 This article is about a/an series entry (the 3rd) in the Power Rangers franchise.
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Power Rangers Turbo (often abbreviated as PRT) is the fifth season of Power Rangers that serves as an adaptation of the Super Sentai television series Gekisou Sentai Carranger.
The series serves to continue the narratives established in both Power Rangers Zeo and the film Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, as the now-former Zeo Rangers embark on a quest to stop Divatox, a barbaric but beautiful space pirate, from unleashing the evil of her demonic fiancé, Maligore, upon the universe. The power of the Zeo Crystal and the Zeo Zords are not strong enough to withstand this new evil, so Zordon and Alpha 5 assist the Rangers in creating the new Turbo Powers, which also give the Rangers new Turbo Zords.
Contents
Synopsis
After the defeat of Maligore, the Turbo Rangers Tommy, Kat, Adam, Tanya, and Justin resume their normal lives but are attacked once again by a vengeful Divatox, who has an endless supply of detonators and monsters to threaten the citizens of Angel Grove. When Zordon and Alpha 5 leave the Power Chamber to return to Zordon's home planet of Eltar, the mentorship of the Rangers falls to the spectral Dimitria of Inquiris and the street-talking and conceited Alpha 6. The Rangers are then joined by Blue Senturion, an intergalactic police robot who brings with him the "Millennium Message", which foretells events that are yet to come.
When Divatox's mother Mama D suggests that Tommy be destroyed in order to defeat all the Rangers at once, they are rescued by four new friends: T.J., Carlos, Ashley, and Cassie. They are chosen to become the new Power Rangers as the veterans retire, while Justin remains at their side as the Blue Turbo Ranger. The plot thickens with the arrivals of the mysterious Phantom Ranger and Divatox's ruthless brother General Havoc. When Havoc steals the Turbo Megazord, the Phantom Ranger gives the Turbo Rangers new Rescuezords to help them recover their stolen property, giving them even greater power.
However, tragedy and devastation ultimately befalls the Rangers. The Rescue Megazord and Turbo Megazord are destroyed in battle with the invincible monster Goldgoyle, Dimitria and Blue Senturion leave for the planet Eltar, which is under attack from evil forces, and the Power Chamber is invaded and destroyed by Divatox's armies. Divatox's victory is cut short when she is contacted by a messenger of Dark Specter, who tells her that Zordon has been captured and orders her to leave for the Cimmerian Planet.
As the Rangers overhear, they realize that they need to follow Divatox. Arriving at NASADA, the Rangers commandeer a space shuttle and launch it in pursuit, though Justin doesn't go with them as he wishes to remain on Earth with his father. The story continues... with Power Rangers in Space.
Production
Starting with the Power Rangers Zeo episode "Scent of a Weasel", ratings were beginning to plummet for Power Rangers simply because different shows offered better material. Dragonball Z released in May 1996 in America and Pokemon came out in November, the former offering better fight scenes and the latter monsters vs. monsters and the writing was sharper. This led to the infamous inclusion of new character Justin Stewart (played by Blake Foster) as the Blue Turbo Ranger after Steve Cardenas left the franchise to open his own martial arts dojo. Justin remains the youngest Ranger in the show's history and was basically designed to be a self-insert for the audience.
Divatox was created since the true main antagonist of Carranger, Reckless Dash Emperor Exhaus (whose empowered form became Goldgoyle), appeared in all of six episodes and was mainly seen looming over Earth and the secondary antagonist Gynamo (who was adapted as Rygog) as well as Zelmoda (Elgar) spent a lot of time around a very Japanese villainess named Beauty Zonnette. However, at the start of Turbo, Divatox's actress (Hilary Shepard Turner), was forced to step down from the series due to being pregnant and was replaced by Carol Hoyt (who also played Dimitria) although Turner would return for filming of the episode "The Darkest Day" and remain until season's end.
After Power Rangers Zeo, the original Ranger cast wishing to step away from the show, the producers had to convince them to stay on for another 20 episodes (in actuality only 19) so they could organize replacements for them. Jason David Frank was the first to want to leave, triggered by Saban initially refusing to let him leave for other jobs as Tommy was and still remains the most recurring Ranger in the show's history. The reason the rest of the cast left remains unconfirmed but the consensus seems to be a mixture of burnout from doing this for several years and wanting to opt out in a mass exodus mainly due to the poor conditions and pay. To this end, the writers planned to create a new plotline to reveal the new identities. The original new Ranger cast were going to be Michael (played by Selwyn Ward), Carlos (played by Roger Velasco), Justin, and Ashley (played by Nancy De Mayo). Oddly, Nakia Burrise (Tanya) and Johnny Yong Bosch (Adam) wanted to remain on with only Cardenas, Frank, and Sutherland wanting to leave. However, the whole cast (besides newcomer Blake Foster) was let go after one of the producers (who is unclear) decided that it would be easier to start with a completely new slate. The reason they decided this is unknown but they may have simply wanted new characters and ideas to explore since they had been dealing with most of the other Rangers for at least a year and Justin was the only then new member..
At the beginning of the series, the producers were Ann Austen and Douglas Sloan who had been the head writers since Season 2 when Ronnie Hadar stepped down. They were second only to executive producer Jonathan Tzachor and show-runners Haim Saban and Shuki Levy. However, whilst writing the episode "Rangers in Concert", Sloan and Austen left the series due to creative burnout and a new writing staff (led by new head writer Judd Lynn) came in and canned "Rangers in Concert" and decided to create all new plotlines. This led to the drop of the Millennium Message (which was originally meant to reveal the future Rangers during the ending of "Rangers in Concert") and, more infamously, a planned subplot where it would be revealed Divatox and Dimitria were long lost sisters (inspired partially by Hoyt playing both characters at the time). They also changed Michael to TJ (although still played by Selwyn Ward), changed Carlos' last name from Chavez to Vallerte (still played by Velasco), introduced Cassie as the new Pink Ranger (having not been conceived before Austen and Sloan left), and replaced Nancy De Mayo with Tracy Lynn Cruz. De Mayo would play a minor character named Jenny Hunter in the episode "Cars Attacks."
Characters
Rangers
- Main article:Turbo Rangers
Turbo Rangers
First Turbo Team.
Second Turbo team.
Turbo Rangers and Robot Rangers.
| Color | Role | Actor |
|---|---|---|
| Red Turbo Ranger | Tommy Oliver ► T.J. Johnson | Jason David Frank ► Selwyn Ward |
| Blue Turbo Ranger | Justin Stewart | Blake Foster |
| Green Turbo Ranger | Adam Park ► Carlos Vallerte | Johnny Yong Bosch ► Roger Velasco |
| Yellow Turbo Ranger | Tanya Sloan ► Ashley Hammond | Nakia Burrise ► Tracy Lynn Cruz |
| Pink Turbo Ranger | Katherine Hillard ► Cassie Chan | Catherine Sutherland ► Patricia Ja Lee |
| Phantom Ranger | Phantom Ranger | Ali Afshar (as "Alex Dodd") |
Allies
| Color | Role | Actor |
| Blue Senturion | Blue Senturion | David Walsh |
- Zordon
- Alpha 5
- Dimitria
- Alpha 6
- Lerigot
- Jason Lee Scott
- Kimberly Ann Hart
- Rocky DeSantos
- Beetleborgs
- General Norquist
- Robot Rangers
- Visceron
Civilians
- Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier
- Eugene "Skull" Skukllovitch
- Ernie
- Lt. Stone
- Mr. Caplan
- Ms. Appleby
- Yara
- Bethel
Villains
- Divatox's Crew
- Divatox
- Elgar
- Rygog
- Porto
- Crash & the Creeps
- Shadow Rangers
- Piranhatrons/Putra Pods: Divatox's Foot Soldiers.
- Maligore
- Mama D
- General Havoc's Army
- General Havoc
- Chromites: General Havoc's Foot Soldiers.
- Crustaceans
- Monsters in Power Rangers Turbo
Arsenal
Morphers
- Turbo Morpher ◆◆◆◆◆
Multi-Use Devices
Communication Devices
Sidearms
Individual Weapons and Team Blaster
Team Cannon
Vehicles
Zords
- Legend:◆ piloted zord, ➲ carrier zord, ● other zords
Turbozord System
- Turbo Megazord ◆◆◆◆◆
- Robo Racer ●
Rescuezord System
- Rescue Megazord with Artillery Power ◆◆◆◆◆➲
- Rescue Megazord ◆◆◆◆◆
- Lightning Fire Tamer Rescuezord / Lightning Fire Tamer Rescuezord: High Stance Mode ◆
- Siren Blaster Rescuezord / Siren Blaster Rescuezord: High Stance Mode ◆
- Thunder Loader Rescuezord / Thunder Loader Rescuezord: High Stance Mode ◆
- Star Racer Rescuezord / Star Racer Rescuezord: High Stance Mode ◆
- Wind Rescue Rescuezord / Wind Rescue Rescuezord: High Stance Mode ◆
- Artillatron ➲
- Rescue Megazord ◆◆◆◆◆
Alternate Combinations
Alternate Megazords
- Rescue Turbo Megazord Turbozords:◆◆ Rescuezords:◆◆◆
Rescue Turbo Megazord
- Rescue Turbo Megazord with Artillery Power Turbozords:◆◆ Rescuezords:◆◆◆➲
Evil Zords
- Metallosaurus (General Havoc)
- Terrorzord (Elgar)
- Divazords
Episodes
- Shift Into Turbo, Part I
- Shift Into Turbo, Part II
- Shift Into Turbo, Part III
- Shadow Rangers
- Transmission Impossible
- Rally Ranger
- Built for Speed
- Bicycle Built for the Blues
- The Whole Lie
- Glyph Hanger
- Weight and See
- Alarmed and Dangerous
- The Millennium Message
- A Drive to Win
- Cars Attacks
- Honey, I Shrunk the Rangers, Part I
- Honey, I Shrunk the Rangers, Part II
- Passing the Torch, Part I
- Passing the Torch, Part II
- Stitch Witchery
- The Wheel of Fate
- Trouble by the Slice
- The Phantom Phenomenon
- Vanishing Act
- When Time Freezes Over
- The Darkest Day
- One Last Hope
- The Fall of the Phantom
- Clash of the Megazords
- The Robot Ranger
- Beware the Third Wish
- The Gardener of Evil
- Fire in Your Tank
- The Turn of the Wretched Wrench
- Spirit of the Woods
- The Song of Confusion
- The Accident
- Cassie's Best Friend
- The Curve Ball
- Carlos and the Count
- Little Strong Man
- The Rival Rangers
- Parts and Parcel
- Chase into Space, Part I
- Chase into Space, Part II
Notes
- Power Rangers Turbo is the first season:
- To be themed after automobiles.
- To include an actor or actress playing a villain in the opening credits (not counting the Japanese dub of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which credited Machiko Soga in its opening). In this case, both Carol Hoyt and Hilary Shepard Turner appear in the intro as Divatox during their respective stints on the show.
- To feature a Ranger who only last as a main cast member for a single season; in this case, Justin Stewart.
- Not to feature Billy Cranston in any capacity.
- Not to feature any of the original five Rangers from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (not counting Jason and Kimberly's appearances in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie or stock footage of their scenes from the movie in "Shift into Turbo: Part 1").
- Not to feature its Sixth Ranger in its final episode, as the Phantom Ranger had made his final appearance in the episode Clash of the Megazords.
- Not to feature an Ultrazord combination.
- Turbo is the only season to date to feature a child who can morph into a Ranger, the child in this case being Justin Stewart.
- Turbo is the only Power Rangers series to date that (starting with the episode "Stitch Witchery") uses eyecatches from its Super Sentai counterpart to lead into and out of commercial breaks. The eyecatches are edited out of the Netflix version.
- Turbo is the final Zordon Era season to feature Rangers who had previously served on the Mighty Morphin and Zeo teams; in this case, Tommy Oliver, Adam Park, Tanya Sloan and Katherine Hillard.
- With the introduction of TJ, Carlos, Ashley and Cassie, and the episode "Passing the Torch", the second iteration of the Turbo team is the first to be comprised of Rangers not featured in previous seasons.
- The first half of Turbo (before the transfer of powers) marks the final time the Rangers speak during the morphing sequence.
VHS/DVD Releases
- Power Rangers Turbo (Complete Season) [German RC2]
- Power Rangers: From Mighty Morphin to Lost Galaxy (TimeLife Exclusive)
- Power Rangers Turbo: Volume One (Shout! Factory)
- Power Rangers Turbo: Volume Two (Shout! Factory)
See Also
- Gekisou Sentai Carranger - Super Sentai counterpart . See comparison page.
- Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie - The movie that served as the opening for the Turbo storyline.
