''VR Troopers'' is a syndicated

live-action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games or ...

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

television series produced and distributed by

Saban Entertainment BVS Entertainment, Inc., previously known as Saban Productions, Saban Entertainment and Saban International, is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. Founded on April 24, 1980, as a music production company by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, it ...

from 1994 to 1996. The show tried to profit from the fascination with

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

in the mid-1990s as well as the success of Saban's other property, ''

Power Rangers ''Power Rangers'' is an American media franchise created by Haim Saban, Shuki Levy and Shotaro Ishinomori built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise ''Super Sentai''. It is currently ow ...

''. ''VR Troopers'' was the first official "sister series" to ''

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ''Mighty Power Rangers'' (''MMPR'') is an American superhero television series that premiered on August 28, 1993, on the Fox Kids programming block. It is the first entry of the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, and became a 1990s popular culture, ...

''. Much like it, this was an Americanization of a

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese

tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live-action films or television programs that make heavy use of practical special effects. Credited to special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, ''tokusatsu'' mainly refers to science fiction film, science fiction, War fi ...

children's program series by

Toei Company , simply known as Toei Company or Toei, is a Japanese entertainment company. Headquartered in Ginza, Chūō, Tokyo, it is involved in film and television production, distribution, video game development, publishing, and ownership of 34 movi ...

. The series is a co-production of Toei and Cyberprod. The show featured early CGI and video effects mixed with Japanese stock footage from three different ''

Metal Hero Series The is a metaseries of tokusatsu superhero TV series produced by Toei for Japanese television. The protagonists of the ''Metal Hero Series'' are mainly space, military and police-based characters who are typically either androids, cyborgs, ...

'': ''

Metalder is the sixth and shortest entry of the Metal Hero Series franchise, running from March 16, 1987, to January 17, 1988, for only 39 episodes. The series was broadcast on TV Asahi, initially inheriting the same Monday 7:00PM time slot of all the ...

'', '' Spielban'' and ''

Shaider is a Japanese tokusatsu television show that aired from March 2, 1984, to March 8, 1985. It is the last of the "Space Sheriff Series" of the broader Metal Hero Series franchise, it is a sequel the previous two being '' Space Sheriff Gavan'' and ...

''. On May 7, 2010, the copyright for ''VR Troopers'' was transferred from

BVS Entertainment BVS Entertainment, Inc., previously known as Saban Productions, Saban Entertainment and Saban International, is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. Founded on April 24, 1980, as a music production company by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, it ...

Saban Capital Group Saban Capital Group LLC is an American investment company based in Los Angeles, California focused on media, entertainment and communications. Formed in 2001 by Haim Saban, Saban Capital Group owns Saban Films, and co-owns Celestial Tiger Ente ...

. In 2018, the rights were transferred to

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

, as part of the acquisition of the ''

'' brand, which included related intellectual property & content libraries previously owned by Saban Properties. The show was canceled after only two seasons primarily because the available Japanese footage was quickly exhausted. Its successor, ''

Big Bad Beetleborgs ''Big Bad Beetleborgs'' (later ''Beetleborgs Metallix'' for Season 2) is an American live-action superhero television series by Saban Entertainment and was co-produced with Renaissance-Atlantic Films, Toei Company and Bugboy Productions. Two sea ...

'', another Saban adaptation of a ''Metal Heroes'' series, was cancelled for the same reason. The show spawned a toy line and a video game for the

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...

and

Game Gear The is an 8-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth-generation handheld game console released by Sega on October 6, 1990 in Japan, in April 1991 throughout North America and Europe, and in 1992 in Australia. The Game Gear primarily ...

Plot

The show focused on three teenagers in their late teens, Ryan Steele, Kaitlin Star, and J.B. Reese, living in the fictional West Coast town of Cross World City, California. They regularly attended and were teachers at "Tao's Dojo", a

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

studio. Ryan was the most focused martial artist; J.B. was the computer wizard; while Kaitlin was a

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...

for the local newspaper, the ''Underground Voice Daily''. One day, Ryan's search for his long-missing father led him and his two friends to a strange

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratories are found in a variety of settings such as schools ...

. Inside, a digitized head of Professor Horatio Hart (who is a friend of Ryan's father Tyler) explained the truth about his life's work of having developed extremely advanced

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

secret Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controver ...

. "VR" is a

dimension In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coo ...

existing alongside our own; within it lie mutants, aiming at conquering both worlds. The main ruler of these is a creature known as Grimlord, who, unbeknownst to anyone on Earth, has a human identity as billionaire industrialist Karl Ziktor. As Karl Ziktor tries to overcome the barriers of the true

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of everything in existence; everything that is not imagination, imaginary. Different Culture, cultures and Academic discipline, academic disciplines conceptualize it in various ways. Philosophical questions abo ...

to allow his armies easy passage from the virtual world, the responsibility of defending the

planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

on both sides of the dimensional barrier falls on Ryan, Kaitlin and J.B.. They have assistance in the form of armored bodies having incredible firepower. This includes eventual additions to their arsenal, such as a Turbo Cycle, Techno

Bazooka The Bazooka () is a Man-portable anti-tank systems, man-portable recoilless Anti-tank warfare, anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", th ...

, VR Troopertron, VR Shoulder Cannon, VR Battlecruiser/Interceptor and a flying,

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

-blasting Skybase. Among other regular characters on the show, Zeb as Jeb, Ryan's hound dog that, after an accident in Professor Hart's lab, becomes capable of human speech; Woody Stocker, Kaitlin's wacky hat-loving boss at the ''Underground Voice Daily''; Percival "Percy" Rooney, the local mayor's nephew and Kaitlin's bumbling rival reporter; and Tao, the wise

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

sensei The term "先生", read in Chinese, in Japanese, in Korean, and in Vietnamese, is an honorific used in the Sinosphere. In Japanese, the term literally means "person born before another" or "one who comes before". It is generally used ...

who owns the dojo and a family friend of the Steele Family. Recurring villains include General Ivar, Colonel Icebot, Decimator, the Skugs and others throughout. During the second season, the show changed format very slightly. Ryan's father Tyler was finally found and restored to normal. Then he quickly left to help the government research further Virtual Reality based technology. With him came Ryan's new V.R. armor and an upgrade to his powers. Grimlord's base of operations switched from the virtual dungeon to a massive spacecraft which used mostly US footage and added new Generals such as Oraclon, Despera, Doom Master and his Vixens. The Skugs now had the ability to become more powerful in the form of Ultra Skugs.

Cast and characters

* Brad Hawkins as Ryan Steele *

Sarah Brown Sarah Brown may refer to: * Sarah Brown (athlete) (born 1986), American middle-distance runner * Sarah Brown (cook), British pioneer vegetarian television cook * Sarah Brown (model) (1869–?), pseudonym of Marie Roger, French artists' model in 1890 ...

as Kaitlin Star * Michael Hollander (credited as Michael Bacon) as J. B. Reese * Gardner Baldwin as Ziktor/Grimlord * Julian Combs as Professor Hart * Richard Rabago as Tao *

Michael Sorich Michael John Sorich ( , born March 23, 1958) is an American actor, writer and director. Biography Sorich has been a voice actor for many different characters in the ''Power Rangers'' franchise (until the end of the '' Wild Force'' series), as we ...

as Woody * Aaron Pruner as Percy

Production

Pre-production

In pre-production, the series was known as ''Psycon'' and ''Cybertron'', focusing on a single hero with a technological theme instead of a team of heroes with a virtual reality theme. In the ''Psycon'' pilot script, the main character was Adam Steele who merged with the cyborg Psycon instead of transforming into it. The enemy was Grimlord, whose alter ego was Cyrus Ritker, who led a robot army known as Cyberdrones. Cyrus had a son called Percy who was Adam's martial arts rival. Adam's mentor and caretaker was a martial arts sensei called Tao. Adam was friends with Tao's daughter Mia, and a young kid called Mouse MacKenzie. The ''Cybertron'' pilot starred

Jason David Frank Jason David Frank (September 4, 1973 – November 19, 2022) was an American actor and mixed martial artist, best known for his role as Tommy Oliver in the ''Power Rangers'' television franchise. Early life Frank was born in Covina, Californi ...

as Adam Steele and drew its source footage from ''Metalder''. Frank's character was depicted as a solo hero going up against an army of robots known as Wardrones who were led by Grimlord. Grimlord's alter ego in the pilot was Cyrus Rikter (Gardner Baldwin), who had a son named Percy, who was Adam's martial arts rival. Tao Chong (Richard Rabago) served as Adam's caretaker and mentor. Tao also had a daughter named Mia and Doug Sloan played the part of Tyler Steele in flashbacks. The pilot included a pair of bumbling news reporters named Elmo (played by

Jamie Kennedy James Harvey Kennedy (born May 25, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. In film, Kennedy played Randy Meeks in the ''Scream'' film series (1996–2000), which saw him as a supporting character in the first and third installments and a le ...

) and Scuzzy, who would've served as the series'

comic relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

. Its theme song was based on

Ron Wasserman Ronald Aaron Wasserman (born September 2, 1961), also known as Aaron Waters and The Mighty Raw, is an American musician who composed the original theme songs for ''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers'' and '' X-Men: The Animated Series''. He was also a m ...

's "Go Green/White Ranger Go" song in the ''Power Rangers'' series.

''VR Troopers''

In the original ''VR Troopers'' promo, Kaitlin had the last name of "Hall" instead of "Star" and Professor Hart was played by a different actor with an entirely different voice and personality than the Professor that was later used. Like ''Power Rangers'', ''VR Troopers'' used a combination of American footage spliced with fight scenes from Japanese shows. The Japanese shows adapted in to ''VR Troopers'' are ''

'', '' Spielban'', and ''

''. All three come from Toei's ''Metal Hero Series''. ''Metalder'' provided footage of Ryan Steele's season one robotic suit, Grimlord, the Virtual Dungeon, Grimlord's four lieutenants, Dark Heart, and the military-type robots that are featured in several episodes, as well as the exterior of Ziktor Industries. ''Spielban'' provided footage of J.B.'s and Kaitlin's robotic suits, Ivar, Icebot, skugs, and the battle scenes involving the Skybase, shark cruisers, tanks, and fighter jets. ''Space Sheriff Shaider'' provided the new footage for season two, including Ryan Steele's season two robotic suit and the ultra-skugs. Out of all of Saban's tokusatsu adaptations, ''VR Troopers'' uses the oldest source-footage of any series. ''Shaider'' was aired from 1984 to early 1985, making it 10 years old when first used for ''VR Troopers'' in 1995; ''Spielban'' was aired from 1986 to early 1987, making it eight years old when originally used in 1994; and ''Metalder'' was originally aired in 1987 to early 1988, making it seven years old when it was adapted in 1994. Because more than one Japanese show was used in an episode at any given time, Ryan's alter-ego was never in the same action scene as JB or Kaitlin's (since they were taken from two different shows). Due to this, many episodes involved some sort of plot device that separated Ryan from the other two, forcing them to fight separately. Almost every episode ended with either Ryan or JB destroying the monster of the day (Kaitlin never got to destroy any on her own), at which point his missing comrade(s) would come running up to inquire how the fight went. The only time the group fought "together" or in battle grid mode was all original American footage, with the Battle Grid suits being low-quality spandex and the helmets simple recolors of the Red Mighty Morphin Power Ranger's. For the show's first season, there was almost never any original American footage outside of the Battle Grid. Similar to ''Power Rangers'', more U.S. fights were featured in the show's second season. ''VR Troopers'' as an adaptation is different in many ways from ''Power Rangers'' and ''Big Bad Beetleborgs''. Because it was syndicated (instead of broadcast on

Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized in all caps) was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a j ...

like the former two), the monsters were destroyed more violently; mutant/robot destructions included the monster being split in half, impaled, and decapitated. None of the VR Trooper forms were given names since none of them had one main color. All three of the ''Metal Hero'' shows used in the series had a lot of ''human vs. human'' battles. However, because the fights featured close-ups of Japanese actors, it was deemed unusable. Distance shots of Japanese actors from ''Shaider'' were usable in some of the fights, and battles with the monster footage were also kind of limited (splicing up to 2–3 episodes), but otherwise such footage was limited. In addition, because many episodes of fight footage from ''Metalder''/''Shaider'' and ''Spielban'' were being used in a single episode, viable footage was used more quickly. In Season 1, the show would open with the traditional "Today on ''Saban's VR Troopers''" teaser, showing scenes from the episode and narrated by

Dave Mallow Dave Mallow (October 19, 1948 – March 11, 2025) was an American voice actor. Life and career Mallow was born on October 19, 1948. His father worked in radio and television and was a 30-year on-air veteran at Chicago's WGN. After graduating ...

. After the "Quest For Power" mini-series in Season 2, however, Ryan, Kaitlin, or J.B. took over the part and narrated the teaser in first-person). Various voice actors were listed under different

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

s in this series. For example, in the Season 1 end credits,

Kerrigan Mahan Kerrigan Patrick Mahan (born January 27, 1955) is an American voice actor. He has had voice roles in '' Lensman'', ''Zillion'', ''Vampire Hunter D'' and '' Crying Freeman'', as Goldar in ''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers'' and ''Power Rangers Zeo' ...

was credited under his pseudonym, Ryan O'Flannigan (which was also the name credited for doing the voice of

Goldar Goldar (known as Flydar in the pilot episode) is a fictional character from the television series ''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers''. A powerful yet overconfident warrior that serves under the command of Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd, he is one of t ...

in the early seasons of ''

''); in Season 2, he would be credited under his real name and was properly identified as Jeb's voiceover. Likewise,

Richard Epcar Richard Epcar is an American voice actor, voice director, and writer who has voiced over 1,200 characters in animation, video games and anime. Some of his major roles include Raiden in the ''Mortal Kombat'' franchise, The Joker in several proje ...

was occasionally listed in the end credits under a pseudonym of his own, Richard George (although he was credited under his real name for the first two episodes of the series), and Mike Reynolds was credited under the name Ray Michaels.

Home media

In the U.S., five VHS videos were released: "Lost Memories", "Oh Brother", "Computer Captive", "Error in the System", and "Virtual V6". Each VHS release contained a bonus music video. In the U.K., two videos were released through PolyGram Video and 4 Front Video (a subsidiary of PolyGram), Vol.1 contained "The Battle Begins: Parts 1 and 2" and Vol.2 contains "Battle For The Books" and "Katlin's Little Helper". In the 2000s, four DVDs were released by FOX Kids Europe/Jetix Europe and Maximum Entertainment Ltd. They included three single disc Volumes and a Mega-Disc DVD that contained 8 various episodes that were released across the first three volumes and a couple of episodes that were not released on any of the three previous discs. On June 15, 2011, all episodes of ''VR Troopers'' were made available on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

until February 1, 2021. In 2015, episodes were available on

Kabillion Kabillion is a children's video on demand channel owned by Splash Entertainment. Launched on January 7, 2007, Kabillion is available both as a free VOD channel currently available on Xfinity, Spectrum, Charter Communications, Cox Communicati ...

, a video-on-demand service.

Tubi Tubi (stylized as tubi) is an American over-the-top ad-supported streaming television service owned by Fox Corporation since 2020. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In 2023, Tubi, Credible L ...

announced the series would stream on the service starting February 2025, but hasn't been added due to possible rights issues. However, the series is currently available on

Roku Roku ( ) is a brand of consumer electronics that includes streaming players, smart TVs (and their operating systems), as well as a free TV streaming service. The brand is owned by Roku, Inc., an American company. As of 2024, Roku is the U ...

as of May 2025. On March 12, 2012, it was revealed in ''

Home Media Magazine ''Home Media Magazine'' was a trade publication that covered various aspects of the entertainment industry, home entertainment industry, most notably home video distribution via VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, and digital copy. The magazine also covered news ...

'' that

(''

'' to ''

Power Rangers RPM ''Power Rangers RPM'' is the seventeenth season of the television series ''Power Rangers'' and is an adaptation of ''Engine Sentai Go-onger'', the thirty-second Japanese ''Super Sentai'' series. The season was the eighth and final to air on Ame ...

''), ''VR Troopers'', ''

''/'' Beetleborgs Metallix'', and '' Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation'' would be released on DVD through a deal signed by

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

and

Saban Brands Saban Brands was an American brand management and production company and a defunct subsidiary of Saban Capital Group based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Israeli American media mogul Haim Saban as a successor to an earlier company he co-f ...

. On October 2, 2012, VR Troopers: Season 1, Volume 1 was released on DVD by

. Shout! Factory released VR Troopers: Season 1, Volume 2 on DVD on January 8, 2013. On May 14, 2013 Shout! Factory released VR Troopers: Season 2, Volume 1 on DVD. VR Troopers: Season 2, Volume 2 on DVD was scheduled for release by Shout! Factory on September 10, 2013. However, due to poor sales of the first three volumes, the release was cancelled. Season 2, Volume 2 was eventually released as a Shout! Select title on January 14, 2014.

Other media

Comics

In 1995,

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

published a flipbook five issues mini-series entitled ''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Ninja Rangers/VR Troopers'' which featured the ''

'' on one side and the ''VR Troopers'' on the other. In the ''

'' issue 53, Ryan, Kaitlin and JB's names were mentioned as candidates for the Green Ranger. The team made their appearance in the ''

Power Rangers Prime ''Power Rangers Prime'' is an ongoing American comic book series written by Melissa Flores, with art by Michael Yg and Fabi Marques. The series debuted on November 13, 2024, being published by Boom! Studios. Based on Hasbro's ''Power Rangers'' fr ...

'' comic series from BOOM! Studios. In 2025, BOOM! Studios launched a

VR Troopers ''VR Troopers'' is a syndicated live-action superhero-adventure television series produced and distributed by Saban Entertainment from 1994 to 1996. The show tried to profit from the fascination with virtual reality in the mid-1990s as well as t ...

miniseries written by Mairghread Scott.

Games

* ''Jeb's Rescue'', ''Ryan's Challenge'', and ''JB's Battle'' - Three games for MGA's Game Wizard * ''VR Troopers – When Worlds Collide'' - A handheld game by Tiger * ''

'', a 1995

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

for the

and

* ''Saban's VR Troopers'' - A board game by Milton Bradley

References

External links

* {{Hasbro 1994 American television series debuts 1996 American television series endings 1990s American science fiction television series 1990s American superhero television series American action television series American adventure television series American fantasy drama television series American television series based on Japanese television series American English-language television shows Cyberpunk television series First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Japan in non-Japanese culture Martial arts television series Metal Hero Series Television shows adapted into comics Television shows adapted into video games Teen superhero television series American television series about teenagers Television series created by Haim Saban Television series by Saban Entertainment Television shows about virtual reality Television shows set in California Television series about mutants Superhero trios Works about photojournalists