Geekatana Series Review: Space Sheriff Gavan

SPACE SHERIFF GAVAN REVIEW

Written by: Allan Josef Gurimbao  

If you grew up in the Philippines, chances are, you’re already familiar with Codename: Shaider. But did you know that Shaider is just the third in a trilogy? Today, we’ll take a look at the series that not only kicked off the so-called “Space Sheriff Trilogy”, but also the entire “Metal Hero” franchise in Japan. Today, I bring you, Space Sheriff Gavan(Uchuu Keiji Gavan).

First aired in Japan from 1982 to 1983, Space Sheriff Gavan tells the story of our eponymous hero (played by Kenji Ohba), who is sent by the Galactic Union Police (Ginga Renpou Keisatsu) to patrol Earth as its space sheriff. Taking on the alias Retsu Ichijoji, he, along with his partner Mimi (played by Wakiko Kano), protect the Earth from the space criminal organization Makuu, led by the monstrous Don Horror.

As typical of a superhero show aimed for children, each of Gavan’s 44 episodes feature self-contained narratives and a few story arcs, meaning you can watch it in any order that you wish, except for a few plot-related ones that contribute to the series continuity as a whole. The entire series is lighthearted overall, but some of the later episodes can get a little... creepy for today’s standards. But such is the norm for most of the earlier tokusatsu series (especially during the 80’s and early 90’s era).

One thing to note is that several trends commonly recognized with the Metal Hero series to come, all started here. For example, the hero and the monster-of-the-week being sent into some kind of subspace during fight is a hallmark that continues throughout the entire Space Sheriff Trilogy series (most notably, the Time-Space Warp in Shaider), and even up to Juspion (Spielvan reverses this trend by having the space warp being initiated by the hero himself, instead of the other way around). And while each episode follows a usual “Wash, Rinse, Repeat” formula of episode progression (which is the usual for any kids tokusatsu series), the action scenes, especially the out-of-suit ones, make up for it.

Space Sheriff Gavan is also notable for establishing singer Akira Kushida’s association with Metal Hero music. Though he’s well-known for his soundtrack works in some Japanese anime and tokusatsu series before, it was his work on Gavan that led to his association with Metal Hero works, and he continues to sing more themes to future Metal Hero series after this. As for the soundtrack itself, while it doesn’t have a memorable theme similar to Shaider’s “Fushigi Songu” (aka the “Shigi-Shigi” song for most of us), anyone who has watched said series would immediately recognize the “Laser Blade” instrumental theme.

The series also introduces a number of tokusatsu actors and actresses as guests, some of them having major roles in later series. Notable one include the legendary Machiko Soga (best known to most fans as the witch Bandora in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, or Rita Repulsa in its American adaptation, Power Rangers) and Hirohisa Nakata (who would go on to portray as Mason in the series Choudenshi Bioman). Internationally-acclaimed Japanese actor Sonny Chiba (credited as “Shinichi Chiba”)also had a major role in this series.

Space Sheriff Gavan also aired in the Philippines to capitalize on the popularity of Shaider, under the title Skyranger.Aside from kicking of the Space Sheriff Trilogy and the entire Metal Hero series franchise in Japan, it also has made some influence in the West, inspiring the creation of the Robocop movie series (which, in turn, inspired a later Metal Hero series, Mobile Cop Jiban). Also, the character Gavan has appeared in numerous tokusatsu crossover movies decades after its initial series run, a testament of its enduring popularity for tokusatsu fans.

If you love Shaider before and you’re not a tokusatsu fan, then Space Sheriff Gavan is a must-watch for you. If you’re just starting out of watching tokusatsu shows, then I would also recommend this to see what Gavan really is about, especially if you watched the later crossover movies first. While it’s entire plot is pretty basic and the special effects are dated compared to this day, if you’re looking for pure action, this series doesn’t disappoint.