Power Rangers has had a Megazord-level number of stories, characters, and epic moments scattered over the three decades it has endured. From Saban’s initial show to Disney’s ownership, back to Saban, and finally, now at home with Hasbro, PR has survived to entertain literal generations. With a fan base that is clambering for more with each new season, the iconic franchise continues to delight and amaze audiences across the globe. However, famously, Power Rangers is equally reliant and owes its existence to its major inspiration, the Japanese tokusatsu franchise Super Sentai. Power Rangers and Super Sentai are, in my opinion, both in a symbiotic relationship to some extent; one can’t survive without the other.
So, while Power Rangers and Super Sentai can be the same show in terms of carried over costumes, monsters, and in some instances, plot points, it is not always the case between each show. For example, Power Rangers Samurai is a note-for-note translation, rather than an adaptation with significant changes between the Eastern and Western counterparts. Sometimes the representations can be almost unrecognizable after the changes. Often, it’s because Sentai has certain elements that may not translate well with western viewers. Regularly, concepts are changed or altered to better fit with what a viewer in the United States would watch. A notable example of this phenomenon, and focal examination of this article, is Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, which was adapted into Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy.
Lost Galaxy is presented as a space opera like the previous series, Power Rangers in Space. The plot sees Power Rangers aboard a colony ship, Terra Venture, set off into the depths of the cosmos, to seek out new worlds, and to boldly go into the Lost Galaxy itself, Star Trek style. The Sentai series, the Gingaman, on the other hand, was the opposite, much like In Space’s sister series, known as Megaranger. Sure, the Seijuu were from outer space, and their goal was the protection of the galaxy, but the show was environmentalist, nature-themed, and the squad never left Earth’s orbit.
But we’re not here to talk about the series itself. Instead, let’s look at the aspect of Gingaman that hasn’t been explored since their debut— the villains! What better villains to fight an earthbound group of heroes, than ones that come from outer space!
THE VILLAINS OF GINGAMAN
In Gingaman, the villains are a gang of interplanetary marauders called the Space Pirates Balban, led by the treacherous Captain Zahab. It’s explained in the series that Zahab uses a giant kaiju or a space dinosaur, called Majuu Daitanix, to plunder planets aboard the Rowdy Invincible Castle stationed on his back. After looting and killing everyone, Daitanix would then eat the planet’s core, and then turn it into a gem for Zahab to collect, who utilizes it to become immortal. A pirate is nothing without a ship and crew, and Zahab is no exception. His crew of backstabbing nutjobs consists of the hot-headed, gun toting, leather-clad Gunboss Sambash, a robotic spike-covered Viking called Battobas, the space witch Iliess, samurai Budoh, the Helmswoman Shellinda, and finally the short-statured Barreled Scholar Bucrates.
Amongst the colorful roster, Bucrates is out-of-place among the pirate crew, his fighting skills are next to nothing, he serves more as an advisory position in Balban. Often producing suggestions for plans to Zahab and his crew, the former respectfully refers to Bucrates as “Sensei,” of course meaning teacher or mentor. Up next are the foot soldiers of the Space Pirates: The Yartots, a gang of orange clad pirates who proudly wear bandanas and would mostly say their own names with the occasionally speaking role. Fun fact: Yartot is a portmanteau of the Japanese fisherman chant word “Enya Totto” meaning “heave ho.”
However, if there was one notable member of Balban, whose appearance alone would get anyone’s attention, it would certainly be Shellinda, who is something of a fan favorite in the often-overlooked Sentai. She had a tough, no-nonsense approach to her colleagues with a sadistic side one might expect from a pirate, with a bonus of being Zahab’s lieutenant and at times acting as something of a second in command despite being revealed that Battobas was once the captain’s right hand in later episodes. Shellinda also has a memorable lyrical character song, called Sono na wa Shellinda, being the only one amongst the raggedy crew to have one.
For obvious reasons, namely her outfit which is based on a mermaid, Shellinda was not adapted for Power Rangers, instead creating an original character of Trakeena. But if you look in the background closely enough, one can see glimpses of her fighting the Green Ranger in illusions or standing beside Zahab in wide shots. Shellinda also has a catchy character song, called Sono na wa Shellinda, being the only one amongst the raggedy crew to have one.
Speaking of music, I just want to gush over how awesome the villain’s theme songs are. Firstly, Balban’s theme song is awesome. It’s epic and chaotic, with a hint of Gothic organ music. Different variations are present, setting the mood for every scene the villains are in. Every time I think of pirates, this is the song I hear. Each of the Balban members has his or her own individual theme songs; for example, Sambash’s has a very chaotic jazz style, while Budoh has a wooden flute and Japanese drums, Iliess has something resembling folk Egyptian music, and Battobas, who has like three or four different songs, has heavy industrial sounds, and serves as a military march. They’re worth your time to listen to!
THE ARCS AND STORIES OF GINGAMAN’S ROGUES
The plot of Gingaman is about a clan of forest people who live in a hidden forest in Japan and worship these space creatures called Starbeasts or Seijuu, alongside the legend of the Gingaman. They were five multicolored warriors with attitude who fought Balban and used their Earth powers (pronounced as “arse” which makes me snicker a bit), to defeat and seal the villainous Space Pirates along with their ship Majuu Daitanix away at the bottom of the ocean where no light can reach them.
Cut to 3000 years later, an earthquake breaks the seal on the castle, and causes Daitanix’s still petrified form to rise from the depths, in what may be one of the coolest scenes in Sentai. I specifically love the shot of Daitanix and the castle that appears in many scenes when the pirates are going over the plan of the week; with the waterfalls coming out of the sides of their mouth or horns, and the terrifying glowing blue eyes. He’s even better at night, when the reflection of the water illuminates the horns from the light in the castle. It’s cool! Anyway, after we’re introduced to the Balban members and their dynamic, Captain Zahab gives them the go ahead to rampage on the mainland and plunder and even joins in himself, one of only a select few times he does so.
They do that, and after a while of causing chaos, the next generation of Gingaman show up and try to fight the evil forces but are no match against the more powerful members unmorphed. The Yartots on the other hand, oh yeah, they get their butts kicked easily. After the Red Ranger’s brother is killed, falling into a volcanic crevasse before it closes on him, the Rangers get their morphers and morph, fighting back the pirates in their first major encounter. And it suddenly became a snowy forest despite them previously fighting on a rocky beach cliff. After a fire blast from Gingared, Zahab withdraws his forces, promising to be back.
In the second episode, it becomes apparent Balban has run into some problems: for starters, new Gingaman Rangers, and the return of the Seiju. The second and biggest problem for them is they are grounded. While their seals were broken, Majuu Daitanix is still stone meaning they can’t move or leave the planet. And as Zahab says, “a ship is a space pirate’s life”. For much of the series, this is Balban’s main objective to revive their ship through sending monsters called Majin and Yartots out to devise various means of bringing their kaiju spaceship back to life. However, it is easier said than done. It turns out the pirates hate each other; so much so they refuse to work together and constantly bicker with one another. Ironically, that was the cause of their stealing in the first place and would later pave the way for their (spoilers, obviously) inevitable downfall.
So, after seeing how his crew hasn’t changed much in 3000 years, Zahab decides on having a Field Commander, one of the four main pirates who will be the sole leader, orchestrator and planner for every mission involving reviving Daitanix through whatever means and none of the other three have a say in it. He decides this by throwing cards at all four of them, whoever gets the Joker is chosen for duty. Sambash is the first to get chosen, utilizing his troop of insect themed bikers all as nuts as he is. I love Sambash, his design is one of the coolest in the monster gallery, from the big eyes that make him look like he’s wearing sunglasses to the off-center wings that serve as his army’s logo.
The method for growing the monsters this time is a substance called Balban Extract: a liquid that monsters drink that not only makes them grow but shortens their life drastically. Because of this, it is used as a last resort type of thing.
In the same episode he was chosen in, Bucrates recommended collecting distinct types of energy, reasoning that Daitanix needs a large amount of power to fully revive. Shellinda did try to obtain the energy of the Galactic Forest, where the Rangers come from, by using an energy sucking lifeform to siphon its cosmic power but was thwarted by the elder of the forest sealing the forest and everyone in it, turning to stone and sinking to the bottom of the lake. It’s a minor point to bring up, but it makes Shellinda at least more active than her later appearances, often just hanging out in the meeting hall/bridge the Balban always go occupy.
Had the elder not sealed the Galactic Forest, it’s entirely possible that that’s all what Balban needed to revive Majuu Daitanix.
Throughout his run as Field Commander, Sambash’s plans were the most practical in comparison to the rest of the pirates. He was always looking for methods of harnessing energy like collecting gasoline, creating environments where Daitanix thrived in such as overheating or poisoning the planet, or simply causing such deafening noise as to wake him up.
He would often butt heads with Bucrates who would make suggestions for Sambash like using an ancient demon sword or turning the Petrified Seijuu into medicinal powder in the poison plant. However, he and Sambash’s personalities went as well as one would think, the latter trying to shoot the elderly former or just chastise each other. Made for an antagonistic relationship.
But as time went on, it became clear Sambash was in over his head, with Zahab growing increasingly pissed at him for not doing his job right due to his lackeys’ incompetence or him not thinking things through. One notable instance of a plan being made up on the spot was when he sent a very fussy pill bug monster named Dolmar to look for some delicious food to give to Daitanix since the space dinosaur hasn’t eaten anything in 3000 years. However, his biggest and final plan was when he caused small earthquakes to uncover a box that contained the Lights of the Galaxy, which he was going to use to revive Daitanix.
As luck would have it, the box was opened, and the Lights of the Galaxy were released long ago; his only method for bringing Majuu Daitanix back is now lost. With his last chance gone, and not wanting to return to the captain empty handed, Sambash hops on his bike for a suicide attack. Turns out his motorcycle has a machine gun feature, who knew? The Red Ranger uses a powerful attack on him, causing Sambash to lose control, flying off the side of a cliff and explodes scattering pieces of his motorcycle across the ground. Talk about going out in a blaze of glory!
As a nice touch, his banner (each of the space pirates has a banner and symbol hung up beside the main flag) is given a black ribbon to mourn his departure from the mortal coil. Unsurprisingly, the others are glad he’s dead, and eagerly want to be the next Field Commander. Budoh steps in, having his monster spy in the previous episode, explains how Sambash killed a fellow who brought the Ginga no Hikari to earth before storing them away in secret. Sambash had kept it from everyone thinking he could use it when he needed it. Zahab is pissed that Sambash could do such a dirty handed trick, but Shellinda points out that the Lights are raw cosmic energy, meaning the seal could be easily broken. Budoh is then put in charge and going forward all plans are focused on getting the Galactic Lights.
Budoh, while not as energetic as Sambash, is still cool. He has a calm demeanor, acting very respectful to Zahab and the others in a way a samurai might address his master. He is a samurai, from the way he speaks, to his topknot and his clothing, he even sets up a little dojo-like environment in the main hall with a bamboo floor, incense, and a custom room divider. His motif, along with his monsters, is very much based on Japanese culture and sea life, creating a unique blend of Majin. Sometimes, it’s obvious what they are supposed to be, like the ninja sharks, a lobster Samurai and even Budoh himself, who was inspired by a manta ray.
Unlike Sambash’s crazy schemes revolving around energy collection or food, Budoh’s uses a multi layered scroll that hints in haiku style poetry where the Lights of the Galaxy could be, which have hidden themselves in plants and inanimate objects, like trees, cameras, and at one point a bomb Balban used that never went off. It should be mentioned that in his time as Field Commander, a sixth ranger would appear called the Black Knight Bull Black who came with Gotaurus the Steel Starbeast. He has come to earth to put an end to Balban’s evil ways for revenge for killing his brother and home world in one of their many planetary raids.
Since we were talking about the differences between PR and Gingaman earlier, Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy has the Magna Defender (PR name for Bull Black). His backstory is kept the same, except for his brother being changed to his son.
Near the tail end of his arc, one of Budoh’s monsters, the lobster Samurai guy, captured the lights using a device before fleeing to the coast where he would go to finally use it on Daitanix. From there, the Lights of the Galaxy would be shot out of a cannon at the kaiju pirate ship, and thus begin their rampage again. Zahab said that if this mission is a success Budoh would be given the rank of co-captain.
However, Bucrates was not too thrilled about this little victory. Throughout Budoh’s command, the proud Samurai had virtually ignored him; what suggestions and wisdom he tried to impart was outright shot down. Realizing he would be lower on the command chain, he employs the help of his Niece Iliess, who devices a plan using her own daughter Medoumedou, who then disguises herself as Budoh to trick his monster to open the jar containing the Ginga no Hikari and use it on himself. And they not only make him super crazy strong, and crazy in general, they also give him spiffy upgrades to his design like a lobster claw and shoulder spikes. Damn, imagine if the Lights were given to Daitanix.
Bucrates frames Budoh for coveting the power for himself, not only letting his monster steal it, but also allowing it to fall into Gingaman’s hands and ruining their chances. After that being locked in the brig, he attempts to commit suicide via seppuku when his shark ninja convinces him that he’s not a traitor and free him. After a glorious decisive battle with Gingaman and destroying Medoumedou, he dies a warrior, sword in hand and honor in his heart.
With Budoh gone, Iliess takes over as Field Commander. Her strategy would be centered primarily around her magic, using spells to sacrifice souls to revive Daitanix or by using incantations to break the seal somehow. Throughout her run, however, it becomes increasingly apparent that she’s not interested in the satisfaction of bringing Daitanix back like her predecessors, but the enormous reward Zahab has set up for the winner. With each failure she worries increasingly about losing the cash rewards than about failing in restoring their ship.
The Daitanix revival plot is temporarily put on hold with the arrival of a new face to the crew. This is Space Dark Merchant Biznella, a galactic weapons merchant, and a longtime ally of Balban; particularly with Battobas whom he always refers with some modicum of respect. During the early years, Biznella had been allowed to scavenge the various dead worlds left in the wake of Balban’s galaxy wide pillage, repurposing anything useful to sell. Turns out he’s been doing well for himself the last 3000 years, not to mention still alive. Zagab had contacted him to purchase a new weapon to fight Gingaman and destroy the Starbeasts in one go. During the events of the episode, he charges a device using the Rangers as energy conduits. What is this new weapon? Three Steel Starbeasts that he had found during his planetary scavenging and modified their near dead into cyborgs. Giga Rhinos, Giga Pheonix and Giga Bitus, two of which are humanoid.
What’s more, the Seijuu we’ve been following will not fight their own kind. As they get knocked around, Biznella retreats for a time to gloat about this victory to the others. Zahab is impressed! With Seijuu of their own, their plans wouldn’t be endangered by the Gingaman anymore and they can do as they please. Biznella states his price at five chests of gold for the purchase of the Steel Starbeasts, much to Iliess’s horror. Captain Zahab assures her that if she destroys the Starbeasts with their new toy, he’ll splurge some additional money on top of the reward for Demon Beast Daitanix’s revival. She sends out a monster with the controller but, of course, the Rangers manage to turn Giga Rhinos, Giga Phoenix and Giga Bitus to good, prompting Zahab to take back Biznella’s payment as well as confiscate his ship that would never be mentioned again.
And so Biznella sticks around, acting as a right hand to Battobas and lover, given how devoted they two are to each other.
After a few episodes where Iliess sends her second daughter and her brother out to fight (talk about fratricide and filicide), Daitanix starts to shake violently. It’s revealed that Majuu Daitanix is rotting away due to a seal imbalance. This would be thanks to the Pirates being freed first, and so much inactivity afterwards. During a plot where Iliess personally gets involved, Bucrates investigates the source of the shaking and goes to tell the captain, who already knows about this thanks to Battobas and Biznella.
Whenever Iliess dies, her soul gets transformed into a jewel that would allow her to be revived. Bucrates overhears Zahab talking to the others about how they could use Iliess’s jewel to stop Daitanix from rotting. Bucrates doesn’t believe them, but with self-fulfilling prophecies, she’s blown up and Bucrates tries to revive her, but they ambush him and break the jewel, killing her forever. And it also turns out Zahab knew about their involvement in Budoh’s downfall, somehow, we’re not sure how he knows but it’s likely he has spies all over his castle. Like a rotting barrel, Bucrates is tossed into the sea and sinks. However, he’s not dead and forcibly employs Bull Black in his quest for revenge. Meanwhile, Battobas is made Field Commander, first implementing Iliess’s jewel into Daitanix’s rotting spot, the seal around his heart breaks allowing it to beat.
Battobas will be the final Field Commander and the longest running. His monsters are all based heavily on weapons and armor. I love the marching Yartots and the monster does at the beginning of each mission briefing presented by Biznella, who produces most of the plans. They even do a little chant that goes along with each monster and the Yartots replying, going something like this: “Who are we?” “Battobas Monster Corps!” “Who’s the enemy?” “Gingaman!” “Who’s stronger?” “We are!” and ending the plan briefing with “and those who fail the mission…” “will get their heads chopped off!” I love it!
Battobas has the same personality and methods for reviving Daitanix as Sambash, however, it’s more targeted towards methods to get the heart pumping faster, reasoning the stronger the heart the more likely Daitanix is being revived. This includes more practical plans like using a pump to support the heart like a pacemaker, or just taking a Starbeast’s heart and doing a transplant. But then there are plans that are just plain ridiculous at best, particularly the plan to use human children as stents to open the blood circulation in the kaiju’s veins or coming up with a plan that causes the pink ranger to go giant size to perform a heart massage. I’m dead serious. However, it all paid off when a monster was used as the conduit for a passing comet, stealing and sending its energy right into Majuu Daitanix, finally freeing him.
With the seal broken, Majuu Daitanix can finally go on a rampage, and he’s pretty awesome. With the big horns and the atomic breath-like firepower, Daitanix is everything we were promised leading up to this moment. He makes short work of the Zords, knocking them around as if they were nothing, he even tears the arms of Giga Rhinos and Giga Phoenix. Zahab joins the fray, seriously injuring Gingared. But Balban’s string of bad luck would catch up with them, as when Battobas was stomping around in excitement, smoke began to rise from the floor as Daitanix’s body heat rose to dangerous levels. The hall and castle start turning red.
Battobas and Biznella try to persuade Shellinda to back off, but her judgment is clouded by the thrill of having Daitanix back and about to kill her rival Gingagreen. It’s only then that Zahab, having returned from his fight, finally orders her to stop the attack, flying Daitanix out of the battlefield and diving into the sea and cooling him off. Their fears have been confirmed, Daitanix has rotted so much that he’s no longer able to fight for prolonged periods without heating up. However, Zahab has a plan. It begins with detaching the castle from his ship’s back and letting the kaiju go free to rampage as much as he wants. The Rangers, meanwhile, having figured out the weakness, target the back of the creature, and with the help of Bull Black (told the same thing by Bucrates) destroy Majuu Daitanix for the last time. The explosion created a huge mushroom cloud.
After a clip show episode, Zahab’s plan is revealed: Daitanix’s cells are toxic to any planet, and thus his remains melted into Earth and used its energy to create a new Majuu, the Earth Demon Beast, this little spikey worm thing with arms that slithers underground. The new plan is to pump Extreme Growth Extract, space steroids, into the Earth Demon Beast to create a new ship for Balban, making Majuu Daitanix obsolete. They track it using a special sonar that’ll pick up any seismic activity.
At one point during this saga, Zahab has Biznella take command of the next operation after so many failures from Battobas’s monsters. He’s hesitant a bit after being pressured by the crew, he goes along with it with the looming threat of death regardless. He sets up a trap to lure Gingaman away from his play to bring the Earth Demon Beast to the surface and bathe it in Extreme Growth Extract. But the trap fails, and he falls in accidentally, turning into a monstrous form called Majin Biznella. To make matters worse he’s shot by Battobas with Balban Extract and grows giant size to fight the Megazord. Only to be destroyed. And so, the relationship between Battobas and Biznella draws to a close, with a bang. We’ll miss him.
In the final three episodes, the Balban becomes increasingly desperate to get the Earth Demon Beast. Shellinda tracked down Bucrates and stabbed him fatally in the chest, only to be saved by Bull Black. Meanwhile after a failed monster plot, Captain Zahab asks Battobas if he’s ever heard of Space Pirates without a ship, and amusingly, Battobas’s response is that he thinks said hypothetical pirates would have to be “the dumbest batch of idiots in the universe”. That is, until Zahab points out that they are those idiots right now. He goes on a tirade, showing how clearly frustrated he is at the series of events. Every attempt they’ve made has been thwarted by Gingaman, every plan ruined, they have no ship to fly with, and when they did finally revive the ship it has a crippling weakness, their crew is at this point nonexistent and now their new ship is getting harder to find.
It’s hard not to see where Zahab is coming from. Sure, they are the villains, and this is a very formulaic set of good guys win and bad guys lose, but you could really feel their struggle. Hell, any one of their plans could have worked if not for the Rangers screwing them over. In fact, throughout the series, Balban only had two or three victories over the Rangers while other villain factions would have had a few decent wins. But anyways, Battobas takes command of the next and final mission.
Later in the episode, a dying Bucrates confides in the Black Knight the secret to Zahab’s immortality. He explains that during the battle 3000 years ago with the Starbeasts, he was critically injured. Bucrates used a spell that fused the planet gem of his home world with Zahab’s heart, granting him virtual immortality, with the only way to finally end him is through the gem in his chest.
Bull Black leaves with this new knowledge, ready to end this conflict forever. After being tracked down by the Yartots, Bucrates sacrifices himself by blowing up himself and the foot soldiers.
Shellinda has her final standoff with Gingagreen, which had been a big build up battle for the entire season. Of course, the heroic green swordsman is victorious, ending Shellinda finally. Battobas, having watched this, takes his anger out on the Rangers, when suddenly the Earth Demon Beast rises from the ground, eating him whole. Talk about karma for Biznella.
However, Battobas had Growth Extract on him before he died, causing the Earth Demon Beast to grow exponentially to kaiju size! Upon hearing the news of his last two crew members dying, Shellinda especially hitting a nerve, Zahab takes the helm of his castle and flies it right on top of the Earth Majuu, taking control of it.
The Earth Majuu is damn strong, on the same level as Daitanix if not more so with the castle enhancing it, but with some new abilities, like a hinged jaw akin to Orga from Godzilla 2000: Millennium and growing enormous claws. It’s a difficult fight, with the Megazords being knocked around. However, Zahab’s control over the new Majuu is short-lived as Bull Black’s zord comes back for another swing of his axe, destroying the castle, blowing itself up, knocking Captain Zahab out of his ship in the process and his remaining Yartots destroyed along with it. Meanwhile, it takes the remaining power of Gingaman to unleash an Earth Power fire blast at the Earth Demon Beast, causing it to disintegrate to ash. Zahab isn’t too happy and unleashes his own power on the Rangers who are weak. As he knocks them around, he proclaims after he’s killed them, he’ll take over and destroy the planet, creating a new Majuu for his ship. Though, I don’t know how exactly he’ll do that, we’ll just pretend he can make kaiju like Akane from SSSS Gridman out of modeling clay and wires.
So, after his planet’s life is destroyed by a giant Earth flame attack, Gingaman uses a blitzkrieg of attacks they’ve used previously to strike the finishing blow, killing Captain Zahab! The only thing that remains is his hook, smoldering from the explosion.
But that’s not the end for Space Pirates Balban! Of course, there’s plenty of Toei crossover movies and this one is no exception. In Gingaman vs Megaranger, another Daitanix arrives on Earth, bringing with it the Space Pirate Gregory, who along with Hizumina, a second daughter of Doctor Hinelar, were going to resurrect the Balban and Neziregia, although he betrays Hizumina and only resurrects the space pirates. It’s left unknown regarding the relationship of Gregory and Zahab, the two are remarkably similar (not just in suit designs) and refer to each other as brothers, but it is left to interpretation. This was just a one-off villain, and by the end of the movie both he and the members of Balban would die a second death.
And that’s it! Since Gingaman concluded, Balban hasn’t gotten much in terms of long-lasting notoriety like say Gaiark or Brajira. In fact, the most attention they have received in other Sentai media was a quick blink and you’ll miss it cameo of Majuu Daitanix on the cover of a magazine in Kyoryuger and the Yartot suit made an appearance in a Gokaiger movie to form a new monster made up of various Super Sentai monsters. I really wanted to start with them, though, because I just love their out-of-this-world aesthetic of being a band of pirates riding in a castle on a dinosaur’s back. They might be a gang of merciless traitors and alien monsters, but whenever I hear the term “Space Pirate” the word Balban is the first thing that comes to mind!
Yo ho yo ho, a Space Pirate’s life for me!
