Republican Space Rangers is a cartoon show that runs on Weazel. It can be watched in Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto V, and Grand Theft Auto Online.
Description[]
The plot consists of three Caucasian, redneck American men who patrol the universe in a spacecraft, searching for and eliminating what they perceive to be threats to America. This is the first cartoon show in the GTA series. It has a mix of satirical humor, graphic violence, offensive language, racism, xenophobia, and use of drugs. All the cartoons have a very stereotypical conservative view on life.
The cartoon seems to be a large popular property, with multiple forms of advertisement in the HD Universe and public cosplayers at the Oriental Theater in Grand Theft Auto V, advertising the show. Fans of the show can be found in public in GTA V, such as the Ammu-Nation clerk and Lester Crest, who is found to own several Republican Space Rangers figurines in his home.
The cartoon, in typical Rockstar fashion, has a great amount of crude sexual symbolism, usually as a focal point of the show's plot, design, and characters:
- Their spaceship is phallic in shape, continuing the tradition of phallic images appearing in GTA games. The missile heads are red and embedded within the nose cone, bearing resemblance to an infected glans. Also, the missiles fired from the ship are shaped like sperm. This is further referenced in Episode 456, where Dick and Commander are fired out the front, Dick yelling, "I'm goin' out like I began!"
- In "Homecoming," the Commander suggests a password to start up the ship, "Clown's Pocket", but it does not work. A "Clown's Pocket" is a crude term for a slack vagina.
- President Zane's head closely resembles a mix of a buttocks and a scrotum, while his wife's face is shaped like a female genitalia.
- In "Homecoming", the trio arrives at Fort Flaccid, flaccid being a term for an unerect penis.
Weapons[]
Throughout the series, the main characters can be seen to use several futuristic weapons as part of their arsenal:
- Commander wields a Minigun-esque 4-barrel rotary plasma gun with two grab handles and "kill count" stickers on the side. In the First Episode, Commander's gun features 6 stickers, with every appearance afterwards featuring 7 stickers. The Commander is shown in Episode 4 to wield the gun one-handed.
- Dick wields a 3-barreled plasma rifle with a large fake drum magazine. Unlike Commander's and Butch's weapons, Dick's rifle does not feature any "kill count" stickers.
- Butch wields dual 3-barreled plasma rifles similar to Dick's, except with a longer body and a lack of fake drum magazine. Butch's rifles also both feature "kill count" stickers, with 5 stickers in the First Episode, and 7 stickers in every future appearance.
- First Sergeant Vanessa wields a one-handed triple-barreled plasma blaster with purple accents and hand guard. Private Luke does not wield a weapon in his single appearance.
- In the episode "Homecoming", after returning to Earth 5 years too late, the three main characters are asked to surrender their weapons in exchange for a "non-lethal conflict resolution device", a small pink "BANG" flag gun advertising the Brotherhood Against Negative Generalizations.
In Grand Theft Auto V the Commander cosplayer outside the Oriental Theater in Downtown Vinewood can be seen holding a replica of the Commander's gun. The 6 "kill count" stickers on the side match the amount seen in the First Episode in GTA IV, despite his confirmed kills increasing to 7 by the events of GTA V.
With the Arena War update in Grand Theft Auto Online two Republican Space Rangers weapons, as well as a handgun implied to be of the same universe, were added: The Widowmaker and the Unholy Hellbringer. The Widowmaker is a clear replica of the Commander's plasma gun, with finer details and a more futuristic look. The Widowmaker performs identically to the Minigun, with the same damage and ammo count. The Unholy Hellbringer is a near replica of Dick's plasma rifle, down to the triple barrel design and fake drum magazine. The Hellbringer also brings some details from Butch's plasma rifles, with the longer body and "kill count" stickers, of which there are 3 on the Hellbringer as opposed to the 5/7 on Butch's gun. The Hellbringer performs identically to the Combat MG with no attachments, except featuring an ammo count of 9999 with no reload required, like the Minigun/Widowmaker.
The Up-n-Atomizer is a kinetic ray pistol and is the third weapon often grouped in this set of weapons. It does not take any particular inspiration from an RSR weapon, though comparisons may be made to the "non-lethal conflict resolution device" from "Homecoming".
Gallery[]
Influence[]
The show is a parody of modern American foreign policy, especially in Iraq. It also makes fun of American jingoism, Americans' belief in the United States' superiority, as well as exaggerated conservative and, in the case of the "Homecoming" episode, liberal stereotypes.
Smaller aspects of the show further parody smaller aspects of capitalism and American culture. Edmund and Fitzgerald brothers from Episode 4 may be a parody of the real-life multi-billionaire Koch Brothers. Their name may be also a reference to the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, a freighter ship which sank in 1975. The Coffee Grinder Party, also debuting in Episode 4, may be a parody of the American Tea Party movement, a conservative movement within the United States Republican Party.
Several aspects of the show's design and characters are also influenced by real-life sci-fi properties, largely the Halo series. The Rangers' suits resemble Mjolnir armor series. As well, their ship gets caught by a Halo Ring-like object in the second episode. Butch's rifle also resembles the MA5B assault rifle used in Halo: Combat Evolved.
Other smaller sci-fi influences include:
- The opening crawl summarizing the events of the previous episode is reminiscent of the iconic opening crawls from Star Wars.
- The opening to the "Homecoming" episode is very similar to the opening sequence to the movie Aliens.
- Vanessa also appears very similar in both appearance and name to Jenette Vasquez, a female Colonial Marine from the film.
- Further references to the movie include Butch mentioning a "cat running around," which may be a reference to the cat that survived in the first movie.
- The hovering robot that boards the RSR's ship in the episode "Homecoming" has a striking resemblance to a Probe droid from the Star Wars series, and also bears a resemblance to the Mister Handy model featured in the Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, and Fallout 4 video games.
Episodes[]
The episode opens with the Rangers communicating with a group of big-headed, agrarian aliens. The Rangers fail to understand anything the alien leader says, thinking he is speaking in "some kind of weird, jibber-jabber space dialect," though the alien is actually speaking in plain English. Nevertheless, the Rangers, believing that the aliens threaten America, label them as terrorists and open fire. The aliens manage to retreat back to an orphanage while the Rangers head back to their ship, take off, and fire a nuke back at the alien planet. While flying through space, a planet shows up on the spaceship's "Insurgent Scan" and the Rangers nuke it just to be safe.
After some congratulatory remarks by Commander, another planet shows up on the scan, this time with traces of minerals and gold. The Rangers land on the planet to investigate and encounter a squid-like alien native of the planet flagging them down for help. The alien recalls the story about a group of evil aliens who had recently invaded the planet intent on enslaving the natives, stealing their natural resources and destroying their culture. Suddenly, one of the evil aliens shows up and explains that his kind did this because they are evil and greedy.
Commander and Dick instantly sympathize with the evil alien and even invite him to go bass fishing. Frustrated, the squid alien makes one last-ditch plea for help but to no avail. The Rangers suddenly remember their original mission and blast both of the aliens regardless, for the sake of "Democracy and Liberty". The episode ends with Commander, once again, congratulating the other two rangers. The celebration is interrupted when Commander spots a glob of semen floating through the air, apparently from Dick who was busy masturbating while fantasizing about Commander.
The episode opens with the Rangers holding a barbecue atop an asteroid near the "border" of Earth while standing guard against any foreigners attempting to cross over. Butch, in a moment of breaking character, questions how he is able to hear the sound of Commander's gun when there is no sound in space and goes on to explain the science behind this phenomenon. Dick makes fun of Butch by calling him an educated elitist and Commander chastises him for using the Internet to gain knowledge instead of using it for posting unsubstantiated lies on message boards, calling people "fags," and porn.
An injured and starving alien appears and slowly approaches the border, but the Rangers swiftly fire their guns at it before it could cross. The Rangers then decide to go to sleep but not before calling out their three alien servants (racial stereotypes of a Mexican, Asian, and Russian) and ordering them to clean their ship, just after Dick gets mad as he thinks that the Mexican-like alien still can't speak English although Dick has told him "a million fucking times" to do so. Later that evening, Dick creeps into Commander's sleep pod after having a cold and being frightened by the sounds of crickets. Commander angrily explains that the crickets are just a sound effect generated to help him sleep better. Meanwhile, Butch secretly sneaks out of the ship in order to give a can of beans to a friendly alien near the border who has no arms or mouth. Butch then breaks down in tears explaining that, after the way Dick and Commander have been treating him, he feels lonely and wishes to befriend the alien.
Suddenly, Dick and Commander catch Butch consorting with their so-called enemy. Commander accuses the two of being homosexual while the alien rebuts by stating that he had 14 kids until Commander killed most of them. Commander then hypocritically states it was all because of natural selection. Butch claims the alien is his friend, which causes Commander to open fire upon the two. The alien leads Butch inside his ship and flies off while Commander and Dick pursue them.
Butch realizes that he has now become an outlaw and begins to regret joining the Space Marines. Commander appears on the screen of their spaceship and continues to taunt them. Before they open fire, the alien passes through an artificial ring-shaped planet (resembling a Halo from the titular series) while Commander and Dick's ship gets caught in the ring. Dick uses the hyperdrive in an attempt to get out of the ring, humorously referring to this action as "Shitstorm in a Basket". The hyperdrive launch fails and causes the ship to go flaccid, forcing all of its systems to go offline including the oxygen supply.
Commander and Dick believe this to be "cyberterrorism" and begin to suffocate while pleading for Butch to come back and save them. Butch initially refuses to save them because they called him "gay," but the alien explains that they are just transferring their own emotional insecurities onto him ("basic Jungian psychology," he says). Butch then agrees to save them. The alien maneuvers his ship in front of the Ranger's ship while Butch tells the other two to eject. Commander and Dick fearfully eject themselves out through the head of the ship and fly through space when the episode suddenly ends on a cliffhanger. Suffice to say, the two Rangers survived due to the fact they appear in the next episode.
The episode opens with the Rangers' ship (still flaccid) drifting through space. An even larger ship docks above it and sends out a hovering robot to investigate the Ranger's ship. The robot reaches the cryosleep room and awakens the Rangers, explaining to them that they have been in cryosleep for eight years. Commander realizes that Dick had accidentally set the cryo alarm clock for eight years instead of eight hours.
Seven hours later the Rangers try to restart their ship, but Dick cannot remember the password to the computer. After several failed attempts, the robot inputs the correct password, "TOLERANCE". The Rangers are stunned and don't even recognize the word, believing it to be the result of a random letter generator. The ship powers up and Butch discovers that all his friends unfriended him and that he missed out on the whole social networking experience. Commander chastises him for social networking, claiming that he got too carried away with it. Butch then discovers that they have orders to return to Earth so the Rangers promptly fly back home.
They crash-land their ship directly in front of Fort Flaccid where a uniformed soldier nonchalantly hands them a fistful of medals and informs them of the changes made to Earth in the past several years. It turns out that not only have humans and aliens finally made peace with one another but also the USA has been turned into a pacifist, overly-sensitive, politically-correct nation—the Rangers' worst nightmare. Several other changes include giving up the right to a pension, the downgrading of military weapons to nonlethal conflict resolution devices (a puny pistol that spits out a flag), as well as the outlawing of jokes/humor (too many parent groups were offended) and torture.
The Rangers are infuriated with the new changes, as Commander tries to demonstrate the usefulness of torture by pinching Butch in the groin. The soldier is appalled and orders the Rangers to attend a "Sensitivity Retraining Seminar". Later, the Rangers are sitting in a repurposed kindergarten classroom while being taught about sensitivity and conflict resolution by an effeminate, tentacled alien. The alien teacher proposes a scenario in which the Rangers must resolve nonviolently, but the three Rangers could only offer violent solutions to the problem. Faced with no other option to change the Rangers' way of thinking, the alien teacher revokes their medals and labels them as traitors. Dick snaps, claiming he is a patriot (his favorite beer even says so), and calls the teacher a "goddamn-filthy-fucking-alien!".
The teacher is horrified and tactfully reminds Dick that the President of the USA is, in fact, an alien. The Rangers gasp as the alien teacher turns on a TV to a speech being given by President Zane, a green, scrotum-headed alien who spews urine whenever he speaks. President Zane appears friendly and confident, if a bit long-winded, and also takes the time to reveal the new flag of the U.S. The stripe colors have been changed to pink and yellow while alien heads, rainbows, and unicorns have replaced the stars. Commander declares the president to be a "homo-communist" and has had enough of the seminar. The Rangers all attempt to shoot the teacher but find that their guns only shoot flags and promptly leave the building.
They meet up back at their crashed ship and decide that the best way to get rid of a politician they disagree with is to assassinate him and blame it on "brown people". Dick exclaims, "Fuck democracy! Hell, we only ever like that shit when it works for us!" The next morning President Zane, and his vagina-mouthed alien wife, are parading through town in an open-topped limo when Commander stands in front of their limo and halts them while Dick crouches atop a grassy hill with a sniper rifle, in a reenactment of the John Kennedy assassination.
While the President is distracted with talking about autobiographies, Commander orders Dick to take the shot. Unfortunately, Dick had drank a few beers prior and misses, hitting Commander in the penis instead. President Zane is convinced that Commander took the bullet for him and declares him a hero. Meanwhile, Commander is bleeding out on the ground and calls out for someone to revive him, only to have Dick pelvically-thrust him in his rear. The episode ends with the Ranger trio standing in an unemployment line.
The new episode takes place right after the failed assassination of the president. The Rangers are invited to the White House, where they hold a brief discussion with the president before being dismissed. During the meeting, Butch apologizes to President Zane for trying to kill him, saying that they didn't like him because he's an alien and a "liberal". President Zane forgives him. After the meeting, the Rangers goes to the basement of Fort Flaccid and the soldier orders them to deliver boxes of ammo to the Dark Matter Mall, saying this is because a new law was passed allowing everyone to join the Space Rangers. At the base, the soldier from last episode assigns two new members to the team: a homosexual man called Luke and a woman by the name of Vanessa, much to the disappointment of the Rangers, especially Dick.
Later, Dick experiences a homoerotic dream with Luke, resulting in Commander becoming bewildered. The following day, the team arrives to Dark Matter Mall to advertise their brochures, but a fight between Commander and Private Luke ensues. Commander then kills Luke and orders the team to massacre everyone, especially aliens, at the shopping center, saying that all of the aliens are "insurgents".
When news teams arrive, Commander presents the event as an attack of the Chinese. One of the reporters to interview the crew was Eleonora von Sorington, a reporter hired by alien multimillionaire brothers Edmund and Fitzgerald. She gives the Rangers an invitation, which persuades the team to visit the meeting of an ultraconservative party called the Coffee Grinder, created as a front for the alien brothers' plan to establish their political dominance over the U.S. During the meeting, Dick gets drunk. While being drunk, he accidentally goes to the stage and defecates in a U.S. Capitol model that was placed on the main stage. After noticing the incident, Edmund and Fitzgerald decide to let Dick run for presidency as a representative of the Coffee Grinder party, saying that they have found their "candidate brother".Transcripts[]
Episode 1[]
Transcript | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Episode 456[]
Transcript | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Episode 4[]
Transcript | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
The Cast[]
Character | Description | Image |
---|---|---|
Commander | He is the leader of the squad and the only true neoconservative character in the series. He is always seen with a cigar in his mouth, even while sleeping. He shows disdain toward social networking, saying that "a real man hates himself silently". He is voiced by Bill Lobley in all four appearances. | |
Dick | Dick seems to be second in command. He has a mustache and wears a red headband. He hero-worships the Commander and always makes suggestive comments. He is a closeted homosexual, and had sexual desires for him and Private Luke. Dick proclaims that he was raised on a farm and hides the fact he was molested by his uncle. He is voiced by Lloyd Floyd in all four appearances. | |
Butch | Butch is the tall, obese pilot of the ship. He has a hillbilly-esque voice and is the dumbest of the three. He drools excessively when he talks, and his helmet's visor has his own spit on it. He is shown to be incredibly gluttonous and uncaring for manners, as he dirties his suit and visor with beer and chicken wing stains. Butch's stupidity is often exemplified by groupthink actions and his primitive desire to kill on sight, even though he "don't really like that". He becomes a fan of blogging and the Internet by Episode 456. He is voiced by Jim Conroy in all four appearances. | |
Vanessa | She is ranked First Sergeant and is the first female member of the team. Although she wasn't greeted kindly by Commander during their first encounter, Vanessa isn't seen offended anymore as the story goes. She is the least talkative person in the group and shares some visual similarities to the Commander. She is voiced by Jen Cohn in her latest appearance. | |
Luke | Luke is ranked Private and is the only openly homosexual person in the squad. Not much is known about him, but he was said to be a responsible soldier and a war veteran; however, this was all dismissed by Commander and Luke is later killed by him at Dark Matter Mall. He is voiced by Adam Sietz in his only appearance. |
Theme Song[]
"Republican Space Rangers! |
The Ranger Pledge[]
"Oh I'm a Space Ranger! |
Website[]
The show also has its own website on the in-game Internet in GTA V – Republicanspacerangers.com.
Gallery[]
Merchandise[]
Tops[]
Outfits[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
Grand Theft Auto IV and Episodes[]
- During the mission Heavy Toll in The Lost and Damned, Johnny Klebitz insults Malc on how his gang dresses, quipping that they dress like the Republican Space Rangers.
- In Episode 456, when Butch is talking to the alien outside of the ship, he refers to the other two rangers as "Butch and the Commander," when he should have said "Dick and the Commander". This might be a testament to his stupidity, or a simple mistake by his voice actor.
- In Episode 456, the alien that Butch leaves Dick and the Commander for says "life is complicated," to which Butch replies "I know, I saw the commercial" may reference the teaser trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV as Niko's narration opens with this line.