Space Rangers ventured into Prime Time briefly in 1993 but it was cut short by a network that was not interested in supporting sci fi shows.
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What Is It?
This short-lived 1993 television series followed the adventures of a misfit band of the Space Rangers Corps stationed on the edge of the explored galaxy at Fort Hope. They must defend the colonists in their sector from menaces like inter-stellar bandits, an alien race known as the Banshees, and the most dangerous threat of all: budget cuts.
Aired: CBS, 1993, 1 Season Totaling 6 Episodes (2 Unaired)
Starring: Jeff Kaake, Jack McGee, Marjorie Monaghan, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Clint Howard, Linda Hunt
Created By: Pen Densham
Why Was It Cancelled?
For a very brief time in early 1993, this enjoyable little series about misfit-yet-tough-as-nails space rangers defending the galactic frontier appeared on CBS’s Prime Time schedule. It definitely served a healthy portion of cheese with its sci fi and borrowed liberally from other genre sources such as Aliens, but it also didn’t take itself too seriously and it was just good fun. And even though original sci fi shows were thriving in the syndication market at that time (and would shortly take a big step forward with the arrivals of Babylon 5, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, and The X-Files that same year), the Big 3 broadcast networks (FOX hadn’t quite become a force yet) had little tolerance for the genre.
Space Rangers was definitely out of place on the Prime Time schedule and it didn’t help that CBS cast it to the Wednesday 8 PM EST hour where the network had struggled for years. In addition, that network had little tolerance for genre shows (a fact that is still true today) and didn’t give this one much of a chance. The series was cancelled after only one episode and only four of the six produced were aired. (You can read more about the show over at Cult-SciFi.com.)
Should It Be Rebooted?
Yes! This show was a ton of fun, and even though it was somewhat derivative, a revival or reboot would certainly work. They could bring back some of the original actors and have them in administrative roles now, shepherding a new group of Rangers. Or they could go the complete reboot route and start over from the ground up. Just so long as they keep the show’s sense of fun and its space-based adventure, this one could definitely find an audience because it had so much potential when it first arrived that was never explored because it was cut short. And it does not need a very high budget as some degree of cheesiness could work in its favor just like with the original. It seems unlikely that this one would added to the reboot queue because it is mostly forgotten at this point, but if the right creative team were to get behind it, this could turn into a sleeper of a sci fi series.
Where Can You Watch It?
Space Rangers was well-received internationally and that eventually resulted in all six of its episodes getting released on VHS, making it one of the first short-lived TV shows to get a full release on home video. It later got a DVD release in the States, but that has since gone out of print and is fetching a fairly high price from third party sellers. Five of the six episodes are available for streaming for free (with ads) on Amazon’s FreeVee, and this blink-and-you-missed-it series is certainly worth checking out.
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