The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers

The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers or simply Galaxy Rangers, is an American animated space Western television series created by Robert Mandell and produced by Transcom Media, Inc. and Gaylord Entertainment Company. It was broadcast in syndication between 1986 and 1989.Terrace, Vincent (2009). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2007 (Volume 1). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. . The series combines sci-fi stories with traditional wild west themes. It is one of the first anime-style shows produced mainly in the United States, although the actual animation was done by the Japanese animation studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha. At the time it aired, The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers was considered a revolutionary children's show.

Plot

The show is set in the future, some time after the year 2086, when two aliens from the planets Andor and Kirwin travel to Earth to search for allies against the expansionist Crown Empire led by the Queen of the Crown. In return for the help, the two aliens gave mankind construction plans for a hyperdrive device. After this key event in human history, interstellar travel flourished and a huge number of colonies emerged in distant star-systems. Alongside the growth of human activities in space, criminal activities also grew, and the new colonies required defense against various threats, including the Crown Empire. A group known as "BETA" (Bureau for Extra-Terrestrial Affairs) was founded to cope with these tasks, with a "Ranger" division being a part of it. BETA is shown to be the major military and exploratory arm of Earth. The organization's headquarters are on Earth. BETA sustains several bases on and around Earth, such as the Longshot Research Facility in the Grand Canyon and the BETA space station in Earth's orbit.

Most of the colonies portrayed in the show specialized in either agriculture or mining "star stones". Many of the planets on the show have names that evoke ideas of a Western setting, Nebraska, Mesa, Ozark, and Prairie being a few.

After the catalyst first episode, "Phoenix", where one of the main characters, Zachary Foxx, loses his wife to the Queen of the Crown, he puts together a group called the Galaxy Rangers, dedicated to providing law and order across the new frontier, ultimately trying to get rid of the Crown Empire. Each ranger is equipped with an experimental piece of tech called the Series-5 to boost natural abilities.

The Series-5 Brain Implant, or S5, is implied to be the closest mankind will ever get to merging with cybernetics. The S5 implant enables a dramatic boost of innate abilities due to its unique conversion of bio-electrical power generated by alpha radiation stored within the badges worn by the Galaxy Rangers.

The Crown Empire, also known as the "Crown", is ruled by the tyrannical Queen of the Crown, who controls a large number of planets in a vast section of the galaxy, all of which she rules as a cruel tyrant. The Queen controls her empire using creatures called Slaver Lords with whom she has a psychic link. Slaver Lords derive their power from the psychic energy of other beings. After the Empire encountered humans, the Queen discovered that they were more suitable for energy extraction than any other previously encountered species.

Characters

Zachary Foxx Zachary Foxx (voiced by Jerry Orbach) is the captain of the series 5 Rangers. He was seriously injured in a battle with a space Pirate named Captain Kidd, resulting in the left side of his body being replaced with bionics. Foxx's bionics allow him to fire blasts of energy with his left arm and gives him extraordinary strength. Foxx is married and a father of two; his wife's mind was kidnapped by the Queen of the Crown and is contained in a "psychocrystal".

Shane Gooseman Shane "Goose" Gooseman was genetically produced in a test tube as part of a government genetic experiment to create a group of enhanced mutant soldiers known as "Supertroopers". A civilian adviser dosed the Supertroopers with a gas meant to speed up their mutation and make them more powerful, but had the side effect of making the Supertroopers more aggressive and mentally unstable. Goose was at the firing range at the time, and thus avoided the gas, thereby becoming the only remaining unaffected trooper. The other troopers were cryogenically imprisoned, but some escaped. Goose was given the option to avoid cryogenic freezing on the condition that he join the Galaxy Rangers and hunt down the escaped Supertroopers. Goose's bionic implants allow him limited control over his body's molecules giving him the ability to heal, absorb energy, and transform his body to adapt to various environmental conditions.

Niko Niko is an archaeologist specializing in ancient cultures. She possesses innate psionic abilities, which allow her to create shields, telekinetically lift objects, and perform clairvoyance. Niko's implant acts as an amplifier, boosting her psionic abilities and increasing their range to several light years. She can also generate a shield of ambient energy which will dramatically drain her implant, but can be augmented by touching the other rangers and drawing power from them.

Niko was born on the colony Alspeth and raised on the planet Xanadu after Alspeth was destroyed. At the age of 19, she left Xanadu to return to her people and joined the Galaxy Rangers. After the academy, she was accepted into the experimental Series 5 program. She was later assigned to the Series 5 Rangers as their mystic and archaeological expert.

Walter Hartford Walter "Doc" Hartford is a swashbuckling character who fights with a sword, a gun, and his fists. He is a computer genius who, along with the BETA Scientist 'Q-Ball', is responsible for most of the automated systems that the Galaxy Rangers use. His series 5 implants allow him to control any computer system through the use of "programs", which appear as holographic geometric shapes that he can communicate with. Doc's Computer Diagnostic Unit (CDU) acts as a focus for his implant abilities.

Doc was born in Jamaica to wealthy parents, and was educated in private school. He left to join the Ranger Corps after he signed up with some biochemical corporations to help them produce better computer programs, but found out that his skills were not being challenged.

Episodes

Theme songs

"No Guts, No Glory" The theme song for the show, "No Guts, No Glory", was featured in the opening credits and preceded by a spoken introduction. The song was written and composed by Phil Galdston and John Van Tongeren, and performed by Van Tongeren using the stage name Johnny Vancouver. The song was also featured in the end credits for episodes 1-35 and episode 37.

"Rangers Ride Forever" The song "Rangers Ride Forever" (commonly known as "Rangers Are Forever"), which featured as the end theme for episodes 36 and 38-65, was performed by the UK rock/AOR band FM, whose lead singer is Steve Overland. FM also performed the song "Showdown" (commonly referred to as "Out Beyond The Stars"), which was included as foreground music in several episodes. Both songs were written and composed by brothers Steve and Chris Overland.

Home releases Hasbro's Entertainment One currently owns the DVD distributions rights to Galaxy Rangers through Koch Vision (and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in several non-US countries). Four Galaxy Rangers DVDs, each containing four episodes, were released in the United States. Koch has released the entire series which consists of two box sets. The first set was released on May 13, 2008 and the second set was released on August 19, 2008.

KSM Film in Germany released the series on DVD in 5 episode volumes from May to November 2005, 25 episode volumes from April to August 2006, a complete set (65 episodes over 4 discs) in June 2008 with a Blu-ray (65 episodes on 1 disc) version released in November 2012. The Blu Ray version is presented in standard definition.

Reception The show has become a cult favorite and been considered innovative and ahead of its time. It has been praised for its unique sense of humor and well defined characters, without the trait of clichés to sell toys which was common among shows at that time.

The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers

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