There were several inhabited planets around one sun and the peoples were entirely different. For example, there were ice people, fire people, rock people, and a lone survivor that was a machine/electronic lifeform. The main enemy came from far away and their base ship was big, black and might have held a sun inside their ship. I'm kind of fuzzy on the details. I don't know how old the series is but it has been a few years.

Shadow Raiders (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Raiders)