Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers



""In 2086, two peaceful aliens journeyed to Earth, seeking our help. In return, they gave us the plans for our first hyperdrive, allowing mankind to open the doors to the stars. We have assembled a team of unique individuals to protect Earth and our allies. Courageous pioneers committed to the highest ideals of justice and dedicated to preserving law and order across the new frontier. These are the Adventures Of The Galaxy Rangers!""

- The Opening Narration

This critically acclaimed 1986 series was the first of three animated Space Westerns to air in America during the late 1980s.

To elaborate on the Opening Narration: The peaceful aliens represent several planets who are endangered by The Crown Empire, an interplanetary dictatorship headed by the tyrannical Queen of the Crown. Thanks to the hyperdrive, Earth begins to interact with alien worlds and colonize distant planets, which leads to a culture that resembles a futuristic version of The Wild West. Unfortunately, it also leads to danger from spacegoing outlaws, as well as The Crown Empire, which wants to enslave every race it encounters--especially the human race. The crimefighting organization BETA (the Bureau of Extra-Terrestrial Affairs) is formed to protect Earth from these threats. BETA's best-known agents are the Galaxy Rangers, four fearless "space cowboys" (well, one of them's a cowgirl) who each have different powers provided by Series Five brain implants. The Rangers are Cyborg team leader Zachary Foxx, shapeshifting Cowboy Cop Shane Gooseman, psychic Action Girl Niko, and wisecracking Techno Wizard Walter "Doc" Hartford. More information about the Rangers, and their friends and enemies, is available at the character sheet.

For a kid-oriented Animated Series from The Eighties that had a breakdancing robot in it, Galaxy Rangers has earned a surprising amount of respect from adult fans. The show was sophisticated for an American Animated Series of its time, and between the involvement of TMS Entertainment and the epic storylines, it had an Animesque feel that few of its competitors could match. Even now, it still has a solid fanbase. Series creator Robert Mandell also went on to do Princess Gwenevere and The Jewel Riders in the 90's.

Not to be confused with Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, or with the original western name of Kyouryuu Sentai Zyuranger, which would become the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Note to tropers: Please add all character-based tropes at the character sheet, not here.

Tropes:

 * Absentee Actor: Atypically for cartoons from The Eighties, there are several episodes in which one or more of the Rangers don't appear--and at least one ("Mothmoose") in which none of them appear. Sometimes used for dramatic tension, like in "Mistwalker" where a different Ranger's skills would have been better suited to the job, but the one(s) present need to get creative. Most of the time, this was deliberate.
 * Action Girl: Niko, and several of the other female characters as well.
 * Adaptive Ability: Goose and Killbane's power-set.
 * AI Is a Crapshoot: Averted. An AI unit is usually friendly, sometimes benign, and occasionally a Cloudcuckoolander, but rarely malicious.
 * Aliens Speaking English
 * Ambadassador: Most of the diplomats and politicians on the show Minored in Asskicking.
 * Amplifier Artifact: The Series 5 implants don't give the Rangers their abilities; they just crank what they already have to insane levels. Likewise, star stones crank up the abilities of magic users like the Queen and Mogul.
 * And I Must Scream: The Slaverlords.
 * Animated Series
 * Animation Bump: Mandell cleverly exploited this Trope. He had access to three T Ms animation teams: the expensive and high-quality "A" team (Telecom Animation Film, which spent most of their time with Disney and on Little Nemo during this period), the "B" team that balanced price and quality (AIC of Tenchi Muyo fame, under TMS's contract), and the "C" team that was cheapest at the expense of quality (Mizo Planning in Korea, as this and the Duck Tales episode "Catch As Cash Can Part 3" were some of the first things that TMS shipped off to Korea under their contract). Mandell handed out the Drama Bombs and Myth Arc-critical episodes to the "A" team, the moderate quality episodes to the the "B" team, and the episodes of questionable merit to the "C" team.
 * "Sundancer" has some of the best animation in the series, depsite not focusing on the Rangers.
 * Animesque: Somewhat. The show is done in Japan, although some of the character designs are western (in both senses of the word).
 * Applied Phlebotinum
 * Arm Cannon: Zach's Thunderbolt cyber-arm shoots lightning-like bolts when fully charged.
 * Artifact of Doom/Emotion Bomb: The Po Mutant Sensation Doll from "One Million Emotions".
 * Artificial Human: Shane and his fellow Supertroopers.
 * Attack Drone: Doc's "tweakers".
 * Auto Doc: One of these is on Ranger-1. Good thing, as none of the party are known medics!
 * Badass: All the Rangers qualify. Together, they form a Badass Crew. Zozo and Zachary's families also qualify for Badass Family.
 * Badass Mustache: Doc and Commander Walsh both have them, but since Walsh's mustache is a handlebar, he wins. Lazarus Slade has one, too.
 * Band of Brothers/True Companions: As Zach says in "Mindnet", "The day we don't trust one another is the day the Galaxy Rangers are finished."
 * Battle Couple: Shane and Niko in some episodes.
 * Battle Cry: "Galaxy Rangers, ho!"
 * Berserk Button: Andorians are normally calm and rational, but try to confine them, and they turn into slavering brutes with literal fangs and claws.
 * Keep calling Goose a metamorph; see where it gets ya.
 * Even better; threaten Zach's kids or get between him and a rescue attempt on Eliza.
 * Bittersweet Ending: The writers loved this one. About one in five episodes had the Rangers' "victory" as getting out with their shirts and souls intact...and not much else.
 * "Phoenix" - Zachary, Zozo, Waldo, and the Foxx children get away, but the Queen still has dozens of humans (including Eliza) hostage. Zach was injured so badly that over half his body had to be replaced with cyberware. And the League is now at war with an extremely nasty galactic tyrant.
 * "New Frontier" - Yay, most of the humans were freed! But Eliza's trapped. The episode ends with a Meaningful Funeral.
 * "Psychocrypt" - The harmonic factor allowing the Queen to Mind Rape Zachary and his wife on a nightly basis has been disabled. But Eliza's still trapped, and there seems to be little (if any) hope she'll ever be rescued, despite Zach's vow.
 * "Supertroopers" - the plot of the Supertrooper renegades to unleash a biological weapon has been thwarted, but most of them managed to escape. Whiner will get away with his continued crooked dealings, and Goose will always be considered a traitor by his fellow troopers and less than human by the Earth government.
 * "Galaxy Stranger" - Goose is in love with Darkstar, but she's in love with Stingray. He walks away and lets them go, but she can't understand why. It's also unknown if he would face any fallout on Earth over it.
 * "Ghost Station" - The titular Kill Sat blows itself to bits to spare the heroes, taking an entire repository of a lost alien culture with it.
 * "Renegade Rangers" - Yay, the Rangers got most of the Black Hole Gang and their stolen battleship. But Daisy O'Mega got away, and lost her chance to make a Heel Face Turn.
 * "Magnificent Kiwi" - the Queen's been chased off, but the last remnants of the Gherkin people must abandon their homes and go into hiding again.
 * "Gift of Life"/"Sundancer" - Yay, the kid and his horse won the race! Yay, the kid keeps the horse. But the kid is also an orphan now, the kid's father was considered a traitor (and the charges may or may not have been true), and he will be heading for a planet he's never seen before and unable to return to where he used to call home.
 * BLAM Episode: Some people dislike "Mothmoose", and any episode featuring Buzzwang, because their comedic tone clashes with the straight adventure episodes favored by fans. Also, "Mothmoose" doesn't feature any of the Rangers--the heroes are Zach's children and the Kiwi Kids.
 * Which is Lampshaded by Commander Walsh explaining that the Rangers aren't available.
 * Big Creepy Crawlies: The Traash, complete with the usual alien-insect tropes Hive Mind, Hive Queen and Hive Caste System.
 * Bookcase Passage: Used in "Ghost Station".
 * Boom Stick: Maya's staff.
 * Bounty Hunter
 * Braids Beads and Buckskins: The natives of Mesa are basically psychic space elf Indians.
 * Breather Episode: "Showtime," sandwiched right between "Scarecrow" and "Psychocrypt".
 * Briar Patching: How the Rangers win the day in "Mindnet".
 * Brought Down to Normal: In "The Power Within", Nimrod takes the Rangers' badges so they can't fully access their powers.
 * Casual Danger Dialog
 * Chained Heat ("Chained")
 * Character Focus: Atypically for the era, the show made a habit of it. "Phoenix" centers on Zachary, and only introduces the other three Rangers with a single line of dialogue each at the end. "Galaxy Stranger" is a love letter to Clint Eastwood movies, focused exclusively on Shane. "Ariel" delves into Niko's background. The final episode, "Heartbeat" is a prolonged Awesome Moment for Doc.
 * Clear My Name: Shane has to do this after Ryker Kilbane impersonates him in "Mindnet".
 * Cool Bike: The Rangers' Jet Cycles.
 * Cool Horse: The Rangers' Cyber-steeds: Triton, Voyager, Mel, and Brutus.
 * Cool Ship: Several of them.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience
 * Corrupt Bureaucrat: Senator Gand ("Smuggler's Gauntlet") and Senator Whiner.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Bovo Corporation is full of them.
 * Cowboy Cop: All the Rangers qualify, but Shane is a rebel even by the group's standards.
 * Cult Soundtrack: When Koch was compiling the DVD release and asking for extras, the fan list clogged with requests begging for a soundtrack.
 * Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: An Averted Trope in this series.
 * Days of Future Past: As with most other Space Westerns, clothing and architecture reminiscent of The Wild West co-exists with futuristic technology.
 * Deface of the Moon ("Queen's Lair")
 * Deflector Shields: The Kirwin planetary shield. Also, Niko sometimes whips up a small one with her Psychic Powers, and Waldo carries a personal forcefield projector.
 * Determined Homesteader: Very commonly encountered on the planets the Rangers went to. In "Fire and Iron," it's one of these who called the Rangers there to stop sabotage to the monorail (railroad). In "Galaxy Stranger," a Cattle Baron is trying to force them from their land. Recurring Character Annie O. stands for this Trope on the planet Ozark.
 * Doomed Hometown: The fate of the colony world where Niko was born.
 * Drama Bomb: The Supertrooper Duology, "Psychocrypt," "Scarecrow."
 * Dueling Shows: Galaxy Rangers beat its Space Western competitors, Bravestarr and Saber Rider and The Star Sheriffs, to the American airwaves by a year--not that it made any difference in the ratings.
 * DVD Commentary: On the American box sets, key episodes have commentary from Robert Mandell, his brother (and voice actor on the show) Henry, and story editor Christopher Rowley.
 * The Empire: The Queen runs it.
 * Episode Title Card
 * Everybody Laughs Ending: Done in a few episodes.
 * Evil Counterpart: Ryker Killbane for Goose, has the same powers but under conscious control and with no need for an implant.
 * Expository Theme Tune: Preceded by the Opening Narration. This can be heard here.
 * Exty Years From Now: The story begins in 2086, exactly 100 years after the show premiered.
 * Fake Defector: The Rangers, Waldo and Zozo in "Renegade Rangers".
 * Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: Just about anything coming out of the Kiwi species. The species hat is that they are geniuses at agricultural technology.
 * Faster Than Light Travel: The Hyperdrive.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: Eliza. Oh GOD, poor Eliza.
 * The episode "Psychocrypt" demonstrates the details. After having their soul torn out painfully, those tossed in the device are fully aware of what's happened, their Life Energy is used to make a construct the Queen (the person who put them there) can see and hear through, forced to do her bidding. Making it worse is that she is forced to serve her husband's Arch Enemy, with everything she knows fashioned into a weapon against him. Oh, and then we get into the Queen cheerfully committing telepathic rape of both her and her husband on a nightly basis for at least a week and possibly longer...
 * Forgotten Superweapon: The Sleeper of Tarkon.
 * Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: The principle behind the creation of the Supertroopers, with a touch of Magic Genetics. A lighter episode, "Marshmallow Trees," and a Noodle Incident mentioned in "Scarecrow" deal with GMO crops gone out of control.
 * It is generally avoided in context with agriculture, though. Gengineered cattle or crops are a fact of life, and the two times problems occur, they stem from unexpected interactions with the conditions on a planet other than the one the organism was developed on.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: The writing staff was extremely clever at giving just enough hints about some Backstory elements (such as mass genocide) to induce Fridge Horror. It also pulled a subtle, but striking hint that Shane... "took one for the team" to distract the lovely Daisy O'Mega in "Renegade Rangers." Go here for more examples.
 * God Save Us From the Queen : The Queen of the Crown is a genocidal, paranoid meglomaniac.
 * Gravity Sucks
 * Green Aesop: "Progress," "Mistwalker," "Bronto Bear," "In Sheep's Clothing," "Marshmallow Trees," and "Space Moby" (the last has an Affectionate Parody of Greenpeace).
 * The Gunslinger
 * Green Rocks: Starstones. They're even used in the Series Five devices.
 * Happily Married: Zach and Eliza, in the Backstory.
 * Hero Stole My Bike: Used as a Running Gag in "Marshmallow Trees".
 * Heroic Sacrifice: At least five.
 * In "Ghost Station",
 * In "Tune-Up",
 * In "Heartbeat",
 * "Trouble at Texton" has.
 * And in "Phoenix," (the pilot episode):.
 * Heroes Want Redheads: Goose and Niko, when the colorists remember she's a redhead. Not that he's exclusive in his affections, as he and Rogues Gallery member Daisy O'Mega were pretty shameless in "Renegade Rangers."
 * Shane's not the only one with a thing for redheads. Eliza was also auburn-haired.
 * Hobbits: The Kiwi species are shorter than humans, specialize in agricultural tech, and are generally a cheerful and good-natured people. Pissing them off tends to be a bad idea, though.
 * Horse of a Different Color: Aliens who use non-mechanical steeds ride various alien beasts.
 * Humans Are Special: But in a negative way. Human Life Energy is more powerful and longer lasting than that of other species, which is why the Queen starts hunting humans to power her psychocrystals. Even races that aren't seeking them for the Queen's crypt consider humans to be wildly unpredictable and completely insane.
 * Humans Are Warriors: The Andorians are mathematicians and scientists, Kiwi are more farmers than fighters. And while Kirwin defends itself with a planetary defense shield, Earth is shown to be armed to the teeth. Even with Loads and Loads of Characters, virtually all the military were humans.
 * Humans Are White: Doc and two one-shot villains seem to be the only non-white humans in the galaxy.
 * Humanoid Aliens: And some Human Aliens.
 * Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: The plot of "The Power Within"--Zach even uses the phrase "Most Dangerous Game" as a Shout Out to the original short story.
 * I Have You Now, My Pretty: A gender-inverted version shows up in "Psychocrypt." The Queen is delighted to have Zachary in her clutches. The most innocent interpretation says she "merely" MindRaped him. The DVD Commentary and Fanon...yeah.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Shane couldn't admit his feelings for his fellow Supertrooper, Darkstar. Instead, she runs off with Jerkass Stingray and becomes a criminal while Shane is conscripted into the Rangers with orders to hunt them down. When he finds them, Darkstar makes it clear she's staying with Stingray. After defeating Stingray, Shane walks away from them both. Darkstar is unable to understand why.
 * Imported Alien Phlebotinum: The Hyperdrive.
 * Instrument of Murder: In "Battle of the Bandits" the Rangers and a pack of Slaverlords started firing their "modified" guitars at one another.
 * Jive Turkey: The Four-Armed Gunslinger, baby!
 * Doc, to a far lesser extent.
 * Kill Sat ("Queen's Lair")
 * Klaatu Barada Nikto: "Queen's Lair" (though the order is changed to "Klaatu Nikto Barada")
 * Last of Their Kind: The Girkins, an alien race whom the Queen has hunted to near extinction because they were the best species for energizing the psychocrystals until humans showed up.
 * Life Energy: The principle that the Crown Empire's psychocrystals work on.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: On the DVD extras, Robert Mandell estimates that the series had 390 different characters designed for it. At least a dozen were Recurring Characters.
 * Love Potion: "Rusty and the Boys"
 * Mad Scientist: Most notably, Lazarus Slade.
 * Also, Dr. Ograbgo in "Trouble at Texton".
 * Magic From Technology: Maya's Staff, the Heart of Tarkon.
 * Magitek: The Badge of Power and the Psychocrypt.
 * The Magnificent Seven Samurai: Accroding to Robert Mandell, this was the inspiration for Waldo and Zozo seeking help from Earth, and therefore the entire premise. "The Magnificent Kiwi" is an additional, episode-length Shout Out to the trope.
 * Master Computer: The Heart of Tarkon. Atypically for the trope, the device is benevolent; it runs the planet's defenses.
 * Medium Blending: Robert Mandell was one of the first Western animators to invoke this, as early as 1983's Thunderbirds 2086, but went further with it in this series. The CGI is Justified, since it's used on computer screens and as the avatars of AI units.
 * Meaningful Funeral: Eliza being put in stasis at the end of "New Frontier". She's not dead, but the effect is the same.
 * Mechanical Horse: Each Ranger has a sentient "Cybersteed".
 * Mental Fusion: The Rangers can use Niko's Psychic Powers to combine their mental energy into an impenetrable shield or a devastating power blast.
 * Merchandise-Driven: Subverted. While the producers were always aware how toyetic the project was, Galaxy Rangers didn't get a toy deal until it had already gone into production, and the action figures were released only overseas for reasons detailed in Germans Love David Hasselhoff and Periphery Demographic on the YMMV page.
 * Me's a Crowd: The "baby Buzzwangs" from "Tune-Up".
 * Mind Rape : For a mid-80's "kids show," they loved this one. The Psychocrypt, Po Sensation Doll, Mindnet, "dream maker," and one of the Scarecrow's abilities all fell into shades of this one.
 * As did the General's "interrogation" of the prison warden in "Changeling"
 * My Name Is Not Durwood: Doc's Cybersteed, Voyager, is a Cloudcuckoolander who constantly calls him "Wilbur" instead of "Walter". This is a Shout Out to the old 1960s sitcom, Mister Ed, in which the eponymous talking horse has a human owner he has conversations with named Wilbur.
 * Name's the Same: Galaxy Rangers is the international distribution name for the Super Sentai series Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, as can be seen in the closing credits of its American adaptation Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
 * The Andorians, who have no relation to the blue guys from Star Trek.
 * The Kiwis are neither a hairy-skinned fruit, a funny-looking bird, nor are they from New Zealand.
 * Megamind (the villain of "Ariel") is no relation to, well, Megamind.
 * Never Say Die: Very averted. The very first episode shows us people getting cut down by G.I. Joe lasers, and Zachary is mercilessly gunned down and paralyzed. Characters fear for their lives and openly acknowledge corpses, and the early plot involves mashing humans down into Life Energy.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot : Cyborg space cowboys versus alien sorcerers and high-tech space zombies. Only in The Eighties.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Shane resembles Clint Eastwood, Doc resembles Billy Dee Williams, the Queen resembles the Queen from Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, Eve Weiner resembles Madonna, and Q-Ball resembles Paul Shaffer, David Letterman's bandleader.
 * Nonuniform Uniform: Each Ranger customizes their outfit in some way. At one point Goose even adopts an all-black outfit.
 * Off-Model: See the Animation Bump entry for more information.
 * Only Smart People May Pass: Megamind's riddles in "Ariel".
 * Opening Narration: Followed by the Expository Theme Tune.
 * Outlaw Town: Blackwater asteroid. It was thought to be an Urban Legend by the law enforcement, but a delerious Cody Carson (a shady quasi-ally to the Rangers) proved it wasn't by all but kidnapping Doc and Niko and taking them there.
 * Planetville
 * Plot Tailored to The Party: They loved this one. Most of the time, there were ways for the team to show off their skills; computers to hack, something to be scanned psychically, something to hit, and the captain to keep things coordinated. Of course, they subverted it just as often with their fondness for Absentee Actor, when the remaining crew would find the situation more complicated due to their fellow Ranger being out of the picture.
 * Power Crystal: Psychocrystals, and the psi-amplifying Star Stones, which often serve as a Mineral MacGuffin.
 * Power of Friendship: implied to be why the Mental Fusion tactic can be done, and played up in several episodes, especially "Mindnet" and "Psychocrypt."
 * Power of Rock: The soundtrack, in all of its prog-rock glory, is one of the most memorable aspects. John van Tonregen and Peter Wetzler were behind it, and included singers Myles Hunter and Steve Overland. In Universe, "Battle of the Bandits" used it.
 * Psychic Powers: Niko has them, as do most residents of Xanadu and the Mesa natives.
 * Psycho Serum: The Mutagen used to amp up the Super-Troopers came with some unforeseen side effects.
 * La Résistance: The Walkabians who oppose The Empire in "Queen's Lair".
 * Ragnarok Proofing: Multi-million year old technology that still works, including the ol' Durable Deathtrap and the Scarecrow.
 * Real Life Writes the Plot: While many of the Absentee Actor episodes were deliberate, some of it was to shoot around ThunderCats and Dirty Dancing.
 * Recurring Character: See Loads and Loads of Characters.
 * Robot Buddy: Buzzwang, the C3PO-like Plucky Comic Relief android Ranger, and the Cybersteeds.
 * Rock Beats Laser: In one of the UK-only Comic Book Adaptation stories.
 * Rogues Gallery: Unlike most Animated Shows from The Eighties, Galaxy Rangers has a wide variety of villains.
 * Rogues Gallery Showcase: "Birds of a Feather" features the Rangers and several recurring villains all after the same MacGuffin.
 * R-Rated Opening: "Phoenix" and "Gift of Life" - in the first, there's about two or three minutes of exposition before the Crown Destroyer lands on Kirwin and colonists are brutally gunned down. In the second, it's an action-packed opening as the Rangers fight off a criminal gang to arrest a rogue scientist, only to find that the woman inside the house is dead, the scientist is wounded and dying, and their child is nowhere to be seen.
 * Sapient Dolphin: Talking hyperintelligent telepathic cyborg ones, to boot.
 * Sealed Evil in A Can: Scarecrow and the Mega Mind. The Heart of Tarkon was Sealed Good in A Can.
 * Shorttank: Ambassador Zizaw, Master of Kiwi-Fu!
 * Shout Out: Too many to list, but here's a prominent one: Shane Gooseman is presumably named after the main character of Shane. Also, Walter "Doc" Hartford's talking (mechanical) horse calls him "Wilbur."
 * Sixty Five Episode Cartoon
 * Soul Jar: The psychocrystals are negative versions of this.
 * Space Amish: The planet Tarkon bans all technology as evil-- though for some reason they do have Cool Airships.
 * Space Fighter: Ranger Interceptors.
 * Space Opera
 * Space Pirates
 * Space Police
 * Space Western
 * Space Whale ("Space Moby")
 * Story Arc: One of the first Western animated series to attempt it. Again, this was a deliberate choice by the writing staff.
 * Super Soldier: What the Supertroopers were intended to be.
 * Super Serum: Super-Trooper Juice (the original unadulterated version) is a MacGuffin sought by several parties.
 * Talking to Himself: Henry Mandell did an amazing amount of voices, especially for secondary characters. The Screen Actors Guild had rules for overtime, but being as Henry was the creator's brother...
 * Technopath: Doc. While he usually uses his "tweaker" program sprites to control computers, in one episode he directly takes control of Buzzwang's body.
 * The Scarecrow is able to control Goose's robot horse.
 * Teleporters and Transporters ("Tower of Combat", "Ariel", "The Power Within")
 * Theme Music Power-Up: You start hearing electric guitars, and you know some butt's gonna get kicked.
 * Those Two Guys: Waldo and Zozo.
 * Title Drop: The title of almost every episode is said at some point within the episode itself.
 * Title Scream
 * Training From Hell: Wolf Den. A bunch of Artificial Human Tykebombs, designed for the purpose of killing any aliens that come across Earth. Involved things like being shot at by giant mechas with live ammo, the Morally Ambiguous Doctorates using them as test subjects for experimental combat drugs, and one's "fellow" Troopers were more than happy to weed the "weak" from the ranks themselves. Oh, and they didn't much care about little things like "casualties." This was before Senator Whiner dosed the lot with Psycho Serum.
 * Wave Motion Gun: The Queen's hyperspace cannon in "Queen's Lair".
 * We Can Rebuild Him: How Zach became a Hollywood Cyborg.
 * What the Hell Townspeople: The planets of Ozark and Tarkon - several times. Both eventually get their act together.
 * A World Half Full: The Crown Empire may be crumbling, but it's still powerful. The Queen herself is a bloodthirsty, genocidal megalomaniac. The jail system is about as good as Arkham Asylum. Tortuna is a Wretched Hive, and some other planets aren't much better. Earth's politicians are often questionable or worse, as are the business-beings. One of the Rangers is essentially a slave. A quarter of the episodes are Bittersweet Endings. A few are arguable Downer Endings. Oh, and Eliza is never rescued. Still, there are just as many GOOD Corporate executives, benevolent scientists, competent military personnel, and friendly alien factions as evil ones, and sometimes the "villains" are merely misguided.
 * Wretched Hive: Tortuna and quite a bit of Mars.
 * You Have 48 Hours : Though, in the Rangers' case, it was "twenty-four hours."