The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers

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The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers

The Seal of the Galaxy Rangers
Genre Animated series
Science fiction Western
Starring Jerry Orbach
Doug Preis
Hubert Kelly
Laura Dean
Earl Hammond
Henry Mandell
Bob Bottone
Corinne Orr
Maia Danziger
Opening theme "No Guts no Glory"
Ending theme "No Guts no Glory (long version) & Rangers Are Forever"
Country of origin USA
Language(s) English
No. of episodes 65 (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s) Robert Mandell
Executive producer(s) Abe Mandell
Running time approx. 30 minutes
Broadcast
Original run September 1, 1986 – December 11, 1986
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (1986-1989) was an animated Space Western television series created by Robert Mandell. The series combines sci-fi stories with a typical wild-west-"feel".

Contents

[edit] Premise

In 2086, two peaceful aliens journey to Earth seeking our help. In return, they gave us the plans for our first hyperdrive, allowing mankind to open the doors to the stars. We have assembled a team of unique individuals to protect Earth and our allies. Courageous pioneers committed to the highest ideals of justice and dedicated to preserving law and order across the new frontier.

[edit] Setting

The show is set after the year 2086, when two aliens from the planets Andor and Kirwin traveled to Earth to search for allies against the ruthless and expansionist Crown Empire led by the Queen of the Crown. In return for the help, mankind was given construction plans for an FTL-drive. After this key-event in human history, interstellar travel flourished and a huge number of colonies were built on distant star-systems. Alongside the growth of human activities in space, criminal activities also grew and the new colonies had to be defended against various threats, including the Crown Empire. BETA (Bureau for Extra-Terrestrial Affairs) was founded to cope with these tasks, the "Ranger"-division being a part of it. Most of the colonies portrayed in the show are wild west-styled, being either specialized in agriculture (by growing genetic engineered crops or breeding genetic engineered cattle) or mining the gold substituted by star stones.

[edit] BETA

BETA is shown as the major military and exploratory arm of Earth. The organization is headquartered at BETA Mountain/Earth and sustains several bases on and around Earth like the Longshot Research Facility in Grand Canyon and the BETA space station in Earth orbit. BETA seems to be in command of a huge spacefleet as shown during the attempted invasion of Earth by the Crown.

[edit] Series Five Implant

Series-5 Brain Implant is perhaps the closest mankind will ever get to reproducing with cybernetics the abilities than gene engineers can draw out of the human genome. The S5 implant enables dramatic boosting of innate abilities due to its unique conversion of bio-electrical power generated by alpha radiation and stored within the badges worn by the Galaxy Rangers.

[edit] Crown Empire

A slaverlord of the Crown
A slaverlord of the Crown
“ Queen: Your future is mine.
Zozo: We will never accept that!
Queen: Zozo and Waldo, you will serve your queen. I have you now!
 ”

The Crown Empire, also known as the "Crown", is ruled by the Queen of the Crown. She controls a huge number of planets in a vast section of the galaxy. However, this "mighty and vast empire" is crumbling. It was implied in "Phoenix" that Andor and Kirwin were once enslaved by the Empire, and that that the "help" they were seeking in the opening voice over was a military alliance with Earth to keep their independence.

The Queen uses Slaverlords, creatures powered by the psychic energy of other beings stored in a psychocrystal, with whom she has a psychic link, to control her empire. In order to harness the required energy for the psychocrystals, the Crown almost exterminated the whole Gherkhin race. After the Empire encountered the humans, the Queen found out that they were more suitable for energy-extraction than any other previously encountered species. Through the series, the Queen was driven to get her hands on more humans for her Crypt, and the bounty on live humans was obscenely high. She only managed to get two humans into her crypt during the course of the series - Eliza and Zachary Foxx. While Zachary's stay in the Crypt was brief, due to his friends' rescue, Eliza was never freed.

Although the Crown owns a gigantic spacefleet, its ships are an order of magnitude slower than the ones used by Earth and its allies. It was implied in "Armada" that the Queen relies on these ships to keep order in her domain, and prevent her subjects from revolting, so she could not afford to withdraw a significant number of them for the extended length of time necessary to travel to Earth. When Lazarus Slade equipped her ships with hyperdrives comaparable in speed to Andorian designs, the Queen launched a lightning strike against Earth, which would have succeeded, had the drives not been powered by the ersatz, and highly unstable starstones bought from the space pirate Captain Kidd. The implications of the staggering losses the Queen suffered in the battle for Earth were never fully explored, leading some fans believe that "Armada" should have been the last episode in the series, in terms of internal chronology.

The ranks of the Crown military "appear to be some kind of android" ("Lord of the Sands"), but this is not known for certain. We have seen them react with fear ("Phoenix"), ambition ("Mindnet"), and other emotions that would indicate that they are sentient beings in suits of armor, possibly a race unsuited to the psychocrypt, but still loyal to the Queen.

[edit] Characters

Main article: The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers Characters

[edit] Ships

[edit] Ranger-1

The spacecraft Ranger-1
The spacecraft Ranger-1

This large cruiser is typical of the ships that are used to transport the military and VIPs around the League in. Approximately the size of a contermporary comercial airliner (albeit with a narrower wingspan) BETA has 20 of these powerful cruisers, all based on an Andorian design that dates back to 2086. This ship needs two crew, and has emergency carrying capacity for up to 80 people. It also includes extendable shirtsleeve docking facilities, so it can perform a hard-dock with smaller fighters or interceptors and allow non-space-suited travel between the ships. The ships have been shown to have VTOL capablities but are also launch through 'tubes' at BETA mountain. It has a single-twin barrelled laser cannon mounted below the nose, forward of the main drop-hatch which has been equipped with a standard 2 Mw rated cannon. The Ship is equipped with an Andorian Wormhole-Hyperdrive, capable of speeds in excess of 1 ly/hour. Its normal thrusters are rated at 10g, with its internal gravity net capable of compensating for accelerations of up to 20g. The ship carries enough fuel for 2 weeks continuous burn at 1g, and can be refuelled at any refuelling depot or base. The Cargo Capacity of the Cruiser is eight Standard Cargo Containers.

[edit] Ranger-2

The Ranger Interceptor, or Ranger-2 series of ships is an Earth design based on the early Andorian ships. The Interceptor is equipped with an Andorian Wormhole-Hyperdrive, and has engines capable of 10g acceleration with a 12g gravity net. Its weapons are two dual-barelled Forward-traverse lasers rated at 5 Mw each. The ship's maneuverability makes it a very difficult target to hit using computer-guided weapons due to its automatic em jamming sequencers. This is the ship most commonly seen on military patrols as the League and BETA has over 300 of these vessels currently in service. The Interceptor normally carries one crew, but can, in an emergency, carry two people in the small cabin. The Cargo capacity of the interceptor is only 1 standard Cargo Container.

[edit] Ranger-3

Ranger-3, or the Ranger Corsair, is a larger version of the Ranger Interceptor. This two-person ship has twice the firepower of the Interceptor, along with some interesting human inventions. The primary hull of the ship containing the Andorian Wormhole-Hyperdrive, can be jettisoned in the event of a hyperdrive failure, and detonated to ensure the secrets of the hyperdrive do not fall into enemy hands. The explosion of the drive section will also destroy most small ships within a kilometer of it. The Corsair has 10g thrusters with a 12g gravity net, and a range at full burn of one week, or 10 weeks at 1g thrust. Once the Drive section is detached, the ship has a range of less than two hours, just sufficient to land the ship on a nearby base or planet. The ship's cargo capacity is limited to two standard cargo containers.

[edit] Ranger-4 Experimental

Ranger-4 was an experimental model designed by BETA to supplement the spacecraft forces and give the Galaxy Rangers a better fighting chance against the Crown Destroyers and pirate battleships that frequented their patrol regions. This powerful ship contained enough crew capacity for eight people maximum, the remainder of the ship was packed solid with extra shield generators, powerful engines, and devestating pumped laser cells. The one time this ship went into combat against a larger battleship, it was successful, but was critically damaged in the ensuing battle, and had to be scuttled. After the reports came back of the ship's performance, and also of the downsizing of the defence forces, the design was shelved, and no further models were constructed.

[edit] Transport 2

Only seen in one episode (Tune Up), this large transport craft has a huge cargo door on its front end. Its security password is "Mount Olympus"

[edit] Rutabaga

Only seen in one episode (Tune Up), this modified Ranger-1 had a vertical disk shaped sensor array mounted on the prow of the ship, with the cockpit mounted port and starbord. The ship's "A.i." was described as "wacky" and had many "personal issues".

[edit] Episode list

Main article: List of The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers episodes
Phoenix New Frontier Tortuna Chained
Smuggler's Gauntlet Mistwalker Wildfire Ghost Station
One Million Emotions Tune Up Mindnet Space Sorcerer
Traash Progress Queen's Lair The Ax
Shaky Rogue Arm Space Moby Scarecrow
The Power Within Games Showtime Psychocrypt
The Magnificent Kiwi Birds of a Feather Edge of Darkness Renegade Rangers
Armada Buzzwang's Folly Heart of Tarkon Murder on the Andorian Express
Lady of Light Scarecrow's Revenge Mothmoose Natural Balance
Ariel In Sheep's Clothing Marshmallow Trees Shoot Out
Bronto Bear Invasion Stargate Rusty and the Boys
Badge of Power Boomtown Supertroopers Galaxy Stranger
Lord of the Sands Round-Up Horsepower Westride
Battle of the Bandits Tower of Combat Trouble at Texton Promised Land
Aces and Apes Tortuna Rock Fire and Iron Don Quixote Cody
Gift of Life Sundancer Changeling Heartbeat
Magnificent Kiwi

[edit] Trivia

Plans were put in motion to create a second series which continued the themes of the first season, but were not followed thorough when the toy-line deal tied in with the show did not materialize. [1] The cartoon, like many toy-based cartoons, briefly had a stand alone comic series published by Marvel Comics. [2]

[edit] Availability

DVD cover
DVD cover

Only four DVDs, containing four original episodes each are available in the United States. However, the whole series can be purchased on the German version of Amazon.de, with both English and German Dolby Stereo and subtitles. Koch Entertainment LP currently owns the rights to Galaxy Rangers and distributes it through Koch Vision.

[edit] Credits

  • Producer: Robert Mandell
  • Executive Producer: Abe Mandell
  • Animation and Technical Director: David Gregg
  • Associate Producer: Eleanor Kearney
  • Dialogue Recording Supervision: Peter Fernandez
  • Story Editors: Owen Lock, Christopher Rowley
  • Storypeople: Henry Beck, Robert Mandell, Veronica Chapman, John Rawlins, Brian Daley, Lucia Robson, Laurel Davis, Christopher Rowley, Tom De Haven, Shelly Shapiro, Mick Farren, Josepha Sherman, Daniel Fiorella, Cy Voris, James Luceno
  • Music: by Phil Galdston and John Van Tongeren
  • Additional Music: Peter Wetzler
  • Character Voices: Robert Bottone, Alexander Marshall, Maia Danziger, Corinne Orr, Laura Dean, Jerry Orbach, Earl Hammond, Ray Owens, Hubert Kelly, Doug Preis, Henry Mandell
  • Series Designers: Edward D. Lee, Ray Shenusay
  • Animation: TMS ENTERTAINMENT, INC.
  • Sound: (((DIGITAL SOUND SURROUND))) TRANSCOM MEDIA, INC.
  • Storyboard Artists: Joe Barruso, Thomas McLaughlin Jr., Edward Bocanegra, Laslo N. Nosek, Walter Brogan, David W. Rosler, Mark Chiarello, Glen A. Schofield, Alfred De Rose, Alex Stevens, Nicholas Filippi, Cy Voris, Brad Fox, James Wheelock, James Glenn Jr., Dennis Woodyard, Curtis King Jr., Bill Wright, Kenneth Langraf
  • Video Tape Editors: Ralph Galli Jr., Brian Mattlin
  • Sound Engineering: Judy Elliott-Brown, David Jensen, Daniel Mundhenk, John Quinn
  • Post Production: Joe Barruso, Asslam Kahn, Mark Chiarello, Edward D. Lee, Brad Fox, Shirley Oxby, Gunter Glinka, Raissa Roque
  • Production Assistants: Eric Hammond, Christopher B. Orbach
  • End of Credits: A Production of TRANSCOM MEDIA, INC. In Association With GAYLORD PRODUCTION CO. Distributed by ITF ENTERPRISES, INC. Thomas M. Battista Copyright 1986 Gaylord Production Co. Transcom Media, Inc. and ITF Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  • Marvel Comice: The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers #1-9
  • The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers Annual 1989 ISBN 0948936886
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