Power Rangers Samurai

''This article is about the season. For the S.P.D. episode, see Samurai (episode).''

Power Rangers: Samurai is the title for the current 2011 season of Power Rangers. It is based on the 33rd season of Super Sentai, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger.

Synopsis
A new generation of Power Rangers must master the mystical and ancient "Samurai Symbols of Power," which give them control over the elements of: Fire, Water, Sky, Forest, Earth and Light. Under the guidance of their all-knowing mentor and the aid of their devoted animal Zords, they battle the dark forces of the Netherworld and a mysterious warrior who is bent on destruction.

Allies

 * Mentor Ji - The Rangers' all-knowing mentor. He is portrayed by Rene Naufahu.
 * Farkas &quot;Bulk&quot; Bulkmeier - One half of the comedy relief duo of this season. Paul Schrier reprises his role from the original series.
 * Spike Skullovitch - The other half of this season's comic relief. He's the son of Eugene &quot;Skull&quot; Skullovitch, Bulk's childhood friend. He refers to Bulk as "Uncle Bulk," implying that Skull either married Bulk's sister or that he looks to Bulk as if he were his family because of the almost brotherly bond between Bulk and Skull. He is portrayed by Felix Ryan.
 * Matthew portrayed by Leand Macadaan.
 * Reece portrayed by Chris Campbell.
 * Serena portrayed by Jacinda Stevens.
 * Kevin's father portrayed by N/A.
 * Jayden's father portrayed by Steven A. Davis.
 * Ryan portrayed by Daniel Sewell.
 * Fisherman portrayed by John Leigh
 * Daisuke portrayed by Grant McFarland

Villains
The villains are from the Netherworld.
 * Master Xandred
 * Dayu
 * Octoroo
 * Deker
 * Moogers
 * Furry Warts

Nighloks

 * Rofer
 * Doubletone
 * Dreadhead
 * Negatron
 * Yamiror
 * Madimot
 * Desperaino
 * Robtish
 * Vulpes
 * Steeleto
 * Antberry
 * Splitface
 * Arachnitor
 * Rhinosnorus

Arsenal

 * Samuraizer: The morpher that the Samurai Rangers use to morph.
 * Spin Sword: A sword that each Samurai Ranger carries.
 * Fire Smasher: The Red Samurai Ranger's personal weapon. It resembles a big sword.
 * 5-Disk Cannon: The Red Ranger is able to change his Fire Smasher into a cannon mode powered by a Secret Disk to fire the five Rangers' power disks at Nighloks.
 * Hydro Bow: The Blue Samurai Ranger's personal weapon. It resembles a traditional bow.
 * Sky Fan: The Pink Samurai Ranger's personal weapon. It resembles a war fan.
 * Forest Spear: The Green Samurai Ranger's personal weapon. It resembles a spear.
 * Earth Slicer: The Yellow Samurai Ranger's personal weapon. It resembles a boomerang.
 * Power Discs: A Power Disc is taken from the Ranger’s belt and is attached to the hilt of the Spin Sword to power it up.
 * Mega Blades: When the Rangers summon their Zords, their Spin Swords transform into Mega Blades. In the Zords’ cockpit, the Mega Rangers fold their Mega Blade and insert it and attach the primary Power Disk to the piloting system.
 * Samurai Morpher: The morpher of the Gold Ranger. Having similar features like the Samuraizer, the Gold Ranger's morphing command is also "Gold Power!"
 * Barracuda Blade: The Barracuda Blade is the Gold Ranger's personal weapon.
 * Black Box: The Rangers' secondary morpher.

Vehicles

 * Samurai SUV: The Samurai Rangers utilize the Samurai SUV for long distance travel. It is a modified Cadillac Escalade with the Samurai emblem on it's door. Kevin once used it to go catch the Swordfish Zord.

Zords

 * Samurai Megazord, combination of the animal Zords and controlled by the Samurai Rangers.
 * Lion Folding Zord, controlled by the Red Samurai Ranger.
 * Dragon Folding Zord, controlled by the Blue Samurai Ranger.
 * Turtle Folding Zord, controlled by the Pink Samurai Ranger.
 * Bear Folding Zord, controlled by the Green Samurai Ranger.
 * Ape Folding Zord, controlled by the Yellow Samurai Ranger.
 * Beetle Blaster Megazord
 * Beetle Zord, controlled first by the Red Samurai Ranger, and then later by the Green Samurai Ranger.
 * Swordfish Fencer Megazord
 * Swordfish Zord, controlled by the Blue Samurai Ranger.
 * Tiger Drill Megazord
 * Tiger Zord, controlled by the Red Samurai Ranger.
 * Samurai Battlewing, combination of the Beetle, Swordfish, and Tiger Zords; controlled by the Red, Blue, and Green Samurai Rangers.
 * Battlewing Megazord, combination of the Samurai Megazord and the Samurai Battlewing
 * Octo Spear Megazord, combination of the Samurai Megazord and the Octozord
 * Octozord, controlled by the Gold Samurai Ranger.
 * Claw Battlezord, battlezord of the Gold Samurai Ranger, has four modes: North, South, East, and West.
 * Claw Zord, controlled by the Gold Samurai Ranger.

Trivia

 * Samurai is the first season to have more than 32 episodes since S.P.D. and the first season to have more than 38 episodes since Wild Force.
 * It is the first season in which all Rangers are samurai, though they are not the first Rangers to have samurai powers, having been preceded by Ninja Storm's Cameron Watanabe (whose Green Samurai Ranger title is used by Mike as well).
 * Production is still set in New Zealand but will have a mixed American/Canadian/New Zealander/Australian cast, while it will be set for broadcast in the US on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons.
 * The first Power Rangers set to be broadcast on Nickelodeon, with reruns of this series soon to be shown on Nicktoons.
 * The series features two costumes for each Ranger. First, the normal Ranger costume, which is the same as its Super Sentai counterpart, is used in ground fights. When the Samurai Rangers pilot their zords, they enter their Mega Mode, donning new costumes created specifically for the Power Rangers version of the series. The Mega Mode costume features shoulder armor, a more detailed helmet, and a sculpted mouthpiece, which the normal costume lacks.
 * It's the fifth season to have a African-American to be a Blue Ranger - Kevin. T.J. Johnson is the first human African-American Blue Ranger (in Power Rangers in Space), after Cestro of Aquitar from Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers, preceding Max Cooper from Wild Force, and Ethan James from Dino Thunder.
 * This is the sixth season to have a ranger with Latino descent (Mike). The previous six Latino Rangers were Rocky DeSantos (Mighty Morphin season 2-Zeo), Carlos Vallerte (Turbo-In Space), Danny Delgado (Wild Force), Elizabeth Delgado (S.P.D.) and Madison and Vida Rocca (Mystic Force).
 * Mike is also the second Latino character who is a Green Ranger following Carlos.
 * This season will be the fourth to feature two Power Rangers of Asian descent on the same team (Mia & Antonio Garcia). The first three were Ninja Storm (Blake & Cam), Operation Overdrive (Dax & Rose), and RPM (Gem & Gemma).
 * This is the third series to feature a Asian-American female to be a Pink Ranger, Mia. The first two were Cassie Chan from Turbo and In Space and Rose Ortiz from Operation Overdrive.
 * Mike, and Emily are the second and third Rangers to share a name with a previous character, Ranger or not. They share their names with Mike Corbett (the Magna Defender) from Lost Galaxy, and Emily from Zeo. The first character with this trait was Kat Manx from S.P.D., whose name is shared with Kat Hillard (Mighty Morphin Season 3-Turbo).
 * Ji's original name, Takeru, is the same as two Super Sentai characters, both of whom were Red Rangers from both its Sentai equivalent and the 1987 Sentai series.
 * Antonio's original name, Wesley, is the same as Wes Collins from Time Force.
 * The twelfth season in which an actor from a previous series returned to play either a different role or reprise their own. For Samurai, Paul Schrier reprises his MMPR/Zeo/Turbo/Space/Lost Galaxy/Wild Force role of Bulk, Ricardo Medina, Jr. (credited as Rick Medina in the openings), who played Cole Evans in Wild Force, will play Deker, and Grant McFarland, who played Lothor in Ninja Storm will return as Daisuke.
 * This series marks Bulk's second appearance without Skull. The first being Lost Galaxy
 * Due to Saban regaining the rights to the Power Rangers francise and brand, the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers theme is used again in a remixed form for the opening theme.
 * According to sources online two Saban-era actors may return for this season either as characters or just behind the scenes advisors the actors in question are Ricardo Medina Jr. (Cole the Red Wild Force Ranger) and Paul Schrier (Bulk of Mighty Morphin to Lost Galaxy). Bulk was later confirmed, with Deker confirmed to be Ricardo Medina.
 * This season marks the second time the line up consists of a Red Ranger, Blue Ranger, Green Ranger, Yellow Ranger, Pink Ranger and Gold Ranger the last time this was done was back in Zeo.
 * This also the first season to have back-to-back Gold Rangers between two seasons.
 * This season marks the fifth time the Pink and Yellow Ranger both have skirts attached to their uniform. This season has Mia (Erika Fong) and Emily (Brittany Anne Pirtle).
 * Is the first season of Power Rangers to be broadcast in widescreen 16:9 and 1080i-HDTV whereas the rest were broadcast in fullscreen 4:3 and 480i-SDTV.
 * Both Saban and Nickelodeon consider the re-version MMPR as season 18 rather than re-runs of the first season, and as a result are promoting Samurai as season 19.
 * This is the first series to have a "cold-opening" since Power Rangers Time Force.
 * This is first season to not to be aired in a chronological order.
 * The casting sheet for the red ranger referred to him as Reese. This name was used instead for one of Mike's gamer friends in The Team Unites.
 * This is the third season (after Mighty Morphin' Season 2 and Season 3) in which the rangers' zords/megazords have a cockpit that differs from the Sentai version.
 * This is the 11th season to feature a Battlizer.
 * Samurai featured the long-awaited return of Bulk, who has been absent after Wild Force’s Red Ranger team-up episode Forever Red. The same actor (Paul Schrier) who has been playing Bulk from MMPR up until Wild Force is reprising his role.
 * Samurai spawned a cast similar to the actors in Power Rangers in Space. Like that series, this one featured a Red Ranger (Jayden) and Yellow Ranger (Emily) as Caucasians, a Blue Ranger (Kevin) as an African-American, a Pink Ranger (Mia) as an Asian and a Green Ranger as a Latino (Mike).
 * It would be possible for later episodes with a character based on the female ShinkenRed from Shinkenger that there will or will not be a female version of the Red Samurai Ranger in this American adapt of Shinkenger. Like its counterpart, it had two Red Rangers that were different genders. This was previously applied in Power Rangers: S.P.D. It has also been confirmed of a female actress for a Red Samurai Ranger. It is unknown how she will be put in place, however.
 * It is the second season to feature a Ranger(s) almost getting married, after RPM.
 * This is the first season since Ninja Storm to consist of a mainly American cast. Ironically, Mystic Force, the last season to have a Pink and Green Ranger on the same team, had a completely Australian cast.
 * On a related note, this is the first time a Pink Ranger and a Green Ranger were seen on the same Ranger team since Mystic Force.
 * This is the first Power Ranger team to not destroy monsters with a cannon or sword-like weapon, but uses a mixture of both, that being the Red Ranger's personal weapon.
 * This is the second season in which the Red Ranger's father was also once a Red Ranger, the first was SPD, though aside from a fight in Reflections, Sky didn't officially become Red Ranger until the end of the show.
 * This is the first season to show Enemy Foot Soldiers being regularly used against a Megazord in giant form.
 * Power Rangers Samurai premiered on the February 7th in America and May 7th in United Kingdom two months later, making it the first instance where a Power Rangers show debuted on the same date of two different months and in two different countries.
 * This is the first season to show an instant replay of a fight.
 * Saban says they are planning to make a 3rd Power Rangers movie. It'll likley be one about this season and be distributed by Paramount Pictures and produced by Nickelodeon Movies.
 * Saban also says that Power Rangers Samurai will last 2 years making it the first since Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers to last more than 1 year.
 * This is the first time most of the rangers' last names are unknown. The only one we know for sure is Antonio's when he makes a big introduction in "Room for One More" and says that his last name is Garcia.
 * A popular rumor is that the second season of the show will use the Goseiger footage or pull another Zyu2 in which they used the Dairanger mecha and weapons and retain the Zyuranger suits in the second series of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.