Space Rangers (television)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Space Rangers was a short-lived futuristic, science fiction television series in 1993. The show was created by Pen Denshaw & Trilogy Entertainment Group. A total of six episodes were produced.
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[edit] Premise
In the year 2104, an Earth colony on the distant planet of Avalon called Fort Hope struggles to survive. A small force of police/marines called the "Space Ranger Corps." are the first, last, and only line of defense for the colonists against crime and the perils of interstellar exploration. The series concentrates on Captain John Boone and his team of Rangers aboard Ranger Slingship #377.
[edit] Cast of Characters
Captain John Boone (Jeff Kaake) - Boone is leader of Ranger Slingship #377. He's a hard-boiled cop who's chief concern is getting the job done and returning his Rangers home safe and sound. His personal life is a different story as he's estranged from his wife, Sarah and young daughter, Roxanne. They have relocated back to Earth leaving Boone alone at his Fort Hope station. He keeps an old U.S.silver dollar in his pocket during missions for good luck.
Doc Kreuger (Jack McGee) - Slingship #377's grizzled flight engineer. Doc has been injured in the line of duty so many times that more of his body is cybernetic than of flesh and blood. He would have been discharged from the Rangers ages ago except that he's bribed people to stay. As a child, Doc grew up in space with his father going from one deep-space frieghter to another. He would feel lost if he were stuck on a planet never to go into space again. He's loud, rude, filthy, smokes too much, and subjects his teammates to constant, loud, Motown Sound music. It's Doc who nicknamed their slingship the "Tin Lizzie".
Jojo Thorsen (Marjorie Monaghan) - Slingship #377's pilot. Jojo is a tall, blonde, Amazonian-like woman. She comes from the colony of New Venus. She is a loose canon, but she's also very loyal to her team and the best pilot in the Rangers Corps. She has a particular distaste for Banshees and has a temper that has gotten her in trouble more than once. She also drinks far too much black coffee.
Zylyn (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) - A warrior-monk from the planet Graaka. He is one of only four Graaka serving in the Rangers Corps. Zylyn's people were once considered the fiercest warriors in the galaxy until they decided to embrace the ways of peace. Graakas also have the ability to be semi-telepathic as they can read intense thoughts. Zylyn wears a cybernetic pacifier collar to help control his aggressive tendencies. He takes it off only when the situation calls for him to fight. Doc nicknames him "Zee-Man", much to his annoyance. When not on duty he can be found in his temple just outside of Fort Hope.
Daniel Kincaid (Danny Quinn) - Kincaid is the rookie on Boone's team. He is the son of a general in Earth's Central Command. He is often referred to as the team's "backman". That is to say he's the team's back-up if they are caught in a firefight. He's still a little too trigger-happy at times and he's not happy about guard duty on the ship while the rest of the team is away on a mission.
Dr. Mimmer (Clint Howard) - Mimmer is chief medic and forensics scientist at Fort Hope. He's a bit of a chatterbox and for the most part nobody can stand being around him. But he does know his stuff and he's helped the Rangers as much as he's irritated them.
Commander Chenault (Linda Hunt) - Chenault is commanding officer and head magistrate on Fort Hope. Despite her rank she thinks of herself as a leader of a colony before her military position. Contrary to her small physical statue there's no doubt who's in charge. She expresses an almost "mother hen" approach to keeping her people safe.
Colonel Erich Weiss (Gottfried John) - Weiss is second-in-command at Fort Hope. He apparently angered someone at Central Command as he lost his comfortable office on Earth and was transferred against his will to Avalon's Fort Hope. He constantly is trying to "improve" the Rangers so he can get transferred back to Earth. The results have left him butting heads with both Boone and Chenault on more than one occasion. His personal interests include chess, brandy, and playing his violin.
Ringer (Keith Berger) -a temperamental combat android originally designed to replace human personnel in the Space Rangers Corps. Ringer was the prototype model introduced by Col. Weiss to Capt. Boone's team. Jojo nicknames the android Ringer, "as in dead" as an insult because she feels threatened by the idea of being replaced. The rest of the crew continue to call him that. Although Ringer contributed some impressive skills to the crew, he was unable to adjust to unpredictable situations that he wasn't already preprogrammed to deal with. This inability to adapt causes him to malfunction at critical moments. With a fatal design flaw, Ringer is removed from active duty, the android program is mothballed, and Weiss tries to ship Ringer back to Central Command. In later episodes, Ringer can be seen working for Weiss as his personal assistant performing non-threatening office work -badly.
[edit] Other Terminolgy
Banshees -a space-faring predator. These aliens teleport aboard spaceships as they travel through hyperspace. They are violent, impervious to regular weapons, and teleport away as suddenly as they arrive. They also emmit a high pitched sonic "scream" that can disorient a person in close quarters, which is where they get their name from. If they manage to kill everyone aboard the ship they will envelope it in an organic cocoon and teleport it with them back to their hyperspace hive.
Bellysnappers -a one person escape pod used to travel to a planet's surface. They are called "bellysnappers" because they tend to give their passengers rough rides and make them sick to their stomachs.
Runabouts -a small but swift & highly manuverable interplanetary craft often stolen by smugglers to be used for their runs.
Lightspeed Rings -a large, orbiting, ringed structure designed to "slingshot" spaceships into hyperspace from one planet to another.
Slingships -The interceptor spaceship of choice for the Space Rangers. Unlike other ships, it doesn't need a lightspeed ring to achieve hyperspace as it can use a planet's orbital gravity to sling itself. It can still use lightspeed rings to conserve fuel. Captain John Boone's team are assigned Ranger Slingship #377. It has been nicknamed "Tin Lizzie" by its flight engineer Doc Kreuger and they paint shark teeth on the nose of the ship like pilots did to their fighter planes back in Earth's World War II-era. It has seen better days as Doc has had to jury rig many of the ships parts and systems to keep it online, as budget cuts have prevented them from always getting the proper parts and repairs.
Hazard Pay -Whenever the situation is above and beyond the level of danger that a sane person might elect to encounter, the Corps has been known to entice volunteers for missions with a bonus in Rangers' paychecks. Boone's team was offered "triple" hazard pay if they could capture a Banshee for scientists to study. Doc has mentioned to the others that he's still waiting for hazard paychecks from two other missions and doesn't expect to ever see them.
[edit] Planets
New Venus -A former Earth colony that was overrun with Banshees. While most of the men elected to abandon the colony, the women chose to stay and fight off the invaders. As a result the colony became an Amazon-like oligarchy. Jojo Thorsen originates from this colony and harbors a deep hatred for Banshees.
Skaraab -A desolate planet where the days are so hot that the sun burns away all surface life in a matter of hours. The planets vegetaion has to grow back in a matter of hours and is so aggressive that it will even consume animal tissue in order to surrvive. It is also home to an ancient Graaka burial temple.
Earth -Home to the Space Rangers Corps. & its Central Command. It is several weeks away at lightspeed from Fort Hope.
Avalon -Home to our heroes' colony home of Fort Hope. On the outside it looks much like the Painted Desert in the American southwest.
Katraz -Penal colony. A place where the galaxy's worst are dumped off never to be heard from again. There are no guards and no ways to leave. The planet is ruled by anarchy among the inmates. One inmate named Rec heads the majority of factions on the planet. The name is no doubt derived from the former San Francisco prison of Alcatraz Island.
Blood Nebula -A favorite hiding spot for smugglers and slavers. Its red clouds jam most sensors making enforcement in this area difficult at best.
Vee'Lon Prime -A wet, sandy, and tropical planet home to the reptilian Vee'Lons.
[edit] Episodes
"Fort Hope" aka Pilot -A lone escape pod reaches Fort Hope, its passenger tells the Rangers of a transport ship that went down. The ship was carrying Boone's former captain ex-Ranger Decker (Wings Hauser) and Graaka High-Priest Nazzer (Pat Morita) as it went down on the desolate planet Skaraab, a lifeless, sun-scorched wasteland, that's also home to a sacred Graaka burial site. Boone picks up new team member Daniel Kincaid who is fresh out of the academy. Zylyn tells Boone a legend of an ancient weapon hidden on the planet a thousand years ago, and protected from intruders by deadly vegetation. The Rangers attempt a rescue mission that could cost them all their lives.
"Banshees" -Colonel Weiss asks the Rangers to trap one of the deadly space predators known as Banshees - a request that Boone refuses until he learns a young boy (Rick Latini III) is trapped on an abandoned slaver spaceship in the Blood Nebula with some of the creatures. Once aboard the spaceship, they have difficulty finding him and learn the secret of his exceptionally long survival. They also have to worry about saving their own lives against creatues they know little about.
"The Replacements" -The Rangers are assigned a new android troubleshooter, they dub "Ringer" (as in Dead), while they try to uncover the reasons behind a mining ship's hijacking. They're convinced that the ship is being used by a Hobbaba crimelord named Isogul for smuggling a deadly drug known as "Exjay", but if they cannot prove it, they have to return it. They also discover that Colonel Wiess plans to eventually replace all human Space Rangers with androids.
"To Be Or Not To Be" -A has-been comedian Lenny Hacker (Buddy Hackett) crash lands on prison planet Katraz on which there are no guards and from which no one ever leaves. Desperate to escape from yet another dress rehearsal for visiting General Kincaid (Danny's father), the Rangers undertake to rescue the comedian. General Kincaid holds Commander Chennault responsible for his son's safety. The team lands on the inhospitable penal colony and come face to face with its violent inhabitants, and the prisoners' vicious leader Rec.
"The Trial" -Zylyn is accused of the murder of another Graakan. When they fail to find legal council for his defense, the rest of the Rangers are forced to defend him in court themselves. Convinced there is a conspiracy to bring discredit to the Graaka race, they hunt for evidence as to the identity of the real murderer. Meanwhile, Isogul, the ruthless Hobbaba crimelord, has a new card up his sleeve to destroy the Space Rangers' defense system from inside. His master plan is to take over control of Fort Hope, but the Rangers also have a plan of their own designed to stop Isogul's crimewave permanently.
"Death Before Dishonor" -Captain Boone twice accidentally offends a race of reptilian warriors known as Vee'Lons. The Vee'Lon's dignitary Prince Gor'Dah (Sherman Howard), sentences Boone and his crew to death and declares war on Fort Hope & Central Command. After Central Command's Ambassador Hardcastle is assassinated, Chenault and Weiss are left alone to prevent an attack on Fort Hope. The crew's only way to avoid execution is for to Boone challenge the Lord Muk'Toh in a duel by hand-to-hand combat to the death.
[edit] Star Rangers
Space Rangers was very obviously patterned after Star Rangers, a short-lived comic series created and written by novelist Mark Ellis and penciled by Jim Mooney. Released by Adventure Publications, it ran from 1987 to 88.
Set in the 25th century and initially conceived as “Lonesome Dove in Space”, the series revolved around the crew of The Sabre, the last ship in the Frontier Battalion of the once-fearsome Star Rangers Corps.
