[9] In a 2006 interview, one of the writers, Marc Handler, stated that Eagle Riders was "not a good rendition", and that the scripts often lacked continuity with each other.
Instead, Mallanox is said to have been transformed into a new form, named Happy Boy (originally, the Gatchaman Fighter villain Count Egobossler).
During its 1996–97 syndication run in the US, the show was being aired alongside the first season of Dragon Ball Z, another anime that had been adapted in conjunction with Saban Entertainment.
A 1997 report on violence in television by UCLA stated that "Eagle Riders and Dragon Ball Z both contain images of mean-spirited, glorified fighting.
[5] Some episodes that never aired in the USA were shown at the 1997 GachaCon fan convention, which had Eagle Riders producer Rita Acosta as a guest.
Ken Innes of Absolute Anime wrote in his review, "The first thirteen episodes were a nearly straight translation of Gatchaman II with a few embellishments [...] If there is any hope for a further US release, it will be on cable.
The current American ownership of the series is unclear, but all of Saban's rights to the Gatchaman property were originally set to expire on September 7, 2004.