Power Rangers

Power Rangers

Power Rangers is a long-running American entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live action children's television series featuring teams of costumed heroes. First produced bySaban Entertainment, later by BVS Entertainment, and now by SCG Power Rangers LLC, the series took its initial premise and much of its footage from the Japanese tokusatsu Super Sentaifranchise. Its first entry, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, debuted on August 28, 1993, and helped launch the Fox Kids programming block of the 1990s, during which it catapulted into popular culture along with a line of action figures and other toys by Bandai. Despite initial criticism for its action violence targeted for children, the franchise has continued, and as of 2009 the show consists of 17 television seasons, 15 different series, and two theatrical films. In 2009, production of Power Rangers ceased and the last new series, Power Rangers: RPM, ended on December 26, 2009. Beginning in January 2010, the original series was rebroadcast in lieu of a new series utilizing footage from the 2009 Super Sentai television series. On May 12, 2010, it was announced that Saban had bought back the rights to the franchise and has plans to premiere the 18th season with 40 new episodes on the Nickelodeon network.

Premise

The Power Rangers

The titular Power Rangers are individuals who "morph" from ordinary people into powerful superheroes. They generally wear color-coded battle suits (usually made of spandex or other skin-tight material) and helmets with opaque visors. In many cases, the helmets serves to protect their secret identities. In some cases, more powerful Rangers may have extra shielding on their suits to protect them from strong blows. A morphed Ranger generally possesses superhuman strength, durability, and ability in hand-to-hand combat. Starting with the Disney series, unmorphed Rangers usually possess superhuman abilities such as super-speed or invisibility, attributes somewhat related to their Ranger abilities.

Rangers appear to retain their original physiology beneath their suits when in morphed form: viewers have seen Rangers' helmets removed or broken on numerous occasions, revealing his or her natural form underneath. Helmets aside, the Rangers don or remove suits nearly instantaneously - with a glow of light or some other effect. Rangers can also be "de-morphed" involuntarily when suffering significant physical damage.

Rangers regularly operate in teams of five, with a special sixth Ranger frequently joining the team part way into the series. More recently a core team of three will later expand to include additional Rangers. Each Ranger's suit and energy spectrum will match a specific color, with red, yellow, and blue joined by some combination of pink, green, black, or white. Rangers may take their names fom their respective colors (Red Ranger, Blue Ranger, etc.) but sometimes also use numbers or other names. 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 (in Time Force, there were two Rangers with red-colored costumes; the first was the Red Time Force Ranger, the second was the Quantum Ranger). Each team's costumes are nearly identical aside from color and helmet design (most notably the shape of the opaque visor) and perhaps a numerical designation. Any additional Rangers will regularly have additional costume modifications, usually some form of altered suit design and/or armor.

Each team of Power Rangers, with a few exceptions, obeys 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. Thus the Power Rangers may not use their Ranger powers for personal gain or for escalating a fight(which explains why the Rangers do not simply crush the small monsters by means of their Megazord). Nor may the Power Rangers disclose their identities to the general public, barring extenuating circumstances - although public servants (rescue squad, police officers, etc.) appearing as Rangers disregarded this convention in PowerRangers: Lightspeed Rescue, Power Rangers: S.P.D., Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive and Power Rangers: RPM. The penalty for disobeying these rules, at least in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, would be the loss of their power.

The Power Rangers have a somewhat standardized arsenal: each Ranger generally carries 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 will usually receive motorcycles 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 Power Rangers in Space (up through Operation Overdrive). Although much of the arsenal can also be found in the originating Super Sentai Series, there are usually some that are original to the American productions. In one instance, an original Power Ranger, the Titanium Ranger, was created especially for Lightspeed Rescue to add a sixth Power Ranger to theseries.

The series from the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (MMPR) through In Space followed a story arc, with a gradually changing cast and characters over six years (such as Jason, Zack, Trini, and Kimberly leaving in MMPR or Tommy,Adam, Tanya, and Kat leaving in Turbo). Although Lost Galaxy had ties with the previous story arc, it and the series that followed generally followed a self-contained storyline, independent of previous Power Rangers series. Also beginning withLost Galaxy, an episode (or two) were dedicated to a crossover with the most recent previous series. The two anniversary series Wild Force (#10) and Operation Overdrive (#15) featured crossovers with characters from multiple series: Wild Forces "Forever Red" episode featured all Red Rangers of the first ten seasons (minus Rocky) and Operation Overdrives "Once a Ranger" featured Power Rangers from the four previous series and Adam from MMPR. Ninja Storm, Mystic Force, Jungle Fury, and RPM did not feature any crossover episodes (Dino Thunder featured a crossover with Ninja Storm and characters from both Ninja Storm and Mystic Force appear in "Once a Ranger"). At the end of a series, the Power Rangers usually sacrifice their weapons, Zords, or powers in order to defeat the lead villain they had fought during the series. Should the villain ever return (such as in a crossover episode during the following series), the Rangers are able to access their powers one final time.

Ranger colors

As in the Super Sentai Series that provided the basis of the Power Rangers series, the color palette of a Power Ranger team has varied over the years. Only Red, Blue and Yellow appear in every Ranger team. The most common color that does not appear every year is Pink, followed by Green, Black, and White. Other colors and designations also appear throughout the series, such as metallic colors, violet, and "Shadow", as well as protagonists who have powers and costumes similar to those of the Rangers but are not called "Power Rangers", such as the Blue Senturion and Koragg the Knight Wolf.

The Rangers' color designations influence their wardrobe throughout the series: their civilian clothing often features the same color as their Ranger color. A joke highlighted this correlation in Dino Thunder when Tommy Oliver (a former Green Ranger, White Ranger, and Red Ranger) became the new Black Ranger; he said that he had to go shopping because he did not own enough black-colored clothing.

Production

Adapting the Super Sentai Series

Rather than making an English dub or translation of the Japanese footage, Power Rangers programs consist of scenes featuring English-speaking actors (either from the United States, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand) spliced with scenes featuring either Japanese actors dubbed into English or the action scenes from the Super Sentai Series featuring the Rangers fighting monsters or the giant robot (Zord and Megazord) battles with English dubbing. In some series, original fight scenes are filmed to incorporate characters or items unique to the Power Rangers production. Like many of Saban Entertainment's previous ventures in localizing Japanese television for a Western audience, the plot, character names, and other names usually differ greatly from the source footage, though a few seasons have stayed close to the story of the original Super Sentai season.The series that began the franchise, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (an American adaptation of the 1992 Japanese Super Sentai Series, Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger), began broadcasting as part of the Fox Kids block of programing that aired on the Fox network. It lasted for three seasons (from 1993 to 1995).

Broadcast history

The Saban Entertainment run of the franchise — beginning with Power Rangers in Space — used this version of the Power Rangers logo Saban Entertainment distributed the Power Rangers series from 1993 until the end of 2001, and Fox broadcast it until the fall of 2002. The Walt Disney Company purchased the franchise as a part of a buyout that took place in 2001. This resulted in Fox Family Worldwide becoming ABC Family Worldwide Inc. This buyout also saw Saban Entertainment becoming BVS Entertainment, from News Corporation, Fox's parent company, and Haim Saban. The show continued to air on Fox until the company replaced its Fox Kids package with "FoxBox" in the United States. Since September 2002, all Power Rangers shows have aired on various Disney-owned networks (ABC Kids, Toon Disney and Jetix channels worldwide). ABC Family, another Disney-owned network, also used to air Power Rangers until it did away with its Jetix timeslot after August 31, 2006. On February 12, 2009, Toon Disney ended in the wake of Disney XD, ending cable airings of Power Rangers in certain areas of the United States. Several ABC affiliate broadcasting groups, most notably Hearst-Argyle Television and Allbritton, have declined to air most of the Power Rangers series since 2006 due to the lack of FCC-compliant educational and informational content in the programs.

An article in The New Zealand Herald published on March 7, 2009 identified RPM as the last season of the Power Rangers run. Production manager Sally Campbell stated in an interview, "...at this stage we will not be shooting another season." A September 1, 2009, revision to Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia by Disney's head archivist Dave Smith states that "production of new episodes [of Power Rangers] ceased in 2009". On October 1, 2009, Bandai released a press release that Disney would re-broadcast Mighty Morphin Power Rangersstarting in January 2010 on ABC Kids. A new toy line accompanied the series and appeared in stores in the later part of 2009.ABC's over-the air telecasts ended on August 28, 2010, as they returned the hour back to their affiliates to do as they please.

In mid-2010, Haim Saban's Saban Brands bought the Power Rangers franchise back from Disney for $43 million and will produce a new eighteenth season of Power Rangers that will air on Nickelodeon in spring 2011, with the previous 700 episodes being rerun on Nicktoons. It was also announced that Saban plans to make a new Power Rangers movie. On July 26, 2010, it was announced that Saban Brands awarded the international television distribution rights for Power Rangers to MarVista Entertainment.

Television series

• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the longest-running series, aired from 1993 to 1995, spanning three seasons. In those three seasons, MMPR used footage, costumes, and props from three of the Super Sentai Series: Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger for season 1, Gosei Sentai Dairanger for season 2, and Ninja Sentai Kakuranger for season 3. In 2010, MMPR was re-versioned for broadcast.
  • Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers aired in early 1996 as a miniseries that served as a link between MMPR and Zeo. It also utilized footage and props from Kakuranger and featured the costumes used by the Kakurangers as the footage for the Alien Rangers.
• Power Rangers: Zeo aired in 1996 and featured the first change in costume for the American Power Rangers, using footage from Chouriki Sentai Ohranger.
• Power Rangers: Turbo aired in 1997 and also had a movie with the series, titled Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie which acted as the bridge between Zeo and Turbo, and introduced Justin Stewart, the youngest Power Ranger. Turbo used footage from Gekisou Sentai Carranger.
• Power Rangers in Space aired in 1998. It ended a story-arc concerning the character Zordon and introduced the Battlizer armor, unique to the American productions. The in Space series took footage from Denji Sentai Megaranger.
• Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy aired in 1999. Whereas all of the previous series featured interconnections in their casts and characters, Lost Galaxy used an entirely new cast of characters play the Power Rangers. It also began the trend of the "team up" crossover episode where the current team meets with the previous team to fight a common enemy. The series used props and footage from Seijuu Sentai Gingaman.
• Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue aired in 2000 and featured the first entirely American-produced Power Ranger, the Titanium Ranger. Lightspeed Rescue used footage, costumes, and props from Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive.
• Power Rangers: Time Force aired in 2001; it was the last series fully produced by Saban Entertainment. Time Force used footage and props from Mirai Sentai Timeranger.
• Power Rangers: Wild Force (the first series produced partly by BVS Entertainment) aired in 2002. As the 10th anniversary series, it also featured an anniversary crossover episode titled "Forever Red" where every series' original Red Ranger up until that point returned to fight a common enemy. Wild Force used footage and props from Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger. Wild Force was the final season to be filmed in the United States.
• Power Rangers: Ninja Storm aired in 2003. The first series produced entirely by BVS Entertainment and filmed in New Zealand, it did not feature a crossover episode, which originally made fans believe that it was in a separate continuity from the Saban seasons. Ninja Storm used footage and costumes from Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger.
• Power Rangers: Dino Thunder aired in 2004 and re-introduced Jason David Frank's character Tommy Oliver, who had previously appeared in Mighty Morphin, Zeo, and Turbo. Dino Thunder used footage from Bakuryū Sentai Abaranger. Tommy and the Ninja Rangers' appearances in Dino Thunder established the continuity between the Saban and Disney productions.
• Power Rangers: S.P.D. aired in 2005. Like its Japanese counterpart Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger it featured more than six Rangers, two of which only appeared once.
• Power Rangers: Mystic Force aired in 2006 and is the first series to have a cast of entirely Australians and New Zealanders, as well as the first BVS-produced series to not create a new antagonistic character, relying totally on the villain characters from its Super Sentai counterpart Mahou Sentai Magiranger.
• Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive aired in 2007 and was the 15th anniversary season for the franchise, featuring the crossover episode Once a Ranger that featured the return of Johnny Yong Bosch's character Adam Park. Operation Overdrive used footage and costumes from GoGo Sentai Boukenger.
• Power Rangers: Jungle Fury aired in 2008 and is the first BVS-produced series to introduce original Power Rangers, the Spirit Rangers. Like its Super Sentai counterpart Juken Sentai Gekiranger, Jungle Fury also featured the first Zordsused by the villains that could combine with the Power Rangers' Megazord in cooperation.
• Power Rangers: RPM, the seventeenth series, premiered in March 2009. It is the second series to take place in a futuristic setting and the first to take place in a post-apocalyptic setting. This series uses costumes and footage fromEngine Sentai Go-onger.

Distribution

International airings

Power Rangers has long had success in international markets and still airs in many countries today, with the exception of New Zealand, where the series filming takes place as of 2009. As of 2006, Power Rangers aired at least 65 times a week in more than 40 worldwide markets. Many markets carry or have carried the series on their respective Fox or later Jetix/Disney XD channels or have syndicated the program on regional children's channels or blocks, either dubbed into the local language or broadcast in the original English. In Japan, all Power Rangers shows and movies were dubbed into Japanese for television and video with the voice actors often pulled from past Super Sentai casts, leading to the English-dubbed action sequences being "re-dubbed" or "restored" back to Japanese as well. This stopped after Lightspeed Rescue. Bandai of Korea dubs the original Super Sentai series from Japanese into Korean and airs it as Power Rangers on JEI TV in South Korea and has so far had Dino Thunder,[25] S.P.D.,[26] Magic Force, Treasure Force, Wild Spirit, Engine Force, and Jungle Force.

As of October 2009, 33 Power Rangers DVD collections have been released in the United States:

• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, 1995; 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
• Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, 1997; 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie/Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, 1995, 1997; 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (DVD compilation set of both movies.)
• The Best of the Power Rangers: The Ultimate Rangers, 2003; BVHE (DVD compilation of episodes from five different seasons of Power Rangers. The episodes include Forever Red and White Light [Tommy's reintroduction as the White Power Ranger])
• Power Rangers: Ninja Storm Volumes 1–5, 2003; BVHE
• Power Rangers: Dino Thunder Volumes 1–5, 2004; BVHE
• Power Rangers: S.P.D. Volumes 1–5, 2005; BVHE
• Power Rangers: Mystic Force Volumes 1–3 and 'Dark Wish', 2006; BVHE
• Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive Volumes 1–5, 2007; BVHE (The release of an entire season for the first time in the US.)
• Power Rangers: Jungle Fury Volumes 1 & 2, 2008; BVHE(Volumes 3,4 & 5 are only available in the UK.)
• Power Rangers: RPM Volumes 1 & 2, 2009; BVHE Volumes 3 & 4, exclusive to Amazon.com, will also be available in the near future.

Power Rangers: RPM 'Bandai Demo DVD', 2009; BVHE (A promo DVD given away at Disney Stores. Contains the episode In or Out).

Internationally, additional DVD releases have occurred (such as Lightspeed Rescue, Time Force and Wild Force in Germany) and as free DVDs attached to the Jetix magazine, published in the UK. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1,Season 2, and Season 3, Power Rangers Zeo, Power Rangers Turbo, and Power Rangers In Space have been released in Germany as well, with Power Rangers Lost Galaxy due out in June 2009.[34][35][36][37][38][39][40] Additionally, Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder, S.P.D., Mystic Force, and Operation Overdrive saw complete boxset releases in the UK. In France, Mighty Morphin Season 1 and Season 2 have been released in their entirety in 5 episode DVD volumes, and the first 25 episodes of Season 3 were released in May 2008.[46] In Italy, Mighty Morphin, Zeo, Dino Thunder and S.P.D. have appeared in their entirety. Zeo and S.P.D. were made available as commercial DVDs, while Mighty Morphin andDino Thunder were issued as bi-weekly volumes at newsstands.

Online distribution

The iTunes Store previously made Power Rangers episodes available: part of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, all of Power Rangers: S.P.D., and the first 26 episodes of

Power Rangers: Mystic Force. As of July 2009, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie is the only Power Rangers selection available via the iTunes store.

Related media

Films

Teaser poster for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie The Power Rangers series has also generated two theatrical films, both distributed by 20th Century Fox. As of 2010, Fox's home entertainment division, long after Fox's parent company News Corporation and Haim Saban sold Fox Family (currently ABC Family), including Saban Entertainment and the Power Rangers franchise, to the Walt Disney Company, still maintains worldwide home-entertainment rights to both of these Power Rangers films. However, with the sale back to Saban, Paramount Pictures, part of the Viacom family of properties that includes Nickelodeon, could take over future video distribution rights.