"Trust me, I'm a superior being." — Nimbar
Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills is one of several shows that were cranked out
to get a piece of the pie when
Power Rangers made it big. It is notable for being the only one not adapted from a preexisting
tokusatsu show.
Emperor Gorganus wants to take over Earth because it's the nexus of a network of portals that would make universal domination a lot easier for him. To stop Gorganus's monsters from taking over the planet, a blobby alien named Nimbar
assembles four teenagers and gives them the power to transform into giant superheroes named after constellations to fight off the aliens. Whenever evil's afoot, the teens' celestial tattoos flash to alert them.
This series provides examples of:
- An Ice Person: Isolus.
- The Cameo: Zsa Zsa Gabor, running for mayor in a For Want of a Nail episode.
- Cherry Tapping: Knightron does this to Isolus in "The Spy".
- Combining Mecha: When their tame chop socky isn't enough to get rid of a monster, the teens can combine into Knightron, a robotic space knight of overwhelming power. Thing is, his power is "finite", and only to be used as a last resort (which doesn't stop the teens from forming him even when they're winning).
- A Dog Ate My Homework: A monster, actually.
- Expy: God almighty, where to start??
- Nimbar is obviously Zordon.
- Swinton is a composite of Zack and Billy.
- Gordon is a gender flipped Kimberly, believe it or not.
- Laurie is a gender flipped Jason.
- Drew is basically a blond Trini.
- Emperor Gorganus is Lord Zedd, yet appears as early as Rita did.
- The coffeehouse stands in for Ernie's Juice Bar.
- Family Friendly Firearms: The teens use what appear to be melee weapons, but their only function is to shoot lasers.
- Five-Man Band: There are two Smart Guys on the team.*
- Monster of the Week: Played straight, but also mocked in the episode "Emperor for a Day". Emperor Gorganus goes on vacation and tells Lechner to not do anything while he is gone. Lechner ignores him and sends Culebra to attack the Galactic Sentinels. Just as Culebra is about to attack the Sentinels, Lechner pulls Culebra back only to continually send it back. Eventually, the Sentinels are worn down from all the portaling and Nimbar suffers a brief nervous breakdown due to Lechner randomly summoning different monsters to different areas. The Sentinels eventually figure out the pattern and finally defeat Culebra. Nimbar praises Lechner for his strategy and calls him a genius. Ironically, Lechner was desperately trying to restore order after first summoning Culebra.
- Also somewhat subverted as Gorganus does reuse older monsters and has a partial attachment to some, Isolus in particular.
- Noodle Incident: In the episode "Trust", a freak electrical occurrence causes all of the lockers to pop open at school. Drew's diary falls out and the team reads an entry which explains exactly why she doesn't talk about her parents. The purpose was for Drew to be alienated enough from the group as to not join them in their next fight, but the contents of the entry are never expounded upon.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Unlike in Power Rangers, the heroes of this show didn't really like each other.
- They officially become friends in the episode "Winner Takes All".
- This was lampshaded in the episode "The Psychiatrist".
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Two of the monsters had a reptile theme (a snake and a dragon).
- Sixth Ranger Traitor: One subversion of the Sixth Ranger in one particular episode.
- Stellar Names
- Stunt Double: For all the heroes in their giant forms. Seriously, they go from normal to ripped.
- Supreme Chef: Laurie is revealed to be a very good baker in "The Quitter".
- Suspiciously Similar Song: Compare the show's theme tune with "I Eat Cannibals" by Total Coelo.
- There Are No Therapists: Averted. In the episodes "The Psychiatrist" and "The Psychiatrist Part II", Nicole (Drew's aunt) calls Dr. Bradford Clamtin because she believes Drew has Complusive Lying Syndrome.
- Western Zodiac: Combined with Four Temperament Ensemble and some artistic license. The teens take the guardian constellations Aquarius (called Apollo), Sagittarius (called Centaur), Scorpio and Taurus.
- Will Not Tell a Lie: The villain Ninjabot won't lie, as part of his code of honor (as in, he's vowed loyalty to Gorganus, but can still make a deal with the Sentinels to get rid of Gorganus and steal his throne).
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