The Rangers (as you might guess from the name) are Wild West space cowboys; they even ride robo-steeds.
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Even though I was just the right age to be the target audience in 1986, I somehow missed "The Adventures of the Galaxy Ranger." Even watching several episodes didn´t trigger so much as the faintest memory. But judging by the ample "Rangers" material posted on the internet, plenty of fans remember the show fondly.
"Galaxy Rangers" was one of the first anime-style shows produced in the U.S. though, unsurprisingly, the animation was farmed out to Japan. Creator Robert Mandell cut his teeth on an animated version of Gerry Anderson´s "Thunderbirds," and the influence shows very strongly. Much like the Thunderbirds, the Galaxy Rangers are an elite unit of soldiers with really cool weapons and vehicles who are assigned to take care of problems that nobody else can handle.
While the Thunderbirds were firmly set in the military world, Theithe Rangers (as you might guess from the name) are Wild West space cowboys; they even ride robo-steeds.r stated goal is to protect the New Frontier which basically refers to "everywhere other than Earth."
The first two episodes set up the series premise quite efficiently. As the pre-credit introduction informs us, in 2086 two peaceful aliens visited Earth and gave hyper drive technology to the humans in exchange for a strategic alliance. With new engines that could span the galaxy, humans struck out to encounter alien races and bring democracy to troubled regimes (well, sort of.) In the first episode, the Foxx family (along with the friendly aliens Waldo and Zozo) are waylaid by an alien ship. Patriarch and alpha male Zachery Foxx (voiced by Jerry Orbach!) escapes along with his children, but his wife Aliza is held prisoner. Zachery soon discovers that Aliza has been taken prisoner by The Queen of the Crown, your general all-purpose evil chick who would surely be played by Sarah Douglas in the live-action film. Aliza is held in a state of suspended animation and her life-force has been split into two psychocrystals; only when the two halves are united can she be woken up.
Aliza´s predicament, along with the Queen´s threat, provides the impetus for the creation of the Galaxy Rangers, a small band of heroes each powered by bionic BETA (Bureau of Extra-Terrestrial Technology) implants which give each special abilities when activated. Zachery is the leader. Goose is the young turk. Niko is the resident psychic and den mother. Doc is the wise-cracking computer expert. The show also features a host of secondary characters I´ll let you discover for yourself.
The quality of the animation is several steps above the execrable "He-Man," but can still only be generously described as adequate. I´m sure it was more than adequate for kids raised on the show, but then again the same is true of "He-Man." The quality also varies from episode to episode.
The stories feature slight variations on the same theme. All or some of the Rangers show up in a border town on an alien planet. They have to sneak in to hide from the locals and/or the Queen´s spies. And every time they´re cornered, they solve the situation with guns blazing, Clint Eastwood style.
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[release]23822[/release]