"V.R. Troopers" (1994) TV series 1994-1996

Seasons:

1 | 2 | unknown

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy

Plot:

Industrialist Carl Ziktor's virtual alter-ego Grimlord worked on the creation of an army made of warrior robots...

Plot Keywords:

Weapon | Dog | Superhero | Digital | Cyborg

Cast

Michael Sorich	...	Woody Stocker / ... (75 episodes, 1994-1996)
Mike Reynolds	...	General Ivar / ... (46 episodes, 1994-1996)
Gardner Baldwin	...	Grimlord / ... (44 episodes, 1994-1996)
Brad Hawkins	...	Ryan Steele (43 episodes, 1994-1995)
Michael Bacon	...	J.B. Reese (43 episodes, 1994-1995)
Sarah Brown	...	Kaitlin Star (43 episodes, 1994-1995)
Julian Combs	...	Professor Horatio Hart (43 episodes, 1994-1995)
Richard Rabago	...	Tao Chong (43 episodes, 1994-1995)
Aaron Pruner	...	Percival 'Percy' Rooney III (43 episodes, 1994-1995)
Kerrigan Mahan	...	Jeb (43 episodes, 1994-1995)
Farrand Thompson	...	Young Ryan (43 episodes, 1994-1995)
Zeb	...	Jeb (43 episodes, 1994-1995)

Also Known As:

Cybertron (USA) (working title)
Saban's V.R. Troopers (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

USA:30 min (92 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Company:

Saban Entertainment

Trivia:

In an early version of the show, Professor Hart was to be an old man rather than a younger black guy, and Kaitlin Star's name was to be Kaitlin Hall. Evidence from this early, primitive version of the show can be seen at the end of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers official fan club video.

Quotes:

[J.B. is informed that Ryan has rescued the puppies]
J.B. Reese: Thanks! Now to head back before...
[Skugs show up in battle]
J.B. Reese: [surprised] Oh, no, too late!
[each Skug takes off its own head and kicks it onto the ground; the heads explode, heavily damaging J.B.]
J.B. Reese: [shouts] Kaitlin!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Jerry Maguire (1996)

If this was supposed to be a sit-com, it would have been a classic.

It boggles the mind when you think of what executive meeting was behind the creation of this one. "Hey, I've got an idea - let's do Power Rangers with a slashed-in-half budget!" That doesn't sound like such a good idea to me - mainly because it ISN'T a good idea.

Here's your premise - two guys and a girl go around fighting a decadent capitalist who moonlights as the evil Virtual Reality Warlord "Grimlord". They also like to take out his entire army in every episode (goons with such incredible names as Fist-bot and General Eye-bar. Obviously they didn't have the imaginative "Transformers" authors when they came up with the names). It's not such a hard task, as a mop and a bar of soap would be more effective at world domination than Grimlord and his minions.

As one might expect from this type of show, the characterization of our three "heroes" is slightly optimistic. I'm currently 20 years old, coming on 21 - which isn't too far off the age of the three VR Troopers in this "TV Gem". I enjoy singing in my band, going to rock clubs, going to the pub, sitting in front of the tele and listening to a bit of music - which is pretty typical, I'd say. Whereas Ryan, Kaitlin and J.B. have full time jobs, and enjoy going to the Dojo and beating up bad guys in order to save the world in their FREE TIME. Right. If someone asked me whether I wanted to become a VR Trooper, the first question would be "How much?" and the second would be "who's covering for me at the week-end?". As the VR troopers a) seem not to get paid at all (despite the fact that their students debts will still be BLOODY high) and b) drop whatever they're doing 24/7 to go off and play with Grimlord, they must be insane.

Of course, you could argue the fact that without them, the world would be in danger. However, you would be ignoring the fact that no matter how many times Grimlord's army shoots at anything, they never hit the target. So we're really in no danger. And for an Evil Warlord, Grimlord's really not that evil. It seems to never have occurred to the guy that as his army is completely incapable of making the slightest dent on the teen-age heroes when in costume, killing them in their sleep would be the easiest option. After all, Grimlord knows exactly who the VR Troopers actually are, in a bizarre plot point. How long do you think Bruce Wayne would have lasted if the Joker knew who he was? Not too long, really.

While all those issues are slightly silly, there are some aspects of the show that are nothing short of annoying. In a few examples:

1) The way the scene of a fight will shift from a rock face to open land to a forest to a lake and back to the bloody rock face again.

2) When in costume, the VR Troopers compensate for the fact that we can't see their lips by nodding their heads around inanely. It looks ridiculous, and if I talked to one of them, I would point and laugh.

3) The dog. It talks. Strange really, as the motion that the dog makes whilst talking looks incredibly like the motion that a normal dog makes when chewing on something. And the words are (of course) completely out of sinc. Also, the dog's favourite insult is blowing a rasberry at someone. This is obviously achieved by filming the dog putting it's tongue out, and playing it in reverse. And they do that on a regular basis. It's not funny, it's annoying.

4) "Forces of darkness, empower me. Take me back to my virtual reality." Every damn episode. Anyone with a basic education in English could tell whoever wrote that that the second line is a few syllables too long. But Hell, "poetic license". Or in this case "complete-absence-of-poetry license".

5) The features of the programme that were SUPPOSED to be amusing were anything but. For instance - that newspaper editor.

HOWEVER - after all this, this show has perhaps the highest recommendation I could possibly give. And why, you ask? It's one of the funniest things I've seen in my life! It goes into the same bracket as "The Final Countdown" by Europe - things that are so bad, they're brilliant! Forget that it's attempting to be serious, and you will enjoy it as much as "Blackadder", "Fawlty Towers", or any great sit-com which you enjoy.

If you can, watch the episode with "The Doggy Rap" in it. Conclusive proof that not only can white men and women NOT rap, but some black men can't either.

Not to mention the fact that the "actress" playing Kaitlin is very attractive. I'm a red blooded male, after all.