clouds. That disappear after awhile. Given that two of her companions can warp the fabric of space and time, one is a ninja, and the other is Aang, that's more than a little bit of a letdown.
- Winged Humanoid: The Sky Dancers, and other winged beings in the Wingdom.
- You Meddling Kids: Skyclone uses a variation of this "insult" at least once.
- You Monster!: Skyla calls out Skyclone for using the anniversary of Skyler's death to trap her. Sadly, the comment was taken as a compliment.
