Main

Anime Series

Zoids Guardian Force Episode Sums

Episode 17. The Boy from the Ruins

Van falls out of the Liger into a river. Zeke tries to grab him, but Van falls down a waterfall. Meanwhile, everyone is looking for him. Fiona senses that Van's in a canyon and they change course. Riece confronts Raven, who tells her that he doesn't care if Van survives because he'll always be able to beat him. Thomas and Irvine are lowered into a canyon to look for Van, but he's not there. Irvine shocks Thomas when he tells him that Fiona loves Van. They do find the damaged Blade Liger and Zeke, though. Zeke tells Fiona that Van fell into the river. Thomas knows that there's a base nearby and tells Fiona that they will ask for help from there. Meanwhile, Van wakes up and goes into a village, but everyone runs away from him. He then passes out. Van has a dream about finding Fiona in a pod, but she says that she will bring everything to an end and her eyes turn green like Riece's.

Van wakes up and finds out that someone has taken care of his injuries. He sees a white Helcat and a boy called Nichalo. The boy really likes Zoids too. Meanwhile, the base Thomas mentioned recieves the call for help, but the main guy (he's from the episode "Moonbay's Waltz") refuses to help because he hates Van. Riece appears behind him and makes him think that he needs to find and kill Van. Van teaches Nichalo to pilot his Zoid well and they have a good time. The guy from the base finds out that Van is in the village that he's been stealing from and goes there. Irvine and the others are still looking for Van and figure that he's in the village. Thomas pulls up some files about the village and finds out that the Republican army once attacked it when an ancient Zoidian girl hid in it, and that they killed a boy.

Nichalo tells Van about the girl he knew before the war came to his village. Then explosions are heard coming from the village. The guy, in a Red Horn, and his troops, Rev Raptors, are there and they demand that the villagers hand over Van to them. The villagers tell him that they don't have him, but the guy doesn't believe them and gives them one hour. Van decides to help the villagers even though they didn't help him. When one hour is up, Van shows up in a Rev Raptor and slices up most of the other Rev Raptors. Then he gets surrounded and attacked, so his Raptor can't move anymore. He's about to be shot when the villagers stand in front of him. They say that they're going to help him since he tried to help them, and that they're not going to be responsible for another death like the boy's one ten years earlier.

Irvine arrives and shoots down all the Rev Raptors. Thomas puts the guy under arrest and Moonbay shoots him with her Gustav when he resists. Fiona arrives with the Liger. Later, Fiona and Van talk, while Thomas tells Irvine that he's happy for everyone. Riece tries to shoot Van in her Geno Saurer, but the spirit of Nichalo stops the shot. Riece starts to cry. Later, Van shows everyone where he met Nichalo, but the elder of the village tells him that Nichalo died ten years ago. He was killed by the Republican army when he tried to stop them from capturing an ancient Zoidian girl (Riece). Van is sure that he met him, but even the white Helcat is in ruins. Meanwhile, Riece walks alone through the desert thinking, and meets Raven. He says that she also failed to kill Van and she tells him to drop it, and then walks off.

Episode 18. Van's New Power

Van's Blade Liger is fully repaired. Van takes the Liger out for a test run, but something doesn't feel right for him. Fiona is worried that something might be wrong with Zeke. Van asks Dr. D to check the Liger out again, and Dr. D tells Van that nothing is wrong with the Liger, but the problem is with Van. Van has become such a good Zoid pilot that he needs a batter Zoid than the Liger. Van doesn't want another Zoid, so Dr. D suggests that they add on another pair of boosters to the Liger. There are three boosters, all built by Dr. D, to choose from, only they haven't been tested yet. Fiona tries to tell Van that something's wrong with Zeke, but he tells her that Zeke seems fine to him. Hiltz, in a disguise, watches what's going on from inside the base.

The first boosters are tested without using a Zoid, and they blow up. Dr. D wants to use Irvine's Saix for the second pair of boosters, but Irvine refuses. Moonbay makes a deal with Dr. D. She'll test them out for him, but then she gets to keep them. The boosters are installed onto her Gustav and she races with Irvine, but her brakes don't work when she wants to stop. When she took off, some parts were left behind. The boosters eventually fly off by themselves and Moonbay manages to stop before she crashes into a cliff. Later, the third pair of boosters, the only one that works properly, are put on the Blade Liger and Van gets ready to test them out. Meanwhile, Hiltz punches out a guy and activates some Gun Snipers equiped with the Wild Wizel unit to go destroy Van.

Van tests the boosters and they work fine. Fiona is still worried about Zeke. Dr. D says that no matter what they do to the Liger, it really won't help Van. The Gun Snipers arrive and attack Van, who fights back. The Blade Liger does well at first, but it still doesn't respond quick enough for Van. Hiltz, standing on a cliff with Ambient, contacts Van and tells him that he'll have to move better than that if he wants to beat Raven. Van imagines that a Sniper is the Geno Breaker and slices through it.

Fiona knows that something is really wrong with Zeke and runs to him. The others follow her and see that Zeke is glowing. Fiona cries out for him not to because he'll destroy Van, but Zeke flies up and fuses with the Liger, making it glow brightly. Zeke improved the Liger by using the new power within him. The Blade Liger is really fast now and responds to Van's every thought, surprising Hiltz. The Liger cuts down all but one Gun Sniper, and Hiltz tells Ambient to fuse with it. Ambient does and turns the Sniper red with spikes coming out of it. Van manages to beat the Sniper and Ambient ejects from it. He flies back to Hiltz, who says that Van has unlocked the full potential of Zeke. Later, Van thanks Zeke for improving the Blade Liger.

Episode 19. Phantom

At night, Van and Thomas arrest a group of people for hiring the assassin Phantom to kill Rudolf. A phone rings near Van and he picks it up. Phantom says he's still going to kill Rudolf. Later in a Whale King, Van, Thomas, Rosso, and Viola talk about the situation. From what they can figure out, Phantom will try to kill Rudolf during the Grand Prix. Moonbay will be racing in it in a Sinker with engines that Dr. D stole. A rookie called Masquerade will be racing too. Phantom is on a boat on the water near the stadium. He's got a Gun Sniper, and he gets it ready to shoot Rudolf. He's using optical stealth technology, so no one will see him, though a fisherman does spot the Gun Sniper before it disappears.

Rudolf is still going to go to the Grand Prix and he doesn't mind being the bait to catch Phantom. Van and Thomas scout the stadium and try to figure out where Phantom will snipe from. The next day, the race starts. Moonbay gets off to a bad start but then does well. Masquerade tails her throughout the race. Van and Thomas look for Phantom for a long time, but can't find him. Phantom almost shoots Rudolf, who moves right before he can pull the trigger. The fisherman tells some guards about the Gun Sniper he saw, so Van and Thomas go out in Redlers to find Phantom. They shoot at him, but miss, and the boat explodes anyway. Phantom is going to the stadium now.

Moonbay is almost in first place and Masquerade is right behind her. Phantom sets some explosives in some Gustavs and walks up to where Rudolf is. Van spots him and runs after him. Meanwhile, Moonbay and Masquerade race towards the finish line. They are tied, but then Moonbay hits the fence and loses speed. Masquerade wins the Grand Prix. Phantom makes the Gustavs explode and Rosso and Viola run out of the room where Rudolf is. Phantom throws a smoke bomb and runs in to shoot Rudolf, but finds that it was only a hologram. Van and Thomas then come and arrest him. Fiona and Zeke cheer for Masquerade, who turns out to be Rudolf. Later, Dr. D, upset about Moonbay losing the race, gets some guards to come and get Moonbay and Irvine, claiming that they stole the engine. Irvine and Moonbay swear to get revenge on Dr. D for that.

Episode 20. G-File

Hermann, Karl, Thomas, O'Connell, and Dr. D review what they know about Hiltz, Reice, and Raven. They don't know much about Hiltz except that he likes to manipulate others to do his fighting for him. They are interested in Ambient's ability to change any Zoid and improve it by altering the Zoid core itself. They talk about Riece and her little bugs. They think she's an ancient Zoidian and are interested in her and Specular's psycho waves. Raven is a huge threat and Karl thinks that the Geno Breaker might be as powerful as the Death Saurer. They managed to figure out that the Geno Breaker's average fighting time is 180 seconds. They also think that Hiltz, Riece, and Raven are all connected and there's a greater force behind all of them. Meanwhile, Hiltz and Ambient are on a Whale King and they plan to attack the base where Van is.

Van, Fiona, Irvine, and Moonbay are not at the meeting, but they are reviewing strategies to fight their enemies with. Van's Blade Liger, Thomas' Dibison, and Irvine's Lightning Saix are the most powerful Zoids the Guardian Force has. Irvine says he isn't part of the Guardian Force, but Moonbay says he is because they gave him the Lightning Saix. Fiona goes over a bunch of strategies like using electromagnetic poles, bullets of a Gun Sniper, stealth Zoids, and water Zoids. Van says that their enemies keep on coming up with new strategies and ideas. It's almost like they're trying to show them that Zoids are more powerful than they thought. Van believes that when it comes right down to it, it's the determination of the pilot that makes the difference. Then Hiltz and Ambient make the Whale King fly towards the base and Ambient takes Hiltz off of it. The Guardian Force is called to stop the Whale King from crashing into the base. They are having a bit of trouble, but Van won't give up (and this has to be the shortest episode summary I have ever written).

Episode 21. Supersonic Battle

Irvine finds a Gustav towing some cargo and some boxes fell out of it so he stops to help. The guys tell him to leave, but then Irvine sees some weapons in the boxes and they knock him out and take his Saix. Irvine records all of this on his eye patch. An old guy comes and wants to use Irvine for something. Thomas and Van battle some Zoids and see that they have newly developed parts from the Empire and Republic and wonder where they got them. When Irvine wakes up, a lady, Carol, is there claiming that she works for the Republic and he's the one responsible for stealing the parts. Irvine says he didn't steal them, but she and some other guys don't believe him. They take him into a Hammerhead. When they are flying over some snowy mountains, Irvine escapes with a parachute. Carol goes after him and after a brief struggle they both land on the mountain. Irvine shows her an image of the old guy, but she still thinks he's guilty and tries to capture him, but fails and they are stuck on the mountain together.

After walking on the mountain for a long time and hiding from some Pteras units, Irvine and Carol finally learn each other's names. Meanwhile, Van and Thomas get Zeke to fetch a guy who will tell them about the weapons. Then they go into a town and Irvine talks to his mom, who is not really his mom but he calls her that. She gives out information to all mercenaries, and tells him that the old guy is an old general and he's helping orphans of war, but he might be doing something else too. He's having a party at his house and Irvine and Carol go to it. They sneak into the house and see weapons being shipped. Irvine finds his Lightning Saix and Carol reveals that she was working for the old general and they are going to set up Irvine to take the blame of shipping the weapons.

The old general comes and orders Carol to shoot Irvine, but she doesn't want to and fires at a pipe filled with steam instead. Irvine leaves in his Lighting Saix and Carol goes after him in her red Storm Sworder. Van and Thomas arrive at the old general's house to stop him and take out a bunch of Gun Snipers equipped with the Wild Wizel unit. Irvine battles Carol and though he gets hit a few times, he wins. Carol crashes into the ocean and her Zoid explodes. Hiltz and Ambient were watching from a cliff (again) and then leave. Later, Irvine walks by the ocean and says goodbye to Carol.

Episode 22. Cerberus

At night, an Iron Kong's pilot is "punished" by a huge three-headed Saber Tiger. The next day, Thomas tells Van and Fiona about the the Trinity Ghost, a group of people who punish Zoid pilots for some odd reason. Thomas thinks that they are childish and an insult to the Guardian Force. The three members of the Trinity Ghost watch Thomas say all of this and decide that he must be punished. They send him a message telling him that he's guilty and has to show up in a certain place (a wide field full of windmills) that night. Thomas does show up determined to punish the Trinity Ghost and attacks three Saber Tigers that are there. The windmills start to spin in the opposite direction. Suddenly, a huge three-headed Saber Tiger appears, but Beek says that the enemy is behind Thomas. Thomas doesn't think so, and is attacked.

Later, Van visits Thomas in the hospital. They talk about the Trinity Ghost and Fiona shows up. Thomas tells them about his battle. Van and Fiona take a walk together and talk about the Trinity Ghost, who is watching them and decide that Van has to be punished. Van and Fiona wonder if Hiltz is behind it, but it's not his style. They go to the field where the Trinity Ghost punishes pilots and find little marbles in the grass. They take one and go to the university Thomas graduated from. They meet three scientists (aka the Trinity Ghost people) who develop weapons and new technology. Van thinks that a Zoid and its pilot have a special bond and that Zoids are alive, and the three scientists agree about Zoids being alive but they think that the a Zoid doesn't need a pilot if it has a complex combat system installed into it. Van and Fiona then leave.

Thomas takes a look at the marble and tells Van that it can carry electric pulses. Then a nurse comes in and takes away all of his "unhealthy" equipment. That night, Van shows up in the field and prepares to fight the Trinity Ghost and the three Saber Fangs. The windmills spin in the opposite direction and the three Tigers merge to form the large three-headed one. Van's not fooled and shoots at it, but his shots go through it. He was actually aiming for the windmills. The hologram of the three-headed Tiger disappears and the three small Tigers appear (the windmills, marbles, and Tigers were all used to make the big three-headed Saber Tiger).

Van proceeds to beat and slice up the three Saber Tigers before going for the scientists, who are in a truck nearby. They are surprised that Van beat their technology. Before Van can get to the truck, the three Tigers get up, jettison their weapons, and run at him. They still want to fight and are not obeying the combat commands the scientists installed into them. Van beats them easily. The scientists are arrested by Thomas, who is there with an insane nurse. The main scientist wants to fight Van again; Van's special bond with his Zoid against the scientist's technology. It's morning now, and then Fiona has one of her weird "sensing danger" things. A great distance away, Hiltz watches over a tank and says that the creature is almost ready to awaken.

Episode 23. The Nightmare

Van, Thomas, Irvine, and Zeke work on improving the Liger's attack boosters. Moonbay and Fiona watch them for a while, and Fiona senses something. Then Fiona and Moonbay go to bed. Meanwhile, Hiltz stands over a huge tank and says that the Zoid is almost ready to wake up. The only problem is that if the Zoid core's temperature keeps increasing at that rate, it will only be a matter of time before the Guardain Force detects the heat signature, unless Fiona is already aware of it. In a cave, Hiltz talks to the Dark Kaiser (might be Prozen). Hiltz explains how they were able to fuse the cores of two scorpian Zoids together to form a more powerful Zoid and it's almost time for it to awaken. Raven and Shadow come and then leave without saying anything. Hiltz smirks as Raven walks away. Later, Raven and Shadow look at the stars and Raven vows that he will kill Van.

The work on the Liger is done. Thomas and Irvine argue, and Van fails to stop them from fighting. There are Gun Snipers at that base with special bullets that can penetrate shields. Fiona dreams about the Death Saurer, and feels the evilness of the Zoid in the tank. She gets up and searches for something using a computer while Thomas and Moonbay watch from a distance. Fiona finds what she was looking for and runs off to find Van, who isn't at the base at the moment, so she gets in a Pteras and flies off. Fiona and Thomas decide to follow her. Raven and Shadow watch Fiona fly away and then get into the Geno Breaker. Van gets back to the base and Irvine tells him about Fiona. He wants to go look for her, but then the Geno Breaker approaches the base.

Fiona lands somewhere and Thomas, in the Dibison, and Moonbay, in a Pteras, get there too. Fiona has picked up a Zoid core signature that's temperature is the same as the surface of the sun, the strongest ever. Hiltz watches them and laughs, since they're too late to stop him. A huge Hammerhead-like Zoid appears and then a huge tank rises out of the ground. Hiltz announces the beginning of the end of the world. Meanwhile, Irvine and Van battle Raven, who's shield gets penetrated by the Gun Snipers' bullets. Hiltz says that the Zoid in the tank is the most evil Zoid of legend, the bringer of death, messenger of doom, the Death Stinger, and the tank opens to reveal it. Thomas fires a megalo max at it, but there's no effect. Hiltz explains that the ancient Zoidians made two ultra-violent scorpian Zoids to contain the Death Saurer. He fused the cores of the two Zoids together to make the Death Stinger. Hiltz orders the Death Stinger to fire a huge charged particle beam, which misses Thomas, Fiona, and Moonbay.

Hiltz's target wasn't Thomas, Fiona, or Moonbay, but Van. Raven and Van are still fighting when they see the huge beam approaching. Van manages to get away, but Raven gets knocked around a bit by the edge of the blast. The Death Stinger is loaded onto the Hammerhead-like Zoid, which flies off. Fiona figures out that Hiltz was aiming for Van and tries to contact him. Meanwhile, Raven falls out of the damaged Geno Breaker and Shadow ejects. The Organoid is a burning red color and Raven runs to him, but Shadow turns to stone. Raven cries for his Organoid.

Episode 24. Attack of the Winged Dragons

Hiltz's transport, the Hammergaiser (spelling might not be right) rises into orbit. Fiona reports to Hermann and tells him what's happening. She and Moonbay can't fly that high because their Pteras's wings are damaged. Then Hiltz makes a transmission to all bases and Zoids. He's looking at a city and asks Hermann what it's called. Hermann won't say, but Hiltz says that it won't need a name soon. The Death Stinger fires a charged particle beam and destroys the city. Hiltz says that that's just the beginning. He's going to destroy New Helic City, the Republican capital city. Hermann reports to the President that their weapons can't reach the Hover Kaiser, so the plan is to get two Storm Sworders into space to destroy it. He gets Moonbay and Fiona to get the Zoids ready quickly. Van and the others are going to the base when they are attacked by some of Hiltz's men. Hiltz destroys a lab with a telescope that was being used to track his location.

Van stays to fight Hiltz's men with some help from ally troops. Irvine and Thomas are going to pilot the Storm Sworders. In a desert, Raven looks sadly at Shadow, who was turned to stone, in the Geno Breaker's claw. Riece watches him take off. The Republicans have picked up the Hammergaiser on radar and have a little over an hour before it will be in range to fire a charged particle beam. Hiltz destroys whatever he wants that's on his path. Thomas and Irvine get to the base where the Storm Sworders are. Fiona's worried about Van, but Moonbay tries to cheer her up. Van's still fighting Hiltz's men, but more Zoids show up to fight him. Van's allies are really damaged, but Van doesn't give up.

Irvine and Thomas suit up. They will have to be careful, since they will be traveling so fast that any sudden movements will tear the Storm Sworders apart. Then they get into the Zoids and are launched. They fly up towards the Hammergaiser with the help of some extra boosters, which are jettisoned when they get high enough. They fire missiles at the transport, but miss. Hiltz used electromagnetic jamming to lock the missiles onto a decoy target. Hermann wants Irvine and Thomas to come back, but they refuse to give up. They fly right towards the transport and dodge fire by maneuvering slightly. They open the blades on the Storm Sworders' wings and slice through each side of the transport.

The Hammergaiser falls and crashes on the planet. Irvine and Thomas fly down to check it out. They think that the Death Stinger was destroyed, but then a charged particle beam shoots out of the wreckage and clips the wings of the Storm Sworders. The Death Stinger survived the crash and crawls out of the wreckage heading towards New Helic City. Van has beat all of Hiltz's men, though his Zoid was damaged badly, and then he sees Riece's blue Geno Saurer. Raven arrives at his old home with Shadow.

Episode 25. The Capital Collapses

New Helic City is being evacuated because the Death Stinger is headed there. Rudolf says that he will help in any way he can. A Pteras moniters the Death Stinger's movement. Irvine and Thomas get there and talk to Hermann, who tells them that the Death Stinger will get to the city in a few hours. The plan is to destroy the Death Stinger using lava. When it gets to the mountain where the lava rises close to the surface, they will fire some missiles and make it explode. Van is battling Riece, but isn't doing too well because of his really damaged Zoid. Raven, at his house, thinks of how beginnings and endings are related. The Death Stinger changes course and heads underground.

Hermann cancels the deployment of the bombing unit and Irvine and Thomas find him to ask what's going on. Hermann orders all aerial Zoids to go out and look for the Stinger. He tells Irvine and Thomas that the Stinger is heading for the lava. Thomas says that Hiltz is doing that to show that the Stinger doesn't have any weaknesses. Karl Shubaltz and his troops arrive at New Helic City to help out. He goes to a meeting with Hermann, the President, and other people. They go over a plan to fight the Death Stinger. After that, a hologram of Hiltz appears. The President wants to know why he's doing all of this. Hiltz says that there are two kinds of people; the strong and the weak. Only the strong will prosper, so they are the only ones who have the right to survive. It's his duty to destroy the weak. Then he says that he will be seeing them soon and the hologram disappears.

Then the Death Stinger breaks out of the ground in the city. Hiltz used the lava to get there. Raven thinks about his life and decides that he doesn't want to be alone again. Shadow glows and then disappears. Raven gets into his Geno Breaker and flies off. The Empire and Republic are doing everything they can to stop the Death Stinger, but it looks like it's going to be really hard to stop it when it puts its shield up. Irvine and Thomas attack it from behind, but get caught in its back claws and thrown into the air. They survive and Karl, in his Saber Fang, and Hermann, in a Shield Liger, come up with a plan to attack it. Hermann will use his Liger's shield to neutralize the Stinger's shield. It works, but Hermann gets shot down. Karl jumps to attack, but gets caught in a claw and thrown aside.

The backup troops arrive, but they're no match for the Death Stinger. Raven arrives to avenge Shadow's death. Van's still fighting Riece, but then she flies off for some reason. All of the troops are ordered to withdraw from the city. They lost. They are heading to a lake. Raven is beaten by Hiltz, who taunts Raven. Raven falls out of his Zoid to stand before the Stinger. Hiltz says that Raven will be killed for betraying the Dark Kaiser and powers up a charged particle beam. Riece arrives and gets out of her Zoid to stand next to Raven. Hiltz says that he doesn't remember calling for her assistance. Riece asks if that means that he doesn't need her anymore, and Hiltz confirms this remarking about how she didn't even need to get into his head to figure it out. The beam is fired and the entire city is destroyed. Later, Van arrives at the ruins and figures out that everyone went to the lake. At the lake, the water is drained to reveal something huge at the bottom.

Episode 26. The Giant Fortress

Rudolf is told that all the remaining forces from the battle with the Death Stinger are heading towards Windeen Lake (spelling might not be right). Van and the others are going to the lake and they talk about a top-secret weapon that's there. It's rumored that the weapon would only be used as a last resort. When they get to the bottom of the lake, they see a huge dinosaur-like Zoid, the Ultrasaurus. Inside the large cockpit, Hermann reports to Krueger that the defense of New Helic City was a failure. The President then arrives in her Hammerhead. Van and the others go into the Ultrasaurus and are greeted by Krueger, who explains about the huge Zoid. They discovered it a while ago and have been working on it for ten years. There are seven power blocks, but only six are working right now. The seventh is still being powered up and will be done in three hours. They need all the power blocks working to re-awaken the Zoid core. Then they have to go to the Empire to pick up something they need for the Ultrasaurus.

Moonbay plays with the controls of the Ultrasaurus and a guy yells at her. She yells back, but sees something outside and then thinks she's just seeing things. Meanwhile, Hiltz is watching the Ultrasaurus. Van has a talk with Hermann, who's given up hope. He gets Hermann to believe that they can win if they try with everything they have. Then the Death Stinger is detected emerging nearby. There are three mountains in its path, so that will buy some time, hopefully. It will take him three hours to go around the mountains and the seventh power block will be working in two. Then, the Death Stinger fires a charged particle beam at the first mountain. Hiltz plans to shoot a hole through all the mountains so he can hit the Ultrasaurus sooner, in 30 minutes. Hermann won't give up, though. Moonbay works on the controls, Fiona and Thomas go to link all the other power blocks to the seventh one so it will power up quickly, and Van and Irvine go to fight the Death Stinger.

When Van and Irvine go out of the Ultrasaurus, they are attacked by Helcats. Karl and his troops back Van and Irvine up. O'Connell gets data from Beek to help them. The Death Stinger will soon be able to hit the huge Zoid. More Helcats take the place of the ones destroyed, so Van makes Karl and his troops retreat because he doesn't want them to waste their time. Van and Irvine keep fighting the Helcats. Fiona and Thomas finish up their job and Moonbay tries to activate the Zoid core, but nothing happens. Hermann runs a check on the links between the power blocks and removes a safety feature. Then Moonbay tries again and the Ultrasaurus wakes up. They pulled off a miracle.

The Ultrasaurus stands up and rocks fall off of it, crushing some Helcats. The Death Stinger can now hit the large Zoid. It fires a charged particle beam and the Ultrasaurus tries to dodge it. There's an explosion and lots of smoke, and then the Ultrasaurus appears unharmed. Van and Irvine continue to fight the Helcats while the Ultrasaurus heads into the sea. Fiona yells for Van to come back alive because she's always believed in him.

Contest

Anime Series 2

Anime Series 3