Space Rangers

Beowolf666 is thinking of Firefly (http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=serenity), a truly great show and subsequent movie, Serenity.

I do see where Beowolf666 may have gotten the two confused, some characters sound to be very similar, especially the missionary, female second in command, and engineer.

There is also a similarity in the Banshies of Space Rangers and the Reavers of the Firefly universe. After reading the plot summary for Space Rangers, one gets the feeling that Joss Whedon may have been a fan of Space Rangers, or at least the basic idea, which was then refined for Firefly.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen Space Rangers yet, or I'd leave a comment about it. I just wanted to make sure the nice comments Beowolf666 left were attributed to the correct series.

This show about a screw up company of space cops was brilliant semi-satire. It took the nuclear family dynamic of the ultra serious "Waltons" mixed it with the sarcastic "Ice Pirates" crews' family weirdness, added space adventure, and voila--Instant Cult Hit! It brings to my mind a tiny film about a loving family type crew of a "renegade" ship that acquires a 8 yr old kid as a stowaway. Both films have a similar technology level, costuming, and dynamic(inner reality) I LOVE Space Rangers for its' internal consistency, irascibility, excellently built characters, sarcastic/witty dialogue, and great cast(their acting ability is unquestionably awesomely great)

there are thirteen episodes of space rangers all of which have been shown on TV in the united states , I believe the people who write up the sci-fi channels guide should know this as well as I do . until recently you could get all thirteen episodes on disc , not sure if it's still available . overall it was a very good show that was never given a chance mostly because it wasn't a big major studio production . it was an interesting idea for a show ,with good acting and good story lines , the special effects weren't bad for the time . and really should have been given a real chance .it was never shown on network TV at all as far as I know , but you could catch it on one or two oddball channels . and usually late at night or very early in the morning .and this was when it was a new show , there seemed to be a concerted effort to kill the show before it could develop a real following . much the same as was done with enterprise , or with the linties remake of dark shadows ! which were both killed of despite large followings and the protests of a huge amount of fans . we could use a show such as space rangers right about now , some of us out here have had as much reality TV as our stomachs can handle !

"MAD"'s spoof of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" ended with the space station being under threat from "Babylon 5," "Time Trax" and "Space Rangers." As it turned out, it outlasted all of them; "Space Rangers" was the first to get the chop. Not that it was such a great loss, but it wasn't totally useless.

This action-based show was pretty much a live-action cartoon focusing on our peace-keeping heroes, breaking the rules and irritating their superior (Linda Hunt - a long way from "The Year of Living Dangerously"), and with no story arcs anywhere in sight... or any thoughtful writing or strong acting, admittedly (star Jeff Kaake was last heard of on the even less successful "The D.R.E.A.M. Team" alongside Angie Everhart, Traci Bingham, Caprice and Roger Moore). But when a show has even ONE moment that hangs around in your mind for years - in the first episode's teaser an underground creature that pulls down its prey with tentacles and eats it alive snatches one of the villain's men and later on nearly gets Space Ranger Jojo (Marjorie Monaghan) - it has to have done something right.

Not too bad.

I adored the episodes I saw of this show, and hungered for more. Only the first three were shown during its first run, although all of them may have been shown at a later time. I believe there are five episodes in all, and you can rent them on VHS, I encourage you to do so. Some reviewers at the time called it "A-Team in space," which is quite valid, and it was lots of fun. Great special effects, the actors were really good, and the story lines were not too heavy, but had enough meaning that it's worth watching. I'd love for Sci-Fi Channel to show the episodes regularly or in a marathon. Go watch the video, and enjoy! :)