Read more about VR Troopers at: Wikipedia Official Site: Saban VR Troopers (Virtual Reality Troopers) was a syndicated live action show produced by Saban (creators of the similar Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series) from 1994 to 1996. The show tried to profit from the short-lived Virtual Reality fad of the 1990s as well as the success of Power Rangers. The show featured early CGI and video effects mixed with Japan stock footage from three different Metal Hero Series: Superhuman Machine Metalder, Dimensional Warrior Spielban, and Space Sheriff Shaider. This kind of adaptation technique, turning multiple shows into one show, was originally used in anime with shows like Robotech and Voltron. This was the first and only time this was used for a tokusatsu adaptation. The series was deemed successful, but not as successful as the Power Rangers franchise. Unfortunately, for the series, the Japanese footage was quickly exhausted due to extreme cases where multiple tokusatsu scenes were put together in a single episode to the point stock footage had to be reused multiple times throughout the series. Similarly, another Saban program, Big Bad Beetleborgs, would do well but ultimately end quickly due to a lack of stock footage. Both series were adapted from the Japanese Metal Hero genre, which ended in Japan around the same time. The show spawned a toyline and a video game for the Sega Genesis (Mega Drive). Saban's VR Troopers was the first official "sister series" to the most popular "action fighting kid show" at the time, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Much like it, this was an Americanization of a Japanese tokusatsu children's program by Toei Company LTD. |
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VR Troopers