Power Rangers
Power Rangers is an ongoing,
American franchise of
superhero children's television programs. The franchise is currently owned by
The Walt Disney Company, but was previously produced by
Saban. Given a new title and theme annually (after the third season of the first series), the franchise is headlined by similarly self-replicating
television series and is directly tied to the vast
merchandising empire owned largely by Japanese toy company
Bandai.
The show is adapted from the
Japanese
tokusatsu Super Sentai franchise, but is not simply an
English dub of the original. Rather, it is a 'new' production with English-speaking actors spliced in with the original Japanese footage in varying ratios. Due to the very Japanese nature of many of Sentai's stories and design, the American shows are always at least slightly changed to fit a Western audience. However, the action sequences featuring the characters in costume, and the scenes featuring dai
kaiju and
mecha (referred to as "
Zords" in the English series) are typically dubbed. The vast majority of the toy line is similarly adapted, though there are toys exclusive to English-speaking countries.
The series that began the franchise was
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which began broadcasting as part of the
Fox Kids group of programs that aired on the
Fox Network. It lasted for three seasons. The franchise has continued, and
as of 2006 has consisted of thirteen television series and two theatrical films. Lalo stinks.
The
Power Rangers series was distributed by
Saban Entertainment from
1993 until the end of
2001 and was broadcast on
FOX. The franchise was purchased by
Disney as a part of a Saban buyout between 2001 and 2002, and the show continued to air on Fox until its Fox Kids package was dismantled in the United States. Since Fall 2002, all
Power Rangers shows have aired on various Disney-owned networks (
ABC Kids,
ABC Family,
Toon Disney and
Jetix channels worldwide).
A Power Ranger is a person who
morphs from a
natural, unpowered form into a powerful superhero wearing a battle suit, which also has a
helmet with an opaque visor, which in many cases serves to protect his or her
secret identity. A morphed Ranger generally possesses
superhuman strength, durability, and hand-to-hand combat ability; unmorphed Rangers may possess other innate abilities (such as
telepathy,
super speed,
invisibility, great hand-to-hand combat ability, etc.) which are usually not directly related to his or her Ranger powers. Rangers appear to retain their original physiology beneath their suits when in morphed form, as Rangers' helmets have been seen removed or broken on numerous occasions, revealing his or her natural form underneath (There are exceptions to this rule: Justin, the Blue Turbo Ranger, was in his early teens and was much shorter than his Ranger form when unmorphed; Anubis "Doggie" Cruger, the S.P.D. Shadow Ranger, has a muzzle [he is a humanoid dog-like alien] that seems to disappear beneath the helmet; and Daggeron, the Solaris Knight, transforms into a different creature while in the process of morphing). Helmets aside, the suits are donned and removed nearly instantaneously with a glow of
light or some other effect. Sometimes, Rangers "un-morph" involuntarily due to powerful physical attacks.
Rangers regularly operate in teams of five, with a special sixth Ranger frequently rounding out the bunch; sometimes a core team of three will later be joined by additional Rangers. Each Ranger's suit and energy spectrum will match a specific color, with red, yellow, and blue being joined by some combination of pink, green, black, or white. Rangers may be named after their respective colors, such as Red Ranger, Blue Ranger, etc., but numbers or other names may also be used. There is usually no more than one Ranger of a given color on a team, but exceptions of this rule are generally given alternate names (E.g. there are two Rangers with red costumes in the Time Force season; the first is the Red Time Force Ranger, the second is the Quantum Ranger). The team's costumes are nearly identical aside from color, helmet design (most notably the shape of the opaque visor) and perhaps a numerical designation; any additional Rangers will regularly have additional costume modifications.
The Rangers' color designation also influences their wardrobe throughout the series, as their civilian clothing is often the same color as their Ranger color. This correlation was joked about in
Power Rangers: Dino Thunder when
Thomas Oliver (a former Green Ranger, White Ranger, and Red Ranger, twice) became the new Black Dino Ranger and said that he had to go clothes shopping because he did not own enough black-colored clothing.
A normal
Power Rangers episode can be broken down into an
everyplot.The plot sequence is generally as follows:# Rangers are seen in everyday life with a dispute to resolve.# Rangers are attacked by an evil foe's minions/footsoldiers.# Rangers fight minions/footsoldiers.# Rangers morph.# Rangers defeat minions/footsoldiers.# Evil enemy revives minion and makes minion grow to gigantic proportions, followed by Rangers summoning giant machines known as Zords and/or their combined form, the Megazord.## Optional:
Rangers find that their current powers are insufficient to defeat minion and discover a new power, such as a Battlizer armor for the Red Ranger, a sixth Ranger, or a new Megazord.# Rangers fight and defeat said giant minion.# Rangers are shown back in everyday life, having learned a life lesson which solves the earlier dispute.
Each team of Power Rangers, with few exceptions, obey a general set of conventions, outlined at the beginning of
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and implied, though not stated explicitly, throughout many of the other incarnations. These include the Power Rangers being forbidden to use their Ranger powers for personal gain or for escalating a fight, explaining why the Rangers don't just step on the small monsters with their Megazord. The Power Rangers are also forbidden to disclose their identities to the general public, barring extenuating circumstances (although this rule was disregarded in
Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue and
Power Rangers: S.P.D.). (Following a
Spartacus inspired scene by
Angel Grove's townspeople, this rule was also disregarded at the conclusion of
Power Rangers in Space, although the battle afterward was the last for the former Turbo and Space Rangers.) The penalty for disobeying these rules, at least in
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, would be the loss of their power.
The arsenal available to the Power Rangers is also somewhat standardized: each Ranger is generally armed with a weapon such as a
laser gun and/or a
sword. Each Ranger also has a secondary set of weapons that can often combine to form a larger weapon (usually a
cannon). As the series progresses, one or more of the Rangers are also usually given a
motorcycle for long-distance travel, as well as individual Zords. In many series, a Ranger is also given additional Zords or weapons. In some cases, one Ranger may receive something that other Rangers may not have; an example of this is the
Battlizer given to the Red Ranger of each series since
Power Rangers: In Space. Although much of the arsenal can also be found in
Super Sentai, there are usually at least some that are not, generally added for the express purpose of marketing toys designed and sold by
Bandai.
Power Rangers series regularly have villains of their own make which do not appear in the Sentai footage, though for budget and footage reasons there are always carry-overs from the Japanese source material. Less commonly, some series use only the Sentai designs and footage, though despite this some sets have to be replicated for original footage if they need it and an English speaking actor if at least one actor's face was shown, this was the case with Vypra in
Lightspeed Rescue, Toxica in
Wild Force, and Leelee in
Mystic Force (she is currently the only original villain in
Mystic Force).
In seasons following
Power Rangers: In Space, it is common for each team to be separate, storywise, from those of previous incarnations. A tradition in later seasons is for two teams of Power Rangers to team up and take on a villain. In
Power Rangers: Wild Force, the tenth incarnation of
Power Rangers, this is taken to the next level, as ten Red Rangers teamed up in the episode "
Forever Red." The only season not to feature this is
Power Rangers: Ninja Storm, due to a shift back to non-
SAG talent when production was moved to
New Zealand.
No two
Power Rangers series are alike, and aside from a Ranger of each
primary color, with the male Red being the series lead, almost every aspect of the show can potentially be changed depending on the series (and often depending on what the Sentai footage has dictated). Some of the things which are known to change regularly are:
*Annual design theme, and whether or not it is incorporated into the American show
*Number of Rangers, both at the beginning and the end of a series
*Colors of Rangers outside of the primary colors, if any
*Gender of the Yellow, Blue, and Pink Rangers
*Number of female Rangers, and the ratio thereof to male Rangers
*Hierarchy of team, including which Ranger is the actual team leader
*Situation of how the morpher is worn, and corresponding morphing call
*Affiliation of Rangers prior to and during the series
*Presence of a mentor and a headquarters
*One or more Rangers' relation to a series villain
*Original Executive Producer
Haim Saban was criticized heavily for his use of non-
SAG actors, and the one-sided contracts that the actors were bound to for appearing on the show. The "Mighty Morphin" cast was bound to five-year contracts with no benefits and insultingly low pay (reportedly $500 U.S. per week), which were non-negotiable. When the series hit big time, Fox signed the show to a two-picture deal, and actors
Austin St. John,
Walter Emmanuel Jones and
Thuy Trang left the series when none of their demands were met. They were immediately replaced, to no negative effect on the show's ratings.
*The Power Rangers seem virtually invulnerable to harm, as when they are hit or thrown to the ground, they will immediately get up and continue to fight.
*Many critics of the early
Power Rangers series claimed that the Power Rangers use unnecessary force to destroy their monsters, and often get into fights when better alternatives were available. In some cases, networks pulled
Power Rangers from its lineup, citing such concerns. Later incarnations of
Power Rangers often attempt to explain the actions of the Power Rangers, but many still believe that
Power Rangers remains a series too violent for young children. For a time
Power Rangers was pulled from Malaysian television screens as the word "morphin'" (in the phrase "It's Morphin' Time!") sounded similar to the drug
morphine, which is banned in Malaysia.
*The first season of
Power Rangers also drew criticism from some groups claiming that the Ranger colors were racist, specifically referring to Zack, the Black Ranger (played by
African American actor Walter Emmanuel Jones) and Trini, the Yellow Ranger (played by
Asian American actress
Thuy Trang; Asian-Americans were once referred to as
Yellow in the same way African-Americans are called
Black). This criticism was rendered moot when the two actors left the show halfway through Season Two and were replaced with Asian-American actor
Johnny Yong Bosch as the Black Ranger, and African-American actress
Karan Ashley as the Yellow Ranger. This was mentioned on
VH1's
I Love the 90s.
Amy Jo Johnson and
Walter Emmanuel Jones appeared in the "
1993" episode. Since then, no Asian-American actor or actress has played the Yellow Ranger, and no African-American has played the Black Ranger. The only exception to this is in the instance of the
Dark Rangers in which the actors were chosen to resemble the evil counter-parts of the Black and Yellow rangers.
*The few-and-far-between links between the later series of
Power Rangers are often resented by older fans of the show. The first five years of the series featured ongoing storylines that carried through the different seasons, and retained most of its cast members for several years. Veteran Rangers and villains also occasionally appeared after their stories had run through, most notably in
Power Rangers: In Space, in which the central plot involved an attack on the entire universe.
Space's finale, "
Countdown to Destruction," killed off or redeemed all of the older villains and largely cleaned up the existing continuity. Subsequent series are able to start with new Rangers and villains annually without having to incorporate unresolved plot points from the previous season. Team-ups between a current cast and the one before it occur almost annually now, but are generally superfluous to the larger storylines.
*The new Executive Producer
Bruce Kalish has attracted criticism and resentment from some fans. This first occurred when he admitted he deliberately didn't watch any of the older episodes when he was hired to work on
Power Rangers: S.P.D. so he'd be able to make a clean start (he has since watched some of the earlier episodes). He also came in for some criticism when S.P.D. was thought to be relying too heavily on sentai footage & plots, and for saying that the series' writers are only contracted by Disney to do adaptations of sentai and not original stories.
*In the
UK, the first incarnation sparked fears that kids would hurt themselves by recreating the moves in the series. As a result, GMTV (who is still the analogue host in the UK) had to issue a warning at the end of an episode stating, "The Power Rangers are specially trained martial arts experts, so don't you copy them!" GMTV no longer issues this warning. However,
Jetix in its British incarnation still issues a generic warning for the entire series that was used since the beginning of
Power Rangers: In Space. It has received only minor changes over time (background image, wording, etc) and is currently delivered by a male announcer in a
Zordon-like voice, likely to gain the young audience's attention, despite Zordon not actually being in the show.
*After just a few weeks of airing, the show was banned in New Zealand. This was due to children practicing the moves on one another in school. [
1]
*When
Power Rangers was first released, it was classified as children's programming. However, since its release, the show has continued to evolve into a program that is enjoyed by more mature audiences, partly due to its aging original fans. This has led to some fans requesting that the tone and format of the show be changed in order to better suit its more mature audience. However, whereas
Power Rangers still appeals to older viewers, the show's producers feel that a more mature show might alienate their largest demographic: children. It would also cause them to lose revenue in toy and merchandising sales, which finance the shows.
*Many also credit
Power Rangers for an increased interest in the
martial arts by suburban America. This
fad-like popularization of martial arts in mainstream youth culture is often looked at as one of the reasons the
McDojo has become a somewhat prevalent phenomenon.
*Animation fans also despise
Power Rangers for being on Toon Disney, as it is not actually an animated series.
*There are those of the
Tokusatsu fandom that expressively loathe Power Rangers because not only does the series mock the original Japanese source, but many feel that it tarnished the reputation of the genre as a whole; not only insulting
Super Sentai, but having things like
Godzilla,
Ultraman and
Kamen Rider being associated with it despite the obvious differences. Some fans overreact, calling the series "racist", this resulted in a term used by PR Fans, "Sentai Snob" (which now evolved to "Toku Snob"). It was countered with the term PR Snob (or Anti-Sentite). This form of debating is found within the
animé community when it came to the subject of "
subtitles" and "
dubbing."
*Another less common criticism is the lack of balance in the team's power. Over time, the Red Ranger becomes stronger than all the other Rangers together, by the ways of the Battlizer or the excessive arsenal he collects. Red is also mostly "the chosen one" (e.g. Andros in
Countdown to Destruction), "the day's savior" (e.g. Cole in
The Master's Last Stand) or the one who defeats the main villain. Notably,
Wild Force transformed Cole, the series Red Ranger, into the single protagonist of the season, pulling the other main Rangers back to a background profile, with a weak development if compared to the Red Ranger.
*A similar criticism to above also ties to "sixth Rangers", characters who arrive suddenly and join the team in later episodes. Most of them, upon arrival, seem to have powers that dwarf or belittle those of the original roster (including the series' Red Ranger), only to suffer some situation intended to limit the character (such as a power loss or curse.). In actuality, the "limitation" makes the hero weaker than even the "non-Red" Rangers (usually to a point in which the rest of the team openly protests going into battle with their "stricken" comrade). The first such character to be weakened this way is Tommy Oliver, the original season's Green Ranger. (Ironically, this happens to him twice as
Dino Thunder's Black Ranger.)
Masked Rider was an American adaptation of the
tokusatsu series
Kamen Rider BLACK RX, one of the many sequels of the popular Kamen Rider franchise. It was produced by Saban and aired in 1995. It was a spin-off of
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
The main title character of Masked Rider was featured on a 3-part
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episode (
A Friend in Need) before his own series was started. The Rangers themselves were never mentioned in the television run of
Masked Rider, however, as Saban reformatted the series to sever links with
Power Rangers, given that their popularity had been gradually beginning to slide following the first movie. However, the Rangers were featured in the home video release of the
Masked Rider story
Super Gold, in the form of narrated clips from
A Friend in Need, and also made a guest appearance in Masked Rider's short-lived comic book adaptation.
The
Power Rangers series have also brought forth two
movies.
Both movies have no relation to each other; the second one is not a sequel for the first one. The first film released in 1995 takes place in an alternate timeline than that in the series. The second film released in 1997 actually is tied in with the series, bridging the gap between
Power Rangers: Zeo and
Power Rangers: Turbo.
Contrary to wild Internet speculation, there have never been plans for a third
Power Rangers movie, likely due to Turbo's box office failure.
Currently, there are only 18 DVD releases of
Power Rangers in the USA (as listed below). Internationally, however there have been additional DVD releases (such as
Lightspeed Rescue ,
Time Force and
Wild Force in Germany) and as free DVDs attached to
Jetix Magazine UK.
Buena Vista Home Entertainment is scheduled to release five new volumes of the upcoming season,
Power Rangers: Mystic Force in 2006.
There has been much criticism over the releases of these DVDs; only five volumes per season are distributed, which does not amount to the full length run, and so viewers have to rely on reruns to see any other episodes not currently available. The ongoing concern over
Power Rangers as a whole not yet being released on DVD Box sets has led to continued debate and frequent petitions. As of February 2006, however,
Buena Vista Home Entertainment maintains there are currently no plans for any
Power Rangers boxsets in the near future. [
2]
The lack of official season sets has led to the spawning of bootlegged copies of entire season runs distributed through online auction sites such as
eBay.
The current
Power Rangers DVD titles are:
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, 1995; Fox Home Entertainment
Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, 1997; Fox Home Entertainment
The Best of the Power Rangers: The Ultimate Rangers, 2003; BVHE (DVD compilation of episodes from five different seasons of Power Rangers. The episodes
Forever Red and
The White Light [Tommy's reintroduction as the
White Power Ranger] are amongst them)
Power Rangers: Ninja Storm Volumes 1 - 5, 2003; BVHE
Power Rangers: Dino Thunder Volumes 1 - 5, 2004; BVHE
Power Rangers: S.P.D. Volumes 1 - 5, 2005, BVHE
Power Rangers: Mystic Force Volumes 1, 2006, BVHE
Power Rangers episodes have recently become available on the iTunes Music Store site. So far, 77
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers episodes are available, as are the first 17 episodes of
Power Rangers Mystic Force.
Power Rangers is one of several shows made available for free online streaming, on Jetix's official website
Jetix.tv. This scheme allow's any US-based web-user to watch entire episodes up to two weeks after broadcast. Episodes are even sometimes released via the website before airing on TV.
*According to the website
Tv.com,
Skylar Deleon, who had appeared as an extra in an episode of
Power Rangers, is accused of murdering a couple in California named Thomas and Jackie Hawk. In a strange twist, the episode in question where Skyler appeared aired on the same week as his conviction on
ABC Family.
*
Simon Cowell commissioned a
single release of the
theme song at the height of the Power Rangers' popularity. It reached #3 on the
UK singles chart in December
1994 and sold over 250,000 copies in total.
*The
2002 episode "
Forever Red" gathered many different cast members from the show to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the franchise. The
Kimberly character was mentioned as well, but
Amy Jo Johnson never makes a re-appearance.
*Red, Blue, and Yellow are the only colors that have been a part of every Power Rangers team.
*The Japanese Sentai series regularly switch between male and female Yellow Rangers, but as yellow is considered feminine in Western cultures, women were traditionally cast in the part for the
Power Rangers adaptations regardless. Stock footage of the Japanese series became confusing to even casual viewers, but was considered acceptable because the Yellow Ranger would be relatively inconspicuous among five or more Rangers; this convention was broken with the
Ninja Storm series, though die-hard fans will point out that the
Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers mini-series had a yellow male Ranger as well.
*This is one of the first children's television shows to include bleeped swear words, during the credits when outtakes were shown.
*
Tommy Oliver (
Jason David Frank) is the only character to have worn four different colors as a Ranger. Frank, who appeared in more episodes of the series than any other actor, is the only one to have appeared in five incarnations in the same role, and he has shared screen time with Rangers of each of the first thirteen different seasons. His colors were Green (
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers seasons 1 & 2, White (
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers seasons 2 & 3), Red (
Power Rangers: Zeo and
Power Rangers: Turbo), and Black (
Power Rangers: Dino Thunder).
Power Rangers follows a few unofficial anime conventions, namely that a villain cannot shoot while Rangers are morphing or while a Megazord is forming. Vice versa, Rangers cannot shoot at a growing monster. There are occasional exceptions, however.
Power Rangers featured episodes in which the Rangers teamed up with other heroes from the Saban universe: the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the
Masked Rider. On a side note, the
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/
Masked Rider team up is the closest thing to a team up with
Kamen Rider and
Super Sentai, as
Toei has not teamed these
tokusatsu factions as of yet.
*In Japan, Power Rangers has been dubbed into Japanese for television and video.
Power Rangers: Zeo, however was never released. The voice actors for the dub are often pulled from past Sentai casts. This led to
Machiko Soga doing the voice for Rita Repulsa, the American counterpart to Bandora (
Kyoryuu Sentai ZyuRanger), the same character she played.
*Recently it has been announced that a Power Rangers
fan convention will take place on June 22-24, 2007 in Los Angeles, although the date is subject to change. The event has been dubbed
PowerMorphincon, so it is not to be confused with the similarly-named
furry convention.
*Kendrix Morgan was the only Power Ranger to be killed off in order to be replaced. She was downed by the Pink Psycho Ranger in "Power of Pink", and was replaced by Andros's sister, Karone, who was once Astronema. This was because
Valerie Vernon, the actress who portrayed her, was diagnosed with leukemia during production of the series. Her character was brought back to life at the end of the series and she later reprised her role as Kendrix in the team-up episode for
Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue and
Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy.
Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy was the first season to feature archvillains who are permanently destroyed at the end of the season by a Ranger team (
Scorpius and Trakeena, though Trakeena is shown at the end of Lost Galaxy of leaving Terra Venture in spirit form). In the previous and future seasons:
**
Season 2: At the beginning of Season 2,
Lord Zedd deposed
Rita Repulsa and sent her from his palace in a
dumpster, but he did not destroy her.
**
Season 3: Lord Zedd and Rita remained in command at the beginning of Season 3.
**
Season 4: Lord Zedd and Rita were driven from the moon palace by the arrival of the
Machine Empire, but they were not killed.
**
Season 5: At the end of Season 4, Lord Zedd assassinated the
Royal House of Gadgetry. He and Rita then left for a vacation, leaving the planet open for the arrival of
Divatox.
**
Season 6: At the end of Season 5, Divatox voluntarily retreated from Earth. Later, master villain
Dark Specter was killed by Darkonda, and
Astronema was defeated by
Andros, but not destroyed.
**
Season 8: The season made it clear that when demons are destroyed, they are sent to the Shadow World, and was later reinforced with the reappearance of the demon Diabolico in the finale emerging from the Shadow World. This being stated, it is pretty likely that Queen Bansheera never died in the finale and is just being beaten by her minions for eternity rather than being destroyed. Loki, Olympus, and Vypra are all destroyed, but possibly made their way to the Shadow World.
**
Season 9: Ransik and Nadira both turn to good and see the error of their ways. Gluto is rearrested and Frax is destroyed.
**
Season 10: Master Org is destroyed, however three Orgs (Jindrax, Toxica, and Zen-Aku) are alive and reformed.
**
Season 11: Lothor is sent to the Abyss of Evil, which is similar to the Shadow World. His generals are destroyed and his nieces return to the side of good.
**
Season 12: Mesogog and Zeltrax are destroyed, Elsa is returned to being good.
**
Season 13: All three major villains are captured (arrested) and are not destroyed.
* The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers are briefly featured in "
The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" as one of the many called upon to defeat Chuck Norris (the song mentions "Every single Power Ranger," although only the original team are seen in the flash animation).
* Jetix airs older Power Ranger series as part of their "Power Rangers: Generations" block. The episodes are aired in order by episode and by series, but all of the series between
Turbo and
Ninja Storm are currently not aired.
*
Rangers*
Villains*
Enemy Grunts*
Monsters*
Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills*
Super Sentai*
VR Troopers*
Masked Rider*
Big Bad Beetleborgs*
Digimon*
List of Power Rangers villains*
List of Power Rangers monsters*
Zord*
List of Power Rangers planets*
List of Power Rangers episodes*
Battlizer*
Enhancement Modes in Power RangersWebsites
*
Jetix' Official Power Rangers website*
Bandai's Official Power Rangers website (for the toyline)
*
Power Rangers Central *
Rovang.org's Power Rangers Timeline*
Rovang.org's Writers Guide To The Power Rangers Universe*
Naks Power Rangers*
GrnRngr.Com*
Power Rangers Online*
Galaxy of Chaos, a Power Rangers Wiki
*
Power Rangers On Air Central*
Power Rangers Information Archive*
The Ranger Files*
Jen's Power Rangers Online V2*
FunaroverseMessage Boards
*
Rangerboard*
Ranger-Power*
Jetixtalk*
Power Ranger Empire*
Funaroboard
