In 1994, “Power Rangers” mania was at an all time high and every kid in the world followed the adventures of the teenagers with attitudes fighting monsters with giant robots and cool costumes. Also during that time, every company tried to strike while the iron was hot looking for their own successful variation of the formula. Not to be outdone Saban Entertainment (creators of “Power Rangers”) tried to catch lightning in a bottle twice. Some of the efforts were embarrassing (“Masked Rider”), and others were quite good. Case in point: VR Troopers.
Premiering in 1994 on WPIX in America, “VR Troopers” or “Virtual Reality Troopers” was exactly like “Power Rangers.” It garnered purchased footage from three different Japanese science fiction series’ (of varying quality), and injected cheaply produced footage of American actors interacting and taking the place of said heroes from the action sequences. Specifically, “VR Troopers” was a hodgepodge of “Metal Hero Series: Superhuman Machine Metalder,” “Dimensional Warrior Spielban” and “Space Sheriff Shaider,” all of which were cobbled together by a tale about a blonde young American kung fu warrior looking for his lost father. Since the whole concept of Virtual Reality was popular during the 90’s, the amalgam of footage was rebranded “VR Troopers.” It didn’t matter if it had actual Virtual Reality in it, just brandishing something as VR ensured consumers would think it was futuristic and extreme.
“VR Troopers” focused on three diverse teenagers Ryan Steele, Kaitlin Star, and J.B. Reese, all of whom lived in the fictional Cross World City. Members of a local Karate Dojo, each of the teens had their own unique personality traits. Ryan is the main character in search of his long lost father and while investigating his whereabouts, the trio stumble upon a laboratory operated by a digitized head of Professor Horatio Hart, a friend of Ryan’s father. Horatio and Ryan’s father developed advanced (and top secret) virtual reality technology. “VR” is a parallel dimension where mutants and monsters exist, anxious to dominate both worlds. The main mutant is named Grimlord, who on Earth is secretly known as billionaire industrialist Karl Ziktor, who is trying to destroy the barrier of both realities.
Now it’s up to the trio of teens to don armored bodies that have their own unique weapons, and keep the various mutants out of their world. Considering its production quality, “VR Troopers” was pretty damn good, and for a short while I even preferred it over “Power Rangers.” Granted, I was a major “Power Rangers” geek during their pop culture dominance, but “VR Troopers” had a better sense of urgency, more stern storylines, and the fight scenes were so much more engrossing. If you forgive the obligatory talking dog that acted as the series version of comic relief, then “VR Troopers” really was tightly paced and well done.
Sadly, the series only lasted two seasons with ninety two episodes altogether. Despite the show’s modest success, it wasn’t enough to justify renewing the series and expanding the franchise. Much like a lot of variations on “Power Rangers” during that time, show runners completely ran out of footage from the original series it stemmed from. So, the producers cancelled the show altogether. Hero Ryan Steele eventually found his father in season two, and the format was changed with new locations and armored suits, but by that time the show had drawn to a close.
Despite the failure, during the initial series run, Saban and co. released two pretty fun “VR Troopers” video games for Sega Genesis and Game Gear, as well as a board game, and a Tiger handheld game. There was also a double comic book miniseries released by Marvel with “VR Troopers” and “Power Rangers,” as well as an action figure line which were also quite top notch, but didn’t sell as big as the Mighty Morphin originators from parent company Saban. There were five initial VHS releases for the series; in 2011 the show became available for viewing on Netflix, and in 2012 Shout! Factory granted “VR Troopers” a release of the show’s run on DVD that was never finished thanks to unfortunately poor sales.
Like a lot of other “Power Rangers” clones, “VR Troopers” was a mere blip on the radar and didn’t make much of a ripple. It arrived during a time where kids wanted Power Rangers and only Power Rangers, so it went under appreciated for a long time. All things considered, in its own right, “VR Troopers” is an entertaining and action packed science fiction series that still warrants a fan base.
