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Power Rangers

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Power Rangers

TV series
Mighty Morphin
Alien Rangers
Films
Spin-off
Masked Rider
Edited From
Super Sentai
Power Rangers is an ongoing, American franchise of superhero children's television programs. The franchise is currently owned by The Walt Disney Company, but was previously produced by Saban. Given a new title and theme annually (after the third season of the first series), the franchise is headlined by similarly self-replicating television series and is directly tied to the vast merchandising empire owned largely by Japanese toy company Bandai.

The show is adapted from the Japanese tokusatsu Super Sentai franchise, but is not simply an English dub of the original. Rather, it is a 'new' production with English-speaking actors spliced in with the original Japanese footage in varying ratios. Due to the very Japanese nature of many of Sentai's stories and design, the American shows are always at least slightly changed to fit a Western audience. However, the action sequences featuring the characters in costume, and the scenes featuring kaiju and mecha (referred to as "Zords" in the English series) are typically dubbed. The vast majority of the toy line is similarly adapted, though there are toys exclusive to English-speaking countries.

The series that began the franchise was Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which began broadcasting as part of the Fox Kids group of programs that aired on the Fox Network. It lasted for three seasons. The franchise has continued, and as of 2006 has consisted of thirteen television series and two theatrical films.

The Power Rangers series was distributed by Saban Entertainment from 1993 until the end of 2001 and was broadcast on the Fox network. The franchise was purchased by Disney as a part of a Saban buyout between 2001 and 2002, and the show continued to air on Fox until its Fox Kids package was dismantled in the United States. Since Fall 2002, all Power Rangers shows have aired on various Disney-owned networks (ABC Kids, ABC Family, Toon Disney and Jetix channels worldwide).

What is a Power Ranger?

A Power Ranger is a person who morphs from a natural, unpowered form into a form fitting battle suit, which also has a helmet with an opaque visor, which in many cases serves to protect his or her secret identity. A morphed Ranger generally possesses superhuman strength, durability, and hand-to-hand combat ability; unmorphed Rangers may possess other innate abilities (such as telepathy, super speed, invisibility, great hand-to-hand combat ability, etc.) which are usually not directly related to his or her Ranger powers. Rangers appear to retain their original physiology beneath their suits when in morphed form, as Rangers' helmets have been seen removed or broken on numerous occasions, revealing his or her natural form underneath (There are exceptions to this rule: Justin, the Blue Turbo Ranger, was in his early teens and was much shorter than his Ranger form when unmorphed; Anubis "Doggie" Cruger, the S.P.D. Shadow Ranger, has a muzzle [he is a humanoid dog-like alien] that seems to disappear beneath the helmet; and Daggeron, the Solaris Knight, transforms into a different creature while in the process of morphing). Helmets aside, the suits are donned and removed nearly instantaneously with a glow of light or some other effect. Rangers are known to "demorph" involuntarily due to powerful physical attacks.

Rangers regularly operate in teams of five or six, with a special sixth Ranger frequently rounding out the bunch; sometimes a core team of three will later be joined by additional Rangers. Each Ranger's suit and energy spectrum will match a specific color, with red, yellow, and blue being joined by some combination of pink, green, black, or white. Rangers may be named after their respective colors, such as Red Ranger, Blue Ranger, etc., but numbers or other names may also be used. There is usually no more than one Ranger of a given color on a team, but exceptions of this rule are generally given alternate names. The team's costumes are nearly identical aside from color, helmet design (most notably the shape of the opaque visor) and perhaps a numerical designation; any additional Rangers will regularly have additional costume modifications.

The Rangers' color designation also influences their wardrobe throughout the series, as their civilian clothing is often the same color as their Ranger color. This correlation was joked about in Power Rangers: Dino Thunder when Thomas Oliver (a former Green Ranger, White Ranger, and Red Ranger, twice) became the Black Dino Ranger and said that he had to go clothes shopping because he did not own enough black colored clothing.

Plot Sequence

A normal Power Rangers episode can be broken down into an everyplot. The plot sequence is generally as follows:
  1. Rangers are seen in everyday life with a dispute to resolve.
  2. Rangers are attacked by an evil foe's minions/footsoldiers.
  3. Rangers fight minions/footsoldiers.
  4. Rangers morph.
  5. Rangers defeat minions/footsoldiers.
  6. Evil enemy revives minion and makes minion grow to gigantic proportions, followed by Rangers summoning giant machines known as Zords and/or their combined form, the Megazord.
  7. # Optional: Rangers find that their current powers are insufficient to defeat minion and discover a new power, such as a Battlizer armor for the Red Ranger, a sixth Ranger, or a new Megazord.
  8. Rangers fight and defeat said giant minion.
  9. Rangers are shown back in everyday life, having learned a life lesson which solves the earlier dispute.

Special Plot

These are special plots in every power ranger seasons during the first episode of the new season,the teamup and the season finale here are the plots

  1. New Rangers were summoned by their new mentor and give them morphers and most of them feel confused. then suddenly when the enemies foot soldiers attack them they decide to morph for the first time and defeat them.the new rangers celebrate their first victory but their mentor warns them that the war is only just the beginning.
  1. When current rangers needs help from the previous rangers they will accept it if they get their powers back one more time then fight the combinations of their enemies foes and most of their previous foes in the end the current rangers wish the previous rangers to join them but they still have given up thier duty and continue their normal lives once again
  1. Rangers were ready for their final battle with the main enemy.but their enemy is unstoppable to be defeated by the rangers especially most of thier zords.But in the end the rangers finally destroyed him or her. If the rangers didnot sacrifice their powers to destroy the main enemy they give them back to their mentor and then the rangers returned to their normal lives once more.

Elements of a Power Rangers season

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, though not stated explicitly, throughout many of the other incarnations. These include the Power Rangers being forbidden to use their Ranger powers for personal gain or for escalating a fight, explaining why the Rangers don't just 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 (although this rule was disregarded in ' and '). (Following a Spartacus inspired scene by Angel Grove's townspeople, this rule was also disregarded at the conclusion of , although the battle afterward was the last for the former Turbo and Space Rangers.) The penalty for disobeying these rules, at least in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, would be the loss of their 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 and/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 more 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 Ranger of each series since . Although much of the arsenal can also be found in Super Sentai, there are usually at least some that are not, generally added for the express purpose of marketing toys designed and sold by Bandai.

Power Rangers series regularly have villains of their own make which do not appear in the Sentai footage, though for budget and footage reasons there are always carry-overs from the Japanese source material. Less commonly, some series use only the Sentai designs and footage, though despite this some sets have to be replicated for original footage if they need it and an English speaking actor if at least one actor's face was shown, this was the case with Vypra in Lightspeed Rescue and Leelee in Mystic Force (she is currently the only original villain in Mystic Force).

In seasons following Power Rangers: In Space, it is common for each team to be separate, storywise, from those of previous incarnations. A tradition in later seasons is for two teams of Power Rangers to team up and take on a villain. In ', 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 season not to feature this is ', due to a shift back to non-SAG talent when production was moved to New Zealand.

Variations Between Series

No two Power Rangers series are alike, and aside from a Ranger of each primary color, with the male Red being the series lead, almost every aspect of the show can potentially be changed depending on the series (and often depending on what the Sentai footage has dictated). Some of the things which are known to change regularly are:

Criticisms

Seasons

Season Year Based on
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 19931995 Kyouryuu Sentai ZyuRanger (1st season)
Gosei Sentai Dairanger (2nd season)
Ninja Sentai Kakuranger (3rd season)
Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers
1996 Ninja Sentai Kakuranger
1996 Chouriki Sentai Ohranger
1997 Gekisou Sentai CarRanger
1998 Denji Sentai Megaranger
1999 Seijuu Sentai Gingaman
2000 Kyukyu Sentai GoGo-V
2001 Mirai Sentai Timeranger
2002 Hyakujuu Sentai GaoRanger
2003 Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger
2004 Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger
(Space Patrol Delta) 2005 Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger
2006 Mahō Sentai Magiranger
2007 Gougou Sentai Boukenger

Spin-off

Masked Rider was an American adaptation of the tokusatsu series Kamen Rider BLACK RX, one of the many sequels of the popular Kamen Rider franchise. It was produced by Saban and aired in 1995. It was a spin-off of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

The main title character of Masked Rider was featured on a 3-part Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episode before his own series was started. The Rangers themselves were never mentioned in Masked Rider, however, as Saban reformatted the series to sever links with Power Rangers, as their popularity had been gradually beginning to slide following the first movie. However, the Rangers made a guest appearance in Masked Rider's short-lived comic book adaptation.

Motion Pictures

Teaser poster for
Enlarge
Teaser poster for

The Power Rangers series have also brought forth two movies.
Movie Year
1995
1997
Both movies have no relation to each other; the second one is not a sequel for the first one. The first one released in 1995 takes place in an alternate universe than in the series. The second film released in 1997 is more like a beginning for the upcoming season at the time (Power Rangers: Turbo).

Contrary to wild Internet speculation, there have never been plans for a third Power Rangers movie.

Power Rangers on DVD

Currently, there are only 18 DVD releases of Power Rangers in the USA (as listed below). Internationally, however there have been additional DVD releases (such as Lightspeed Rescue , Time Force and Wild Force in Germany) and as free DVDs attached to Jetix Magazine UK.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment is scheduled to release five new volumes of the upcoming season, Power Rangers: Mystic Force in 2006.

There has been much criticism over the releases of these DVDs; only five volumes per season are distributed, which does not amount to the full length run, and so viewers have to rely on reruns to see any other episodes not currently available. The ongoing concern over Power Rangers as a whole not yet being released on DVD Box sets has led to continued debate and frequent petitions. As of February 2006, however, Buena Vista Home Entertainment maintains there are currently no plans for any Power Rangers boxsets in the near future. [link]

The lack of official season sets has led to the spawning of bootlegged copies of entire season runs distributed through online auction sites such as eBay.

The current Power Rangers DVD titles are:

Power Rangers on iTunes

Power Rangers episodes have recently become available on the iTunes Music Store site. So far, 77 Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers episodes are available, as are the first 17 episodes of Power Rangers Mystic Force.

Power Rangers on Jetix.tv

Power Rangers is one of several shows made available for free online streaming, on Jetix's official website [Jetix.tv]. This scheme allow's any US-based web-user to watch entire episodes up to two weeks after broadcast. Episodes are even sometimes released via the website before airing on TV.

Trivia

Characters

Rangers | Villains | Enemy Grunts | Monsters

See also

External links

Websites

Message Boards

Power Rangers
Television series:
MMPR - Alien - - - - - -
- - - - -
Movies
-
Key episodes
Day of the Dumpster - Green with Evil - The Wedding - Hogday Afternoon - Chase Into Space - Countdown to Destruction - Operation Lightspeed - The Fate of Lightspeed - Forever Red
Prelude to a Storm - Day of the Dino - Legacy of Power - Back in Black - Lost and Found in Translation - Fighting Spirit - Thunder Storm - Endings - Broken Spell - Dark Wish
Characters
Rangers - Villains - Enemy grunts - Monsters - Other Characters
Related series
Super Sentai - VR Troopers - Masked Rider - Big Bad Beetleborgs - The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog
See also
Fox Kids - ABC Kids - ABC Family - Toon Disney - Jetix - Saban - Disney - List of Power Rangers episodes - Zords

 


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