|
|
Techtite's DVD Reviews! |
"One of the most under- appreciated cartoons of the late 1980's has finally received enough of a cult following to get a pair of four episode DVD sets. For fans, this is fantastic." --from the review ------------- Sidebar :: -------------
No sidebar comments for this review. Yet...
----------------- Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted! ------------------
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers
A Techtite ReviewAs Always, a review of The Film and The DVD (extras)! The Series:
Seriously: how totally cool was that theme song...? Probably one of the few cool cartoons of the late 1980's was sadly one of the most under-appreciated. I've been waiting since the first DVD's hit the shelves to see at least one disc worth of episodes get the digital video disc treatment, and now fans get two! It would've been even better if this series' entire first (and only!) season was offered, but it's the thought that counts: two volumes of 4 episodes each, all never before released on VHS or even laserdisc. Fans like me will be pleased. Here's the run-down for those who never saw a sheriff's badge glow with super powers. The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers was the tale of two aliens arriving to Earth, circa 2086, seeking our help. In return for our aid, they give us the plans for our first hyperdrive, allowing humankind to journey to the stars. This series makes a similar presumption to classic Star Trek episodes, in that the early generations of space travel would be a lot like the old west. These colonies' justice is maintained with various "galaxy rangers," specifically chosen to keep law and order across The New Frontier. These rangers are like cowboys with a pair of laser pistols...plus some really cool super powers! "Super powers"...? That's the added piece of ingenuity to the series. Each of the four lead rangers has a back story, giving each their own special gifts of strength. Team leader Zachary Foxx suffered a mortal injury in his youth, making the entire left side of his body an array of bionics, in disguise; his arm even hides a super-weapon, for the most dire of emergencies. Shane "Goose" Gooseman is a specially trained, sharp-shooting, fast-reflexes operative of a secret project long since vanished; much like his first-namesake, he's the sharp-shooter of the group. Niko, the "Jean Grey from X-Men" of the group, has specially atoned psychic abilities, which are enhanced thanks to her ranger powers. Walter "Doc" Hartford, the "Scotty from Star Trek" of the group, handles the many tech-problems the group must inevitably face in a 21st century world. Clicking their secret badges enhances each ranger's unique abilities. It also leads to some cool special FX. What I really loved about this series was its novel yet picturesque animation. Although its animation was not too much better than other 1980's syndicated cartoon fare, each character, background, and effect was expertly drawn. Admittedly, the animators clearly cared little about smooth frames-per-second, as much as fully-intricate backdrops, and expressive character expressions. I guess what I'm saying is; this is no Disney feature film here, but you'll be impressed by the backdrops and characters too much to care. What pulled this series' animation over the top in the late '80s, however, was how all computer screens were actual, early-bird CGI images, integrated into the animation cels. Second only to Tron, this was a brilliantly handled glimpse into the future "Toy Story" flicks of modern day. Artificially Intelligent computers would argue with their computer users with their own fully rendered computer "face." When a computer showed a graph, it was rendered in full 3D; likewise for every other computer readout. Nearly a decade before films like Toy Story or Shrek were even possible, this was some really cool stuff. From a historical standpoint, for any animation fan; it still is. It helps that at least one of the DVD collections, "Supertroopers," includes two of my most favorite episodes: "Battle of the Bandits" and "Shoot Out." The latter is a darkly humorous shooting contest, held by the evil queen (i.e., arch nemesis) of the series. The prize, allegedly, is the soul crystal the queen used to trap one of the strongest souls of the galaxy; that of Foxx's own wife. Of course, Shane is the fastest shooter there is, so the Rangers suspect this contest is a trap. It doesn't help that the grand prize for the contest is a queen's ransom of money, which attracts every gunslinger across the galaxy. The biggest competition: an alien sorcerer, summoning one of the funniest, coolest, four-armed gunslingers you ever saw imagined for sci-fi animation. As the lingo went back in the day; this episode was pretty "solid"...! "Battle of the Bandits" is a similar intended trap for the Rangers, though it involves a battle of the rock bands. The rangers enter this contest to see why one of the bands looks so much like the Queen's Royal Guard. Turns out the costumes were a publicity stunt by the Rangers' old criminal adversary, Nimrod the Cat (an alien who literally looks like a character from the Broadway musical, in one of many amusing "present day" parodies). The problems arise when the evil Queen sees the apparently "fake" Royal Guard band as a ruse to enter her own guards and turn the entire audience into her slaves. The Rangers save the day, of course, but not before fulfilling their undercover roles, as a "lookalike" rock band themselves. Check out Niko fulfilling her apparent dream of being a rock star someday! Cool. Additional episodes on the "Supertroopers" disc include, of course "Supertroopers" (Gooseman's past as a super-secret soldier comes back to haunt him), and "Galaxy Stranger" (a sort of take on the classic movie Shane, with Shane Gooseman in the title role). Don't think that my not summarizing these episodes means they aren't cool as well. These are cool episodes, and it makes for a good DVD with four complete, unabridged episodes for the price of one disc. I'm just running out of space here to review each episode! Personally, for my money, I'd go for Supertroopers if I had to choose one disc, but just for the record, "Tortuna" (the second volume), includes the following four episodes/stores: "Tortuna" (the rangers' first visit to this gigantic domed city seen in later episodes like "Shoot Out"), "One Million Emotions" (a cursed sculpture provokes powerful emotions; a nice spin on a classic Star Trek story here), "Scarecrow" (an ancient terror is awakened, looking for all intent like a living scarecrow), and "Heart of Tarkon" (an alien ruler fearful of new technology imprisons the rangers, even though they are his only defense from the inevitable attack of the Queen of the Crown). This alludes to good news for fans: these DVD's are of 8 never-before-released episodes on laserdisc, VHS, or DVD. The bad news: this means neither of the discs include the series pilot, which of course was already available on videotape, and which explains most of the back story. Nor do they contain the laserdisc episodes, for any laserdisc owners who wanted those episodes transferred to DVD before their laserdisc player goes kaput (presuming it hasn't already). This is a pittance of a gripe, however, when these discs contain some of my all time favorite episodes. I'm not kidding when I say that one of the first things I attempted when getting one of those cool DVD burners, was to get my sadly weathered VHS tapes of this series onto DVD format! Due to over 15 year old tapes, the result was sadly...not too good. Now I don't have to worry; Galaxy Rangers has finally made it to the world of DVD...twice! Hooray!
The DVD: Sadly, there isn't much here in the way of extras. Hey; what did you expect? This is a very daring experiment by KOCH Vision (the DVD distributors), to see if the cult following for this cartoon is good enough to warrant more Galaxy Rangers videos, or better yet, a full season set. Prove them right in bringing these 8 episodes to DVD, and more will follow...or so the inner DVD insert promises. As a result, the extras here are strictly for a refresher course, or for the newcomers. A bio of each ranger is offered, keeping you up to speed on their background stories, as explained in full, little by little, throughout the first season. A photo gallery is also offered of various cool moments from the series finest episodes, although they're all from episodes already available on the DVDs. Hey; it's the thought that counts.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Burnout
Near
Miss
Small
Crater
Large
Crater
Deep
Impact
