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 Task Force Hurricanger) The show ran from February 17, 2002 through Febuary 09, 2003 .
Synopsis
A skateboarder (Shane Clarke), a surfer (Tori Hanson) and a motorcyclist (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.
Rangers
| Shane Clarke | |
| Tori Hanson | |
| Dustin Brooks |
| Hunter Bradley | |
| Blake Bradley |
| Cameron Watanabe |
Allies
- Sensei Kanoi Watanabe - the sensei of the Wind Ninja Academy, turned into a guinea pig by Lothor (played and voiced by Grant McFarland)
- Miko - 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
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.
Arsenal
Morphers
- Wind Morphers - Morphers of the Wind Rangers, powered by Ninja discs.
- Thunder Morphers - Morphers of the Thunder Rangers.
- Samurai Cyclone Morpher - 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.
- Hawk Blaster (Red Wind Ranger/Shane)
- Lion Hammer (Yellow Wind Ranger/Dustin)
- Sonic Fin (Blue Wind Ranger/Tori)
- Hawk Blaster + Lion Hammer + Sonic Fin = Storm Striker
- Thunder Staff - Standard Thunder weapons, can serve also as shield (Thunder Shield) and fire laser shurikens (Tornado Star).
- Navy Antler (Navy Thunder Ranger/Blake)
- Crimson Blaster (Crimson Thunder Ranger/Hunter)
- Navy Antler + Crimson Blaster = Thunder Blaster
- Thunder Blade - Personal weapon of the Navy Thunder Ranger.
- Samurai Saber - Sword of the Green Ranger, can be used to amplify his voice.
- Thunder Blaster + Storm Striker = Thunderstorm Cannon
- 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
- 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
- 1-Serpent Sword (Red/Shane)
- 2-Ram Hammer (Yellow/Dustin)
- 3-Turtle Mace (Blue/Tori)
- 4-Spin Blade (Crimson/Hunter)
- 5-Lion Laser (Yellow/Dustin)
- 6-Squid Drill (Blue/Tori)
- 7 & 8-Minizord (Red/Shane & Crimson/Hunter)
- 9-Ninja Scarf (Red/Shane)
- 10-Bee Spinner (Green/Cam)
- 11-Sting Blaster (Navy/Blake)
- 12-Spider Catcher (Green/Cam)
- 13-Super Stamp (Red/Shane)
- 14-Star Blazer (Blue/Tori)
- 15 & 16 & 17-Ninja Firebird (Green/Cam & Red/Shane & Crimson/Hunter)
Episode List
- Prelude to a Storm
- There's No “I” In Team
- Beauty and the Beach
- Looming Thunder
- Thunder Strangers, Part I
- Thunder Strangers, Part II
- Thunder Strangers, Part III
- Nowhere to Grow
- Snip It, Snip It Good
- Return of Thunder, Part I
- Return of Thunder, Part II
- Return of Thunder, Part III
- Return of Thunder, Part IV
- Boxing Bopp-a-Roo
- Pork Chopped
- The Samurai's Journey, Part I
- The Samurai's Journey, Part II
- The Samurai's Journey, Part III
- Scent of a Ranger
- I Love Lothor
- Good Will Hunter
- All About Beevil
- Sensei Switcheroo
- Tongue and Cheek
- Brothers In Arms
- Shane's Karma, Part I
- Shane's Karma, Part II
- Shimazu Returns, Part I
- Shimazu Returns, Part II
- The Wild Wipeout
- Double-Edged Blake
- Eye of the Storm
- General Deception, Part I
- General Deception, Part II
- A Gem of a Day
- Down and Dirty
- Storm Before the Calm, Part I
- Storm Before the Calm, Part II
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 series produced by Disney
- The first female Blue Ranger.
- The first use of Crimson and Navy Rangers.
- The first Power Ranger team to only have one female rather than the usual two.
- This was the first Power Rangers series not to feature an African-American ranger.
- Former PR showrunners Douglas Sloan, Ann Austen and Jackie Marchand returned to the series for Ninja Storm. Doug and Ann left during Power Rangers Turbo, Jackie left at the end of Power Rangers 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.
- 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 Power Rangers In Space where Andros and Astronema were siblings.
- It was the second series to feature a minority (in this instance Samoan) as the Red Ranger.
- 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 recolored version of the Blue Wind Ranger suit.
- While the Green-Samurai Ranger DOES have an identity in Ninja Storm (that identity being Cam), his orignal Japanese counterpart, Shurikenger from Ninpu Sentai Hurricanger's true identity was his COSTUMED form. Recently a reversed version of this occured in Power Ranger 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.
- In "Scent of a Ranger," on 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 Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger 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 you don'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."
