Lightspeed Rescue

Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue (often abbreviated as "PRLR") was the eighth incarnation of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV series, based on the Super Sentai series Kyukyu Sentai GoGo-V (Super Rescue Task Force Go Go V). It was the first incarnation of Power Rangers to have the Rangers' identities be known to public from the onset, as opposed to previous incarnations where a Ranger's identity was to be kept secret, revealed only in extreme circumstances, and the series is unique in the fact that it was the first where the Rangers powers, Zords and weapons were man-made and had no mystical origin whatsoever (both of these traits would be repeated in Power Rangers: SPD). Lightspeed Rescue also had, for the first time, a Power Ranger with no Super Sentai counterpart in the Titanium Lightspeed Ranger, as there was no regular 6th Ranger in GoGo V. Also this is the last known Power Ranger series where the main villain of this series was also the main villain in its Sentai counterpart.

Synopsis
Lightspeed Rescue takes place in the fictitious city of Mariner Bay, California, which was built on an ancient demon burial ground. When the demons threaten to rise again, a government organization called Lightspeed, headed by one Captain Mitchell recruits four civilians and his own daughter to defend the city. Each of the four civilians chosen had a special area of expertise: Carter Grayson, the Red Lightspeed Ranger, was a fire fighter in the local fire department; Chad Lee, the Blue Lightspeed Ranger, worked as a lifeguard and marine animal trainer at a local marine amusement park; Joel Rawlings, the Green Lightspeed Ranger, was a stunt pilot; Kelsey Winslow, the Yellow Lightspeed Ranger, was an extreme sports athlete; and Dana Mitchell, the Pink Lightspeed Ranger, was a nurse and practiced medical arts. The five Power Rangers were aided by a team of scientists and engineers led by Miss Angela Fairweather, and operated out of the Lightspeed Aquabase, an underwater military compund that also served to deter the hydrophobic demons from attacking the base directly.

The five Rangers would be joined by Captain Mitchell's (long thought to be dead) son, Ryan Mitchell. Together, the six Rangers would prevail against the demon forces time after time, culminating in a final showdown where, in the Power Rangers tradition, much of the weapons and other equipment that was used by the Power Rangers over the series was destroyed.

In addition, Lightspeed Rescue featured a cameo reappearance of characters from Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy, when the villainess Trakeena comes to Earth to destroy it and the Lightspeed Rangers team up with the Galaxy Rangers.

Rangers

 * Carter Grayson, the Red Lightspeed Ranger and leader of the team (played by Sean Johnson)
 * Chad Lee, the Blue Lightspeed Ranger (played by Michael Chaturantabut)
 * Joel Rawlings, the Green Lightspeed Ranger (played by Keith Robinson)
 * Kelsey Winslow, the Yellow Lightspeed Ranger (played by Sasha Williams)
 * Dana Mitchell, the Pink Lightspeed Ranger (played by Alison MacInnis)
 * Ryan Mitchell, the Titanium Ranger (played by Rhett Fisher)

Allies

 * Captain William Mitchell - the commander of Lightspeed
 * Miss Angela Fairweather - the weapons designer of Lightspeed. (later marries Joel Rawlings, unknown if she changed her last name)
 * Galaxy Power Rangers

Villains

 * Diabolico: Original antagonist of Lightspeed; demon equipped with Star Power. First appeared to save Ryan from death and took him into custody. Was destroyed twice in the series, first time was when he fought the Rangers in the Lightspeed Solarzord, and again when facing Olympius. Was revived in advanced form along with Olympius and was destroyed by Lifeforce Megazord. Fiercly loyal, he tries assists his friends Vypra and Loki and turns on Bansheera when he is forced to destroy Loki against his will. Assists the Rangers in spiritual form in sealing Bansheera up in the Shadow World in the finale. Armed with skull-headed staff in normal form and a sword in super-demon form.


 * Vypra: Female demon who attacks with her dune buggy vehicle, the Vyprari. Died near the end of the series when she was absorbed by Bansheera, later returned to life in Power Rangers: Time Force to revive the super demon, Quargenon to fight against both Lightspeed Rescue and Time Force Power Rangers. Armed with a sword.


 * Loki: Warrior demon who is a friend of Diabolico's. Was forcibly destroyed by Diabolico when Bansheera took control of his body. Was armed with a two-pronged staff.


 * Jinxer: Monster-maker demon, creates monsters using magical cards and incantations. His fate was unknown as he was last seen piloting the Omega Megazord in placing the six stones for Bansheera's ceremony. The Omega Megazord was destroyed but it is unknown if Jinxer survived or not.


 * Impus/Olympius: Baby demon, son of Queen Bansheera/mature form of Impus. Gained Diabolico's star power and used it to mature into adult form. This sparked a rivarly between them after Diabolico returned. Later in order to escape the Shadow World, was forced to absorb fallen monsters to gain another mutated form, was reverted back to adult form when defeated by Rangers. Gained a super-powerful draconic final form near the finale and was successful, along with Diabolico in destroying nearly all of Rangers' zords, was destroyed for good by Lifeforce Megazord. Was armed with double-bladed spear in adult form.


 * Queen Bansheera: Evil matriarch of the Demons and mother of Impus/Olympius. Gave orders in a spiritual form at the beginning of the series and returned in a mangled bodily form after an attempt by Spellbinder to bring her into human world. Gained a ghastly final form by absorbing Vypra's life energy. Had no regard for her minions (even her own son) and used them for her own gain. Attempted to open gateway to the Shadow World to unleash all of its fallen monsters but ended up becoming a resident herself after Carter kicked her into the gate and fell through because of Diabolico's doing.


 * Batlings: Impish, bat-like warriors used by the demons.


 * Triskull: Exclusive to the Lost Galaxy/Lightspeed Rescue teamup, attempted to drain life energy from humans for Trakeena and tricked Bansheera's demons into assisting him. Was defeated, but it's unknown if he was destroyed since he didn't explode.


 * Trakeena: Former villainess from Power Rangers:Lost Galaxy, returned to Earth to exact revenge by draining life energy from humans to gain her 'green' form. Was poisoned by Olympius and was turned into a giant monster form and was finally beaten for good by the Omega Megazord wielding the Lights of Orion.


 * Ghouls: Grim-Reaper-like footsoldiers to Triskull and Trakeena.

Weaponry & Arsenal

 * Rescue Morpher: Morpher of the Lightspeed Rangers. The Rescue Morphers are the first known morphers to originate from Earth.  They were developed by Lightspeed, and given to Carter, Chad, Joel, Dana, and Kelsey.
 * Rescue Blaster: Standard Ranger weapon, can be used as gun or sword.
 * Battle Booster: Wrist mounted power enhancers. The Booster is activated by a numeric keypad, which also serves to power up weapons, Zords, and armor.
 * Titanium Morpher: Morpher of the Titanium Ranger, too strong for normal humans to use safely. It was used by Ryan Mitchell.
 * Titanium Laser: Weapon that functions as blaster or battle axe.
 * Thermo Blaster: Weapons that fire intense heat blasts.
 * V-Lancer: Weapon used as either staff or blaster.
 * Mega Battle Armor: Armor used by Blue and Green Rangers that gives them enhanced weaponry. Activated by Battle Booster code 861, the Mega Battle Armor was designed by Miss Fairweather and her brother Clark.  Green Ranger becomes equipped with a power saw, and Blue Ranger becomes equipped with an ice cannon.
 * Rescue Rover: Standard Ranger transport, a jeep that carries them into battle.
 * Lightspeed Cycles: Motorcycles used for high speed tranportation. The Red Lightspeed Cycle has a detachable Rescue Speeder, which can be launched for high powered attacks.
 * Mobile Armor Vehicle: One man aircraft used by Red Ranger, also serves as Lightspeed Cycle sidecar. On its day out, the MAV malfunctioned, causing Carter's day to repeat.  Sacrificed to destroy Omega Megazord.
 * Trans Armor Cycle: motorcycle that can transform into body armor for the Red Ranger.
 * Rescuebird: Weapon that can be used as blaster or split into smaller weapons for Ranger use.

Megazords

 * Rescuezords (not to be confused w/t the Rescuezords of Power Rangers Turbo)
 * Pyro Rescue 1 (Carter/Red)
 * Aqua Rescue 2 (Chad/Blue)
 * Aero Rescue 3 (Joel/Green)
 * Haz Rescue 4 (Kelsey/Yellow)
 * Med Rescue 5 (Dana/Pink)
 * Lightspeed Megazord (combination of the Rescuezords)
 * Rail Rescues/Supertrain
 * Rail Rescue 1 (Carter/Red)
 * Rail Rescue 2 (Chad/Blue)
 * Rail Rescue 3 (Joel/Green)
 * Rail Rescue 4 (Kelsey/Yellow)
 * Rail Rescue 5 (Dana/Pink)
 * Supertrain Megazord (combination of the Rail Rescues)
 * Max Solarzord (Titanium/Ryan)
 * Lightspeed Solarzord (combination of Lightspeed Megazord & Max Solarzord)
 * Omegazords
 * Omegazord 1 (Carter/Red)
 * Omegazord 2 (Chad/Blue)
 * Omegazord 3 (Joel/Green)
 * Omegazord 4 (Kelsey/Yellow)
 * Omegazord 5 (Dana/Pink)
 * Omega Crawler/Omega Megazord (combination of Omegazords)
 * Lifeforce Megazord

Trivia

 * This is the first Power Rangers team that was composed entirely of adults over the age of 18 and not of teenagers. (This can be argued due to the fact that the Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers were all over the age of 18.)
 * This was the first Power Ranger series where the individuals had professions before becoming Power Rangers.
 * This series is also notable for being the first to use the practice of all of the Rangers wearing the same set of civilian clothes in their unmorphed forms in every episode; this trend would continue until Power Rangers: Ninja Storm.
 * This series is the first to feature siblings (Dana and Ryan Mitchell, the Pink and Titanium Rangers) serving as Power Rangers simultaneously; this would be repeated in Power Rangers: Ninja Storm with Blake and Hunter Bradley as the Navy and Crimson Rangers.
 * Lightspeed Rescue was the second and last known series to use Sentai teamup footage for the Power Rangers teamup. The footage "Kyuukyuu Sentai: Go-Go-Five VS Gingaman", was used as the base for Trakeena's Revenge Part 1 and 2, One major change though was that due to the removal of the "Magna Defender" at the end of Lost Galaxy, any footage of his Sentai counterpart was removed. Though it should be noted that his zord is BRIEFLY seen behind some sparks in a clip of the footage.
 * The reason behind Titanium Ranger's long absence was the lack of footage, since he didn't exist in GoGo V, and making new footage only for him during the whole season would have caused the series to go over-budget.
 * This season holds the record of Battlizer Armors, with 3: the Mega Battle Armors (Green and Blue) and the Trans-Armor Cycle.
 * Lightspeed Rescue is one of the few Power Rangers series to keep the Sentai term for part of the rangers arsenal. In this case, the term "V-Lancer" was brought over from Gogo Five.
 * Gogo Five featuring scenes in which the heroes' faces could be seen through their visors, though most of these scenes were removed , there are rare moments in which you can see one of the Tatsumi sibling's face. (A scene of this is included in the Lightspeed Rescue opening! )