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Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad was an American television series. It was distributed by Tsuburaya, Ultracom, DiC Entertainment, and All-American Television, and ran for two seasons from September 12, 1994 to July 15, 1995 on ABC. It was considered an alternative to the popular Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, which was also derived from a Japanese tokusatsu series.

SSSS is an adaptation of the Japanese tokusatsu series Denkou Choujin Gridman which was produced by Tsuburaya Productions.

Plot

'The evil Kilokahn lives inside computer circuits. With the help of Malcolm Frink, he creates mega-virus monsters to attack electronic systems. Meanwhile, a freak accident turned Sam Collins into Servo. His friends join forces in their Samurai attack vehicles. Together, they transform into the Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad! '

Characters

Team Samurai

• Sam Collins The star of the series, to enter Cyberspace, he utters the words "Let's Samuraize, Guys!" at which point, he would strum his guitar. (NOTE: most times, spoken in unison by the whole team). If his guitar was unavailable, he would instead press on his wrist communicator. He is portrayed by Matthew Lawrence.
• Tanker the band's drummer and a stereotypical jock. to enter Cyberspace, he would utter the phrase "Let's Kick Some Giga-Butt!" after which point he would knock his drumsticks together. Tanker's uniform was a Black Biker suit with a black helmet and a see-through visor. He is portrayed by Kevin Castro.
• Sydney "Syd" Forrester Sydney is the brains of the group she is the band's keyboard player. She is also a good singer. To enter Cyberspace, she utters the words "Pump Up the Power!" at which point she would jump up in the air, pumping her fist with her raised arm. Sydney's uniform was a Pink Biker suit with a gold helmet and a see-through visor. She is portrayed by Robin Mary Florence.
• Amp Ere Amp is the team's so-called space cadet and the band's bass player. To enter Cyberspace, he always used a different phrase to be humorous. Some of them are "Three For a Dollar!", "With a Cherry on Top!", "With a Side of Fries!", "Shake Well Before Using!", "Over the Lips, Past the Gums, Look Out Virus...Here We Comes!","For Sam, Sydney, Tanker & Ms. Tilden!", "Two For a Dollar!" at which his poses vary too. Amp's uniform consisted of a Helicopter Helmet and Leather Jacket. He is portrayed by Troy Slaten
• Lucky London Lucky is a surfer and was Amp's replacement. To enter Cyberspace, he would utter the phrase "Surf's Up!" at which point, he would usually do a surfing pose. Lucky's uniform consisted of a Red/White Jetski Helmet with a black visor and Life Jacket. He is portrayed by Rembrandt.

Villains

• Malcolm Frink Malcolm is a loner and goes to the same high school as Sam and only finds companionship in Kilokahn. Malcolm derives enjoyment out of hurting other people with his computer viruses, which he creates and Kilokahn brings to life. He is portrayed by Glen Beaudin.
• Kilokahn a military artificial intelligence program who unleashes computer viruses to attack major computer systems. He refers derisively to Malcolm as "meat thing." Kilokahn considers himself the ruler of the digital world and also wishes to take over the world starting with the world's computer network. He was voiced by Tim Curry.

Recurring characters

• Jennifer "Jen" Doyle - Sam's love interest, Malcolm tries to compete for her affections. She is portrayed by Jayme Betcher.

• Mrs. Cha-Cha Rimba Starkey - The cafeteria lunchlady, who oftentimes has a dry sense of humor. She is portrayed by Diana Bellamy.

• Principal Pratchert - The school principal who is usually strict, but can be caring at times. He is portrayed by John Wesley.

• Yolanda "Yoli" Pratchert - The principal's daughter and Jennifer's closest friend. She is portrayed by Kelli Kirkland.

• Elizabeth "Liz" Collins - Sam's "unseen" kid sister, who communicates with her brother off screen; usually through a vent connected from the upstairs. She always plays pranks on her older brother, usually dropping things on top of him through the vent. However, Sam does love his sister. She also seems to have an understanding with Amp. (Voiced by Kath Soucie)

Mega-Virus Monsters

• See List of Mega-Virus monsters

Arsenal Programs

Xenon Program

• Xenon: A powerful humanoid robot created when Vitor, Tracto, and Borr combine. When it combines with Servo, they form Servo's upgrade, SYNCHRO, which is armed with a pair of shoulder drill missiles.

• • Vitor: A drill tank that can burrow underground; it was first piloted by Amp and later by Lucky. On one occasion it was piloted by Sydney, who had trouble flying it.

• • Tracto: A mini tank; its driver is Tanker.

• • Borr: A fighter jet armed with lasers and a rig to restrain monsters; its driver is Sydney. Once it was piloted by Amp, who had problems driving it.

Drago Program

• Drago: A mechanized Dragon formed when Jamb and Torb combine. It was almost always piloted by Tanker, except for on a couple of occasions when Sydney piloted it. Later in the series, Jamb and Torb would just appear as one single jet fighter (in the Japanese version, it was referred as Dragon Fortress) and was piloted by either Sydney or Tanker and eventually just transform into Drago.

When it combines with Servo, they form Servo's upgrade, PHORMO, which is armed with a pair of laser gauntlets.

• • Jamb: A dragon head mini-jet which also acts as a bazooka type flame thrower, known as the Dragon Cannon, which is used by Servo. Its main pilot is Sydney.

• • Torb: A giant jet with various weaponry. Its main pilot is Tanker.

Episodes

The series ran for 53 episodes in 2 seasons. It aired on Saturday Mornings on ABC and in Weekday Syndication simultaneously. While it was never as popular as Power Rangers, it actually ran longer than its Japanese counterpart, Gridman, which only lasted for 39 episodes.

The series also had 5 more final episodes that did not air in the United States.

Trivia

• Neither Amp or Lucky have piloted Drago even once during the series.
• When mentioned that Tanker and Syd were the default pilots for the "Drago Jet;" the Cafeteria Lady, Miss Starky, did pilot the vehicle in one episode ("Starkey in Syberspace"). Similarly, a famous basketball player -- Charles "High Jump" Johnson -- was dragged along to fight a Mega Virus Monster when the band used the vehicles to escape the locked high school (in the episode "Syber-Dunk"); High Jump had boarded the vehicle Borr.
• Compared to other American adaptations of Japanese Tokusatsu series, SSSS actually kept more plot points from Gridman than series adapted by Saban (Such as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Masked Rider). One of the major differences, however, was that Zenon and Drago did not have pilots in Gridman, and instead were "Helper Programs" which aided Gridman in battle. Furthermore, Naoto (Gridman's human "host") always entered the computer world with his changing brace, known "Accessor," while Sam rarely used this brace and instead struck his guitar. Due to the greater computer theme in Gridman, there was no need for the guitar.
• In two episodes where the virus caused televisions to shut down, footage from the opening of Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors was playing on TVs when they deactivated.
• Other than the time Malcolm was turned into a virus (in the episode Mal-Kahn-Tent), only 4 other different viruses in the show's history could actually speak. The most famous of those would have to be the one known as Skorn, deemed to be maybe the smartest of viruses, who was voiced by Neil Ross. Skorn was used on 4 different occasions (though he only spoke in 3 of those, while on one other he was silent). Ross would actually also provide the voice for the Stupid Virus (from Cheater, Cheater, Megabyte Eater), and Jess Harnell provided the voice of the Rock n' Roll Virus (from Rock n' Roll Virucide). Also (in "Pride Goeth Before a Brawl"), Sydney's virus could also actually speak, but no voice actor or actress was credited.
• In Japan, Tsuburya and Terebi-Kun Magazine had an article concerning Gridman Sigma with Takeshi Todo becoming Sigma; unfortunately, it wasn't a second season series. In the series, Malcolm Frink almost became Servo when Kilokahn attacked Sam. However, he was only able to send Sam's soul into the computer. This is noted to be interesting because if Tsuburya did create Gridman Sigma, it would be quite evident that Syber Squad would have a second season and Malcolm Frink would take up the role of Sigma and making him a protagonist in the series.

• Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad
• 1990s American television series
• DiC Entertainment
• Science fiction television series