This article is about a/an series entry (the 18th) in the Power Rangers franchise. |
- "Samurai" redirects here. For the S.P.D. episode, see Samurai (episode).
Power Rangers Samurai is an American superhero drama and the 18th season of Power Rangers, adapting the first half of the 33rd Super Sentai season, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger.
The series follows a group of Samurai Rangers who assemble following the awakening of their centuries-old mortal enemy Master Xandred. To protect their world from being flooded by the poisonous waters of the Sanzu River, the Rangers utilize the Symbol Power that has been passed down from their ancestors to them. A second season, titled Power Rangers Super Samurai premiered the following year.
Samurai is the first series to be produced by a revived Saban Brands, following their re-acquisition of the franchise from Disney, who intended to cancel the series after the finale of RPM. The show was filmed in an HD-format and premiered on both Nickelodeon and Nick Toons in 2011.
Production
Disney decided to cancel Power Rangers for good after Power Rangers RPM due to low toy ratings and production costs in New Zealand rising dramatically. However, Saban (the original creators of Power Rangers now operating under Saban Brands) brought back the rights and took a year to adapt the 33rd entry in the Super Sentai franchise, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger from 2009. Instead of a new Power Rangers season being made for 2010, they re-edited and re-aired half of season 1 of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers on Nickelodeon to tide fans over. To aid in production, Saban re-hired former executive producer Jonathan Tzachor who left the series after Power Rangers Wild Force due to Disney's buyout. However, Tzachor has always preferred to make more Sentai footage heavy episodes to the point that, at several points in Power Rangers Time Force for example, Japanese actors are very visible. For comedy relief, Saban was going to create two completely original characters Big Jack and Skinny Mack meant to be a callback to Bulk and Skull from the original Saban Era. Paul Schrier was brought in for casting and described Skinny Mack as "Skull meets Ace Ventura." However, he got along well with Felix Ryan during casting so it was decided to re-hire him to reprise his role as Bulk with Ryan playing a new character named Spike and the Big Jack and Skinny Mack idea was shelved.
Problems began shortly after production began since Samurai Sentai Shinkenger was a Sentai deeply rooted in Japanese culture with very Japanese imagery; so much so that placing it in America was impossible since the Japanese elements were so intrusive, they could not edit around them. Tzachor, who had been made head writer, brought Saban a finished script early into production but they were rejected for being terrible and Saban hurriedly hired former Fox Kids executive James W. Bates as head writer with Tzachor only being executive producer. However, by the time that Bates was brought in, it was November 2010 and they had to have finished writing, filming, editing and finalizing all 22 episodes by January 2011 so that Nickelodeon could air them in February. At the same time, Tzachor was forcing the writers to stick to Shinkenger as close as they could. In Bates' own words "To Jonathan, Shinkenger is a great show. Why change it too much? He saw what he thought was working in the show and was just sticking very close to it." This rushing and executive pressuring led to most of the writing and plot-points of Shinkenger being copied into Samurai to expediate the process. [1]
Synopsis
- "Centuries ago in Japan, Nighlok monsters invaded our world, but samurai warriors defeated them with power symbols, passed down from parent to child. Today the evil Nighlok have risen once again and plan to flood the earth. Luckily, a new generation of heroes stand in their way. They are the Power Rangers Samurai."
- ―Narrator[src]
Several centuries ago in Ancient Japan, monsters known as the Nighloks began to attack the human world, only to face opposition from humans who could harness Symbol Power and become the Samurai Power Rangers. The Nighlok leader, Master Xandred was eventually sealed away by a previous generation, but he has arisen once again to exact his revenge. Jayden Shiba, the 18th Head of the Shiba Clan and descendant of the former Red Ranger that defeated Xandred years ago, gathers: Kevin, Mike, Emily, and Mia Watanabe to take up the mantle as the 18th generation of Samurai Power Rangers. Along the way, Jayden's childhood best friend, Antonio Garcia returns to town with his own Ranger powers, the Gold Ranger. With his technical expertise, he was able to reverse engineer his own morpher as well as repair a thought-to-be beyond damaged Zord that Jayden gave him years ago. In time, Antonio proves himself to be a valuable asset to the team and is formally indoctrinated as the 6th Samurai Ranger.
Characters
Rangers
Designation | Name | Actor |
---|---|---|
Red Samurai Ranger | Jayden Shiba | Alex Heartman |
Blue Samurai Ranger | Kevin | Najee De-Tiege |
Pink Samurai Ranger | Mia Watanabe | Erika Fong |
Green Samurai Ranger | Mike | Hector David, Jr. |
Yellow Samurai Ranger | Emily | Brittany Anne Pirtle |
Gold Samurai Ranger | Antonio Garcia | Steven Skyler |
Allies
Shiba Clan
- Mentor Ji (1-22)
- Kevin's Father (1, 4, 7)
- Serena (6)
- Mr. Shiba (11-12)
Tengen Gate
- Daisuke (17)
Civilians
- Farkas Bulkmeier (2-15, 18-19, 22)
- Spike Skullovitch (2-19, 22)
- Matthew (3)
- Reece (3)
- Ryan (4)
- Fisherman (7)
Villains
- Nighloks
- Leader
- Master Xandred (1-9, 11-12, 14-15, 17-20, Halloween Special)
- Generals
- Minor Nighloks
- Under Octoroo
- Under Xandred
- Scorpionic (2 & Halloween Special)
- Rofer (3 & Halloween Special)
- Dreadhead (5 & Halloween Special)
- Yamiror (7 & Halloween Special)
- Desperaino (10 & Halloween Special)
- Steeleto (14 & Halloween Special)
- Splitface (16 & Halloween Special)
- Rhinosnorus (19-20 & Halloween Special)
- Others
- Madimot (9 & Halloween Special)
- Arachnitor (17-18) / Mutated Arachnitor (18)
- Grunts
- Moogers (1-8, 11-20, Halloween Special)
- Giant Moogers (2, 6, 11, 16-19)
- Flying Moogers (12, 17-18)
- Furry Warts (11-12, 14-15, Halloween Special)
- Spitfangs (17 & 19)
- Moogers (1-8, 11-20, Halloween Special)
- Leader
Arsenal
Morphers
- Samuraizers ◆◆◆◆◆
- Samurai Morpher ◆
Multi-Use Devices
- Power Discs ◆◆◆◆◆◆
- Fire Smasher ◆
- Hydro Bow ◆
- Sky Fan ◆
- Forest Spear ◆
- Earth Slicer ◆
- Mega Blade ◆◆◆◆◆◆
- Barracuda Blade ◆
Sidearms and Individual Weapons
Vehicles
- Samurai SUV
- War Horses ◆◆◆◆◆
Zords
- Legend:◆ piloted zord, ❖ aux zord, ★ battlezord; see Style Guide for rules on icon colors
- Battlewing Megazord ◆◆◆◆◆❖❖❖
- Claw Battlezord North ❖★
- OctoZord ❖
- Samurai ClawZord / Claw Battlezord (East / West / South) ★
Additional Formations
- Beetle Blaster Megazord ◆◆◆◆◆❖
- Swordfish Fencer Megazord ◆◆◆◆◆❖
- Tiger Drill Megazord ◆◆◆◆◆❖
- Octo Spear Megazord ◆◆◆◆◆❖
Episodes
- Origins, Part 1
- Origins, Part 2
- The Team Unites
- Deal With a Nighlok
- Day Off
- Sticks and Stones
- A Fish Out of Water
- There Go the Brides
- I've Got a Spell on Blue
- Forest for the Trees
- Test of the Leader
- Jayden's Challenge
- Unexpected Arrival
- Room for One More
- The Blue and the Gold
- Team Spirit
- The Tengen Gate
- Boxed In
- Broken Dreams
- The Ultimate Duel
- Party Monsters
- Christmas Together, Friends Forever
DVD Release
- Power Rangers Samurai Volume 1: The Team Unites
- Power Rangers Samurai Volume 2: A New Enemy
- Power Rangers Samurai Volume 3: A Team Divided
- Power Rangers Samurai Volume 4: The Sixth Ranger
- Power Rangers Samurai Volume 5: The Ultimate Duel
- Power Rangers Samurai: Monster Bash
- Power Rangers Samurai: Christmas Together, Friends Forever
- パワーレンジャー SAMURAI VOL.1
- パワーレンジャー SAMURAI VOL.2
- パワーレンジャー SAMURAI VOL.3
- パワーレンジャー SAMURAI VOL.4
- パワーレンジャー SAMURAI VOL.5
Games
- Power Rangers Samurai (video game) - Wii and DS
- Power Rangers Samurai Smash - iOS
- Power Rangers Samurai Steel - iOS
Notes
- Production is still set in New Zealand and maintains an American, Canadian, New Zealand, and Australian cast.
- It is the first season broadcast on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons.
- Some portions of the first season were aired out of chronological order. The first two episodes, Origins, were aired in October, acting as a faux prequel for the original five Rangers' introductions.
- This is the first season to employ its Enemy Foot Soldiers in a fight against a Megazord in giant form.
- This is the first season to be split into two seasons.
- The Megazord cockpit footage tends to be wildly inconsistent. Rangers will often appear to be using an incorrect console for their Zord. This can be noticed by looking at the animal ornament on each console, and sometimes there will be several console changes in a single episode. Antonio, for example, has the Clawzord console switch between having a star and lobster on it.
- This is the first instance where a Power Rangers season does not air the year following its respective Super Sentai counterpart.
- This season follows the plot of its original counterpart.
- This is the first season to clearly specify that other Power Rangers teams existed before Mighty Morphin'.
- This is the first Power Rangers series to be aired in widescreen and also the first to be presented in 5.1 surround sound.
- This is the first series that features no fight scenes without weapons.
- This is the only season that has one multi-part episode: the 2-part premiere.
- When it was first announced, this season was called the 19th season because the 2010 reversion of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was considered the 18th season at the time.[2]
- In 2012, the show had an average of 2 million viewers on Nickelodeon.[3] Ratings in 2011 were higher, close to or slighter more than 3 million [4] [5] [6] but were down starting in October[7] The highest rated episode was May 15th, 2011's "The Blue and the Gold", with 3.7 million viewers. [8]
- The series also marked a return of Power Rangers dubs in Japan as it was released in fall of 2013. [9]
See Also
- Samurai Sentai Shinkenger - Super Sentai counterpart . See comparison page.
- Power Rangers Samurai Steel - iOS game
- Samurai (Toyline)
- Green Samurai Ranger - previous Samurai-themed Ranger
External links
- Power Rangers Samurai | Power Rangers - The Official Power Rangers Website
- Power Rangers Samurai Episodes on the Power Rangers Official YouTube Channel
- Power Rangers Samurai at Wikipedia.
References
- ↑ https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/power-rangers-samurai-lost-in-translation/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYUE9XVXuTY
- ↑ Harris, Jim (2011-12-19). Saban. Retail-merchandiser.com. Retrieved on 2012-06-11.
- ↑ Nick And More: "“Power Rangers Samurai” Hits Series High Ratings, “Supah Ninjas” Hits Series Low" (May 4 2011)
- ↑ Nick and More: "Cable Ratings March 21-27 2011"
- ↑ Nick and More: "Cable Ratings May 2-8 2011"
- ↑ Nick and More: "Cable Ratings October 17-23 2011"
- ↑ TV By The Numbers: Cable Top 25 (May 17th)
- ↑ http://www.toei.co.jp/release/tv/1201985_963.html Power Rangers Samurai dubbed
Footnotes