In the year After Colony 195, a tyrannical world government rules the earth and its space colonies. A handful of pretty teenage boys appear to provide the only hope of revolution, thanks to five cool-looking "mobile suits" called Gundams, which enable them to battle other heavy machinery - constantly.

On the other side, a group of power-hungry rebels calling themselves Oz hope to gain control of the Earth government, presumably to make it more efficient in its evildoing and squash the Gundam warriors. Meanwhile, a poor-little-rich-girl named Relena wilts under her kind-but-distant father's neglect. She gets a brief reprieve from worrying about her upcoming birthday party when Heero Yuy (the cutest Gundam pilot of all!) joins her school after he washes up on the beach following a parachute landing. But he won't come to her birthday party either.

When he's not busy battling the sinister world government, Heero Yuy spars with a yuppie schoolboy who seems intent on making life tough on Relena as well as the young mecha-jock. Relena realizes Heero's hostility stems not so much from a lack of cuteness on her part, but because she knows about his crash-landing past. Heero vows to destroy the Gundam suit before it causes any more trouble, but remembering how cool it is, he decides to keep it as a "backup." Oz has similar ideas, which prompts a showdown at the docks, ending with Heero getting shot.

Taken captive by the Alliance, Heero is strapped to a strikingly cross-like floating device. One of the nicer female interrogators spares him the pain of truth serum, since it might stunt his growth. Relena is allowed to visit, but her presence leads to more painful hand wringing on her part and a slightly cathartic chat about boys with the interrogator.

Diverging from the main plot so far, most of this episode takes place at the evil Oz organization's army base, where the trainees have a new leader - a butch little bad-ass who knows Lieutenant Zecks from the academy. Her training regiment (slapping cadets, then turning the camp into a strobe-lit dance club) is interrupted by a Gundam attack. She faces off with Wu Fei, who refuses to shoot at her because she's a woman (never mind that she's a woman in a giant robotic fighting suit). Heero waxes grumpy over his broken suit, but eventually steals parts from another Gundam and heads off to fight anyway.

Note: This translation of "Gundam Wing" is the unedited version of the show broadcast on the Cartoon Network. The FCC's often arbitrary guidelines (not prohibiting the word "kill" before a certain time of night, for example) ensure that a toned-down version gets played during daylight hours. But the uncensored "Gundam" is a long way from "Too Hot for TV."

Not to generalize, but this one's for the boys. Particularly boys who aren't terribly discriminating and enjoy watching giant robots slugging it out over and over. Are we repeating ourselves? Well, so is the show. Be prepared for lots of shoptalk about attack strategies and what mobile suit to employ, which (unless you happen to own a mobile suit yourself) is a cue for some viewers' eyes to glaze over.

The predictable fight scenes and projectile-sporting robots should be enough to expose the series' shortcomings in the field of writing and design. If it doesn't, the bad guys' annoying tendency to over-explain themselves in a "Now that I have you cornered, I'm going to tell you my dastardly plan as well as my motivation" vein, will.

Just about the only people who are going to stick with the impersonal action are boys 14-and-under (mentally). Essentially, the battles involve giant robots fighting in the sky or underwater. And while the mobile suits are the center of the show's universe, they seem more like the creations of a bored teenager doodling in math class than bona-fide military hardware. Cannons and sabers sticking out of every orifice may look dramatic, but they're probably far less effective than, say, a well-placed smart missile.

Relena, Heero's love interest, looks like she might be the series' only hope for redemption. But she doesn't quite balance the scales as the diminutive yin to "Gundam Wing's" overwhelming yang. Though mysterious, spunky and angst-ridden, she hangs her head in annoying, self-defeat. Her relationship with Heero is a caustic blend of schoolyard fickleness and, well, the sort of wise, layered love story you'd expect from people sophisticated enough to save the world.

But don't expect any sophistication from the animation. The art smacks of Saturday morning dreck with flat backgrounds and a careless focus. However, each episode usually has one or two genuinely beautiful images and some of the costume illustrations are inspired. The villains, for example, wear military regalia reminiscent of the English officials who once took advantage of the American colonies.

The biggest oppressor here, however, isn't the corrupt Earth Alliance. It's the team that created, marketed and shipped the "Gundam Wing" series. And while imagining dumping bales of "Gundam Wing" tapes into Boston Harbor gratifies, the best weapon may just be the off button on the remote.