Ninja Storm

Power Rangers: Ninja Storm (often abbreviated as "PRNS") was the eleventh incarnation of the Power Rangers TV series, based on the Super Sentai series Ninpū Sentai Hurricanger (English: Covert Wind Squadron Hurricanger)

Production and Development
In late 2002, Disney began working a Power Ranger season which began being the first season to be entirely filmed in New Zealand (to lower costs) and based on 2002's Super Sentai series Ninpū Sentai Hurricanger (English: Covert Wind Squadron Hurricanger). A subsidiary of Disney named Buena Vista Entertainment managed the Power Rangers property after Disney took over. Doug Sloan (former story editor of MMPR-Turbo season 1) and Ann Austen (another past production team member) returned to Power Rangers for the first time in years. This time they were Executive Producers and were made the heads of the show. A few past writers were brought back into the fold. Jackie Marchand returned to be the story editor. Koichi Sakamotto ( the leader of Alpha Stunts team and producer) remained on the show. A lot of new faces were brought in however, resulting in an almost compeletely new production staff. Ninja Storm was shot in New Zealand and was non-union. Ninja Storm brought a lot of lightheartedness of Power Rangers but it still had a serious story. It was a mixed bag among the fandom, some people loved the new direction while others hated it. Nevertheless, Ninjas Storm aired on ABC and ABC Family like Wild Force had before it. Ninja Storm was the first season in a long time not to do a team-up due to union and cost issues. The series brought new interest to the show as ratings and toy sales went up.

Doug Sloan would interact heavily with fans at this point, posting on Rangerboard and the Newsgroup. Sally Martin and Jason Chan (Tori and Cam on Ninja Storm) would aslo make appearances at Rangerboard. Doug would interact with the fans for the rest of his tenure on the show.

An early episode in Ninja Storms run was cut by the censors. It was later reedited and shown out of production order. Originally it dealt with a peace conference to avoid a war. This was changed to an environmental conference. The episode was, "Snip It, Snip It Good."

Synopsis
A skateboarder (Shane Clarke), a surfer (Tori Hanson) and a dirtbiker (Dustin Brooks), are students of the Wind Ninja Academy, under the tutelage of Sensei Kanoi Watanabe and his son Cam. Although it seems as if they will never be good enough to be full-fledged ninja, they are the only three left when the evil ninja master, Lothor arrives on Earth and captures all the other students. Their sensei, who was transformed into a guinea pig by Lothor, decided that they would become Wind Power Rangers and gave them Wind Morphers to allow them to transform. As the Wind Rangers, they fought to save the world from Lothor and his space minions, using Zords created by Cam for emergencies.

Over time, they were joined by the Thunder Rangers, Hunter and Blake, as well as Cam, who gained Green Samurai powers in a trip to the past.

The show marked a turning point for the franchise with a willingness to make fun of itself and its history (a theme that would return in "Dino Thunder".) Of special note is that Lothor, instead of the standard melodramatic evil emperor, had a sense of humor and often got lines that sent up the show. After making a monster grow, he seems to turn to the camera and say "What'd you expect? It wasn't going to get smaller." In the final episode, when piloting a robot against the Zords, he yells "This is the most fun I've had all season!"

Eventually, the Rangers managed to defeat all of Lothor's minions, unwittingly overloading the Abyss of Evil (to which they were all sent upon their demise). The Wind Rangers were able to stop evil from spreading across the Earth, and sealed Lothor away in the Abyss of Evil... along with their own powers.

Now powerless, Shane, Tori and Dustin became teachers at the rebuilt Wind Ninja Academy, aided by Cam and a newly human Sensei. Hunter took a job as the head teacher at the Thunder Ninja Academy while his brother Blake continued his racing career. And they lived happily ever after...

Thunder Storm
...that is until the following year, when the Ninja Storm Rangers appeared in two episodes of Power Rangers: Dino Thunder, entitled Thunder Storm (parts 1 and 2).

The former Rangers are shown settled into their new careers. Blake goes to Reefside (the location of the Dino Thunder series) to compete in a motocross tournament, and meets Conner, Ethan and Kira when he's there. They go to watch him compete, but are perplexed when he is suddenly called away after the race.

Meanwhile, Lothor claws his way out of the Abyss of Evil. He forms an alliance with Mesogog and, posing as Sensei Watanabe, brainwashes Shane, Tori and Dustin with evil power discs. They recapture the students of the Wind Ninja Academy, and beat back the three primary Dino Thunder Rangers.

Hunter, Blake and Cam enter the Abyss of Evil, and fight off Zurgane to rescue their lost powers. As the Wind Ninja and Dino Thunder Rangers duel unmorphed, Hunter, Blake and Cam appear and cure the Wind Rangers of their mind control by using the true Wind power discs. The two teams of Rangers - including Trent Mercer and Tommy Oliver - meet with Mesogog and Lothor's combined force, obliterating it and causing Elsa to flee.

Mesogog and Lothor duel for supremacy. They seem to be evenly matched until Mesogog uses his mind powers to shrink Lothor to the size of an action figure - "Very collectible" - and traps him a jar.

At the end, it is discovered that when the Ninja Storm Rangers' Powers were extracted from the Abyss of Evil, they only had enough energy for one last battle so they return to their normal lives, leaving the Dino Thunder Rangers to protect the world. Both teams watch Blake win the Motocross Tournament.

Allies

 * Sensei Kanoi Watanabe - the sensei of the Wind Ninja Academy, turned into a guinea pig by Lothor (played and voiced by Grant McFarland)
 * Kelly
 * Miko Watanabe - Cam's Mom
 * Cyber Cam- a holographic, more outgoing version of Cam who takes control of Ninja Ops' control center when the real Cam becomes a Ranger
 * Dino Thunder Power Rangers

Villains

 * Lothor - the evil general who was once Kiya Watanabe, the brother of Sensei Watanabe
 * Marah and Kapri - Lothor's nieces
 * Zurgane - the main general of Lothor's army.
 * Choobo - the lieutenant, promoted general.
 * Vexacus - a renegade bounty hunter.
 * Motodrone - Once fused with a human named Perry, Motodrone was rebuilt and reprogrammed under Lothor's command.
 * Shimazu - the incarnation of a Japanese legend.

List of Ninja Storm Monsters

Morphers

 * Wind Morpher - Morphers of the Wind Rangers, powered by Ninja discs.
 * Thunder Morpher - Morphers of the Thunder Rangers.
 * Samurai Amulet - Morpher of the Green Samurai Ranger, originally the Samurai Amulet.
 * Battlizer Morpher (Lightning Morpher) - Device that allows the Red Ranger access to the Battlizer Armor, a power granted to him by the Karmanion Skyla.

Lightning Morpher was name given to the toy released by Bandai in the US, however this name was not used on screen.

Weapons

 * Ninja Sword/Laser Blaster - Standard Ranger weapon, sword becomes blaster by combining with sheathe.
 * Thunderstorm Cannon
 * Storm Striker
 * Hawk Blaster (Red Wind Ranger/Shane)
 * Lion Hammer (Yellow Wind Ranger/Dustin)
 * Sonic Fin (Blue Wind Ranger/Tori)
 * Thunder Blaster
 * Navy Antler (Navy Thunder Ranger/Blake)
 * Crimson Blaster (Crimson Thunder Ranger/Hunter)
 * Thunder Staff - Standard Thunder weapons, can serve also as shield (Thunder Shield) and fire laser shurikens (Tornado Star).
 * Thunder Blade - Personal weapon of the Navy Thunder Ranger.
 * Samurai Saber - Sword of the Green Ranger, can be used to amplify his voice.
 * Lightning Riff Blaster - Guitar weapon that summons the Mighty Mammoth Zord. Originally used by the Green Samurai Ranger, but later on used by other Rangers.

Vehicles

 * Ninja Gliders - Aerial transports for the 3 Wind Rangers; summoned by pressing their belt buckles.
 * Tsunami Cycles - Motorcycles used by the Wind and Thunder Rangers.
 * Mobile Command Center - 18-Wheeled truck that carries the Tsunami Cycles.
 * Ninja Glider Cycle - Personal transport of the Crimson Thunder Ranger (appears to combine the Tsunami Cycle and Ninja Glider).
 * Dragonforce Vehicle - Transport used by the Green Ranger; can be serpentine or compact.

Zords

 * Storm Ninjazords (not to be confused with the Ninjazords in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers)
 * Hawkzord (Shane/Red)
 * Lionzord (Dustin/Yellow)
 * Dolphinzord (Tori/Blue)
 * Storm Megazord (combination of Ninjazords)
 * Thunder Ninjazords (not to be confused with the Thunderzords in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers)
 * Crimson Insectizord (Hunter/Crimson Thunder)
 * Navy Beetlezord (Blake/Navy Thunder)
 * Thunder Megazord (combination of Thunderzords)
 * Thunderstorm Megazord (combination of the Storm Megazord & Thunder Megazord)
 * Samurai Star Chopper/Samurai Star Megazord (Cam/Green)
 * Hurricane Megazord (combination of the Storm Megazord, Thunder Megazord & Samurai Star Megazord)
 * Mammothzord


 * Power Spheres

Trivia

 * The first incarnation of the series to be filmed in New Zealand.
 * The first incarnation of the series to not include the "Next time" segment after each episode.
 * The first time that a series starts off with only three Rangers (although the standard six are in place by the series finale).
 * The first female Blue Ranger. Next was Mystic Force.
 * The first use of Crimson and Navy Rangers.
 * The first to have insect-themed Rangers.
 * This was the first of three Power Rangers series not to feature an African-American Ranger. The others were Mystic Force and Jungle Fury.
 * Former PR showrunners Douglas Sloan, Ann Austen and Jackie Marchand returned to the series for Ninja Storm. Doug and Ann left during Turbo, Jackie left at the end of Time Force.
 * This is the first series where all the Power Rangers actually had mystical powers when unmorphed to use in everyday life.
 * It was the second series to feature a male Yellow Ranger, the first was Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers. Dustin, however, was the first human male Yellow Ranger.
 * During the "Shimazu Returns" storyarc, the Rangers are forced to pilot their zords in their unmorphed civilian form, a Power Rangers first.
 * It was the second series where a Power Ranger was directly blood related to the main villain (i.e. Cam, the Green Samurai Ranger, was the nephew of Lothor), being the first In Space where Andros and Astronema were siblings.
 * Although this series didn't include a "real" Pink Ranger, an episode featured Marah imagining herself dressed as a Pink Wind Ranger, which was simply a re-colored version of the Blue Wind Ranger suit.
 * While the Green-Samurai Ranger DOES have an identity in Ninja Storm (that identity being Cam), his original Japanese counterpart, Shurikenger from Ninpu Sentai Hurricanger's true identity was his COSTUMED form. Recently, a reversed version of this occured in S.P.D. in which the "Omega Ranger" had no out-of-costume appearances (until the end of the series), but his Super Sentai counterpart, "Dekabreak", did. Also, Cam's Sentai counterpart is actually a ninja, not a samurai.
 * In "Scent of a Ranger," Cam's computer monitor shows the monster attacking civilians. In actuality, those civilians were the civilian forms of the Hurricangers, Ninja Storm's counterparts.
 * This is currently the last season to have six members on the team. Mystic Force and Operation Overdrive technically had six Rangers each, but both teams were aided by additional warriors.
 * This is the second season in which the sixth Ranger is green. The first was Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Notably, they both wore gold shields to protect their torsos.
 * This is the first team to be assembled from three different factions of Rangers (Wind Rangers, Thunder Rangers, and Samurai Ranger) rather than one group from the same power source. However, there are noticeable similarities in their suits.
 * The Hurricane Megazord is the second Megazord to feature a Ranger piloting it, despite not contributing a zord to the formation, in this case, Tori's Dolphinzord is not included. The first was the Shogun Megazord, which featured the Pink MMPR, despite the lack of a Pink Shogunzord. The previous series, Wild Force, featured several different Megazord formations, always featuring all five of the core Rangers piloting them, although some formations did not include zords from all five Rangers.
 * If one doesn't count Hunter as a Red Ranger, this is the first season in which the additional vehicle is given to a non-Red Ranger since Zhane in Power Rangers in Space.
 * It is the first (and currently only) season to have exactly three morphing calls, no more no less. These morphing calls were "Ninja Storm, Ranger Form," "Thunder Storm, Ranger Form," and "Samurai Storm, Ranger Form."
 * The first incarnation of the series to not include a Team-Up with the previous team. The Second was Mystic Force. The Third was Operation Overdrive (although &quot;Once A Ranger&quot; does include Xander Bly, The Green Mystic Ranger). The Fourth was Jungle Fury and The Fifth was R.P.M. (though all of their Super Sentai counterparts had team-ups.)
 * Early in Ninja Storm it is suggested that all previous series were just comic books, thereby retconning them out of the series canon and making Ninja Storm the first "Real" Power Rangers series, however this proved highly controversial and the concept was abandoned.
 * Jorgito Vargas Jr. is three years older than his TV brother Adam Tuominen.
 * This season was the first time to featured two Asian Power Rangers characters on the same team. This would repeat in Operation Overdrive and Power Rangers RPM.
 * In an episode, Marah and Kapri mention that " The boys from Triforia area three times as cute as earth" This is an obvious throwback to Trey, the original Gold Ranger who split into three.
 * This was the first series to only have one female Ranger. This would be repeated in Power Rangers Dino Thunder, and then Power Rangers Jungle Fury, Although Alien Ranger's Delphine is the only female on her team, Alien Rangers is not a full season.
 * In episode 3 it is revealed by Tori Hanson (Sally Martin) that Dustin Brooks (Glenn McMillan) real name is Waldo.