The Ruby series chronicles the adventures of the greatest female Galactic Gumshoe on the Planet Summa Nulla. Formerly known as Ruby Tuesday, Ruby’s quests to solve the mysteries assigned to her have taken her from the black deserts of the Great Outer Greepo to the fantastic Invisible World to the formerly nonexistent 5-D moon of Sonto Lore.

As of now, there are six complete Ruby Stories, appropriately labeled Ruby 1 through 6. There is also a first incarnation of Ruby in Tired of the Green Menace, back when she was called Ruby Tuesday and lived in Earth’s solar system. There are also three pilot episodes ("test runs," in other words) that take place on Summa Nulla, but these three are in another ZBS creation, Stars & Stuff, and are not available individually (four pilots are included in the CD version Tired of the Green Menace?).

The original Ruby was voiced by Laura Estermann, who starred in Tired of the Green Menace, the pilot episodes and Ruby 1 and 2. Ruby was originally described as a renegade psychic with a tendency to fall in love unexpectedly (at least in the pilot episodes). However, she straightens out in Ruby 1, a smart, swift, heavily armed detective, born with the uncanny ability to slow time.

Ruby 1 also stars in Ruby 2, but a new Galactic Gumshoe is stealing the stage. Ruby 2 (or Too) only appears in one adventure, voiced by Karen Young. She is very much like Ruby 1, except for several subtleties: her voice is more feminine (at least to And/Or, the techie, who has a crush on her), she only uses her blaster when absolutely necessary, her laugh isn’t as much of a cackle as Ruby 1’s, and she cannot slow time. Both Ruby 1 and Ruby 2 vanish near the end of Ruby 2.

The Ruby in the 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th series is played by Blanche Blackwell. At first, I thought this was an entirely different person than Laura, but Glenn Huang informed me that they are the same person. Since ZBS actors are known to create pseudonyms for themselves, I can believe his claim. Thanks, Glenn!

The planet of Summa Nulla, meaning "the high point of nothing," is similar to old earth in many ways, but with many unexpected surprises to be heard and envisioned. The number of Summa Nulla’s moons has fluctuated frequently over the course of the series, from seven in the first two pilot episodes to four in the fourth pilot episode (available only on the CD version of Tired of the Green Menace?) to six in Ruby 1, three in Ruby 2 and 3, four in Ruby 4, and back to three again in Ruby 5 and 6 (unless you count the merged planet of Summa Nulla and Sonto Lore.)

The era of time in which the adventures take place has also bounced around, from the 25^th century in Tired if the Green Menace to the 24^th in the pilot episodes to the late 21^st in 1-6. The amount of time between each adventure and the question of whether the series actually hits 2100 A. D. is unresolved. At least for now.