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Power Rangers is an American entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live action children's television series featuring teams of costumed heroes. First produced by Saban Entertainment and later by BVS Entertainment, the premise for the series and much of its footage originated from the Japanese tokusatsu Super Sentai Series. Its first entry, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, helped launch the Fox Kids programming block in the 1990s during which it catapulted into popular culture along with a popular 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[update] consists of 17 television seasons, 15 different series, and two theatrical films. The latest[update] new series, Power Rangers: RPM, debuted on March 7, 2009.
ProductionAdapting the Super Sentai Series
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 1996).[2] 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. Broadcast history 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.[1][3][4][2] This resulted in Fox Family Worldwide becoming ABC Family Worldwide Inc.[4] This buyout also saw Saban Entertainment becoming BVS Entertainment, from News Corporation, Fox's parent company, and Haim Saban.[4] 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).[2] 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, currently ending all cable airings of Power Rangers in the United States. Several ABC affiliate broadcasting groups, most notably Hearst-Argyle Television and Allbritton,[citation needed] 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.[5] 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."[6] However, a couple weeks later, Bandai released a statement that "Disney is producing a Season 18 and Bandai America will continue to develop action figures and toys for fans and collectors of all ages."[7] Nonetheless, 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.[8] On October 1, 2009, Bandai released a press release that Disney would re-broadcast Mighty Morphin Power Rangers starting in January 2010 on ABC Kids. A new toy line will accompany the series and will appear in stores by the end of 2009.[9][10][2] SummaryThe Power RangersA Power Ranger is a fictional individual who "morphs" from an ordinary person into a powerful superhero — generally wearing a color-coded battle suit usually made of spandex or other skin-tight material and a helmet with an opaque visor.[11] In many cases, the helmet serves to protect his or her secret identity. 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-created series, unmorphed Rangers usually possess superhuman abilities such as super-speed or invisibility, attributes somewhat related to their Ranger abilities.[12] 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,[13] revealing his or her natural form underneath.[14] Helmets aside, the suits are donned and removed 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.[15] More recently[update] 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 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 (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. Ranger colorsAs 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. Red, Blue and Yellow are the only colors to appear in every Ranger team. 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 twice a Red Ranger) became the new Black Dino Ranger; he said that he had to go shopping because he did not own enough black-colored clothing.
[α] The second season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers featured Tommy Oliver as the Green Ranger and the White Ranger, although (with the exception of the Three-Part Mini-series Return of the Green Ranger) not concurrently. [β] The Titanium Ranger became the first original Power Ranger developed specifically for the English-language television series. [γ] In Time Force, the sixth ranger, the Quantum Ranger, has a red-colored suit distinguishable from the Red Ranger's suit by its black accents and the jagged arrows. [δ] Ninja Storm has the Crimson and Navy Rangers that wear suits of darker hues of red and blue, respectively. [ε] S.P.D. includes nine additional rangers, a final count of fourteen rangers — the most in all the history of the Power Rangers franchise. Both the Omega Ranger (who wears a White suit) and the Shadow Ranger (who wears a primarily Black suit) are regular characters, whereas the Kat Ranger (who wears a primarily Orange suit) and the Nova Ranger (who wears a Silver suit) are only seen for one episode each. The S.P.D. A-Squad wear the same colors as the main team. [ζ] Mystic Force has two allies who do not fall under the basic color schemes. The Solaris Knight wears gold armor over navy blue spandex and the Wolf Warrior wears dark red armor. [η] Jungle Fury has the Purple Wolf Ranger who wears a purple suit. The Shark Ranger (cyan), the Bat Ranger (black), and the Elephant Ranger (green) join Lightspeed Rescue's Titanium Ranger and S.P.D.'s A-Squad as characters with no basis in the Super Sentai footage. [θ] RPM features both a Gold Ranger (Ranger Operator Series Gold) and a Silver Ranger (Ranger Operator Series Silver). PremiseEach 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 this rule was disregarded in Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue, Power Rangers: S.P.D., Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive and Power Rangers: RPM, in which they were public servants (rescue squad, police officers, etc.). 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 the series. The original MMPR through In Space followed a story arc, with a gradually changing cast and characters over six years (such as Jason, Trini, Zack, 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 with Lost 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 Force's "Forever Red" episode featured all ten of the Red Rangers (sans Rocky) and Operation Overdrive's "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. Television series
DistributionInternational airingsPower 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[update]. As of 2006, Power Rangers aired at least 65 times a week in more than 40 worldwide markets.[31] 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 are 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.[citation needed] 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[32], S.P.D.[33], Magic Force, Treasure Force, and Wild Spirit.[34] Home mediaAs of October 2009[update], 33 DVD releases of Power Rangers have existed in the United States, namely:
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.[42][43][44][45][46][47][48] Additionally, Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder, S.P.D., Mystic Force, and Operation Overdrive saw complete boxset releases in the UK.[49][50][51][52][53] 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.[54] 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 and Dino Thunder were issued as bi-weekly volumes at newsstands. Online distributionThe 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[update], Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie is the only Power Rangers selection available via the iTunes store. Related mediaMasked RiderMain article: Masked Rider (TV series) Saban's Masked Rider is an American adaptation of the final series in the Shōwa period run of the Kamen Rider Series Kamen Rider BLACK RX. The character of Dex the Masked Rider, was introduced in a three-part story arc of MMPR. When the series premiered in 1995, any fictional connection to the Power Rangers was severed, making it an indirect spin-off of MMPR. Motion pictures The Power Rangers series has also generated two theatrical films, both distributed by 20th Century Fox. As of 2009[update], 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.
Power MorphiconThe Power Morphicon was the first Power Rangers Convention. It took place in Los Angeles in 2007. It celebrated fifteen years of Power Rangers on the air at the time, from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993) to Power Rangers Operation Overdrive (2007). A second convention is set to take place sometime during the summer of 2010 in Los Angeles.[57] See also
Characters
References
External links
Categories: Power Rangers | Fox network shows | American Broadcasting Company network shows | American children's television series | Toys of the 1990s | Toys of the 2000s | 1990s American television series | 2000s American television series | 1993 television series debuts | Television shows with named seasons | Action figures | Bandai brands | Superheroes | Jetix | ABC Kids | Television series by Buena Vista Television | Television franchises | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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