VR Troopers
VR Troopers is a syndicated live-action superhero-adventure television series produced and distributed by Saban Entertainment from 1994 to 1996. The show tried to profit from the fascination with virtual reality in the mid-1990s as well as the success of Saban's other property, Power Rangers. VR Troopers was the first official "sister series" to Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Much like it, this was an Americanization of a Japanese tokusatsu children's program series by Toei Company. The series is a co-production of Toei and Cyberprod.
| VR Troopers | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Saban's VR Troopers |
| Genre | Science fiction Superhero Action/Adventure Tokusatsu |
| Created by | Haim Saban Shuki Levy Toei Company |
| Based on | Space Sheriff Shaider, Jikuu Senshi Spielban, & Choujinki Metalder by Toei Company |
| Starring | Brad Hawkins Sarah Brown Michael Bacon David Carr Gardner Baldwin Richard Rabago Julian Combs Michael Sorich Aaron Pruner Zeb |
| Voices of | Gardner Baldwin Kerrigan Mahan Michael Sorich Mike Reynolds Richard Epcar Dave Mallow |
| Composers | Shuki Levy Kussa Mahchi Jeremy Sweet Ron Wasserman |
| Country of origin | United States Japan |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 92 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Haim Saban Shuki Levy |
| Producer | Robert Hughes |
| Production locations | California (Santa Clarita & Los Angeles) Japan (Saitama, Kyoto, Yokohama and Tokyo) |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | Saban Entertainment Toei Company, Ltd. Cyberprod, Inc. |
| Original release | |
| Network | Broadcast Syndication |
| Release | September 3, 1994 – February 21, 1996 |
The show featured early CGI and video effects mixed with Japanese stock footage from three different Metal Hero Series: Superhuman Machine Metalder, Dimensional Warrior Spielban and Space Sheriff Shaider. On May 7, 2010, the copyright for VR Troopers was transferred from BVS Entertainment to Saban Capital Group. In 2018, the rights were transferred to Hasbro, as part of the acquisition of the Power Rangers brand, which included related intellectual property & content libraries previously owned by Saban Properties.
While the series was almost as successful as Power Rangers, it was canceled after only two seasons. This was primarily because the available Japanese footage was quickly exhausted. In several extreme cases, multiple tokusatsu scenes were put together in one episode, forcing stock footage to be reused multiple times throughout the series. Big Bad Beetleborgs, another Saban adaptation of a Metal Heroes series, encountered similar problems. The show spawned a toy line and a video game for the Sega Genesis and Game Gear.