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PR2020 logo This article is about the Power Rangers series.

"It's Morphin' Time!"
―The first and most well known morphing call.[src]

"Rangers forever, Defending together!"
―motto in Dimensions in Danger[src]

PR 2018 Logo

Power Rangers is an American multimedia superhero franchise created by Haim Saban and Toei Company, based on the Japanese multimedia superhero franchise Super Sentai.

History

In 1975, an English-subtitled version of Himitsu Sentai Gorenger had been broadcast in Hawaii and California. In 1978, an English-dub of the show titled Star Rangers aired in the Philippines. In 1987, a group of Canadian comedians called the "The Kids In The Hall” had dubbed over footage of Kagaku Sentai Dynaman to hilarious affect. The six-episode series, simply titled Dynaman aired on the Adult Swim programming block Night Flight. Although these were one of the first exposures of Super Sentai to the United States, they are not viewed as official installments of the franchise that had yet to come.

The idea of adapting Sentai in America emerged in the late 1970s after Toei Company and Marvel came to an agreement to exchange source material and adapt them for their respective audiences. With Marvel's cooperation, Toei created an highly successful adaptation of Spider-Man to which its use of a giant robot was later implemented into Battle Fever J. Stan Lee had been impressed with Toei's adaptation of Spider-Man and attempted to sell an idea of an Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan adaptation to American television stations. Most of them, including Margaret Loesch, the head of Marvel's TV division at the time, turned him down citing reasons being that it was "hilarious."[1][2]

During a business trip to Japan in the 1980s, Haim Saban had watched Choudenshi Bioman in his hotel room and became fascinated in the idea of multi-colored spandex superheroes defeating rubber monsters. Learning that a French-language dub of the show had existed in France on the channel Canal+,[3] Saban realized the potential of an American adaptation and adopted an idea not dissimilar to Lee's. The process of doing so was not a simple dub-over, but rather done by splicing the original Japanese footage in varying ratios with newly filmed scenes featuring primarily English-speaking actors. With Shuki Levy, Saban successfully created the Bio-Man pilot and pitched it to several of America's largest television networks, all whom declined the idea.[4] It was not until 1992 when Margaret Loesch, who was head of FOX Kids at the time, had noticed the similarity of the pitch Saban had submitted to the one Stan Lee had years ago.[5] Agreeing to go forward with the idea, an initial deal of 52 episodes was struck with FOX. They purchased the rights to Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger from Toei, and a partnership with Bandai America was established to create merchandizing.

Each show was produced and distributed by Saban Entertainment from 1993 until the end of 2001 and was broadcast on the Fox Kids Network. At the end of 2001, when Power Rangers Wild Force was in early production, Power Rangers and Saban Entertainment were taken over by Disney, who renamed Saban Entertainment into Buena Vista Entertainment. However, the show continued to air on Fox until Fox Kids was closed down in the middle of Wild Force's run. The remainder of the series and all subsequent series have aired on various Disney-owned stations up until the end of 2009. After Power Rangers RPM finished, first season episodes of Mighty Morphin were rerun on ABC Kids with footage restored to better quality, some scenes cut from the original episodes, and comic-book style graphics added.

In 2011, after Saban re-acquired the franchise, episodes of older series such as Jungle Fury and Dino Thunder were aired.

On May 12, 2010, Saban Brands bought the Power Rangers franchise including all world wide rights and property from the Walt Disney Company, and entered a partnership with Nickelodeon to air Power Rangers Samurai in 2011. The same year as Samurai was being produced, reruns of Jungle Fury and Dino Thunder were broadcast during hiatus periods going into Power Rangers Super Samurai in 2012. In celebration of the franchise's 20th anniversary, Power Rangers Megaforce and Power Rangers Super Megaforce were aired as part of the Power Rangers 20 event, with historic rangers making appearances in Super Megaforce. In 2015 and 2016, Power Rangers Dino Charge and Power Rangers Dino Super Charge were aired, marking the first time PR had skipped Sentai seasons for a more recent entry. In 2017 and 2018, Power Rangers Ninja Steel and Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel was aired, adapting Shuriken Sentai Ninninger and skipping over Ressha Sentai ToQger.

On February 12, 2018, Saban Brands renewed their partnership with Nickelodeon through 2021, and sold the franchise rights to Hasbro later that year for $522 million.[6] After Hasbro's takeover, Saban laid off many of their employees and shut down on July 2, 2018, while a select amount of employees (including Chip Lynn) transferred to Hasbro - with Haim Saban serving in a advising capacity for the franchise going forward.[7]. After Super Ninja Steel's end, Hasbro adapted Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters into two seasons of Power Rangers Beast Morphers in 2019 and 2020, marking the first time that a previously skipped-over season was revisited and adapted, meaning that adaptations would not be entirely ruled out for seasons that had been, for the time being, skipped over. In early 2020, Hasbro announced they were set to adapt Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger into Power Rangers Dino Fury to air in 2021, skipping over Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger, Uchu Sentai Kyuranger and Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger. Due to the end of Nickelodeon's contract with the series, the second season of Dino Fury debuted on Netflix instead, with later seasons including Power Rangers Cosmic Fury premiering on the platform as well.

Hasbro then announced that Power Rangers Dino Fury would receive a third season titled Power Rangers Cosmic Fury due to its critical and financial hit, and commemorate the 30th anniversary of the franchise. Cosmic Fury was later announced to be adapting only the Zords and villains from Uchu Sentai Kyuranger, while the Rangers themselves would don suits of Hasbro's original design to fully utilize their recent capabilities of filming as much original on-ground fight footage as possible without a heavy reliance on Sentai footage. The 10-episode limited series premiered worldwide exclusively on Netflix, September 29, 2023.

A reboot franchise is in the works, though development is presently stalled as official news has not come out of Hasbro regarding the brand since early 2024. The company is reportedly looking for a new creative team following an apparent fallout with Netflix and its creative team.

Japanese Dub

Main article: :Category:Shows Dubbed in Japanese

Power Rangers has received Japanese dubs. This practice stopped, however, after Lightspeed Rescue. In 2011, Power Rangers S.P.D. was dubbed into Japanese as well, followed in 2012 by Mystic Force and in late 2013 with Samurai.

Seasons

Series
Mighty Morphin Logo Mighty Morphin Logo Mighty Morphin Logo 03.5MMAR-port
01: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Season 1) 02: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Season 2) 03: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Season 3) 03.5: Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers
Zeo logo Turbo Power Rangers In Space Logo Lost galaxy logo
04: Power Rangers Zeo 05: Power Rangers Turbo 06: Power Rangers in Space 07: Power Rangers Lost Galaxy
PR Lightspeed Rescue logo Time force sign Power Rangers Wild Force Logo Ninja storm
08: Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue 09: Power Rangers Time Force 10: Power Rangers Wild Force 11: Power Rangers Ninja Storm
Dino Thunder Logo SPD Logo Mystic Force Logo PROOlogo
12: Power Rangers Dino Thunder 13: Power Rangers S.P.D. 14: Power Rangers Mystic Force 15: Power Rangers Operation Overdrive
JF Logo RPM title card Logo-mmprv2 Power Rangers Samurai S18 Logo 2011
16: Power Rangers Jungle Fury 17: Power Rangers RPM EX: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Re-version) 18: Power Rangers Samurai
Power Rangers Super Samurai S19 Logo 2012 Power Rangers Megaforce logo 2013 SuperMegaforceLogo Logo dino
19: Power Rangers Super Samurai 20: Power Rangers Megaforce 21: Power Rangers Super Megaforce 22: Power Rangers Dino Charge
Dinosupercharge Ninjasteellogo SuperNinjaSteel Power Rangers Beast Morphers logo2
23: Power Rangers Dino Super Charge 24: Power Rangers Ninja Steel 25: Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel 26-27: Power Rangers Beast Morphers
Power Rangers Dino Fury logo PRCF-Cosmic Fury Logo
28-29: Power Rangers Dino Fury 30: Power Rangers Cosmic Fury

International broadcast

More information: List of Power Rangers international broadcasts

More information: Power Rangers (Korean Series)

Adaptation Process

Choosing a Sentai

According to Chip Lynn, Saban (and later Hasbro) would peer over all entries of the Super Sentai series and pick one that looked "cool" or appealing to American children. He'd then hire staff to pen scripts as such during the pre-production process, but this became an issue for seasons that were still airing at the time as shooting for that particular Sentai season was still unfinished.

Lynn stated that some Sentai seasons that were natively shot on film in a 4:3 aspect ratio, could not be adapted as modern times have moved on to digital footage instead through a 16:9 aspect ratio instead.

Adapting the Sentai

As for elements that do or not get carried over into Power Rangers, higher-ups at Saban Entertainment (and later Hasbro) pick and choose what appeals to an American audience from a marketing perspective, such as certain monster suits.

There are mandates that require certain seasons to use at least a certain amount of Sentai footage. Greg Aronowitz has stated the difficulty of simultaneously writing original stories and meticulously choosing what Sentai footage to use for certain scenes while meeting footage mandates. Lynn stated that after a while, Saban allowed the entire writing team full creative control over the story while serving only as the "final say."[8]

Elements of a Power Rangers season

Each of the Power Rangers seasons, or "incarnations," centers around a group of people, often teenagers (the age range of the actors actually varies from 18 to 23 years old), that gain super powers to fight various villains, ranging from demons to witches to aliens. To activate these powers, these characters, known in general as the Power Rangers, "morph" (short for "metamorphosis") by performing a standard action and reciting a "morphing call." Throughout the series, the Power Rangers learn the importance of teamwork and perseverance as they battle progressively harder-to-defeat villains. Like its Super Sentai counterpart, from which part of an episode's action footage is taken, a monster is unleashed on the Power Rangers and it is usually up to them to oftentimes destroy the monster. (Only in two rare cases has a monster ever been spared or was good from the start).

Often, before a monster is defeated, a monster will grow into gigantic proportions, forcing the Power Rangers to use gigantic (bio)mechanical machines known as "Zords." In many cases, these Zords can be combined to form a more advanced (and human-like) machine, known as a "Megazord." In many series, because of the way Zords are combined, the Power Rangers may also use interchangeable parts to enhance their fighting power, or combine Megazords together to form larger Megazords. Though only in the first four seasons, there were extremely large combinations of Zords known as Ultrazords. Technically, two new Ultrazords appeared in Ninja Storm, but these formations were never referred to as such. Operation Overdrive, RPM, and Super Samurai were the next three series to feature official Ultrazords, even going beyond the usual number of Zords combined to create Ultrazords, the Drivemax Ultrazord using 10 Zords, succeeded by the RPM Ultrazord which used 12 and the Samurai Gigazord which used 13.

In each incarnation of the Power Rangers seasons, there are generally people outside the Power Rangers aiding their cause. Among them is a mentor or teacher figure to help lead the Power Rangers, Zordon for example, as well as a technical wizard or magician who designs the various tools used by the Power Rangers; William "Billy" Cranston is perhaps the best example of the latter. There are also characters who have tools and powers like the Rangers but are not Rangers themselves (Ninjor, etc.) Characters for comic relief are generally also present, with such characters attempting to discover the identities of the Power Rangers (Bulk and Skull, for instance), and nearly succeeding on several occasions.

The Rangers themselves are often color-coded, with each Ranger wearing their designated color even when unmorphed. In some such shows as Lightspeed Rescue, Wild Force, and S.P.D., a jacket is given to the Power Rangers to distinguish them from non-Ranger characters. Typically, the original seven colors (Red-Yellow-Blue-Pink-Black-Green-White) and the two additional colors (Gold and Silver) are the colors used. In series where new Power Rangers are introduced, they either utilize one of the not-yet-utilized previously mentioned colors, or they do not follow the color-naming conventions at all; an example is the Lunar Wolf Ranger in Wild Force. The Red Ranger is usually the leader of the team, except in the second and third seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers, Time Force, and, arguably, S.P.D.

Each team of Power Rangers, with few exceptions, obey a general set of conventions, outlined at the beginning of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and implied throughout many of the other incarnations, although not stated explicitly. These include the Power Rangers being forbidden to use their Ranger powers for personal gain or for escalating a fight, explaining why the Rangers do not simply step on the small monsters with their Megazord. The Power Rangers are also forbidden to disclose their identities to the general public, barring extenuating circumstances. (This rule was disregarded, however, in Lightspeed Rescue, S.P.D., the final installment of Mystic Force, Operation Overdrive, and RPM). The penalty for violations of these rules, at least in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, would be the loss of "the protection of the power."

The arsenal available to the Power Rangers is also somewhat standardized: each Ranger is generally armed with a weapon such as a laser gun or a sword. Each Ranger also has a secondary set of weapons, that can often combine to form a larger weapon (usually a cannon). As the series progresses, one or even all of the Rangers are also usually given a motorcycle for long-distance travel, as well as individual zords. In many series, a Ranger is also given additional zords or weapons, in some cases one Ranger may receive something that other Rangers may not have - an example of this is the Battlizer given to the Red Rangers (up until the 19th season) of each series since In Space; but this has stopped at Jungle Fury and restarted recently in Super Samurai. Although much of the arsenal can also be found in Super Sentai, there are generally at least some items that are not generally added for the express purpose of marketing toys designed and sold by Bandai.

In later incarnations, it is also common for each incarnation to be separate, story-wise, from another incarnation. A tradition in later incarnations is for two teams of Power Rangers to team up and take on a villain. In Wild Force, the tenth incarnation of Power Rangers, this is taken to the next level, as ten Red Rangers teamed up in the episode "Forever Red". The only seasons not to feature this are Mighty Morphin, Turbo, Ninja Storm, Mystic Force, Jungle Fury, RPM, and Dino Charge.

"End of the World" Plot

In several Power Rangers series, the series ends with a battle that pits the Rangers against overwhelming odds. Each battle features several basic traits, including:

  1. All or most of the current Zords are destroyed either during or prior to the battle.
  2. The main villain makes their presence known to everyone and fights the Rangers.
  3. The city is overwhelmed by an army of Enemy Foot Soldiers.
  4. Several or all of the Rangers' vehicles are destroyed.
  5. The lead Ranger, usually Red, faces the primary villain in a battle that seems to be in the villain's favor.
  6. The villain is sealed away or destroyed, putting an end to their threat until next season.

Several series also involve the villains unleashing evil Zords upon the city, which do battle with the Rangers's remaining Zords. After the end of this plot, the threat of the current villain is negated for good or until their next appearance. The only seasons not to feature this plot are Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers, Zeo, and Turbo, as their ending battles are all combined with that of In Space in the special episode "Countdown to Destruction." It should also be noted that the Super Sentai shows also use this kind of plotline for the end of their storylines, but is generally something different, although the final battle plots for some of the PR series do have a few similarities to the final battles of the Sentai programs upon which they are based.

Criticisms

Many critics of the early Power Rangers series claimed that the Power Rangers use unnecessary force to destroy their monsters, and often get into fights when better alternatives were available, such as reasoning with the monsters or villains. In some cases, networks pulled Power Rangers from its lineup, citing such concerns. Later incarnations of Power Rangers often attempt to explain the actions of the Power Rangers, but many still believe that Power Rangers remains a series too violent for young children. Norway pulled the series as they believed that the series caused two boys to beat up a girl in 1993 (it was eventually found that the murder was unconnected to the series, as the boys were actually fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). For a time Power Rangers was pulled from Malaysian television screens as the word "morphin" (in the phrase "It's Morphin Time!") sounded a bit too much like the drug morphine. Then they showed the title shortened to only "Power Rangers" instead.

The first season of Power Rangers also drew criticism from some groups claiming that the Ranger colors were racist, specifically referring to Zack, the Black Ranger (played by African-American actor Walter Jones) and Trini, the Yellow Ranger (played by Asian-American actress Thuy Trang). This criticism was rendered moot when the two actors left the show (along with the Red Ranger) halfway through Season Two and were replaced with an Asian American male as the Black Ranger, and an African American woman as the Yellow Ranger. This was mentioned on VH1's I Love the '90s. Amy Jo Johnson and Walter Jones appeared in the "1993" episode. Jones had even stated that he was originally cast as the Blue Ranger, but chose to be the Black Ranger himself, as he felt it would make him more recognizable.

The fact that there are very few links between the later Power Rangers series (apart from the name and format) is often resented by the older Power Rangers fans. Each series now seems to start the story anew instead of continuing from the previous season as it used to. The first Power Rangers show to stop being a direct continuation from the previous was Lost Galaxy; however, recently there has been a small attempt at making the series after Lost Galaxy in canon with the Power Rangers timeline with Tommy Oliver's recall of the events in an episode of Dino Thunder and in Wild Force's tenth incarnation celebrationary episode "Forever Red" which featured all the Red Rangers from Jason Lee Scott right up to Cole himself.

In the United Kingdom, the first incarnation sparked fears that kids would hurt themselves by recreating the moves in the series. As a result, GMTV had to issue a warning at the end of an episode stating, "The Power Rangers are specially trained martial arts experts, so don't you copy them!" Sky One also issued a warning stating, "Do remember that the Power Rangers are specially trained in martial arts, so please don't try to copy any of their fight sequences at home." Whether or not the warning aired at the beginning or the end of the episode is unknown.

When Power Rangers was first released it was classified as children's programming. However, since its release, the show has continued to evolve into a program that is enjoyed by more mature audiences, partly due to its aging original fans. This has led to some fans requesting that the tone and format of the show be changed in order to better suit its more mature audience. However, whereas Power Rangers still appeals to older viewers, the show's producers feel that a more mature show might alienate their largest demographic—children. It would also cause them to lose revenue in toy and merchandising sales, which finance the shows.

A criticism not explicitly leveled at the shows themselves came from actor David Yost, who acted out William "Billy" Cranston beginning in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers's first season. Yost, who is gay, leveled accusations, after his involvement with the program had ended, that homophobia was rampant on the set (specifically from the behind-the-scenes crew) during his entire time of such involvement.

Motion Pictures

The Power Rangers series have also brought forth several movies.

A movie was planned to be produced for Power Rangers: Time Force in 2001, but the threat of a Screen Actors Guild strike cancelled those plans.

Following their re-acquisition of the Power Rangers franchise, Saban announced plans to make a new theatrical Power Rangers movie. It was announced on the Power Rangers website that Lionsgate, working with Saban, would make a rebooted movie based on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, to be released on July 22, 2016.[9] On April 30, the film's release was moved back six months to January 13, 2017, and then again to its final release date of March 24, 2017.

On October 16, 2020, Hasbro and Entertainment One has announced a reboot movie directed by Jonathan Entwistle. Said movie will be a part of a "film and TV universe". [10]

From 1995 to 1997, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie & Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie grossed $76 million worldwide altogether. MMPR:TM grossed $66,433,194, while T:APRM grossed only $9,615,840 and was considered a flop (though it won back the rest of its budget when it was released on video, and it's even more of a hit in the UK). As for the reboot film, it has grossed $142.3 million worldwide, supassing the previous 2 films, making the film series grossed $218.3 million worldwide.

Home media and streaming

As of October 1, 2014, 40-50 Power Rangers DVD collections have been released in the United States:

  • The Best of the Power Rangers: The Ultimate Rangers, 2003; BVHE (DVD compilation of episodes from five different seasons of Power Rangers. The episodes include "Forever Red" and "White Light" [Tommy's reintroduction as the White Power Ranger])
  • Power Rangers Ninja Storm Volumes 1–5, 2003
  • Power Rangers Dino Thunder Volumes 1–5, 2004
  • Power Rangers S.P.D. Volumes 1–5, 2005
  • Power Rangers Mystic Force Volumes 1–3 and 'Dark Wish', 2006
  • Power Rangers Operation Overdrive Volumes 1–5, 2007; BVHE (The release of an entire season for the first time in the US.)
  • Power Rangers Jungle Fury Volumes 1 & 2, 2008 (Volumes 3,4 & 5 are only available in the UK.)
  • Power Rangers RPM Volumes 1 & 2, 2009; BVHE[35] Volumes 3 & 4, exclusive to Amazon.com, will also be available in the near future.
  • Power Rangers RPM 'Bandai Demo DVD', 2009; BVHE (A promo DVD given away at Disney Stores. Contains the episode In or Out).

On March 12, 2012, Shout! Factory announced a home video distribution deal with Saban, which includes the first 15 series of Power Rangers. In Summer 2012, TimeLife.com released two box sets. One being all three seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the second contained Power Rangers Zeo to Power Rangers Lost Galaxy. On August 28, 2012, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1, Volume 1 was released at retail. In November 2012, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Complete Series was released, as well as Zeo to Lost Galaxy in two separate sets outside of Time Life in late 2012 and early 2013. In mid 2013, they announced a similar set for release of Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue to Power Rangers Dino Thunder. April 2014 saw the release of Shouts' final box set, Power Rangers S.P.D. to Power Rangers RPM.

From 2011 until 2021, every season of Power Rangers was available to stream on Netflix. It was announced that on February 1st, 2021, all seasons of Power Rangers with the exception of all three seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Ninja Steel, Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel, and Power Rangers Beast Morphers would be leaving Netflix, as the contract previously signed by Saban Brands had expired, and had not been renewed by Hasbro aside from those particular seasons. Hasbro has yet to make an official announcement on possible future streaming platforms that will host Power Rangers. Sister shows Big Bad Beetleborgs and VR Troopers also left the service. However, in April of the same year, actor Chance Perez confirmed in an interview that Power Rangers Dino Fury Season 2 would premiere on Netflix, as a result of the expiration of the series' contract with Nickelodeon; because of this, it is theorized albeit unconfirmed that Hasbro is in the process of negotiating a new deal with Netflix (as the deal with Netflix was originally signed by Saban Brands, and not Hasbro) to return seasons from Alien Rangers to Dino Super Charge to the service.

Beginning in 2021, episodes from past seasons (notably the reversion of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1 and Power Rangers Dino Charge) have been slowly but surely been released for viewing on the official Power Rangers YouTube channel.

Lionsgate has also been releasing DVDs and Blu-Rays of Samurai, Super Samurai, Megaforce, and Ninja Steel in a deal with Saban.

  • Power Rangers Samurai Volumes 1–3
  • Power Rangers Samurai: Monster Bash
  • Power Rangers Samurai: Christmas Together, Friends Forever
  • Power Rangers Super Samurai: The Complete Season
  • Power Rangers: The Clash of the Red Rangers
  • Power Rangers Super Samurai Volumes 1–3
  • Power Rangers Megaforce: Ultimate Team Power
  • Power Rangers Megaforce: The Mysterious Robo Knight
  • Power Rangers Megaforce: The Great Dragon Spirit
  • Power Rangers Megaforce: Ultra Defenders
  • Power Rangers Megaforce: A Battle to the Finish
  • Power Rangers Super Megaforce: Earth Fights Back
  • Power Rangers Ninja Steel: The Complete Season
  • Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel: The Complete Season

Logos

See Also

Smallwikipedialogo This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Power Rangers. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with RangerWiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.

References

Footnotes


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