As everyone may know by now, I am a tokusatsu fan. And many might know, when Mighty Morphin Power Rangers first came out, there were plenty of followers and rip-offs. Saban, that started it, did a bunch of them such as VR Troopers, Masked Rider, and Big Bad Beetleborgs, but there were two others that didn't belong to Saban. There was DIC that did Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad (from Gridman) and the USA network (produced by DIC, they still own the rights) brought their own original show, not made from a Japanese series and it showed. I am talking about Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters. When I first heard this show was coming out in 1994 on TV Guide, I thought it would be an animated series. I imagined aliens with different colored skin and tattoos on their foreheads.
But alas no, It mostly followed the MMPR plot to a tee. A glob much like Zordon contacted teenagers to fight an alien force. And the teenagers weren't likable, they were annoying. The show had like what felt to be 13 episodes, they had 40. The writers Jim Fisher and Jim Staahl came from Chicago's comedy troop Second City, so it could have been believed that it was a parody. But maybe it was too much on tact to be so. It is notable to have had Zsa Zsa Gabor as a guest star, Michael Bower from Nickelodeon's Salute Your Shorts, and one episode had Kevin Castro (Tanker) of Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. I remember that episode very well, he played Orion, a former Alien Fighter--who warns one of them about the blob Nimbar that he will betray them because he betrayed him. I found this interesting because this was not ever covered in Power Rangers, if you could trust your 'mentor.'
But alas no, It mostly followed the MMPR plot to a tee. A glob much like Zordon contacted teenagers to fight an alien force. And the teenagers weren't likable, they were annoying. The show had like what felt to be 13 episodes, they had 40. The writers Jim Fisher and Jim Staahl came from Chicago's comedy troop Second City, so it could have been believed that it was a parody. But maybe it was too much on tact to be so. It is notable to have had Zsa Zsa Gabor as a guest star, Michael Bower from Nickelodeon's Salute Your Shorts, and one episode had Kevin Castro (Tanker) of Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. I remember that episode very well, he played Orion, a former Alien Fighter--who warns one of them about the blob Nimbar that he will betray them because he betrayed him. I found this interesting because this was not ever covered in Power Rangers, if you could trust your 'mentor.'
