The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers

[Panthro]

Not to be confused with any of the seemingly endless entries/sequels/spin offs/variations of Power Rangers, The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers was a mid-80s space opera western, described by some as "Firefly told from the perspective of the Alliance", focusing on the title characters, a group of cowboy themed space cops dealing with a variety of threats across the frontier universe, including (but not limited) to corrupt businessmen, bounty hunters, and most prominently the evil Maleficent-esque Queen of the Crown, mistress of an army of Slaver Lords who go around sucking out peoples life force and imprisoning them in slaver crystals.

The main protagonists are Zachary Foxx (voiced by the late Jerry Orbach) the John Wayne-esque leader with a cyborg arm, Shane "Goose" Gooseman (yeah, that really is his name) a 'super trooper' and Clint Eastwood lookalike, the Jean Grey-esque Nico (she basically looks like a brunette version of Jean, right down to the occasional Phoenix style pose & psychic power), and the light hearted computer whiz Walter "Doc" Hartford (likeness based on Billy Dee Williams). Allies included the half Yoda/half Hobbit alien race of Kiwis (which is what brought the Queen of the Crown down on humanity in the first place) and... Buzzwang, a C-3P0 knock off who was usually more trouble than he was worth.

An interesting and often forgotten relic, the show did not lack for the occasional 80s silliness (one episode ends with a planet covered in marsh-mellows) the series could be surprisingly dark for something that aired in 1985, with episodes touching on mass genocides, body horror, and mind rape (as seen in the "Psychocrypt" episode).

Anyhow I was watching this by way of Netflix a while back and thought I'd pop in here and see if anyone remembered it.

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3EoBl5uBfU[/YT]

Discuss at your leisure friends, Romans, countrymen.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

No guts... NO GLORY!!!

I would kill to see someone take the bare bones of this show, the set up and characters, and really go to town. Freaking Jerry Orbach was Zach!!!

It has it's share of cliche' as yo said, but it was actually TRYING to be more than just a toy commercial. Goose and the rest of the gang could be well rounded at times, and I liked Goose's whole super trooper background. There was some interesting character designs too. I am not sure if there even was a toyline to shill for, so that may have been why the series was cancelled as quick as it was. Does anyone know if the theme song was done by the same guys that did WHEELED WARRIORS, M.A.S.K. ect.?

 

[Panthro]

No guts... NO GLORY!!!

I would kill to see someone take the bare bones of this show, the set up and characters, and really go to town. Freaking Jerry Orbach was Zach!!!

It actually would make for a pretty cool film. Heck, it might even be easier than some other certain 80s properties.

It has it's share of cliche' as yo said, but it was actually TRYING to be more than just a toy commercial. Goose and the rest of the gang could be well rounded at times, and I liked Goose's whole super trooper background. There was some interesting character designs too. I am not sure if there even was a toyline to shill for, so that may have been why the series was cancelled as quick as it was.

Barring the cliches & occasional silliness what stands out most to me is that the show felt more like a product of the early 90s than the mid-80s.

It did have toys - which at the moment I don't have time to Google (but they did show this Roy Rogers happy meal set they'd saved in the DVD) - but according to the special features on the DVDs the creators stated that the show kept hitting older demographics, teens & young adults (like college aged) rather than the toy happy little kids it was actually aimed. It still managed 65 eps, which I think was the standard at the time, and is certainly nothing to sneeze out, especially in this day & age where more & more action shows are killed with extreme prejudice for not selling toys.

Interestingly, the creators say their show was actually more popular overseas than it ever was in America. Germany in particular was very fond of the Galaxy Rangers - so much so that they got the official DVDs before America did!

Does anyone know if the theme song was done by the same guys that did WHEELED WARRIORS, M.A.S.K. ect.?

I think a couple of different bands & musicians contributed tot he show's music, but don't quote me on that.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Cool thread. I love this show, and am still making my way through the series DVD set.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

It was also liked here, in France, at least by me.
Their powers were cool, they had cyber horses and an X Wing like ship, what's not to like !

 

[Pink Ranger]

It was also liked here, in France, at least by me.
Their powers were cool, they had cyber horses and an X Wing like ship, what's not to like !

As I recall, France was the only market where they actually sold the action figures in stores.

 

[Panthro]

Some of the show's toys - http://www.toymania.com/customcorner/cc22/galaxy.shtml


A minor criticism I would like to put out there - the voice acting was a bit stiff. According to the making of docs on the DVD special features the show actually got animated before the voice actors had recorded any dialogue, before they even had a cemented cast, so that once they actually assembled the actors they were forced to loop their dialogue at pre-established lip movements like a Japanese anime dub. The result? Not unlike some anime dubs it often felt like the actors were just reading their dialogue without actually acting it, which wasn't really a problem in scenes where all the characters had to do was talk casually or deliver exposition, but when they had to raise their voices and show some actual emotion they tended to fall flat. Jerry Orbach and Earl Hammond usually fared best, and even they had some flat delivery here and there.

Another criticism of mine which I feel compelled to put in a spoiler tag even though it probably doesn't need it but out of courtesy to any newcomer who may enter the thread -

Spoiler

I was disappointed with how the subplot with Zach's wife Eliza getting her soul trapped in the psycho crystal was handled. Or not handled, as it were. The woman he loved, the mother of his children, suffers a fate worse than death and... the show's writers never really did anything with it. For a guy who was supposed to be obsessed with freeing his wife's life force Zach spent most of the series just going about his Ranger business as usual, to the point where it seemed just about everyone forgot that the guy was supposed to be married; maybe he just really buried himself in his work to cope with it, but that admittedly pushed him dangerously close to being a typical 80s cartoon hero. The only episode to touch on this subplot in depth was "Psychocrypt", and they never resolved it. This had the potential to be a compelling subplot, but the writers just seemed to forget about it, which was unfortunate.

I like to think if this show were being done over now, either as a new animated series or live action, this subplot would be explored and given an actual resolution.

On the plus side, the show's animation was a lot more consistent than most shows of the time periods where one episode it would look just as good as the intro and then the next it... didn't, to put it nicely.