Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers/Nightmare Fuel

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Several of the writers for Galaxy Rangers, including Christopher Rowley, had a background in horror. For a "kids" show, it did not shy away from screwing with your mind or going for a scare. Consider "Rogue Arm", where Zach's arm comes to murderous life. Not only does Zach start dying without it--after it tries to strangle him—the thing creeps around the darkened halls of a giant but poorly-staffed and supplied ship, even sucking two Red Shirt crew members into space. Who, by the way, are never rescued.
  • "Scarecrow" was pretty nasty too, with this Sealed Evil in a Can coming back to life, killing a pair of Red Shirts (Remember, this was The Eighties - Never Say "Die" was standard operating procedure), then pulling Mind Rape on Shane's sentient, AI horse. After this, he leads the Rangers into the swamp, and wounds Niko pretty badly. Niko has a nightmare of waking up in her own grave, seeing the Scarecrow hovering over her, and choking her to death. Lastly, after Shane's chased it into a burning house, it runs into the night, still on fire, laughing. The very last scene? After Shane and Niko leave the planet, thinking they've defeated the thing, the technician that was gassing up their ship chuckles. His face melts, revealing him as the Scarecrow, and he does an Evil Laugh directly into the camera.
  • I'll see it and raise you the opening Nightmare Sequence from "Psychocrypt." *shudder* He's dreaming he's stuck in the Queen's palace and that his wife's calling out to him. Akew angles, Zach staring at his own corpse, his badge melting, a giant hand picking him up and tossing him into oblivion...and It Gets Worse when you realize is' no mere nightmare but a form of Mind Rape that Her Travesty has been inflicting on both Zach and his wife for at least a week and probably longer.
  • For that matter, the Psychocrypt itself. See entry under Fate Worse Than Death.
  • One with a side order of Fridge Horror. The Queen is absolutely delighted when she has Zach in her clutches. Now, the most innocent possibility is that she immediately tossed him in the Crypt for a nasty Mind Rape. Now, add the seductive tone of voice she was using earlier in the episode, Rowley's DVD Commentary saying the scene has "S & M vibes," and the possibility that maybe she didn't toss him in right away...
  • The end results if Shane's Involuntary Shapeshifting abilities break down on him.