For the first time in the franchise's history, Zeo introduced all-new Ranger costumes for the first time, a pattern that would repeat with each subsequent season, in keeping with the Super Sentai source material. Zeo also introduced robotic villains and monsters to the franchise, a pattern that would later continue with Power Rangers RPM.
Following the release of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie, Saban had to deal with a general decline in the brand's popularity. While ratings for Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers were still solid during the show's third season, consistently ranking #1 in its weekday time slot, they nevertheless fell from the show's first two seasons. Combined with declining merchandise sales, Saban was faced with the threat of Power Rangers losing its phenomenon status.
With the fear of a continued decline, it was eventually decided that a major shakeup in the status quo was necessary. According to then-president of Saban's children entertainment division, Peter Dang, a wide number of options were considered, including the possibility of killing off major characters. Producers eventually settled on cosmetic changes (and a few casting changes), to match the source footage of Chōriki Sentai Ohranger. This allowed a completely new range of merchandise to be released while cutting costs. Sentai footage could be heavily used again as it had early in the series' run. [1][2][3][4][5]
While early ratings for the show were high, maintaining the #1 ranking, they eventually faltered and the show struggled to beat out fellow Fox Kids shows Goosebumps and even sister-series Big Bad Beetleborgs. Saban then brought back Austin St. John in the role of Jason, hoping that the return of one of the original five Rangers would bring back older viewers.
Synopsis
"I am very proud of all of you. As Power Rangers, you have served your planet well. But the Power Rangers as you have known them are gone forever. In their place has emerged a new, and more advanced, fighting force. You have now become the Power Rangers Zeo, the next level in the fight against Evil!"
Picking up where Mighty Morphin Power Rangers had left off, one fateful day, Master Vile used his Orb of Doom to reverse the rotation of Earth and turn back time, reverting the Rangers into powerless children (although they retained their memories). While the Alien Rangers of Aquitar and a restored Billy Cranston defended the Earth, the children went to different points in time to retrieve a piece of the Zeo Crystal, which was shattered and scattered throughout time by the Rangers themselves. Upon their return (except for Aisha, who sent back her new friend Tanya in her place), the Zeo Crystal was reassembled, and its power was used to restore the planet back to normal. Their victory did not last long. Rito Revolto and Goldar infiltrated the Command Center and stole the Crystal, just before the explosive device they had planted earlier went off, leaving the Command Center in ruins and the Rangers without a headquarters.
While searching through the wreckage, the Rangers find the Zeo Crystal, apparently dropped by the two villains, and then fall into the underground Power Chamber, their new base of operations where Zordon and Alpha 5 retreated to during the explosion. Up on the moon, Lord Zedd's Moon Palace is attacked by the Machine Empire, who wants to take over the Earth and do not want any competition.
As Lord Zedd, Rita Repulsa, and their minions flee for their lives, the power of the Zeo Crystal is harnessed and given to Tommy, Kat, Rocky, Adam, and Tanya, while Billy retires from active duty to support the team from the Power Chamber. They are now the Power Rangers Zeo, Earth's only hope against the Machine Empire. With new weapons and a new Zeo Megazord, the Rangers are able to fend of the mechanized menaces of King Mondo, Queen Machina, and their son Prince Sprocket.
During their battles, a strange new Power Ranger in a shining gold uniform is spotted, helping them and vanishing without warning. Though several red herrings as to his identity are dropped, the Gold Ranger is revealed to be a new ally, Trey of Triforia, who is on a mission to help fight evil throughout the galaxy. When Mondo's attempts to destroy him causes his Gold Powers to become unstable, Trey requests that a new host be found for them. Fortunately, an old friend is willing to take up the mantle: Jason Lee Scott, the original Red Power Ranger.
Fed up with his losses, King Mondo unearths the legendary Damocles Sword and fights the Zeo Rangers himself, but he falls to the power of the Super Zeo Megazord and is destroyed. In Mondo's absence, the Machine Empire suffers through a shift in power. Looking to overthrow the Empire from within, Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd send their servant Louie Kaboom into the Machine Moon Base, but he defies his masters and rules the Empire himself instead. Louie is later killed by Mondo's estranged son Prince Gasket, who with his wife Archerina attempts to retake his denied birthright as the ruler of the Machine Empire. However, Gasket's plans are quickly dashed when a fully-repaired King Mondo returns to the throne.
Meanwhile, Jason's life-force is weakening due to the Gold Powers being incompatible with humans, and the Rangers must find a way to restore them to Trey before they and Jason are lost forever. The situation is only made worse when Zedd's and Mondo's forces begin competing to steal away the Gold Powers first, but the Rangers are able to restore them to their rightful owner, and Trey repays the favor by using the Gold Powers to defeat a giant King Mondo... by turning himself and his friends into giant Power Rangers! Mondo later receives one final insult to injury when Zedd and Rita give him a gift-wrapped bomb as a "peace offering", which blows him and his servants into scrap.
Billy Cranston: Former Blue Ranger, now aids the team as their technical adviser. He left Earth to be cured of his rapid aging on Aquitar, deciding to live there.
Dr. Jewel: A scientist who discovered the upcoming arrival of the Machine Empire, having seen a Gear Ship. (Non Canon)
Dr. Kender: Met with Dr. Jewel to discuss the Machine Empire's arrival. (Character is Canon, though her appearance in the Zeo Serial isn't)
Joseph Saunders: Observatory custodian who caught site of a Quadrafighter in the telescope. (Non-Canon)
Wolfgang Blizzard: News reporter. Interviewed Joseph Saunders about his discovery, as well as trying to get Drs. Jewel and Kender to provide more info on the Machine Empire (described as aliens). (Non-Canon)
The Governor of California: Appeared on television to confirm the arrival of the Machine Empire (once again. described as aliens), and to deliver a plea to the Power Rangers to save Earth from them. (Non Canon)
Bulk and Skull: Two former bullies, turned junior cops then detectives hired by Lt. Stone.
Lieutenant/Detective Jerome Stone: A Police Officer who was fired because of Bulk and Skull's behavior as overeager junior officers. He then started his own detective agency.
Shawn: Former boyfriend of Tanya, though the two agreed to be friends.
Veronica: Shawn's girlfriend (Though given her reaction to his loss, might have broken up with him).
Mr. Caplan: Principal of Angel Grove High School. Informed Billy that he had enough credits for graduation. Sometime in the school year, he left for a vacation.
Klank & Orbus: Mondo's two henchbots go down to Earth to supervise many of the Machine Empire's attacks. Klank will hurl Orbus at it, energizing it and making it grow. They also build and care for a few of the monsters.
Prince Gasket: King Mondo's first and oldest son. He brainwashes Tommy later in the series and makes him think he is king.
Lord Zedd & Rita Repulsa: The Power Rangers first villains, retreated from the moon since the invasion of the Machine Empire.
Louie Kaboom: Zedd and Rita's monster sent to destroy the Machine Empire but failed after Rito and Goldar lost the remote.
Goldar: Rita and Zedd's henchmen who lost his memory and worked for Bulk and Skull. Goldar eventually regained his memory and returned to Rita and Lord Zedd.
Rito Revolto: Rita's brother who lost his memory and worked for Bulk and Skull. Rito eventually regained his memory and returned to Rita and Lord Zedd.
To have completely different Ranger suits from the previous season. This was done to match the annual suit change of the Super Sentai series.
To have its Japanese-created footage be exclusively from one Super Sentai series.
Have none of the Rangers get their powers in the first episode.
Not to feature Billy Cranston in every single episode. However, it is also the final season to feature the character altogether.
To feature a female Yellow Ranger (Tanya Sloan) whose gender matches that of her Sentai counterpart (Juri Nijou).
To feature a team with the core five color scheme of Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and Pink. This would become the most common color scheme for Power Rangers teams, as to date it has been used for nine subsequent teams.
To feature two former Red Rangers working alongside the current Red Ranger on the same team --- ie Jason Lee Scott and Rocky DeSantos.
To feature a Green Ranger on the core team, as opposed to being a Sixth Ranger. In this case, the Green Ranger is Adam Park.
To feature a second-in-command Blue Ranger; in this case, Rocky DeSantos.
To end with the Rangers' powers and arsenal almost intact. None of the Zords, weapons, or base powers themselves are seen to be destroyed; only the Zeo Jet Cycles were. As it stands, Zeo is the only season so far to hold this distinction, as every other season features at least part of the arsenal destroyed, be it weapons or zords, or the team retiring at the season's conclusion.
However, according to Johnny Yong Bosch, the script for Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie originally had a scene where Adam and Tanya would attempt to rescue Kimberly and Jason, only to have their Zeo powers destroyed underwater.[6] A scene was kept where Kat's morph failed due to her falling underwater - it was probably originally meant to be that her powers, along with Tommy's, would be lost in that scene.
To feature a Ranger whose identity is kept secret from the audience for more than a single episode (the White MMPR Ranger revealed his identity one episode after he first appeared). In this case, said Ranger is the Gold Ranger; in addition, his identity is not known to Zordon, this season being the first to have such an occurrence.
To feature an ex-Ranger, who had voluntarily given up his previous Ranger identity, returning to serve full-time as a new Ranger. The ex-Ranger in this case is Jason Lee Scott, former MMPR Red Ranger, who takes up the mantle of the Gold Ranger. The only other ex-Ranger to do this thus far is Tommy Oliver in Power Rangers Dino Thunder.
To feature an appearance by at least one Ranger from a previous team. This trend would continue all the way up to Power Rangers Ninja Storm.
To use footage from the Sentai counterpart's teamup movies for their own teamup. This footage was used for the two-part episode "Rangers of Two Worlds".
To feature background songs from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as pure instrumentals without lyrics. This would continue in Power Rangers Turbo.
To feature cold open sequences at the beginning, not counting the non-canon Zeo Serials shown before episodes of the previous season (and Alien Rangers).
To feature no single episode featuring the destruction of the Ranger base (although, it was destroyed at the end of Turbo), which is soon followed by certain series like Jungle Fury.
Despite the Zeo Rangers not having silver mouth plates, there were lips molded into the helmet anyway, although they are difficult to see at a glance
The Samurai Rangers' base forms do not have mouth plates. However, their Mega modes when using their Megazord do have silver mouth plates.
The ZeoRangers title card.
International airings outside of the U.S. and Canada, along with the original intro for A Zeo Beginning, used an alternate logo in the intro that simply featured "ZeoRangers" in the style of the normal logo's "Power Rangers."
It is the only season to have a title with a word that is entirely made up; that word is Zeo (other titles have had acronyms, such as SPD, or shortened words, such as Dino in Dino Thunder).
Episode 45, "A Mystery to Me," is the series' 200th episode.
This season and the first two Mighty Morphin seasons are the only three seasons to date where the episode counts exceed those of their Sentai counterparts. This season's episode count exceeds that of Ohranger by two, in part because three episodes came from the Ohranger movie and Ohranger vs. Kakuranger.
