Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad

This was one of the shows Matthew Lawrence starred in prior to Brotherly Love and Boy Meets World. It also starred Tim Curry as the bad guy. This was an americanized version of an anime show, but it was live action. Please release it on DVD. I used to watch it after school (great time to be on), and I thought it was great. There were a bunch of high school students who would literally go into computers and a bad guy that would also go into computers and transform into robotic fighters. The good guys called themselves, the superhuman samurai syber-squad. The superhuman samurai syber-squad would fight the bad guy and others in the computer or "syber" world.

Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad (also known as Lightning Superman Gridman in Japan) was brought over to the states by DIC in an attempt to dethrone Mighty Morphin Power Rangers after Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters From Beverly Hills (which also had some very Ultraman like elements to it) had failed.

The show, which at times is VERY in line with the source material, is about a young teen named Sam Collins and his three friends who play in a band called Team Samurai. One day Sam is mysteriously sucked into his computer and bonds with an anti-virus program called Servo in an attempt to take out a rouge government computer program named Kilokhan and his lackey Malcom Frink, who supplies him with digitally scanned artwork of monsters which he uses to create "mega-virus monsters" so that they can wreck havoc on the digital world.

To assist Servo are "helper programs" that are piloted by his band mates. There's Vitor (a red jet fighter), Borr (a mobile unit with twin drill bits), and Tracto (a tank with two laser guns on the sides). Servo combines with these to obtain powerful armor that transforms him into "Samurai Synchro" in order to better combat Kilokhan's minions. There is also Jamb and Torb, which create "Samurai Phomo". Jamb can also be used as a projectile flamethrower, not to mention that the two can form their own independent mecha. Same with Vitor, Borr, and Tracto.

Now do keep in mind that this show came out when the internet was in it's infancy. The show could hardly be called a success in it's home country, but surprisingly it did rather well here. Had it been released or conceptualized a bit later, it probably wouldn't have been just a footnote in Eastern Superhero culture.

All in all though, the show is very enjoyable and I'd dare to say that it's even BETTER than Power Rangers, but that's just my own opinion So if you like Ultraman, Megaman NT Warrior, & Tron, then do yourself a favor and seek this show out You WILL NOT regret it, trust me

This was my favorite show when I was young. I used to tell all my friends about this show on how cool and funny it was. As soon as they saw it... They loved it! It was much better than "Power Rangers" because it wasn't as corny, it had some seriouse and goofy things which made the show great. Its too bad that it wasn't on the air for a long time.

I am not going to claim this show was good. It was never good. The plot was formulaic, the battle sequences bored me to death, and save Sydney, who was moderately interesting (aka had half a brain and a character flaw or two), the good guys were one-note cliches. So was Kilokhan. And I felt most of this back when I was 7 and watching it, probably somewhere in the show's target audience.

There was ONE good element to this show, and that was Malcolm and his storyline. The idea was a big stroke of genius on *someone's* part, I'm not sure if it was in the original Japanese show or not.

Malcolm was someone you actually loved to hate, yet couldn't help but feel a little sorry for, a supercilious jerk who was Draco Malfoy before the world knew Draco Malfoy. He was far smarter than the good guys, although his lack of people skills more than made up for this, and was the only one with genuinely amusing lines. His using Kilokhan and the viruses to fulfill his personal vendettas was perfectly in-character for what was created, and it actually made the story fun.

I loved to see the interactions between Malcolm and Sam, hating each other yet never knowing that they're the cause of each other's problems in the digital world. It's actually a very interesting concept that I've never seen anywhere else. The Christmas episode where they temporarily discovered each other's identities was the first time all the characters held my attention, and it also played up on the three dimensions they managed to give Malcolm: the fact that he uses Kilokhan because of the lack of control and happiness in his own life, and his disillusioned belief that the virus lord actually cares about his wellbeing.

If you take it outside the context of the show, it's a very interesting story in itself.

Yes, it was a fairly cheesy show, yes it has many features of what we call 'old technology' I'm sure nowadays Kilokahn is shuddering only being able to run at 400MHZ processor speed. But it was a good show! I remember a few episodes and I own the 'To Servo and Protect', 'A Skorn In their Side' (my favorite villain) and 'The Glitch that Stole Christmas' Videos. It was still an excellent series for its time :D I had come up with so many ways they could bring it back but eh guess it's not going to happen at this point.

Honestly, I know the whole teen superhero thing had been done plenty to this point, but there will always be a place in my heart for the shows that display such a cool fantasy, I'm sure at one point or another, Power Rangers, SSSS, VR Troopers, even Beetleborgs had inspired us what the possibilities are. Anyway that's enough raving from me :) I just decided to put in my 2 Cents