Power Rangers RPM

Power Rangers RPM was the title for the 2009 season of Power Rangers. It is based on Engine Sentai Go-Onger. It was the last season of Power Rangers to be produced by Disney, as they had intended to cancel the series after Power Rangers Jungle Fury however decided to go ahead on a final season (it is believed this was due to having a contract with Bandai). Despite this, Disney dropped the show from its new 'Disney XD' channel leaving it to be aired on ABC Kids.

Eddie Guzelian took over as Executive Producer from Bruce Kalish at the beginning of the season. By his and John Tellegen's admission, Eddie fought a number of people to get his vision through: inspired by films like The Road Warrior. Tellegen said that he enjoyed the "freshness" of Guzelian's new take, which was wildly different to what the show had done before. In contrast, RPM marked the departure of long-term writer Jackie Marchand, who has said she was not involved in the initial writing but "diplomatically" said she thought Guzelian's scripts were very strong. Guzelian was then fired halfway through the show, rumoured to have used up the RPM's entire budget already and been responsible for allowing an unacceptable slowdown of the writing and production process due to perfectionism. He was replaced previous producer Judd Lynn who brought the series to its conclusion.

After the final episode aired, Disney announced that the following season would be a 'reversionised' Mighty Morphin Power Rangers however the long-term status of the franchise appeared to be in limbo until it was reacquired by Saban Brands who immediately announced the production of Power Rangers Samurai.

Synopsis
"A computer virus has built armies of robotic soldiers and taken control of our world. But there is still one place where we can be safe. The domed city of Corinth. And the only hope we have left is..."

- Doctor K

In the not-so-distant future, the mysterious and sinister Venjix Computer Network is attempting to conquer and lay ruin to the entire planet. It had succeeded and nearly conquered the entire Earth. Fortunately, mankind has retreated from the threat into environmentally-shielded domed cities to protect against the pollution and machines unleashed by Venjix. In the shining city of Corinth, an elite force of Rangers must learn to drive and operate an arsenal of radically advanced biotech vehicles in order to battle the attacking machine army bent on world domination.

The events of the show were intended to take place in an alternate universe, which was made canon two years later in "Clash of the Red Rangers". As such, the Morphing Grid takes on a new name - the Bio Field. The only signs of previous characters are an Operation Overdrive helmet at Alphabet Soup and Jungle Karma Pizza.

Production History
Power Rangers RPM was the first Power Rangers season since 2005 to have a fresh lead producer, as Bruce Kalish departed in 2008 to work on Aaron Stone. Taking his place was Eddie Guzelian, former American Dragon: Jake Long executive producer and Kim Possible story editor. R.P.M. was his first live action series. With Guzelian came two writers he had been associated with on various Disney Channel projects, Matthew Negrete and Madellaine Paxson. The three of them, along with R.P.M story editor John Tellegen and producer Jackie Marchand made up the writing team for the 32-episode season.

A few months into production, Marchand left the show, seemingly fired given her message to the fans of "welcome from the peace conference", alluding to the situation in which Austin St. John, Thuy Trang and Walter Jones were written off the show. Not long after, Guzelian was fired mid-season by Disney executives, and replaced by returning writer and producer Judd Lynn in July. Reports have Paxson and Negrete leaving the show in solidarity with Guzelian. Lynn's return to the series that he has been involved with since day one was not an easy one, and there have been reports of difficulty with the transition between executive producers. Lynn left the series with Time Force, but a sudden rise in the quality of "Jungle Fury" writing caused rumors that he may have contributed a script under a pseudonym during the Writer's Strike.

Allies

 * Doctor K - mentor and creator of the Ranger Series technology (Olivia Tennet)
 * Colonel Mason Truman - Head of Corinth City defense (James Gaylyn )
 * Samurai Rangers

Supporting Cast

 * Benny (Murray Keane)
 * Mr. McAllistair (Jason Hoyte)
 * Hicks (Damien Avery)
 * Vasquez (Mia Koning)
 * Marcus Truman (Fellis McGuire)

Villains

 * The Venjix Computer Network
 * Venjix Virus (Andrew Laing)
 * General Crunch (Charlie McDermott)
 * General Shifter (Mark Mitchinson)
 * Tenaya 7/15 (Adelaide Kane)
 * Kilobyte (Leighton Cardno)
 * Grinders
 * Venjix Drones
 * Attack Bots
 * The Cartels
 * The Scorpion Cartel
 * Fresno Bob
 * Roland's Blue Crew
 * Spike, Mike, and the Boys
 * The Southtown Sweettooths
 * The Yo-Yo Brothers
 * Alphabet Soup

Morphers
These morphers, like the Zord Attack Vehicles, are operated by the use of Engine Cells.
 * Cell Shift Morpher
 * Rev Morpher
 * Sky Morpher

Timeline

 * The year is left vague - far enough in the future for the domed city to exist but close enough to our timeline for 2009's cars, fashions, and buildings to remain. "Clash of the Red Rangers" would cross over RPM and Power Rangers Samurai, with no time travel mentioned - meaning that near future is apparently 2011 or 2012!


 * Venjix is released "three years ago" when Corinth is sealing itself off, and the rest of the series happens "one year later". "Within a year" of release, Venjix had infected an estimated "37% of the world's computer systems"


 * "The Road to Corinth" presents Venjix as steadily crippling the world before he unleashed his robots on a conquering spree, Doctor K, stock footage, and news reports refer to the loss of stock markets, communication, utilities and military systems, and a newspaper reports "President Declares State of Emergency; Europe, Africa, South America Decimated". The later flashback episodes will instead show the United States, the United Kingdom, and an unnamed nation Flynn McAllistair is working in to be unaffected and ignorant of what's coming, until Venjix launches bombardment sprees everywhere at once. (This included the US Air Force - Scott has no idea what's happening but Marcus Truman immediately knows they're leaving flight computers off ) The retreat to Corinth is so rapid that "world leaders are advising people to flee to the dome of Corinth City" when the first robots attack, before it's confirmed it is Venjix and when some news broadcasts are still reporting "unconfirmed reports... [of] a series of direct attacks".