Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad First air date: 1994-09-12
Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad is an American television series. It was produced by Tsuburaya Productions, Ultracom and DIC Entertainment, with distribution by All American Television, and ran for one season from September 12, 1994 to April 11, 1995 in syndication, as well as on ABC. It was an adaptation of the Japanese tokusatsu series Denkou Choujin Gridman which was produced by Tsuburaya Productions. The series was originally going to be named PowerBoy but was renamed Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad to avoid confusion with Saban Entertainment's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The series development mirrored the creative construct established earlier with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The master toy licensee -- Playmates Toys—funded the series, interpolated American development via toy licensing rights, and did a commercial buy-in on the Fox Network, where Haim Saban had established a kids block of time with other programs like "Power Rangers." Playmates called upon the development team at DIC. DIC, Pangea and Playmates' marketing group created an ensemble of character names, traits and profiles, which were spun into a most ambiguous series offering. More than anything else, this was a quick-to-market slam dunk to capitalize on the upsurge in popularity of imported Japanese monster-robot shows which could be adapted with new, regionalized live-action footage.
