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| <center><i>Reprinted without permission.</i></center>
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| <center><h2>Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers</h2></center>
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| <center>by Eddie Berganza</center>
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| <b>A BIONIC MAN, A SUPERTROOPER, A TELEPATH AND A COMPUTER
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| GENIUS TEAM-UP AS THE
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| EXTRA-POWERED PIONEERS OF THE FINAL FRONTIER, SPEEDING
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| THROUGH HYPERSPACE IN
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| ANIMATED ADVENTURES OF COWBOYS AND ALIENS.</b>
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| In 2086, two peaceful aliens journey to Earth seeking our help. In return, they
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| gave us the plans for first hyperdrive, allowing mankind to open the doors to
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| the stars.
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| We have assembled a team of unique individuals to protect Earth and our allies.
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| Courageous pioneers committed to the highest ideals of justice and dedicated to
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| preserving law and order across the new frontier.
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| These are the Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers.
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| "It started out as an SF action-adventure in space about a police force,"
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| explains Robert Mandell, the syndicated series' creator/producer and ITC
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| Entertainment vet. "It really evolved because the show needed a handle. The
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| basic story of Rangers--the idea of having two aliens coming to Earth looking
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| for help--was always there. And in the back of my mind, I guess, I always knew
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| it was based on _The_Magnificent_Seven and _Seven_Samurai_, but the obvious
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| never hit me."
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| "I was very lucky to meet a guy named Bob Chrestani, who was an agent for
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| William Morris," Mandell continues. "I showed him the presentation, which was
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| then called Beta Force. He loved it and immediately signed the project
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| representation. It was Bob who brought the obvious to my attention. He said
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| 'Well, what's your story?' I told him two aliens come to Earth--_Seven_Samurai_,
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| _Magnificent_Seven_. And he said 'Wll, you're crazy. It's sitting right in front
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| of you. It's a space _Western_. It has all the classic Western themes, the main
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| one being justified violence, which is what all Westerns have been built
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| on--lawlessness, new frontier and pioneers exploring unknown territories.' Once
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| we had the space Western hook, things suddenly started to click. We developed
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| the _Galaxy_Ragners_ name together. The response I began to get from various
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| financing groups was totally differnet. It was as if I came up with the greatest
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| thing since _Star_Trek_."
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| Like the characters of that _Wagon_Train_ to the stars, Mandell wanted to make
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| his Rangers as real as possible. "Throughout the series' run, we tried to base
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| an episode on each Ranger to show their background," notes Mandell.
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| "The leader of the group, Zachary Foxx, was always our straight-ahead
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| West-Point-mentality soldier. He is always doing things by regulations. We
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| designed him to be in direct conflict with Shane Gooseman [the group's
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| shape-changer]," adds Mandell, "who doesn't do anything by the book. He's our
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| Dirty Harry."
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| "It was very important for me to set their characters from the beginning so that
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| the interaction between the four Rangers would be very strong and the dialogue
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| could reflect a little bit of the characters' histories and personalities
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| without being obvious. For example, the conflict between Zack and Goose has
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| helped establish their backgrounds."
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| "Zach was never our most colorful character and we played off that quality.
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| Because he comes from a world of perfect order, he likes to see things in
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| certain ways, but in reality, nothing works that way--especially in the whole
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| new universe he now can explore."
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| <b>WHEN RANGERS CLASH</b>
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| Continuing his conservative characterization, Foxx is the only Ranger who is
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| married with children. Mandell, though, did throw a wrench into the man's
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| seemingly simple life. "We wanted Zack to have his own personal conflict and
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| that turned out to be his bionics," Mandell explans, noting a certain irony. "He
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| never really trusted machinery or hardware, but then he has an accident where
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| suddently, it is machinery and hardware that saves his life. Now, he has this
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| interal conflict with how to deal with his own bionics."
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| "We never really got a chance to explore that too much," Mandell says, "because
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| along came Goose. Since he turned out to be such a colorful figure, we started
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| catering more stories toward him. Supertroopers was such a great concept in its
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| own right--the last of the genetically bred soldiers who Goose grew up with in a
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| training camp. He was the one Supertrooper with developed compassion and true
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| human emotions. And due to a bizzare experiment, all the other Supertroopers
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| went crazy, revolted and broke away, forming an evil force. Gooseman stayed on
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| with the Bureau of Extraterrestial Affairs (BETA) and eventually became a Galaxy
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| Ranger."
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| "Because of his background as a Supertrooper, the Board of Leaders didn't really
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| trust him. The only way they could let him become a Galaxy Ranger was if he
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| became a bounty hunter and went out and brought all the other Supertroopers back
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| in. His conflict then is that he has to capture all his friends--dead or alive.
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| Of course, that fit so well into our Western theme."
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| "Niko has been kind of a special character for us because we wanted a female
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| lead who would be able to handle herself as well as the men," Mandell remarks.
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| "She has psi powers, her abilities range from telekinesis to constructing force
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| fields. But the concept is still that all the Rangers' powers are based on
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| natural ablities and amplified by a computer implant in their brains. The Series
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| Five Brain Implants are charged by these energy chambers the Rangers stand in.
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| The amplification lasts a certain amount of time depending how powerful the
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| charge is. SO even the Rangers don't really know how far they can push their
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| powers."
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| "The only Ranger we couldn't cover was Doc," says Mandell. "He turned out to be
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| one of everybody's favorite characters, and got so much time on his own that we
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| never got a chance to do his origin episode."
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| Though not an origin, Walter "Doc" Hartford (don't call him "Wally") has been
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| showcased in episodes like "Murder on the Andorian Express." A _Galaxy_Rangers_
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| version of an Agatha Christie mystery, the story has Doc and fellow Ranger Niko
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| trying to solbe the mysterious demise of an ambassador aboard the luxury
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| spaceliner, S.S. Christie. Such whimsical predicaments suit the team's cimpter
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| wizard (who bears a bizzare resemblance to Billy Dee Williams) much more than
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| the other three Rangers.
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| <b>GALAXY GANGS</b>
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| Drawing their wagons around the Galaxy Rangers are an equally well-developed
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| supporting cast. Most important are the series' two amiable alien instigators.
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| Waldo, an Andorian, is a member of the oldest and most advanced culture in the
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| galaxy, while Zozo is an emotional Kiwi from the underdeveloped farm planet of
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| Kirwin. "A very strong underlying theme of _Rangers_ is low-tech vs. hi-tech,"
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| says Mandell. "We like to expose the Rangers and their hi-tech devices to the
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| low-tech cultures with which they deal."
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| Other characters that populate the series are Buzzwang, a courageous,
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| break-dancing robot Ranger; Maya, the rebellious Princess of Tarkon, a planet
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| that distains all technology; Lazarus Slade, a Southern gentleman scientist bent
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| on world domination; Daisy O'Mega, a sweet lass with a thick brogue and a
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| penchant for crime--she leads the villanous Black Hole Gang with a swarthy knave
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| named McCross; and Mogul the space sorcerer, whose evil deeds are thwarted by
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| his incompetent assistant Larry.
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| Some characters worked bettern than others and some just didn't work. "I hae to
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| say it, but we had many problems with Captain Kidd," says Mandell of his alien
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| space pirate creation. "We never could find the right place for Kidd.
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| Originally, he was designed as a strong villain and then he turned into our
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| Harry Mudd. We mostly ended up using Kidd in comic relief situations."
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| The Queen of the Crown, meanwhile, is more like the queen in Disney's
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| _Snow_White_ gone cosmic. "She is certainly one of the most evil characters in
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| the series," Mandell agrees. "The Queen has this mammoth galactic empire and
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| things aren't going quite well for her. She had her forces spread so thing that
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| if she doesn't act soon, her empire is going to start crumbling. So, she begins
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| to experiment with psycho-crystal technology, which is a great way to take souls
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| from species and use their life forces to create Slaver Lords. The Queen is able
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| to use these ghost forms as spies. She can see and hear through them. This way,
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| she can stay right in her castle and maintain control."
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| "Her only problem is that she can't find a life force strong enough to power the
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| Slaver Lords. Most of the aliens she has tried just don't work. Suddenly, some
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| humans show up and their spiritual force is so strong that she finds that she
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| can use one of them to create a very powerful Slaver Lord that will last a long
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| time. She becomes so obsessed with hunting humans." The first two episodes of
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| the _Galaxy_Ranger_ series, "Phoenix" and "New Frontier," recount how Zachary
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| Foxx lost part of his wife's essence to the Queen's psychocrypt.
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| "I tried to create a very strong universe because I figured up front I was doing
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| 65 episodes," Mandell explains. "I didn't want to do a typical format show where
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| every day the same thing is happening. I knew it was a dangerous approach in
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| dealing with young kids because they like the repetition. I tried to make the
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| stories as diversified as possible. For example, many episodes don't have all
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| the four Rangers in them. And that's unheard of in animation strips." Some
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| episodes don't feature any rangers, spotlighting instead, Foxx's children and
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| the Kiwis.
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| Among Mandell's writing staff is Brian Daley, who helped embellish the
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| _Star_Wars_ saga through radio adaptations and Han Solo novels, as well as other
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| noted authors. "The project's story editors, are Owen Locke, head of Del Rey
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| Books, and Chris Rowley. The three of us mapped out the initial elements of the
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| universe. Through Owen, I've met several of the Del Rey writers. We started
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| bringing in other writers, including Brian Daley." Novelist Tom De Haven
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| scripted Goose's bounty-hunting exploits in "Galaxy Stranger" and "One Million
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| Emotions" in which the Rangers chase after an alien sculpture which assaults its
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| bearer with a range of feelings; Lucia Robeson, bestselling author of
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| _Ride_of_the_Wind_ contributed "Mistwalker," based on an adventure of the
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| real-life Texas Rangers. Jimmy Lasino, another Del Rey writer, penned the
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| no-hold-barred "Birds of a Feather" that utilized many of the Rangers' rogues'
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| gallery in pursuit of Bubble Head, a Memory Bird in possession of the
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| Supertrooper juice formula.
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| "In addition to writers who had experience writing books, I also wanted to get
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| new writers involved to infuse the stories with some new ideas and
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| characterizations. I avoided accomplished cartoon writing people as I did the
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| typical actors for cartoons," Mandell explains. "I wanted the natural quality of
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| an actor's voice portraying the character as opposed to the commercial-oriented
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| announcerish style that most producers feel comfortable with just because the
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| audience can understand every work they say." It was this thinking that garnered
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| Jerry (_F/X_) Orbach his first animated role, voicing Zachary Foxx.
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| <b>TOYS AREN'T US</b>
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| The producer's method of drafting more writers for the series proved a bit
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| unorthodox. "I took ads in the _New_York_Times_, _The_Village_Voice_, circulated
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| some flyers and put up some posters in colleges," Mandell says. "At the time, it
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| seemed a bad idea because I was suddenly swamped with thousands and thousands of
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| submissions. Of course, how do you choose writers based on a little sample? It
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| was _almost_ impossible."
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| But Mandell and staff were in a race against time to produce 65 episodes within
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| a one-year time limit and pushed on. "Owen, Chris, and I started weeding though
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| the stuff," he recalls. "And we did manage to find a pretty good group. We had
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| to accept many scripts that were not necessarily as polished as we would have
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| liked them to be, but we had the flexibility to modify the script throughout the
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| whole production schedule. So, as long as the plot was there, I could put the
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| script into the storyboarding phase, and then modify it again during the actual
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| recording session." What became advantageous to the producer was his method of
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| recording dialogue--the actors perform the script initially as a guide for the
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| animators in Tokyo, but the final soundtrack is comprised of the actors
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| "looking" their lines along with the finished episode. "It's more expensive and
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| more time consuming," admits Mandell, "but you can't compare the results. It's
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| like apples and oranges. The actors get to see the characters and the situation.
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| Though Mandell earned the luxuries of time and money, he still lacked the one
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| thing that would have made producing _Galaxy_Rangers_ simpler--a toy deal. "The
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| most unusual thing about _Rangers_ is that it is the only daily strip [airing
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| once a day for a five-day period] to get produced without the major support of a
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| toy company," he says. "There are now toys, but the licensing came _after_ the
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| show went into production. When I put the concept together in January 1984, the
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| idea of a strip production was just becoming very big."
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| "The syndication marketplace was just starting to explode in '84 because of the
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| sucess of _He-Man_&_The_Masters_of_the_Universe_. _He-Man_ really set the trend
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| for producing animation with heavy toy company involvement. Toy companies have
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| always been involved in Saturday morning animation, but never to the extent that
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| they were producing 65 half hours of animation. It's an extremely expensive
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| endeavor. The average cost per strip has been somewhere near $15 million, which
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| is a phenomenal amount of money--its like the budget for a major motion picture.
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| Most companies that get involved are really looking for the big toy hit, because
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| it's the only way a financier can expect a return."
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| Mandell admits there are some advantages when a producer has a toy company
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| backing his project. "Toy comapnies commit a certain amount of advertising and
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| that whole media support of a project. That media awareness can make or break a
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| show. It has hurt _Galaxy_Rangers_ to a certaing degree because we went on the
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| air without any of the media hype that shows like _Thundercats_ or _Brave_Starr_
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| have gotten."
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| Eventually, Tom Battista of ITF Enterprises, who had Americanized _Voltron_, put
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| Mandell in touch with the Gaylord Production Company. "The Gaylord people got
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| involved not because there was a toy company behind it--they hoped to get a toy
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| company--but because they liked the show's feel. They thought it was going to be
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| an exciting adventure show for kids."
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|
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| But the producer had more than youngsters in mind for his demographics. "I
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| wanted to put enough into the show, so that it would not only spill over into a
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| teen market, but that parents could watch and enjoy it with their kids."
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| With 65 episodes behind him, and his own NY-based company, Transcom Media, Inc.,
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| formed, Mandell is aiming for another shootout with the financiers on his
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| current projects. "_Kaduna_Memories_ is an SF detective story which takes the
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| classic Phillip Marlowe elements and puts them in a science-fiction setting,"
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| Mandell remarks. "It's similar to what _Blade_Runner_ did, but it's not as dark
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| or heavy. The lead character is Felix McTurk, a private eye who is looking to be
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| a super detective, and he falls in a situation that is out of his control. There
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| will be an extensive use of computer animation because in the world of 2180
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| there is whole other universe called Cyberspace. Chris Rowley and I developed
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| the concept."
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|
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| "I also own a property called _Eridahn_ based on a book by Robert F. Young--not
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| the _Marcus_Welby_ actor," he adds.
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| "Unfortunately, Young passed away and won't be able to see the book's fruition.
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| It's a terrific story, kind of a combination of Indiana Jones and
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| _Time_Machine_. And the third project, _Musikins_, is for younger kids. It's
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| about a young group of musicians travelling across a fantasy land looking to
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| discover the 'lost sounds.'"
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| At this point, Mandell is only waiting for the time to be right to produce his
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| dream project, Larry Niven's _Ringworld_. "In order to be done right,
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| _Ringworld_ would have to use a major motion picture with a combination of
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| puppetry, cel animation, computer animation, live action--a full range of
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| effects."
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| The producer sees the upcoming _Who_Framed_Roger_Rabbit?_, the Steven
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| Spielberg-Robert Zemeckis project which combines live action and animated
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| characters as a positive sign. "This is where filmmaking is going to be headed,"
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| Robert Mandell says. "There is no reason why a really solid action-adventure
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| film cannot be done in animation. Anything can be done in animation if done
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| well. If the elements that go into making the product are competently done, and
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| the illusion is created and held through 90 minutes, there is no reason an
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| animated adventure film can't work."
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|
| [[Category:GRCD1]] | | [[Category:GRCD1]] |