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 and Earth. 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 II reprises his role.
 * 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.

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

Nighloks

 * Rofer
 * Doubletone
 * Dreadhead
 * Negatron
 * Yamiror
 * Robtish

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 Blade: 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.

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 Zord, controlled by the Red Ranger
 * 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 Cam 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 Network.
 * 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 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(SPD) 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 & Wesley). 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.
 * Wesley, Mike, and Emily are the second, third, and fourth Rangers to share a name with a previous character, Ranger or not, sharing their names with Wesley &quot;Wes&quot; Collins (the Red Ranger) from Time Force, Mike Corbett (the Magna Defender) from Lost Galaxy, and Emily from Zeo. The first character with this trait was Kat Manx from SPD, 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.
 * Tenth occasion in which an alumni from another season came back as another role or same character. The first was Austin St. John, who played Jason in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and then come back in the same role in Zeo, Turbo:A Power Rangers Movie and Forever Red, the second was Melody Perkins who played Karone/Astromena who was in In Space then came back as the same character in Lost Galaxy, third was Jason David Frank who played Tommy Oliver in Mighty Morphin to Turbo came back as Dr Tommy Oliver in Dino Thunder, fourth was Katrina Devine who played Marah was in Ninja Storm then came back in Dino Thunder as Cassidy Cornell, fifth was Kelson Henderson who played Boom was in SPD then came back in Mystic Force as Phineas also Norg in Operation Overdrive then Flit in Jungle Fury, sixth was Barnie Duncan who played Piggy in SPD came back and played Toby Slambrook in Mystic Force, seventh was John Tui who played Anubis &quot;Doggy&quot; Cruger in SPD came back and played Daggeron in Mystic Force, eighth was Nic Sampson who played Chip Thorn in Mystic Force and played the Sentinel Knight in Operation Overdrive, ninth was Holly Shanahan who played Leelee Pimvare in Mystic Force and came back as Camille in Jungle Fury, tenth was Michelle Langstone who played Kat Manx in SPD and came back as Master Guin in Jungle Fury, eleventh and twelfth are Rene Naufahu who played Gruumm in SPD coming back to play Mentor Ji in Samurai and Paul Schrier reprising his MMPR/Zeo/Turbo/Space/Lost Galaxy/Wild Force role of Bulk.
 * This series sees the return of Bulk (Paul Schrier), as well as seeing him wearing a similar outfit to his Mighty Morphin Power Rangers outfit, that being a leather jacket, jeans and a purple shirt.
 * 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.
 * 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 way back in Zeo.
 * The Gold Ranger is also the Sixth Member to join the team.
 * Arguably (if you don't count White Dino Thunder Ranger and SPD Omega Ranger, both white, as 6th Rangers), this is the first time that the 6th Ranger is the same color as the previous season's 6th Ranger, which in this case is the Gold Ranger. 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 the first was Zeo with Katherine Hillard (Catherine Sutherland) and Tanya Sloan (Nakia Burrise), second was Turbo with Katherine Hillard/Cassie Chan (Catherine Sutherland/Patricia Ja Lee) and Tanya Sloan/Ashley Hammond (Nakia Burrise/Tracy Lynn Cruz), third was In Space with Cassie Chan (Patricia Ja Lee) and Ashley Hammond (Tracy Lynn Cruz), and fourth was Operation Overdrive with Rose Ortiz (Rhoda Montemayor) and Ronny Robinson (Caitlin Murphy). This season will have Mia (Erika Fong) and Emily (Brittany 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 second season to have arsenal that weren't adapted from Sentai (ergo the Mega Saber & Mega Mode). The first was Jungle Fury, for it had the Strike Cycle.
 * This is the 11th season to feature a Battlizer (Shogun Ranger).
 * 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 simular 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 Red Ranger from Shinkenger that there will or will not be a female version of the Red Samurai Ranger in this American adapt of Shinkenger. Like's its counterpart, it had two Red Rangers that were different genders.