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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Ogre in the Playground
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    Default Galaxy Rangers - Revisited

    Spoiler: Introduction
    Show
    I grew up with Saturday Morning Cartoons (that did not only ran on saturday morning, but also afternoon, sunday morning and in some cases even under the week in the afternoon...).

    Overall I prefered the more serious or cynical shows to the more light-hearted and comedic shows. I usualy skiped Duck Tales, TaleSpin and Animaniacs (but NOT Bugs Bunny! I loved Bugs Bunny). Anything related to superheroes, be it actual Marvel/DC stuff or other shows featuring superpowered protagonists like TMNT or Capaint Planet, was definitely on my "to watch" list but (with one exception) were not my favorite shows.

    But when shows like Ghostbusters, Batman The Animated Series (thats the exception), Captain Future or Bob Morane ran on TV I was glued to the screen and absolutly hyped and pumped up. Those were the real deal!.
    In my memory there was one show that was my absolute favorite: Galaxy Rangers.

    Aside from just enjoying the show I also remember myself telling "Galaxy Rangers has tought me everything I know about Science Fiction". So in addition to the entertainment value, had the show any kind of formative influence on me?


    Earlier the week out of some kind on nostalgic reflex I typed "Galaxy Rangers" into the youtube search and to my surprise I found a complete playlist of all 64 episodes. In german, even! Now I have the possibility to relive that part of my childhood.


    Spoiler: Premise and setting of the show
    Show
    It is the far future of... probably somewhere in the beginning of the 22nd century. Humanity was gifted the plans for an FTL drive from friendly aliens (such drives can now be produced by Earth) in 2086. Since then humans have explored and colonized distant worlds, a galaxy that is already inhabited by a multitude of spacefaring humanoid species. In contrast to other Space Opera settings there are almost no interstellar political entities and as such most of the galaxy appears like a heterogeneous (regarding to alien species) Wild West. Including "horses".

    To protect the colonists Earth (which appears to unified, at least from the outside) has created an paramilitary organisation called BETA that helds up values like law and justice. In time not only humans began to rely on BETA cementing the organisations status as an interstellar police force (with maybe a little bias for protecting Earths interests...).
    The special forces of BETA are called Galaxy Rangers.

    After an attack on a important human-kiwi colony (kiwis are a halfling-like species most friendly to humans) by the so-called Crown Empire, BETA agrees to "double the guards" and creates a new team of Rangers. The members of this team will be the protagonists for this show. Each ranger is augmented by some sort of nano-implant that enhances special abilities the individual already posesses. Those abilities can vary quite a bit which makes this a curious piece of technology.

    This new team is composed of:
    - Zachary Foxx (mostly just "Zach"): the leader and overall straight man of the band. Has a typical family with wife and two kids but his wife got abducted by the Crown Empire. Strangely enough he doesn't seem to feel much urgency in rescueing her
    In the frist episode he got shot and severly wounded by a blaster (a detail that is very easy to miss if you dont pay attention), so much in fact that at least his arm and probably more of his body had to be replaceds by cybernetic prothesis. I looks normal from the outside, but has now a built-in and very powerful lightning canon in his arm.
    - Niko: a level-headed woman with latent psychic powers that often is the voice of reason in the team. She also seems to be interested in alien culture and art. So far I know next to nothing about her past and I hope she gets some spotlight as the show progresses. Her implant increases her psychic powers to.. do whatever the author needs at the moment Other then that she has the most sophisticated martial arts techniques in the team.
    - Walter Hartford (mostly "Doc"): a snarky and of course a bit nerdy "TechWizard". He is good in all things sciency and techy. His ability to create semi-intelligent programms to influence the behaviour of all machines and robots is highly increased by is implant.
    - Shane Gooseman (mostly "Goose"): a vat-grown supersoldier (the program has since been disbanded by Earth...) who is the most daring and most impusive of the band. Besides his excellent fighting and shooting skills he is also a "metamorph". I have no idea what this actually means in this setting but in conjuction with his implant he can reconfigure his body to create various effects mostly defensive in nature. For instance he can increas his armor class, gain fire resistance or the ability to survive in space.

    So, who is this Crown Empire? An interstellar power for that is heavily implied to be a shadow of its former self (although the reasons for that downfall have not been mentioned for now). It is headed by an entity only known as the Crown Queen (who appears rather human...). Its enforcers are known as Crown Agents (you can spot the pattern here...) who look and sound like humanoid robots.... but there is good evidence that they are actually living beings in body armor with voice modulation
    While the Crown Queen is certainly up to no good, the domains under the Empires influence have pretty normal civil life.

    The Crown Queen and her empire form a backround threat of the show that pops up from time to time. In most episode the Rangers deal with whatever problem of the week is at hand, always local or personal in nature.

    Main inspiration are StarWars and the Western genre.



    After having watched the first seven episodes I think I can draw some first conclusions:

    Spoiler: Resume
    Show
    0. Entertainment value - now and then
    I actually enjoy watching this show! This is not a given with kid's shows. Your tastes changes as you age and unfortunately many kid shows present simplyfied or dumbed-down subject matters, worldbuilding and characters. While some of the dialogue, characters and scenes reflect the shows intented target audience most of the show's content could be transported into any SciFi show with a more mature target audience without any changes. But more on that later.
    And I can totally see why I enjoyed this show so much as a kid. My point of the last paragraph plays a role in this: kids are often smarter than the adults give them credit for and often notice (even only subconsciously) if they are talked down to. I can see that I appreciated a show like Galaxy Ranges that treats the audience as intelligent beings as a kid. Also, the breadth of topics, the multidimensional characters and the sheer volume of sci-fi elements were probably quite... stimulating for me as a kid.

    1. Characters
    There is much to like about the characters in Galaxy Rangers:
    a) The protagonists:
    - skilled special forces, not superheroes: the 4 titular main characters are portayed as highly talented, well trained and well equiped individuals. They are brave and have sense for justice - like you would expect of members of the special forces of the galatic police force. While they are pretty confident in their abilities, they are not invincible or even overly powerful. This extends to their equipment including the starships: nothing is really special or overly powerful. Some items might be of high quality (the robo-steeds certainly are), but everything can be lost, stolen, or blown up.
    - humans, not fanatics: the rangers, while clearly being "good guys", are not fanatical embodiments of virtue.
    - persons, not quirks: compared to characters of other shows the rangers personality traits are not overdrawn. Sure, Zach is "the straight man", Niko "the voice of reason", Walter "the witty nerd" and Shane "the gung-ho daredevil", but none of that is overblown (in my view) and they have other traits as well. Galaxy Rangers in general is pretty light on exposition, both in worldbuilding and in characterisation: in order to get to know the characters have to pay attention on what is shown on screen.
    - a job, not a calling: this might veer into interpretation, but one of the more amusing aspects of the rangers is that they seem to treat their job as Rangers as, well, a job, especially Zach
    I'm interested to see if there is an "of duty" episode.
    b) The "villains" - or rather the anatagonists:
    - more scoundrels and criminals, less cackling villains and dark overlords: with the exception of the Crown Queen the anatgonists so far are a collections of scoundrels and criminals but they are not portrayed in a clear black-and-white way. Sure, they have traits that make them scoundrels and criminals in the first place: being greedy, opportunistic and ruthless for instance. But they have other traits as well, both neutral and positive. When the rangers oppose someone, it is always because of that persons actions and not because they are "evil". There are no clear "sides", there is conflict between antagonists and allegiences can switch during an episode - sometimes even multiple times. And the beauty of it is: all of this is taken as par of the course by the characters. No-one acts suprised if the smugglers has some honour, and nobody bats an eye if the Rangers work together with the same mercenary captain that had attacked them a minute ago if the situation demands it. Not discussing it and calling it out as unusual this cements the settings plurality. For kids this has a high educational value.
    - the Crown Queen: as mentioned, the Crown Queen has more in common with a classical Disney Villain. She is Dark Lord (well, Dark Lady in her case, but gender does not play a big role in Galaxy Rangers) material. Still, there is much less evil laugther then you would expect and even the Crown Queen does not kick the puppy. She also does not plot to destroy the galaxy or wants to destroy the Earth because she just hates humans or whatever. So far her motivations that brought her into conflict with Earth in general and the Rangers in particular is that she uses living beings as a source of energy (the victims die in the process - more on that later) and humans seem to be particular potent for that. A very genorous view could see her as the leader of a crumbling political entity and that she only tries to protect her empire, but I think that is giving her and the writers too much credit. I expect that the Crown Queen and her Crown Empire will function as the clear "evil" power, but I'm interested in what can be learned about them in the rest of the show.
    c) Extras: allies and goons:
    - not of the faceless variant: with the exception of the Crown Agents the cast of characters is a pretty diverse lot. Sure, sometimes members of the same species will look the same. In general the universe is presented as very heterogeneous. In that it mirrors StarWars: the empire has its uniform Storm Troopers but everyone else is rather unique and society is racially diverse.
    - more competent then incompetent: there are very few instances of comically incompetence. Victims are seldom completely hapless, allies are useful and goons are a threat. This ties in with the power level of the Rangers mentioned above: a random mercenary with a blaster pointed at a Ranger is a threat that needs to be taken seriously and may even be enough to force a surrender or retreat.

    2. Themes
    Since I'm just 7 episodes in I can't even say if there is a major plot arc of if its more of a "problem of the week" format (so far it has been). But I think I have a good impression of what kind of themes I can expect in the future and also what is likely not featured in the show.
    What I don't expect:
    - pretty much anything sexual. It's a kids show afterall and considering how non-sexualized the character designs are I doubt that this is the kind of crap that is being get past the radar in this show. Fine by me.
    - interpersonal relationships in any detail: so far this has not been in focus at all. Are Shane and Walter friends, do they hang out after work? No idea. What does Zach think of his superiors? No clue! In time we get to know more of the characters, but this is not Star Trek.
    - deep personality studies: what is true for the interpersonal conflicts is also true for the intrapersonal conflicts. While I do think the characters provide a lot of material, so far conflicts have only been hinted at. Again this is not Star Trek.
    What I do expect:
    - Well... freedom vs. law, humanities warlike nature, genocide, greed, human diaspora to the stars, interstellar politics, spacefaring civilization vs. indigenous civilization, sciency plot critical points that will go right over the head of the target audience, synthetic vs. organic life, AI, transhumanism, nature vs. technology (regrettably...), war, crime, corruption, betrayal, loyalty. Oh, did I mention genocide? Yeah, because that is apparently a thing, introduced in the second episode no less. In short every sci-fi or Western theme of the 80's without regard of how conventionally kid-friendly it is or not.

    3. Pacing
    As typical for a show of this kind the episode are rather short with about 20 minutes per episode being the norm. Despite that I always have the impression that a lot happens during an episode. I don't think this is unique for Galaxy Rangers as many cartoons are rather fast-paced.
    So far I've noticed several factors that work for Galaxy Rangers in this regard:
    - light on exposition: there are almost no prolonged exposition scenes. The situation at hand of often just shown. Worldbuilding is done by what is shown on screen and hinted at by what (and how) characters say. Sometime the specific choice of words is important. For instance: a simple sentence "A Crown destroyer has appeared on our sensors!" (emphasis mine) actually tells us quite a lot. There are destroyer type capital ships. The Crown Empire has this one, but probably more.
    - efficient use of frames to convey a scene: packing enough details into a frame to convey the information but still making it easy to follow (and interesting in case of an action sequence) is quite the skill
    - snappy, on the point dialogue: not all dialogue is like that, but I noticed in critical situations dialogue space is used very efficiently.
    - the "camera" does not focus or slow down on "dramatic" scenes: if you do not pay attention you might miss something
    - no power up/transformation scenes: this is not Sailor Moon or DBZ

    4. On-screen violence/bodycount
    I remember that as a kid I was always annoyed how nobody ever dies in most shows. I don't think there was any reflection behind that thought, but I think it just felt wrong. The situations depicted were ones that I knew as a kid to be dangerous and deadly. I mean when I grew up there was war in Europe! There was war in Iraq! (Of course there was war in Afrika, but western media has been rather uninterested in that) I knew that what conflict was and that people die in those conflicts!
    Conversely I was pleasently suprised when for instance a Lady Oscare episode showed how a child was shot and killed (in one of the French Revolution episodes; great show btw.). It felt more real, or something like that.
    Galaxy Rangers is a non-bloody show. But as an action show there is lot of fighting, explosions and firefights. So despite having a no-blood policy there is a lot of violence. And, as I've witnessed from the first 7 episodes, a rather high bodycount.
    But how does Galaxy Rangers manages to show on-screen deaths and still remain a kid show? The secret is to never show the deaths directly. You will never see bodies lying arround that are very clearly dead. Causalties are also never discussed directly (like "There were 500 people on this transport you blew up! You monster!"). So if you want you can turn a blind eye to the carnage. That is getting crap past the radar par excellence
    Galaxy Rangers has three categories of on-screen deaths:
    a) People in exploding buildings and vehicles: Sure, especially with buildings you can always say "well, there was nobody in it in that moment" (even if that makes little sense) or "well, it was evacuated shortly before" (even if no evacuation was ever shown, mentioned or even hinted at). But most cases are clear cut: if a vehicle that is actively shown as being crewed by living breathing creatures is blown up in space there is no doubt about the fate of the crew.
    b) Creatures shot by blasters: Vehicle mounted blaster canons are shown to have a highly destructive power, and personal arms blaster are also evidently dangerous and lethal. They can be set to "stun" but that of course implies that the can also kill. In my review of the show I will assume that all blaster shots are potentially deadly if not otherwise (that is explicitly mentioned by the characters) shown. With that in mind I regard every creature taken out by blaster fire as dead or at least severely wounded (in the show creatures taken out by blasters are usually conviently blasted out of the screen or fall behind some cover so you never see the body )
    c) Creatures put into lethal situations without any indications that they have been rescued: Probably the weakest category as you can't be sure. Here I count things like falling/being shoved into a pit of monsters (seems to happen more often then you would think...), being kicked of the hull of a starship without a jetpack, being attacked by a giant crocodile in one screen and then being suspiciously absent for the rest of the episode.
    Last edited by Zombimode; 2020-11-07 at 11:10 AM.

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Orc in the Playground
     
    Lord Athos's Avatar

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    Default Re: Galaxy Rangers - Revisited

    Hahaha, I loved Galaxy Rangers as a child.
    Still, I don't remember much about the series, except some single episodes, like the one where the space station was overrun with small toy robots.

    If you watch the series and put up some insights, I'll definitely follow along.
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    Ogre in the Playground
     
    GrayDeath's Avatar

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    Default Re: Galaxy Rangers - Revisited

    Oh Man, I loved them

    So much so that I actually watched them in English back then on saturday Mornings....one Class before we started having English.
    Not that I udnerstood stuff, but the look, the feel, all simply fit.


    Say, where are you watching them?
    I would very much do a rewatch now that you`ve poiinted me there!
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    Titan in the Playground
     
    Aotrs Commander's Avatar

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    Default Re: Galaxy Rangers - Revisited

    You know, despite me remembering the show (and especially the song), it was never one I tracked down on DVD to watch like the others. I think possibly because the western bend doesn't gel with me too well...? Not enough vehicles? Possibly qeually as likely, it was not shown for very long on UK telly.

    (And, like... Pretty much ALL of the series of that llk, only the first few episodes. UK kid's TV has always treated as junk then as now; in the 1980s it was they'd buy the first dozen or so episodes, and then repeat ad-nauseum, which meant on re-watching the series on DVD, I remembered larger chunks of the early ones and nothing of the later ones. I think my favourite, Centurions, must have gotten the furthest, and maybe Transformers got to chunks of season two, but the rest I never recalled anything beyond the first dozen or so. I'm thus quite surprised Galaxy Rangers even HAS 64 episodes (though I shouldn't be, as for probably two decades I assumed that was all they'd made of Jayce.))

    Still, Galaxy Rangers cannot possilbly be as bad as the worst of its contemporaries MASK, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and Thundercats.



    (Yes, I too was surprised that Thundercats is on that list, but when I have tried watching it again, it really is kind of absolutely terrible; to the point, that having gotten the ruddy thing on DVD, I can only force myself through a handful of episodes at once because OH MY LICHEMASTER. (It has 128 episodes HOW?!) I genuinely found Thundercats Roar to be 100% better. Anyone who thinks I'm insane should go and watch Madora the Evil-Chaser in both series...)

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Ogre in the Playground
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    Default Re: Galaxy Rangers - Revisited

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Athos View Post
    If you watch the series and put up some insights, I'll definitely follow along.
    Ok, I will write up some impressions and summaries for future episode, starting probably tomorrow with episode 16.


    Quote Originally Posted by GrayDeath View Post
    Say, where are you watching them?
    I would very much do a rewatch now that you`ve poiinted me there!
    Here you go!
    Oh, a slight correction: there are 65 episodes... but episode 59 is missing from this playlist.

    Quote Originally Posted by Aotrs Commander View Post
    You know, despite me remembering the show (and especially the song), it was never one I tracked down on DVD to watch like the others. I think possibly because the western bend doesn't gel with me too well...? Not enough vehicles?
    Oh, there are plenty of vehicles - both land-based and spacecraft. And things blow up with a frightening regularity. The missions of the Galaxy Rangers are expensive

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    DruidGirl

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    Default Re: Galaxy Rangers - Revisited

    Watched some episodes was initially interested, but it was around that time I started noticing schticks in these programs that caused me to lose interest.
    Best wishes if they ever tried to reboot this I hope they avoid that particular problem it had a good premise and varied enough cast your posts made me remember some of its better points so look forward to reading your posts about the rest of this series!

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