As the story behind the English dub goes, they did indeed lack access to the script and the show was littered with Japanese cultural references, which at the time were considered too obscure for the western audience. Thus they rewrote everything from scratch, with a lot of 4th wall breaking and (self) parodying that wasn't present in the Japanese version.

SPC is generally considered one of the few shows that were vastly improved by dubbing. Some claim that even the Japanese creators prefer the English version, but I haven't found anything to verify this.

And it is kinda sad that the French version is available on DVD while the English is not.

It wasn't a Strider ripoff.

It was a NINJA GAIDEN ripoff. Considering they were both developed by the same company (and I think some of the staff worked on the series...)

Never saw this show much. The theme song was catchy it always got stuck in my head for the rest of the day. But I liked cats on a jet plane better. ;)

You mean SWAT Kats?

Are you trying to tell me that this is a real thing?

... Yeah, this WAS a real cartoon. One of the best things Saban ever released in America.

Thankfully we had this cartoon in the Netherlands.

I love weird and goofy stuff. We also had the Tick which was just awesome.

SPOOOOOONNNN!!!

CHA!

A shame the live action series didn't last as long.

There were even action figures for the show.

If you mean SPC, only in japan.