VR Troopers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| VR Troopers | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Action-Adventure-Drama |
| Creator(s) | Haim Saban |
| Starring | Brad Hawkins Michael Bacon Sarah Brown Gardner Baldwin Julian Combs Richard Rabago Michael Sorich Aaron Pruner Kerrigan Mahan Zeb |
| Country of origin | United States/Japan |
| No. of episodes | 92 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | fist-run syndication |
| Original run | September 3, 1994 – January 21, 1996 |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
VR Troopers (Virtual Reality Troopers) was a syndicated live action show produced by Saban (creators of the similar Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series) from 1994 to 1996. The show tried to profit from the short-lived Virtual Reality fad of the 1990s as well as the success of Power Rangers.
The show featured early CGI and video effects mixed with Japanese stock footage from three different "Metal Heroes" series: Super Machine Man Metalder, Dimensional Warrior Spielban, and Space Sheriff Shaider. This kind of adaptation technique was originally used in anime with shows like Robotech and Voltron. This was the first and only time this was used for a tokusatsu adaptation.
The series was deemed successful; unfortunately, the Japanese footage was quickly used up. Similarly, another Saban program, Big Bad Beetleborgs, would do well but ultimately end quickly due to a lack of stock footage. Both series were adapted from the Japanese Metal Hero genre, which ended in Japan around the same time.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The series centers around a character named Ryan Steele, a young man searching for his missing father, Tyler Steele, a computer expert who (by all accounts) was taken by the Evil Grimlord and is lost somewhere in the Virtual world. Many episodes begin and end at the temple where the two trained, with Ryan pondering on lessons he has learned from his father. The VR Troopers' transformation was initialized with the transformation call, "Trooper Transform! We are VR!"
[edit] Cast
[edit] Other voices
- Stephen Apostolina - Spikebot, Scissor Fist, Arachnabot
- Michael Bacon - Transmutant
- Gardner Baldwin - Laserbot, The Eliminator
- Steve Cassling - Charmador
- Julian Combs - Ghost Biker
- James Douglas - Fanbot
- Richard Epcar - Col. Icebot, Slashbot, Frogbot, Cannonbot, Dark Heart (2nd Voice), Chrome Dome, Graybot (when Zelton was him), Dice Swordbot (2nd Voice), Slice Swordbot (3rd voice)
- Tom Fahn - Trooper Terminator, Dream Master
- Eddie Frierson - Gunslinger, Rollbot
- Joe Hackett - Woodman Monster
- Andrea Harmon - Desponda
- Richard Steven Horvitz - Minotaurbot (2nd voice)
- John C. Hyke - Transformatron
- Chuck Kovacic - Wolfbot (2nd Voice)
- Steve Kramer - Drillbot, Terminoid, Transgressor
- Lex Lang - "Shish-kebot" (assumed name?)
- Wendee Lee - Red Python, Knighttime, Lizbot
- Kerrigan Mahan - Dark Heart (1st Voice), Mutant Jeb
- Dave Mallow - Air Stryker, Toxoid, Fistbot (2nd voice), Magician (replacement voice), Irradiator, Series Announcer
- Michael McConnohie - Fiddlebot
- Matt K. Miller - Combax
- Tony Oliver - Dice Swordbot Brother (1st Voice)
- Brad Orchard - Spiderbot, Slice Swordbot (2nd voice), Dice Swordbot (3rd voice), Bazookabot
- Scott Page-Pagter - The Blade, Renegade, Fistbot (1st voice), Snowbot, Venobot, Bugbot, Forkoid
- Bob Papenbrook - Spitbot (normal voice), Footbot, Vanbot, Serpentoid
- Mike Reynolds - General Ivar, Metalbot (when Zelton was him), Blue Boar, Minotaurbot (1st Voice), Amphibidor (1st Voice)
- Paul St. Peter - Torpedobot
- Brianne Siddall - Cobrot, Wolfbot (1st Voice)
- Michael Sorich - Decimator, Slice Swordbot Brother (1st Voice), Spitbot (substitute voice), Vacbot, Horrorbot, Tankatron, Zelton
- Terrence Stone - Magician, Amphibidor (2nd voice), Photobot
- Randy Swerdlick - Puppetoid
- Kirk Thornton - Mechanoid
- Ezra Weisz - Silkoid, Duplitronic
- Tom Wyner - Fighterbot, Kongbot, Metaborg, Hammerbot, Metalbot, Crabor, Cranoid, Skullbot
[edit] Production
The show was originally called Cybertron, but was changed to VR Troopers later for because of a copyright issue with Hasbro. The production studio kept the name Cybertron Productions for the show's lifespan, similar to how Power Rangers kept the name of its original season ("MMPR Productions") until it closed in 2002.
Jason David Frank was originally cast as the part of Ryan Steele. However, he had to withdraw; his popularity on Power Rangers forced him to return to that series. He filmed one episode back when the show was known as Cybertron. At the time, Frank's character was called Adam Steele.[1]
Like Power Rangers, VR Troopers used a combination of American footage spliced with fight scenes from Japanese shows. The Japanese shows adapted in to VR Troopers are Space Sheriff Shaider, Dimensional Warrior Spielban, and Super Machine Metalder. All three come from Toei's Metal Heroes series. Specifically, Ryan's first season suit was that from Metalder and his second season suit was from Space Sheriff Shaider. Both JB's and Kaitlin's suits came from Spielban.
Out of all of Saban's tokusatsu adaptations, VR Troopers uses the oldest source-footage of any series. Shaider was aired from 1984 to early 1985, making it 11 years old when first used for VR Troopers in 1995; Spielban was aired from 1986 to early 1987, making it 8 years old when originally used in 1994; and Metalder was originally aired in 1987, making it seven years old when it was adapted in 1994.
Because more than one Japanese show was used in an episode at any given time, Ryan's alter-ego was never in the same action scene as JB or Kaitlin's (since they were taken from two different shows). Due to this, every episode involved some sort of plot device that separated Ryan from the other two, forcing them to fight separately. Almost every episode ended with either Ryan or JB destroying the monster of the day (Kaitlin never got to destroy any on her own), at which point his missing comrade(s) would come running up to inquire how the fight went. The only time the group fought "together" was all original American footage.
VR Troopers as an adaptation is different in many ways than from Power Rangers and Big Bad Beetleborgs. Because it was syndicated, the monsters were destroyed more violently; mutant/robot destructions included the monster being split in half, impaled, and decapitated. None of the VR Trooper forms were given names since none of them had one main color.
The show lasted two seasons (1994-95 and 95-96) with nearly 100 episodes before it was cancelled in favor of Big Bad Beetleborgs, which continued to use footage from the Metal Heroes shows Juukou B-Fighter and B-Fighter Kabuto.
The series was canceled because all the fight footage was used up. All three of the metal hero shows used in the series had a lot of human vs. human battles. However, because the fights featured close-ups of Japanese actors, it was deemed unusable. Distance shots were usable in some of the fights, and battles with the monster footage were also kind of limited (splicing up to 2-3 episodes), but otherwise such footage was limited. In addition, because many episodes of fight footage from Metalder/Shaider and Spielban were being used in a single episode, the footage ran out faster.
In Season 1, the show would open with the traditional "Today on VR Troopers" teaser, showing scenes from the episode and narrated by a general announcer. After the "Quest For Power" mini-series in Season 2, however, Ryan, Kaitlin, or J.B. took over the part and narrated the teaser (and in the first-person to boot).
Various voice actors were listed under different pseudonyms in this series. For example, in the Season 1 end credits, Kerrigan Mahan was credited under his pseudonym, Ryan O'Flannigan (which was also the name credited for doing the voice of Goldar in the early seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers); in Season 2, he would be credited under his real name and was properly identified as Jeb's voiceover. Likewise, Richard Epcar was occasionally listed in the end credits under a pseudonym of his own, Richard George (although at times was also listed under his real name), and Mike Reynolds was credited under the name Ray Michaels.
[edit] See also
| Power Rangers |
|---|
| Television series |
| Mighty Morphin Power Rangers • Alien Rangers • Zeo • Turbo • Space • Lost Galaxy • Lightspeed Rescue • Time Force |
| Wild Force • Ninja Storm • Dino Thunder • S.P.D. • Mystic Force • Operation Overdrive |
| Movies |
| Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie • Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie |
| Characters |
| Rangers • Zords • Villains • Enemy grunts • Monsters • Other Characters |
| Related series from Saban Entertainment |
| VR Troopers • Masked Rider • Big Bad Beetleborgs • The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog • Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation |
| Other related series |
| Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad • Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills |
| See also |
| Fox Kids • ABC Kids • ABC Family • Toon Disney • Jetix • Saban • Disney • Super Sentai |
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ May 1994 issue of Disney Adventures
