A Fire trying to be air

himitsusentaiblog:

Basically, Metal Heroes is a franchise that aired from 1982-1998 produced by Toei.  They were essentially defined by heroes who wore suits that, in story, were made of metal or are robots in their own right.

The series was created as a companion to the Super Sentai series they way modern Kamen Rider does in the Super Hero Time block on Sunday Mornings. As far as I know, it was actually produced to fill the void left by the end of the Showa Kamen Rider series (at the time it would come back in 1987) after the end of Kamen Rider Super-1 in early 1981.

Most of the Metal Hero shows are loosely connected at best aside from the first three; Space Sheriff Gavan, Space Sheriff Sharivan and Space Sheriff Shaider which are known (naturally) collectively as the Space Sheriff series.

These feature a space-faring lawman coming to Earth to battle a different criminal syndicate in each series.  

After that, the shows told stand alone stories and included more space-faring heroes like Space World Juspion and Dimension Warrior Speilban (a GREAT series) as well as Earth-based heroes like the title character of World Ninja War Jiraiya and the robotic hero Metalder.

As a side note, footage from Metalder and Spielban were used as the basis for Saban’s VR Troopers in the 1990s.

From 1990-1992, there was another trio of connected series in the early 1990s with the Rescue Police Series; Special Rescue Police Winspector, Super Rescue Solbrain and Special Rescue Exceedraft.

Through most of the 1990s, the Metal Hero Series would continue with a return to unconnect shows before the B-Fighter duology (which would become the basis for Saban’s Big Bad Beetleborgs and Big Bad Beetleborgs Metallix). 

The franchise ended on TV after two very kid friendly entries based on cute robots to give way to the Heisei Kamen Rider series.

The franchise was not forgotten though as the Space Sheriffs returned in a movie featuring Space Sheriff Gavan battling and then teaming up with 2011′s Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger.

The next year, the original Gavan would pass the mantle down to a new hero in a Space Sheriff Gavan movie.  That new Gavan would make a guest appearance in Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters.

There were also to V-Cinema releases featuring new inheritors of the Space Sheriff Sharivan and Space Sheriff Shaider legacies.

Now, we have the Space Squad series which features the new Gavan leading a group of heroes from the Metal Hero and Super Sentai franchises in adventures relating to threats from across the universe.

That’s where we stand with the Metal Heroes series now. Most of it is not available in the US but soon Discotek Media will be releasing the 1985 series Space Wolf Juspion on Blu-Ray!

Thanks for the Question!