Power Rangers Meets Tron In Tim Curry’s Forgotten 53-Episode Cyberpunk Series

Published Sep 26, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT

Misty Layne started as an actor and sketch comedy writer before deciding to concentrate mainly on writing. Utilizing both her love of television and film and her behind-the-scenes knowledge, she began a website reviewing films in 2013, with a focus on horror and indie media. Eventually, she began writing about all things television and film for other sites as well. Misty shares a home with five cats, a ton of books, and a fairly impressive vinyl collection.
 

When Tron premiered in 1982, it changed the future of CGI use in cinema (and ended up being an incredibly expensive sci-fi movie for Disney as a result). The film follows a computer programmer who ended up inside the digital world of a mainframe computer. There, he was forced to interact with anthropomorphic programs and play a series of games to escape.

Over a decade later, in 1993, the U.S. was taken by storm by a kids’ show called Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, an Americanized spin on the Japanese show Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. In it, a group of teens is transformed into the Power Rangers, and given special powers they must use to fight monsters sent by a witch from space. The show ended up spawning a franchise that's endured for decades.

The two entities were very different, but both incredibly popular. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, in particular, was such a phenomenon that networks created new shows in the same genre in hopes of catching lightning in a bottle once again.

One of those shows was 1994's delightfully ridiculous Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad, a Western adaptation of the Japanese tokusatsu series, Denkou Choujin Gridman. Though short-lived, as it went off the air in 1995, it captured not only the teen superhero feel of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (with a dash of teen angst and romance thrown in), but also the fun computer shenanigans of Tron. It might not have been among the best '90s kids shows, but it definitely had an impact on those who watched it — especially because it featured an excellent performance from Tim Curry.

Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad Feels Like Power Rangers Crossed With Tron

DIC Productions/Ultracom

Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad followed the adventures of Sam, leader of the teen rock band Team Samurai, after he's sucked into his computer during an unnatural power surge. When he's drawn into his computer again later that day, Sam merges with his video game creation, Servo.

Meanwhile, another student from his school, Malcolm Frink, is busy being enticed by an escaped military artificial intelligence named Kilokahn into helping it take over the world. Frink likes to draw monsters, so Kilokahn begins turning those into Mega-Viruses. After that, Sam, as Servo, must battle these viruses inside the digital world to save the technological and real worlds from dire consequences.

The show has some very obvious similarities to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, especially in the way its teen protagonist comes into special powers that must be used to defeat a villain. Additionally, Sam occasionally requires help from his friends in the band to defeat the Mega-Viruses, which means they join in by piloting “Zenon Program” vehicles, which could combine into a mega-robot that closely resembled the Power Rangers’ Zords and MegaZord.

However, unlike Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which didn’t have a lot of influence from its original creators, Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad was a collaborative effort with the original producers. As a result, it was a more faithful adaptation of its source material, Denkou Choujin Gridman.

The battles occurring in the digital world and revolving around technology, though, were far more reminiscent of Tron, particularly in the way Sam was forced into a digital world to fight monsters. Unlike Tron, though, which was designed to open up the world of video games and computers to more people and in a positive light (showing an optimism for technology and AI despite Tron's AI villain), this show played into fears of the era's rapidly advancing computer technology with its villainous virtual intelligence.

Tim Curry Plays The Main Villain In Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad

DIC Productions/Ultracom

The best thing about the short-lived series — even better than Matthew Lawrence as Sam — was the fact that the late Tim Curry played the super-intelligent and corrupt AI, Kilokahn. Curry, who passed away at the age of 80 in August 2026, is best known for roles such as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Pennywise the Clown from It, but he was also quite the voice-over actor as well. He voiced numerous characters over the years, from Hexxus in FernGully: The Last Rainforest to Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Notable Tim Curry Voiceover Performances
FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)	Hexxus
Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad (1994-1995)	Kilokahn
The Wild Thornberrys (1998-2004)	Nigel Thornberry
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2012-2014)	Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious

As Kilokahn, the so-called ruler of the digital world, Curry, as he often did, chewed up the scenery every time his voice was onscreen. He seemed to take great delight in playing such a diabolical character — and the laugh he chose for Kilokahn was fantastic.

He might not be instantly recognizable due to the voice modulation the show used to make him sound more robotic (and malevolent), but for many, this show was their first introduction to Curry’s acting. While it may not be what he’s most remembered for, Curry’s time on Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad delighted — or terrified, depending on one’s age — many '90s kids.

Cast

• 

  Matthew Lawrence

  Sam Collins / Servo

• Glen Beaudin

  Malcolm Frink

• Kevin Castro

  Tanker

• Robin Mary Florence

  Sydney Forrester