Eagle Riders

Did You Know?

• Eagle Riders has never been released on home video or streaming, and exists only via US and Australian television recordings.
• The current American ownership of the series is unclear, but all of Saban's rights to the Gatchaman property were originally set to expire on September 7, 2004.
• In 2001 Saban was purchased by Disney, with Disney presumably losing the rights in 2004.

Production

Saban trademarked the show's name in 1995 and recorded the dub afterward. Voice actor R. Martin Klein, who portrayed the villain Mallanox, stated in a 2022 interview that he recorded his lines at Wally Burr Recording in Burbank, California, and described his performance as having comedic elements. Heidi Lenhart, stepdaughter of Saban Entertainment founder Haim Saban, voiced the Eagle Rider Kelly. Bryan Cranston, who voiced Eagle Rider Joe, had previously done voice work for Saban on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and later collaborated with Haim Saban again for the 2017 Power Rangers film. Several episodes were credited to R.D. Smithee, a pseudonym similar to Alan Smithee used when writers or directors are ashamed to have their names credited. Character names and terms were changed in localization. A notable alteration was the removal of Mallanox (Gel Sadra)'s origin and transformation from the premiere episode of Gatchaman II; the character was changed from female to male, though the correct gender and origin were reinstated in later dub episodes. To merge the two series, the finale of Gatchaman II and the first episode of Gatchaman Fighter were combined, and Gel Sadra's death was cut; instead, Mallanox was said to have transformed into a new form named Happy Boy (originally the Gatchaman Fighter villain Count Egobossler). The final eight episodes of Gatchaman Fighter were never translated due to objectionable content; the 15th episode of Gatchaman Fighter served as the series finale.

Release and reception

During its 1996–97 US syndication run, Eagle Riders aired alongside the first season of Dragon Ball Z, another anime adapted with Saban Entertainment. The two programs attracted minor controversy at the time. A 1997 UCLA report on television violence stated that "Eagle Riders and Dragon Ball Z both contain images of mean-spirited, glorified fighting. One episode of Eagle Riders shows a hero viciously throwing metal stars in the faces of different villains. Some episodes never shown in the USA were screened at the 1997 GachaCon fan convention, which featured Eagle Riders producer Rita Acosta as a guest. Ken Innes of Absolute Anime wrote in his review that the first thirteen episodes were a nearly straight translation of Gatchaman II with a few embellishments, but that later episodes previewed in July 1997 were a major disappointment. He also noted that the new background music was intrusive and did not compare to Hoyt Curtin's work in Battle of the Planets, though it was an improvement over the original Gatchaman II background music.