Spider Riders

Spider Riders (スパイダーライダーズ ~オラクルの勇者たち~ Supaidāraidāzu ~ Orakuru no Yūsha-tachi~, Spider Riders ~the Heroes of Oracle~) is a series of science fiction novels first published in December 2004, published by Newmarket Press written by Tedd Anasti, Patsy Cameron-Anasti and Stephen D. Sullivan (books 2-3). The stories became the basis of the animated television series produced by Cookie Jar Entertainment of Canada and Bee Train of Japan. The three novels are titled Spider Riders: Shards of the Oracle, Spider Riders: Reign of the Soul Eater, and Spider Riders: Quest of the Earthen. Spider Riders broadcasts on Teletoon, This TV, and Kids' WB!. Koichi Mashimo co-directed the staff at Bee Train with Takaaki Ishiyama. Writer Yosuke Kuroda adapted the novels. Robert Pincombe and Shelly Hoffman wrote the English version.

Plot
Fourteen-year-old Hunter Steele searches for the legendary inner world by following the instructions in his grandfather's journal. He enters a cave where he finds a mysterious manacle that attaches itself to him. A spider startles Hunter, who falls into a hole to the center of the Earth and into the subterranean world of Arachna. There, he discovers a small group of elite warriors struggling to survive and to save Arachna from the attack of giant humanoid-insects. The warriors are children, each fighting with the help of their own 10 ft (3.0 m) battle spiders. They call themselves "Spider Riders". In the English TV series, the ages of the characters were reduced.

There is a prophecy that says a suface-dweller or Earthen, like Hunter, will bring disaster to the Inner World. Sparkle mentions it in the beginning of the series. When she finds out she says, "I wonder if he will bring doom to us...or to them."

Broadcast History
The Spider Riders animated series debuted on March 25, 2006 on Canada's Teletoon network. Kids WB! on The CW began airing it during the 2006-2007 season. The last Spider Riders episode was shown in Canada on April 29, 2007. The series was repeated on weekdays and Sunday from June–August 2007, and was not shown for the 2007-80 season. It is broadcast on Kix sky channel 627 from 12 June. From September 1, 2008, Teletoon is repeating the anime on weekdays. From November 2008, it is shown on the Cookie Jar Toons block on This TV.

Episode List
List of Spider Riders episodes

Music Japan North America
 * Opening Theme #1: "Alright" (eps. 1-26)
 * Opening Theme #2: Brave Heart by Saeko Chiba (eps. 27-52)
 * Ending Theme #1: "Twilight Time" by MCU (eps. 1-13)
 * Ending Theme #2: "Koi no Keshiki" by Tamaru Yamada (eps. 14-26)
 * Ending Theme #3: "Towards a Dream" by Takashi Kondo and Sanae Kobayashi (eps. 27-52)


 * Opening Theme: "Calling All Spider Riders" written by songwriter Jason Gleed for Grayson Matthews Audio.

Novel Series
The Spider Riders anime series was made simultaneously with a trilogy of books by Tedd Anasti, Patsy Cameron-Anasti, and Stephen D. Sullivan. The books differ vastly from the anime. The books also have significantly less plot compared to the anime.

Currently, the book series is as follows:
 * The Shards of the Oracle
 * Quest of the Earthen
 * Reign of the Soul Eater

Trivia
Igneous, Magma, Lumen, Sparkle (a bit of a stretch, but could apply to reflecting light from the sun), Slate, Solan, Corona, Illuma. Hunter, Aqune and the Insectors are the only major characters who differ from the trend. All Invectids are named after bugs. Beerain is a special case though, as her name is Bee Train with the "t" taken away.
 * Some dialogue in the English version was altered, often for the inclusion of puns or English slang, but none have affected the plot so far.
 * The opening theme in the Japanese version (Alright) differs from the OP in the English version (Calling All Spider Riders.) None of the Japanese ending themes are used in the English version.
 * In the English version, the song "Calling All Spider Riders" plays frequently during the series as an insert song. A number of other BGM changes have also been made.
 * Several characters have been renamed in the English version of Spider Riders:
 * The character Ignus is called Igneous in the English version. This is not an edit, because his name was Igneous in the original novel series. It is debatable whether his name was meant to be Igneous in both versions, but it is written as "イグナス" (I-gu-na-su) on the official Japanese site.
 * Grey in the Japanese version is called Slate in the English version
 * Lemin in the Japanese version is called Katy in the English version
 * Melissa in the Japanese version is called Galena in the English version
 * Quake is called Brade in the Japanese version, as well as in the original plans made available in a Teletoon Corp. press release.
 * Queen Elma in the Japanese version is called Queen Illuma in the English version.
 * Toure in the Japanese version is called Solan in the English version.
 * Each of the Machine-sectors are given a unique name in the English version.
 * Spider Riders aired all fifty-two episodes in Canada. In Japan, the series was split into two halves and is currently airing the second half. Initially, however, TV-Tokyo had planned on airing all 52 episodes, but was cut short at 26 episodes. It is entirely possible due to the low ratings (averaging around 0.5% - 1.5% per episode) it was removed initially. The second half of the series began to air on April 14 on Kids Station, under the name "Spider Riders ~Yomigaeru Taiyou~" as opposed to "Spider Riders ~Oracle no Yuusha-tachi~," which was the subtitle for the first 26 episodes.
 * Loraine, a body in which Mantid keeps stored in a room of his castle, is seen on a few occasions in the Japanese version. She was cut from the English version, as her existence was thought to be too disturbing for North American viewers. Shadowed versions of her can be seen, however, in episodes 34 and 50
 * Originally, both Buguese and Mantid (and possibly Stags) were supposed to be killed.
 * The characters have either an earthy or sun-related name scheme. Examples: