Danger Rangers is a short-lived animated television series created by Christopher West, Walter Douglas Smith Jr. and Michael D. Moore.
Plot
Six animal heroes called the Danger Rangers, their robot Fallbot, and their artificial intelligence called SAVO teach children about safety through examples, such as environmental hazards and unsafe places.
Characters
Sully – A blue sea lion. He is the leader and spokesanimal of the Danger Rangers. He cares a lot about his appearance, but also takes his duties as leader seriously.
Kitty – A pinkcat. She is the intelligent, cool and adventurous second-in-command of the group. She is also helpful and resourceful, and strongly believes in playing fair.
Burble – A large polar bear. He is the strong and humorous recreational safety expert. He is also the group's "gentle giant" and prefers to play both fair and safe.
Squeeky – A navy mouse. He is small, yet very valuable to the Danger Rangers. With his size, he can fix any problem which otherwise proves to be too small for the others to handle.
Burt – A green turtle. He is the team's creative and genuine personal safety expert. As the team's inventor, Burt would always come up with some inventions, including Fallbot, that would help the Danger Rangers in their missions.
Gabriela – A red hummingbird. She is the operations chief and head safety trainer. While others go out on the field during a mission, she also acts as a supervisor. Of course, sometimes she joins the mission. She is also called G.B.
Fallbot – A robot who was invented by Burt. He is the eager yet clumsy ally of the Danger Rangers. He is very inquisitive when it comes to learning about safety rules but sometimes his talkativeness can make others annoyed at times.
SAVO – The artificial intelligence of the Danger Rangers' base who alerts them of any safety trouble. His name is an acronym, as it means "Safety Alert Vectometer". He also somewhat has a flair for the dramatic.
Junior Danger Rangers – Various children who are future experts at different safety rules that work with the Danger Rangers, who some even look up to.
Voice actors
Main
Charlie Adler – SAVO, Chimpanzee, Police Officer, Kid, Gopher Dad, Frinja #3, Worker #1, Record Executive, Herbert Dinkwell
Mark Hamill – Burt the Turtle, Lobster Theodore, Carl the Electrical Worker, Driver, Mayor of Digger's Gold, Butler
Jerry Houser – Sully the Sea Lion, Police Officer, Audience Guy #1, Decibull #3, Dad, Paramedic
John Kassir – Fallbot, Peter Possum, Fox Dad, Eddie, Frinja #2, Decibull #2, Police Officer, Giles, Fire Chief, Beaver Guy, Duncan, Kid #1
Rob Paulsen – Squeeky the Mouse, Snarf, Quentin V. Manderbill, Firework Announcer, Sparky's Dad, Frinja #1, Billy Goat, Mr. Curl, Decibull #1, Inspector Brumell, Mr. Buckster, Luke, Ship Crew Member, Chancy McSpill, Scott
Kevin Michael Richardson – Burble the Polar Bear, Chilli Dog, Judge Maxim, Audience Guy #2, Frinja #4, Knuckles, Detective, Lonnie, Announcer
Tasia Valenza – Gabriela the Hummingbird, London Reporter, Raccoon Kid #2, Firefighter #3, Ana Gomez
The original Danger Rangers pilot was created in 1999 by Christopher West. After Douglas Smith and Michael Moore approached West about creating a live-action self-defense video for children, West suggested a video using animated anthropomorphic characters instead of live children. Also, the focus shifted from self-defense to more general safety habits and tips. West went to work and created an adventure team of characters that would teach kids about safety through various short vignettes or scenarios and called them the "Danger Rangers". The script, scenarios, names, designs... everything was created by this one-man production team. West went on to create all of the animation and produced the pilot using local voice talent with West himself completing the final editing and sound effects. However, the first Hollywood production was completed in 2003. The show was created from the cause of children's safety and was the first show to successfully put Disney-quality productions into a quality curriculum. Danger Rangers was the most successfully distributed independent show on PBS affiliates and was documented to have saved lives.
Broadcast
The series originally aired on PBS Kids back in the show's run, and then from September 2011 to September 2012, reruns aired on CBS as part of Cookie Jar TV.
Business dealings
Educational Adventures built distribution through grassroots efforts and deals with Virgin Atlantic and Safe Kids Worldwide. The assets of the company were eventually lost in a lawsuit after the liquidation of the company. This left Mike D. Moore to seek to regain control and restart the show.
