Space Rangers

I really liked this show when it first came out. I was upset when they canceled it and I've only seen a few of the episodes. Crackle has five shows available to watch I was unaware there was a total of 13? I would like to see this show redone and expanded. I really liked how gritty it appeared, and I feel that if they redid this show and made it at least if not more so as gritty and ragtag it would be very appealing as a science fiction show especially with updated special effects. I also felt that the character development was really good The acting was pretty good. I love the design of the ship.

Sure, this series was kind of hokey, and sure, the characters were -- as one of the IMDb comments points out -- rather cartoonish. And there's no denying that the stories were highly derivative; you'll find deliberate echoes of "Star Wars," "Star Trek," "Aliens," and a host of old space operas from the early days of TV.

But that's pretty much the point. I'm old enough to remember those early shows -- "Captain Video," "Captain Midnight, " "Tom Corbett," "Space Patrol" -- and "Space Rangers," when I saw it back in '93, had the same kind of unpretentious charm, along with likable (if thoroughly stereotyped) characters, colorful aliens, and plenty of action. It also had a terrific, pounding opening theme by Hans Zimmer (it is on my iPod even as I write this), as well as the pulchritudinous six-foot-tall Marjorie Monaghan as a pilot (so easy on the eyes) and -- in a brilliant bit of casting -- the diminutive Linda Hunt as the Rangers' commander, possessor of one of the most soothing, intelligent voices in the Solar System.

The fact that the show had an obviously low budget seems somehow appropriate; it gives "Rangers" yet another connection to "Tom Corbett" and its ilk.

I was never a fan of "Star Trek"; it seemed just a bit too slick, smug, and preachy. Sure, it was probably, quote-unquote better than "Space Rangers," but I preferred the latter, and I still remember how surprised and disappointed I was when it was canceled so abruptly.

My cousin is a set designer. He made a lot of the stuff on the show including the ship that they used and he even wrote an alien language for the show that was posted on signs and walls around the base that the rangers live and work out of. I have seen every episode of the show including the ones that never aired. I have even read the scripts for episodes that were never filmed. It is a shame that the show got canceled, it was about to get really good. I really don't know what else to say, IMDb says that my post must have at least ten lines of text, but I read posts all the time that have a lot less. I really don't understand why I have to post at least ten lines here. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

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)

"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.