I still have memories of how Gavan was aired as "Sky Ranger Gavan" or just "Sky Ranger" (the Tagalog dub) when in reality, it was really Space Sheriff Gavan. So it only had 44 episodes in contrast to its successors Sharivan and Shaider. Its main character Retsu Ichijouji (the dub used Gavan as his civilian name which may have confused viewers) was played by legendary Kenji Ohba. After watching the subs by Millionfold Curiosity, I feel like I'm getting reeducated with Tokusatsu as I always do.
The series' main antagonist Don Horror existed as an immobile stone statue that gave orders from Makuu Fortress. The show doesn't even give any background story leaving us to decide what in the world happened to him. I remembered comparing his appearance or situation to Turboranger's Emperor Ragorn. I always found it stupid how he actually had a son named San Dorva (who's a pitiless warlord but later, he ends up as a brat but still... he was the most active person ever) with his wife Witch Kiba. I guess Don Horror was paralyzed or that his current appearance isn't his real body or that his real body was destroyed. Regardless, it's something left for older viewers to decide how he and Witch Kiba even had a son together in their younger days or how they met. Before San Dorva arrived we had Hunter Killer a rogue space sheriff who ends up getting exiled into space and later, he's only made a cameo as a dying man revealing the whereabouts of Retsu's father Voicer.
Watching Gavan with the subs would either remind me of the episodes I've seen as a child (though the Tagalog dub is a blur to me now except for a few lines) but I'm seeing the real deal. Since I don't have a copy of the Tagalog dub so I can't really or exactly remember what's been lost in translation compared to Chodenshi Bioman. Years later, I watched some raw videos so I didn't fully understand what happened.
What sort of disappointed me was how Don Horror in the finale was handled by the writers. After Gavan's rather intense fight with San Dorva to the finish with all the great choreography, the whole wrap-up was pretty disappointing. While it was cool for Don Horror to force his son San Dorva to finish off Gavan but he ended up as a disappointing final villain. Don Horror simply got beheaded and Gavan finished off the floating head. That's it? I guess there wasn't enough screen time neither did the writers and producers have any idea on how to deal with Don Horror's finale. Fortunately, this problem got fixed in later Tokusatsu seasons. In Gokaiger vs. Gavan, it seems Ashrada may actually be his grandson though this may not be canon to the original Space Sheriff Trilogy.
I could also talk about the arrival of the next hero... Sharivan. I've seen some Sharivan subs and I think Sharivan is an improvement of Gavan though I need to see more of the show to justify my statement. Den Iga is shown to be a forest patrolman, he got hurt by Buffalo Doubler and he's later recruited as replacement. Retsu gets promoted (but sadly, his father died before that happened) to the position of captain. The Space Sheriff Trilogy sequel movies managed to further expand on both Retsu and Iga while hinting Dai the original Shaider died from some unknown cause.
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