For over twenty five years a show called Super Sentai dazzled audiences in Japen. The show is a live action show that features five young heros with special powers who battle evil monsters. Each one of our heros recieved gigantic robots called mecha. They could be used to fight off monsters when they grew to gigantic size. The mecha could usually form together to form one suprior gigantic robot. Each year our heroes would defeat their enemies and our story would be finished. The next year a new threat and a new set of hereos( with a new back story and brand new powers) would be introduced and the cycle would repeat itself. The Super Sentai show was a success in Japan. Although it seemed simplistic by desigmn Super Sentai shows usually has some story of storyline and even had some adult situations ( sentai was a kids show but in Japan kids shows have much less content restrictions than in US).
An amercan television producer named Haim Saban discovered Super Sentai years before Power Rangers even aired.. He thought of an ingenuis business plan that could make the show a success in the US markets. He wanted to buy Super Sentai footage from Toei ( the company that produced Super Sentai). With the action footage at his disposal he would hire american actors to shoot American scenes. The American and Sentai footage would be mixed together to create a unique childrens show.
The only problem was many Networks did not share Saban's enthusiam with the idea. Many children's networks turned his idea down. Saban pitched the idea for years with no success. Their was a famed unaired piolet that featured dubbed Bioman footage ( an early Super Sentia incarnation). Finally Saban was able to find a Network to air the show. The young Fox Network decided to give Mighty Morhing Power Rangers ( as the show would come to be called) a chance.
Young actors were cast to play the roles of our heroes. Austin St. John was cast to play Jason, the Red Ranger. Walter Jones was cast to play Zack, the Black Ranger . Amy Jo Johnson was brought in to play Kimberly, the Pink Ranger. Truy Trang was brought in to play Trini,the yellow ranger. To round out the cast David Yost was cast as Billy, the Blue Ranger. The footage of the show was taken from the season of the privous years Super Sentai, which was named Zyuranger. It invovled five ancient worriers who were awakened to use their dinosuar powers to fight an evil witch. Power Ranger ultized the footage of Zyuranger but had a much different storyline. MMPR ( as Mighty Morphing Power Rangers is called for short) was about an evil witch who was freed from her prison on the moon. An ancient wizard named Zordon recruited our heroes (who were five ordinary teens) to battle Rita and her evil forces. Rita Repulsa was taken from the Sentai footage of Zyuranger's main villian, Bandora. Dubbing was used to give the villian an Amirican sound.
MMPR debuted in the fall of 1993 on the Saturday morning lineup of Fox Kids ( it should be noted that an unaired piolet was produced before than that had a different actor cast as Trini and had some differences than the actual first episode). Day of the Dumpster was the title of the official first episode. Power Rangers was aired every weekday morning as well as on Saturdays. The production values of the show were far from revolutionary but that was the intent. Power Ranegers was this fun campy show with bright colors. It was supposed to be fun and lacked the complexity or seriousness of its Sentai counterpart. MMPR was a show kids could watch without having to think. The Ranger's characters were taken from teenage sterotypes. The Rangers were excellent role models for kids, as they seldom did anything wrong. They were perfect charactersm in the mold of characters from old classic shows (like Leave it to Beaver or the Brady Bunch).
Saban was credited as Executive Producer of the show but he had almost little to do with the actual production of the show, He fronted the money of course as it was his company that owned Power Rangers ( Saban Entertainment). Saban's fellow Executive Producer Shuki Levy, ran the show at this piont, along with a very highly skilled production staff. Producer Johnathon Trazchar also heavily ran the show. One of the shows early story editors was Tony Oliver. Best known for his role in the Robotech cartoon. Around the second or third season a writer on the MMPR writing staff became the story editor and is credited with some of Power Rangers greatest episodes from the early seasons.
Power Rangers was a huge success from the get go, fastly becoming the most popular kids show on television. Toy sales grew out the roof and toy stores were easily sold out. Kids coudn't get enough of their favorite superheros. One move that greatly attributed to PR's fast growing popularity was the introduction of a new character. His name was Tommy and he was the evil Green Ranger sent by Rita to destory the Rangers ( Saban Entertainment had earlier requested that Toei create a sixth ranger in Zyuranger). Tommy was played by Jason David Frank. Soon it was revealed to the Rangers that Tommy was under an evil spell. After being freed from the spell he jioned the Rangers.
Tommy quickly became the most popular character on Power Rangers and clearly helped lunch the franchise. Kids loved Tommy so much that when the writers tried to write him off ( Tommy was only supposed to be a temporay character) their was a huge backlash of letters asking that Tommy be kept on. The writers of MMPR listened to the fans of the show and decided to keep Tommy around indifintly (even though his counterpart in Zyuranger was killed off). MMPR was so popular Saban Entertainment commisioned Toei to create new Zyuranger footage specifically for Power Rangers. Fox extended Power Ranger's first season and the new Toei foottage was used to produce the additional episodes required. The extra footage has effectionatly been refered to as Zyu-2 footage.
Power Rangers was easliy renewed for a second season. Seasons two footage was taken from Zyuranger and the following Super Sentai show ( Diaranger). Our heros got new zords and a new villan named Lord Zedd. Lord Zeed was competely American produced. The show itself took on a more american feel. Yet the show retained its campy innocent elements. Tommy was given compeletly new powers and became the White Ranger.
Unfortuantly all was not happy on the set of Power Rangers at this time. Saban Entertianment was supposedly underpaying its actors (the actors union was not nearly as strict on them as they would be later). Actors; Austin St John, Walter Jones, and Truy Trang asked for a raise. When it was denied they refused to continue working. Using stock footage the producers were luckly able to make it seem like the actors were still there. They wasted no time to cast replacements for the departed actors. They quickly wrote the there orginal characters off by having them sent to a peace conference. Rocky replaced Jason and was played by Steve Cardenza. Adam replaced Zack and was played by Johnny Young Bosch. Aishia replaced Trini and was played by Karen Ashley . It became a Joke on the set around that time, that if people weren't good they would be sent to a peace conference.
MMPR more than survived
the cast change. This
was the hieght of MMPR"s popularity. A movie was produced
featuring the Power Rangers at this time. A take off was created by
Saban
Entertainment,
called VR Troopers( Jason Frank was orginally supposed to star in the
show,which
at the time was called Cybertron, before fan demand kept him on Power
Rangers).
The show had similar theme to Power Rangers and footage was taken from
another action adventure show from Japan. Various PR like series were
produced
by revival companies as well. One notable take off was DIC's Super
Human
Samuri Cybersquad. It featured four teens who went into a computer to
fight
an evil computer program. The show took footage from the Japen show
named
Gridman. Their was also the short lived Tattoed Teenagers From Beverly
Hills. Saban would later come out with more take offs of its own.
Mask Rider and Big Bad Beattleborgs were Saban Entertianments other PR
like series. Some of these shows had limited success but none would
achieve
the level of Power Ranger's own success ( although Big Badd
Bettleborgs
always beat PR in the ratings for a short time).
The Power Rangers movie had mixed succuss. The movie was directed by Bryan Spicer and was produced by a completly different crew than the show was. The movie was shot in Sidney Austrilia. Production values for the movie far exceeded those of the show. All footage was one hundredd percent orginal. Paul Freeman was cast to play the shows villian, Ivan Ozze. Freeman is best know for his role in "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Interestingly enough, the movie didn't fit into the shows continunity. This was due to the fact that 20th Centurty Fox owned the movie and any use of its plot or props would have forced the show to pay royalities to the movie studio. it was on the air).
MMPR entered its third season, following the movie ( which had come out in the summer). Season three utilized footage from the latest Super Sentai series (Kukuranger) to go with footage from Zyuranger and Diaranger. PR continued as it always had been. Amy Jo Johnson decided to leave the series and was replaced by Austrialian born Actress Catherine Sutherland ( who was cast to play the character of Katherine Hillard). Orginal Sutherland had been looked at to play a role in the movie. This helped her get her role in the series.
Unfortunaly during the third season the popularity of Power Rangers began to wane. As history shows fads and kids shows don't last long as kids find something else to flock too. Despite its waning popularity (and end as a fad) PR was still able to continue on. Toy sales ( although lower) remained high enough to make the show profitable to all the companies invovled. For the shows fourth season a new fresh direction was planned in hopes of making PR number 1 again. Mighty Morphing Power Rangers was changed to Power Rangers Zeo. Footage would be taken from the Super Sentai show called Ohranger. This had to be one of the biggest changes in the the shows history up to that piont. Our hereos were given brand new suits for the first time in the three year run of Power Rangers ( not counting the movie). Karen Ashley left the show before Zeo began and was replaced by actress Nikia Burrise, who played the role of Tonya. David Yost's role in the series was reduced as his genius like charater (Billy) stepped aside as a Ranger in order to take care of the Ranger's technology ( serving as the ranger's tech specialist). Long time favorite villians Rita and Zedd were replaced by the evil Machine Empire ( the villian footage was taken Ohranger).
Zeo failed to bring back the fad Power Rangers had endured but it was a worth wild addition to the series. The general theme of the show was freshened up and character writing became a little more realistic. The Rangers were stilll dogooders but you did act more realistic at certain pionts. For instance in one episode Rocky met a blind girl. Tonya had to deal with her abusive boyfriend ( nothing physical just bad for her self essteem). Perhaps most lookod upon as the high point of the season was the return of Austin St. John to the series. He reprised his role as Jason, this time becoming the Gold Ranger.
The story goes like this. Just after VR troopers had ended, the actor who played Ryan Steele ( the main character on VR troopers) was set to play the mysterious new Gold Ranger. Brad Hawkins even did the vioce for the Gold Ranger in his earlier morphed apearances . The character of Ryan Steele seemed all set to cross over to the PR universe. This was only natural as VR Troopers was run by the same company as Power Rangers ( and at one time had Doug Sloan as its story editor). But things changed over the summer hatius of Zeo. Austin expressed interest about returning to the show. So Ryan Steele was written out of the show completely ( except for some vioce dubs) and Jason was penciled in as the Gold Ranger. The Gold Ranger was introduced as an alien named Trey ( not played by Brad Hawkings). Evenutally Trey was injured during battle and had to pass the powers along to Jason until he got well. This was a present surprise to most Power Ranger fans at the time. The Gold Ranger story arch gave us many twists and turns, teasing the secret identity on many side characters ( especially Billy) .
With Jason's return we
got the depature of another
former
alumni. David Yost became unhappy with his limited role and decided to
leave the show entirly ( without given the writers a chance to right
him
out properly). Like they did when the orginal three left a few years
ago
the writers improvised heavly. Billy wa given a proper send off using
clever
ploting. The character was given a rapid aging problem. This allowed
the
team to give him a proper send off whthout David Yost. There was a
rumor
that Billy's had a role in the new Turbo Power Ranger Movie that was
never
fillmed ( explaining a plot hole as to what happened to the Zeo
crystal).
This rumor was very untrue. There was no such scene in any of the movie
scripts. So that was a big myth. Zeo ended and producers decided to
change
the theme again ( as they would every year from this piont).
It should be noted that
future Power Rangers story
editor Amit Bhaumik (who once webmasters Power Rangers Online
Archives) worked with others to produce a fan film called
Scorpion Rain. Scorpion Rain would provide a more statiisfiying
connection between Zeo and its succeeding incarnation. When Amiit went
on to work on the show he would later use aspects of it as a back
story to Forever Red ( more on that later). So it is debateable to many
to whether Scorpion Rain is canon or not.
A second movie was
produced. This time the shows production staff produced the film.
Production valued seemed lower than the first film. The mpiove was
based on the Super Sentai known as Car Ranger. It was titled, Turbo A
Power Rangers Movie. Austin St John
remained to appear in the film movie. Amy Jo Johnson
returned to be in the movie. Young Blake Foster (eleven years onl) was
cast to play Justin Stewart. He took the place Steve Cardenza, becoming
the first kid Power Ranger. Cardenza made a cameo in the film. Hillary
Shepard Turner was cast as the movie's villian, Divatox.
The movie was a box
office failure. Its story led into Power Rangers Turbo ( the fifth
season of PR). Turbo used Carranger footage. Steve Cardenza had already
left the show and made on final apearance in the season primiere. Blake
Foster stayed on to play Justin in the show, as planned. Foster was brought in because Shulki Levy decided it
was a good idea to have a
kid Ranger on the show. Levy's plan really didn't do anything to add to
PR's
popularity in the long run and remains one of the most
controversial
moves in Power Rangers history (at least to the net fandom).
Turbo was based off of a car theme. First the second time in two years the Rangers got new suits and zords. Orginially Lord Zedd and Rita were set to return as the main villains again ( they even had a story arch in Zeo which ended with them taken out the Machine Empire). Unfortunatly by the time Turbo was set to air the actor who played Lord Zedd wasn't aviable. Their role in Turbo series had to be dropped but Lord Zedd and Rita did have a cameo in the new movie. Turner reprised her role as Divatox in the turbo series but not until the second half of the show ( she was pregnant so actress Carol Hoyt stepped into play the role till Shepard returned,Hoyt also played the Rangers new mentor Demitira). Bob Manahan ended his role as Zordon ( but would return to play a fairly major role the next season). Hoyt's Dimitria was brought in as the Rangers new mentor when the series began.
During the Turbo series some major changes began to happen that would change Power Rangers Forever. First Power Ranger producer Johnathon Trazchar who had been infulencial in the deveolpment of the show from the beginning was getting more and more power from Levy. Around this time Levy stepped aside as showrunner and Trazchar became the full time leader of the show( although both Saban and Levy were still credited as executive producers through Time Force). Another major change began to happen in the ranks. Long time story editor Doug Sloan left the show shortly before the second half of Turbo. As it was time for him to move on. Long time staff member Judd Lynn was promoted to Story Editor along with Jackie Merciand. Yet another change was made in front of the camera. Jason David Frank was ready to move on and had wanted to leave Power Rangers following Zeo. Catherine Sutherland also expressed interest in leaving. Frank was convinced to stay on the show for the first half of Turbo when he could than be written out. Nikia Burrise, Johnny Bosch and Blake Foster were going to stay on the show with the new actors who would replace Frank and Sutherland. Tracy Lynn Cruz was brought in to play the role of Ashley. She was an extra in season three's "A Season to Remember". Roger Vesquez was brought in to play Carlos. The two would both replace Tommey and Kat. Sometime after Lynn took over it was decided to start fresh entirely and Burrise and Bosch were written out of the show as well. The Carlos and Ashley characters would replace their charaters instead. Swyan Ward and Patricial Ja Lee would now replace Frank and Sutherland as TJ and Cassie. Blake Foster remained on the show. Thus the second season of Turbo took on a much different feel with all these changes.
Turbo was only the begining of the changes that were taken place in PR. Lynn began to drastically improve the writing and remove some of the campiness from the show, creating better crafted stories. These changes came into full effect in time for the next season. The next season was probably one for the most ambitous seasons up to that piont. Power Rangers would adopt the footage of Megaranger. But they would not stop there. The staff of Power Rangers created a completly original storyline that took the Rangers into Outer Space. The premise was introduced in Turbo's finalie. The Rangers lost their powers and heard that Zordon had been kidapped by some evil leader named Dark Spector. The Rangers than took a spaceship to find Zordon minus Justin ( Blake Foster decided to leave the show). Carol Hoyt also left the show leaving the Rangers without a mentor for the first time.
A new actor named Chistopher Heyman Lee was brought in to play an alien named Andros, who was the new Red Ranger ( TJ became the Blue Ranger). Andros gave the Rangers their new space powers and they joined him to help find Zordon on his Astromegaship. Power Rangers took on a more serial type feel . For the first time there was a continuing storyline and deeper characters. The show also created villians that for the first time weren't comic releif. The lead villianess was Astronoma( played by a model named Melody Perkins) an serious villian who was more than meant the eye. Later she would be revealed to be Andros' sister. Her master was Dark Spector who was the leader of all the evil the Rangers had faced up to this piont. Spector's look was taken from a character in Turbo Movie (Mailgor). The Rangers had to find Zordon before his powers were drained for good. Past villians also returned for guest staring apearances. Blake Foster also returned for one episdoe as did Johnny Young Bosch. Andros' best friend Zhane later became part of the show as the Silver Ranger (played by Justin Nemo). Andros was a far deeper character than Power Rangers had been used to up to that piont, as was his sister Astronoma. The season has become one of the uiniversally praised seasons by Power Rangers Internet fans. In a lot aways it took Power Rangers to a whole new level. Its fanilie ( Countdown to Desturction) featured a final showdown between the forces of good and evil. Countdown to Destruction ended the plots of the privous five years of Power Rangers. It is considered by many to be the best episode of Power Rangers of all time. Zordon's sacrificed himself to save the universe. Andros was finally reunited with his sister Karone ( who was a reformed Astronoma). Past evils were either destoryed or made human. Many people who did not have access to the internet thought it to be Power Rangers series fanilie.
Nothing was farther from the truth as many would find out. As Saban Entertainmet was planning yet another even more ambitous season. The cast would be changed yet again and a new theme would be present. Power Rangers Lost Galaxy would take footage from the Super Sentai entitled, Gingaman. Power Rangers would spin the concept into another Space season. It was about five young hereos who recieved the mystical Quasar Sabers that let them become the Galaxy Rangers. The season started compelely fresh like it was a new show( this was the first time PR fully ultilized the sentai method by totally changing the themes and casts from year to year from this piont on). One notable exception to this was a team up between the space rangers and Lost Galaxy Rangers ( another Super Sentai tradition). Unfortuantly during filming Valiere Varone ( the actor who played the new Pink Ranger named Kendrix) had lukieama and needed to be written of the show. Patricia Ja Lee was set to remain on the show after the team up to take Varone's place. But the deal fell through over money and credit placement issues. Lee did not stay past the teamup as orginally planned. Instead Meledy Perkins was brought back to reprise her role as Karone. She would become the new Pink Ranger. Following union rules Valiere was still credited during her absence.Varone later went into remission from the cancer and was thankfully able to return in the fanile of Lost Galaxy ( even being part of the next season's team up). Lost Galaxy was full of many plot twists and richly developed characters. The villians were again more serious like the Space villians. Special Effects were very first class. Ratings for the first half of Lost Galaxy were the biggest in the history of the franchise ( although Power Rangers was still far removed from the fad it was years earlier.) Toy Sales also soared for the first time in years. Ratings went down during the second half of Lost Galexy since Fox stopped promoting it as much in favor of promoting their new japenese import (Digimon). Toy Sales continued to remain up.
The next season of Power Rangers contined the Super Sentai traditon of changing casts and stories. The show got its footage from the Super Sentai Show entitled Go Go V. The budget for Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue( the name of the name of the season) was cut more considerably than it was for Lost Galaxy. Lightspeed Rescue brought the show back to Earth and was more similar to the year of the Super Sentai it took footage from. It still had some very keydifferences yet kept the rescue theme from the sentai. Lightspeed Rescue is universally hated by most members of the fandom but did have its brought spots and probaly is very underrated. Lightspeed Rescue was just a little more episodic than the privous two seasons had been. There was still a season long mission in the season, despite its episodic nature. One of the major things about Lighspeed Rescue was that it was the first PR show to make its own American made Ranger. There was not clear six Ranger in Go Go Five so a new one was made. The new ranger was called the Titanium Ranger.
Following Lightspeed Rescue came one of most the most universally loved seasons ( although it has its detractors), Power Ranger Time Force. Time Force took a lot fo the story and theme from that years Super Sentai (TimeRanger). We got many themes that we hadn't gotten in Power Rangers before that time. We saw the price of revenge and hate. We also learned that "everyone makes their own destiney". Time Force was very much human story that had very human characters. It also featured a unusally tough pink ranger named Jen. She served as the offical leader of the team and was probably was the toughest female ranger to date. Time Force today remains a special place in the hearts of a lot of internet Power Ranger fans.
By the end of Time Force big changes were starting to come . Changes that would soon change the way Power Rangers was produced forever. Long time story editor Judd Lynn had decided to leave after Time Force, as did Jackie Merciand. A new Story Editor was brougth in, Amit Bhaumik. Amit has the unusual distinction of being a fan of the show before working on it. At one time he ran one of the best sites in the fandom, Power Rangers Online Archives. Amit was student of televison writing during the time he ran his site. His site has since been shut down but was still a remarkable site in the fandom's history. It was unprecedented for him to be a fan and reach the level of story editor on the show.
The next season of Power Rangers was called Power Rangers Wild Force and took footage from the Super Sentia show, Gaoranger. It again took many of the plots from that years Sentai but put a more orginal spin on things. The season itself brought back some of the campiness of Power Rangers but still kept the mores serious storytelling.The show itself is often condemned by the internet fandom but is also thought of as underated by others. Amit was responsible from writing that years team up with Time Force; Reinfocements From The Future. The multi part episode is thought of as one of the best team ups of all time. Amit was also responsible for another famous episode, Forever Red. In what would have seemed like a pipe dream to many fans just a year earlier, all the Red Rangers from the past ( save Steve Cadenza's Rocky) were reunited in one special episode that marked the Tenth aniversary of Power Rangers. This episode was probably one of the best in Power Ranger's history and we will probably never see anything like it again.
During Wild Forces run more big changes were taken place behind the camera of Power Rangers. Saban was trying to get out of a deal with Fox over Fox Family( a cable station he co-owned with Fox and was responsible for programming). Saban eventually sold his company to Disney along with his shares in Fox Family( Disney bought Fox's shares as well). Fox was ready to terminate its kids block for low ratings anyways. So midway through Wild Force Disney bought Power Rangers. The Power Rangers production crew remained the same at this piont and became MMPR Productions. Once Fox ended its kids block the remainder of Wild Force was shown on ABC Kids. ABC Fam (the new name for fox family) also showed Power Rangers Wild Force on a one week delay. Reruns of old Power Ranger seasons were also shown on ABC family for the first time anywhere in years.
Unfortunately Disney dropped another bomb sell. In the interest of cost, production of the show was moved form its long time home in Vilancia California to New Zealand. In New Zealand it would cost Disney much less to produce the show. Also its was cheaper to hire non union actors and non union writers. With the show going non union and the production change Disney released almost all the staff and crew who worked on Power Rangers over the privous decade. Thus after ten years of service the company that had now been called MMPR Productions ceased to exist. Lots of the people who worked on the show for years of their life were now out of a job due to stuido politics. A production company out of New Zealand, Village Roadshow Pictures would now produce the show for Disney. Kicho Sacomoto (long time director and stunt cordinator on the show ) was one of the few lucky crew members to remain on the show. Fortunatly former story editor Doug Sloan was brought in as Executive Producer and Show runner. His Partner, also a former member of the Power Rangers staff (Ann Austin). Sloan brought back some past Power Ranger writers ( who had left the show before the take over)to jion his new staff. The most notable was Jackie Mericand, who returned as story editor.
Thus Power Rangers Ninja Storm was produced. The season took footage from the Super Sentai Show called, Hurricanranger. Ninja Storm brought a lot of lightheartness of Power Rangers ( even more so that Wild Force) but it still had a serious story. It is a mixed bag among the fandom, some people loved the new direction while others hated it. Never the less Ninjas Storm aird on ABC and ABC Family like Wild Force had before it. The new staff comlpeted its first year of Power Rangers. Ninja Storm was the first season in a long time not to do a team-up due to union and cost issues.
The next incarnation of Power Rangers was dubbed Power Rangers DinoThunder. It took Footage from the Sentai Show called Abaranger. DinoThudner is just not any Power Rangers retread. Jason David Frank was able to be lured back for the season. He would reprise his role as Tommy Oliver ( Now a Doctor in Palentlogy). Tommy would become the Black Ranger and mentor the three young students he would make Power Rangers. The very thought of this exicted most Power Ranger fans to no end. DnoThunder toned down some of the humor Ninja Stotm had brought us. DT had plenty of seriousness and plot development to keep it interesting for the PRIS-PRWF fans. DinoThunder was a show full of storylines and action. DT featured the five hundreth episode of Power Rangers ( it ended up being largly a clip show remembering the shows past). We were treated to the storyline of Trent the Evil White Ranger. Jason David Frank had to leave during filming. Producers had his character become stuck in morphed form till the Actor could return. He retuned in a episdoe called, "Fighting Spirit". The episode featured the Tommy character battling his past selves ( the Green Ranger, White Ranger, Red Zeo Ranger).
As DinoThunder begans to wind down Power Ranegr Fans began to get ready for the next icarnatiion, Space Patrol Delta. It will utlize footage from Dekaranger. Doug Sloan and Ann Austen have once again left the franchice. Brad Kalish has been brought in to replace them as the new Showrunner.
With the toys sales still high enough to keep the show on the air and with the cheaper cost to produce the show we can only hope Power Rangers continues on (given us great stories in front of and behind the camara like it always has). We only hope Brad Kalish and staff can keep the show's standards high. It has been an interesting ride that shows now sign of ending soon. One can only speculate just how many more episodes we will be treated too.