Coming to DVD on October 2nd 2012 is Saban’s VR Troopers. This SHOUT! Factory DVD features 26 episodes on three DVDs.

The following is a synopsis:

Ryan, Kaitlin and J.B., three adventurous friends who study martial arts, find themselves the unexpected defenders of humanity in this action-packed series that pits them against a criminal mastermind and his invading army from another dimension.

A very popular show when it aired in the mid 90’s VR Troopers rode on the popularity of Power Rangers until it was ultimately cancelled in favor of Big Bad Beetleborgs. Thanks to syndication, this mishmash of 80’s Japanese TV fantasy was filled with quite a bit of violence making the cheesy talking Dog and endless sound effects worth sitting through.

The characters are more or less interesting; most of the villains don’t last long enough to get to know enough about them. The heroes however are interesting to where you would like to see them succeed.
The acting is decent, however the cheese-factor is always present which brings comedy to the show—of course, the glued together footage and rubber suits are comical enough.

With the major dramatic story being that of Ryan remembering his father who is missing, the show pulls off a reasonable amount of emotion for a kids show.

VR Troopers is not for me, I have a hard time dealing with the changing visuals that don’t fool me into thinking that its all one show when I know its not only many shows attached to each other but also the age of the Japanese footage along side the scenes from the mid 90’s just gives me a headache.

The picture quality is great when it comes to the footage filmed in the U.S. in the 90’s, but because of the clarity, the viewer can really see the age of the Japanese shows used for the production. The sound is fine, just standard with no flaws that I could find throughout the 26 episodes.
The DVD’s do not have any bonus features, but sometimes more than not, it’s unnecessary.

VR Troopers has a place in 90’s history for the generation who grew up watching this style of show and although its not my cup of tea, I feel that due to the fact that I know what its supposed to be and the attempt at balance through action, adventure, drama and comedy, I give VR Troopers a…

GRADE: B

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