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| The Animated TV Series As Financial Disaster
| | * [[About the Series:Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers|Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers]] |
| In the guest book of a GR Web site, eleven years after the
| | * [[About the Series:Staying Power|Staying Power]] |
| series ended, Mandell wrote, "The making of the series was a labor of
| | * [[About the Series:Atypical Writers, Characters, Stories|Atypical Writers, Characters, Stories] |
| love, which means it was a financial disaster." When Mandell started
| | * '''The Animated TV Series Was Financial Disaster''' |
| work on "Galaxy Rangers," Transcom Media had no toy deal for the
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| series, an exception in the licensing-crazy cartoon industry.
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| Transcom, in association with Gaylord Production, made a deal for
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| toys only after the series went into production. In the U.S., Galoob
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| made a line of action figures, including prototypes for figures that
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| never went into production; in France, the toys were sold under the
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| Ideal label. Fans have also reported seeing lunch boxes, Golden
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| Books, and even a dart board, and Roy Rogers featured boxed "Galaxy
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| Rangers" children's meals. However, the toy deal failed, and with it | |
| financing for a second season.
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| "The critical thing, as I recall it," relates story editor
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| Christopher Rowley, "was that to nail down a toy deal, the show had
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| to get solid ratings first. But with the strong disagreement between
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| Robert and Battista, the TV syndication distributor, about the order
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| of eps--which led to 'Tortuna' being shown first--the show got off to
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| a confusing start, which only got worse since GR was not tightly
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| scripted like say, [Thundercats], to concentrate on a few easily
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| understood themes for younger viewers. Once the show's ratings
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| demonstrated that it was not a big hit, the toy deals evaporated.
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| Then, without toys, the whole process of building the 'brand' amongst
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| 6- and 7-year-old boys--the key market group for these shows--failed.
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| They watched T-cats, and a much smaller group of kids watched GR."
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| Asked in 2000 about his involvement, series writer John
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| Rawlins noted, "Actually, I'm just very grateful for the chance to
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| have done it.... If the toy company hadn't walked out on us, and if
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| the TV markets hadn't bounced us from one time slot to the next, I
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| think Transcom could have made some real money
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| "But really, nobody was there for the money," Rawlins
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| concluded. "You can be sure of that, because there wasn't any money.
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| We just all wanted to do a really cool TV show."
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| Note: Mandell is currently exploring options for bringing
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| "Galaxy Rangers" back to its audience in the U.S. Although the show
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| has played in syndication in a number of markets abroad, distribution
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| rights in the U.S. have been tied up for years. Hearst Entertainment
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| acquired rights to air the series in 1998, but nothing seems to have
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| been done with those rights. Mandell may also be considering
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| negotiating the rights for release of a video or DVD boxed set.
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| [[Category:BM1.0]]
| | <center>'''<big>About the Series:</big>'''</center> |
| [[Category:Cleanup-Format]]
| | <center><big>The Animated TV Series Was Financial Disaster</big></center> |
| [[Category:Cleanup-Add Pictures]]
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| [[Category:Fatima]]
| | <center>'''by Elizabeth 'Fatima' Bales'''</center> |
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