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Power Rangers is a long-running American children's television series adapted from the Japanese tokusatsu Super Sentai Series, 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 the Super Sentai Series' 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 daikaiju and mecha (referred to as "Zords" in the English series), are typically dubbed.

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 (from 1993 to 1996). The franchise has continued, and as of 2007 has consisted of 15 television series and two theatrical films. The fifteenth series, Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive, debuted on February 26 2007.

The Power Rangers series was distributed by Saban Entertainment from 1993 until the end of 2001 and was broadcast on Fox until the fall of 2002. The franchise was purchased by the Walt Disney Company as a part of the buyout that took place between 2001 and 2002. This resulted in Fox Family Worldwide becoming ABC Family Worldwide. This buyout also included Saban Entertainment becoming BVS Entertainment, from News Corporation, Fox's parent company, and Haim Saban. The show continued to air on Fox until its Fox Kids package was dismantled 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.

What is a Power Ranger?

A Power Ranger is a person who morphs from an unpowered form into a powerful superhero wearing a brightly colored battle suit (usually made of spandex) featuring a helmet with an opaque visor; 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 suit to protect them from strong blows.) A morphed Ranger generally possesses superhuman strength, durability, and hand-to-hand combat ability; unmorphed Rangers may possess other innate abilities (such as telekinesis, super speed, invisibility, great hand-to-hand combat ability, etc.) that 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 that seems to disappear beneath the helmet; and Daggeron, the Solaris Knight, transforms into his Ancient Mystic Mode 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. Sometimes, Rangers "de-morph" involuntarily due to powerful physical attacks.

Rangers regularly operate in teams of five, with a special sixth Ranger frequently joining the team part way into the series; 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 (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, 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 additional armor.

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 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.

Plot sequence

A normal Power Rangers episode can be broken down into a formulaic plot. 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 the minions/footsoldiers.
6. Evil enemy strengthens the minion and makes minion grow to gigantic proportions, followed by Rangers summoning giant machines known as Zords and/or their combined form, the Megazord.
   1. Optional: Rangers find that their current powers are insufficient to defeat minion and discover a new power, such as a Battlizer, or a sixth Ranger.
   2. Optional: Rangers find or receive new Zord/s, new Megazord or Megazord combo.
   3. Optional: Friends or allies show up to offer help or support.
7. Rangers fight and defeat that particular giant minion.
8. Rangers are shown back in everyday life, having learned a life lesson which solves the earlier dispute.

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 do not simply crush the small monsters by means of 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 Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue, Power Rangers: S.P.D. and Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive, in which they were public servants Following a Spartacus-inspired scene by Angel Grove's townspeople, this rule was also disregarded at the conclusion of Power Rangers in Space.) 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 Power Rangers in Space. 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 need be. There was also one instance when to maintain the trend of the Sixth Ranger for a series where only five existed in the source footage, the Titanium Ranger was created especially for Lightspeed Rescue.

In seasons following Power Rangers in Space, it became common for each team to be part of a separate storyline from those of previous incarnations. A tradition in later seasons came about such that two teams of Power Rangers teamed up to take on a villain. In Power Rangers: Wild Force, 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 seasons not to feature this team up are Power Rangers: Ninja Storm, due to a shift back to non-SAG talent when production was moved to New Zealand and Power Rangers: Mystic Force, due to a relatively short series length.

It is traditional that the arsenal of a Ranger team, especially the Zords, be destroyed at the end of the season in order to destroy the final monster, which is often the main villain. The Rangers also tend to give up their powers, though they remain available for later teaming-ups (For instance, at the end of Ninja Storm, the Rangers sacrificed their powers to imprison Lothor. Once Lothor was freed, however, they were able to get their powers back in order to fight him).

Variations between series

No two Power Rangers series are alike, and aside from a Ranger of each primary color, 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:

• Annual design theme, and whether or not it is incorporated into the American show
• Number of Rangers, both at the beginning and the end of a series
• Colors of Rangers outside of the primary colors, if any
• Gender of the Yellow and Blue Rangers
• Number of female Rangers, and the ratio thereof to male Rangers
• Hierarchy of team, including which Ranger is the actual team leader
• Situation of how the morpher is worn, and corresponding morphing call
• Affiliation of Rangers prior to and during the series
• Presence of a mentor and a headquarters
• One or more Rangers' relation to a series villain or fellow Ranger
• Source of the Rangers' power; it is usually magic, unconventionally advanced technology, or (as in Mystic Force) a combination thereof.

Seasons

Colors

Just like the Super Sentai series that Power Rangers is based off of, the color pallete of a Power Ranger team has varied greatly throughout the years.

Template:Ent The Titanium Ranger had no official color, but is often thought of as a Silver Ranger. He was also the first original Power Ranger developed for the English-language television series. Template:Ent Time Force was unique in that there were six rangers, but the sixth ranger, the Quantum Ranger, had a red-colored suit which was only distinguished from the Red Ranger's suit by its black accents and the jagged arrows. Template:Ent Ninja Storm had the Crimson and Navy Rangers that wore suits of darker hues of Red and Blue, respectively. Template:Ent SPD included nine additional rangers, a final count of fourteen rangers. Both the Omega Ranger (who wore a White suit) and the Shadow Ranger (who wore a primarily Black suit) were regular characters, whereas the Kat Ranger (wearing a primarily orange suit) and the Nova Ranger (wearing a silver suit) were only seen for one episode each. The S.P.D. A-Squad wore the same colors as the main team. Template:Ent Mystic Force had two allies who did not fall under the basic color schemes. Solaris Knight wore gold armor over navy blue spandex and the Wolf Warrior wore dark red armor.

Spin-off

Masked Rider is 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 three-part Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episode (A Friend in Need) before his own series was started. The Rangers themselves were never mentioned in the television run of Masked Rider, however, as Saban reformatted the series to sever links with Power Rangers, given that their popularity had been gradually beginning to slide following the first films. However, the Rangers were featured in the home video release of the Masked Rider story Super Gold, in the form of narrated clips from A Friend in Need, and also made a guest appearance in Masked Rider's short-lived comic book adaptation.

It has been heavily criticized for splicing random footage from the Kamen Rider Series' shows and films, to the point it was obvious that the Rider was wearing different costumes.

Motion pictures

The Power Rangers series have also brought forth two theatrical films, which were distributed by 20th Century Fox. As of 2007, Fox's home entertainment division, long after Fox's parent company News Corporation and Haim Saban sold Fox Family (currently ABC Family) and the Power Rangers franchise to the Walt Disney Company, still maintains worldwide home entertainment rights to these two Power Rangers films.

Music

The music of the series was originally produced by Ron Wasserman, and later by Jeremy Sweet. Simon Cowell commissioned a single release of the theme song at the height of the Power Rangers' popularity. It reached #3 on the UK singles chart in December 1994 and sold over 250,000 copies in total.

Recent distribution

Power Rangers on DVD

Currently, there are only 18 DVD releases of Power Rangers in the USA (as listed below).

The current Power Rangers DVD titles are:

• 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 Forever Red and White Light are amongst them)
• 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: S.P.D. Volumes 1-5 Boxset (UK), 2006, BVHE
• Power Rangers: Mystic Force Volumes 1-3, 2006, BVHE
• Power Rangers: Mystic Force Dark Wish, 2006, BVHE

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. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1 will also see a German release on May 25 2007, with seasons 2 and 3 tentatively being scheduled for July and December releases respectively.

Power Rangers on iTunes

Power Rangers episodes have recently become available on the iTunes Music Store. So far, part of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and all of Power Rangers: S.P.D. are available, and the first 26 episodes of Power Rangers: Mystic Force are as well.

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 allows any U.S.-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. However, most of the episodes have not yet begun streaming on the website and only sneak peeks and teaser trailers are available.

International

Power Rangers has always had success in foreign markets and still airs in many countries today, except for New Zealand.

• UK - Airs on Jetix UK and CITV
• USA - Airs on Toon Disney and ABC
• Australia - Airs on Channel Seven and FOX8
• France - Airs on TF1 and Jetix France
• Germany - Airs on Jetix Germany, Super RTL and RTL
• Middle East - Airs on MBC 3
• India-Airs on Jetix
• Canada - Airs on Family Channel
• Poland - Airs on Jetix Polish, Polsat and TV4
• Spain - Aired on Tele 5, Antena 3, Canal Megatrix, FoxKids Spain and now on Jetix Spain.
• Mexico - Airs on Jetix and Canal 5
• Brazil - Airs on Jetix Brazil and Rede Globo
• Chile - Airs on Jetix
• Latin America - Airs on Jetix
• Portugal - Airs on SIC
• Philippines - airs on ABS-CBN (Seasons 1-3, 5, 10-13); Studio 23 (Zeo) and Hero (Ninja Storm and Dino Thunder)
• Malaysia - Airs on RTM, initially sponsored by Litt Tak, the distributor of Bandai toys in Malaysia
• Singapore - MediaCorp TV 12 Central
• Indonesia - Airs on Indosiar, previously on RCTI
• South Africa - Airs on Mnet
• Zimbabwe- Airs on ZBC and Star Kidz and Kidz.Net
• Japan - All Power Rangers shows and movies are dubbed into Japanese for television and video. The voice actors are often pulled from past Super Sentai casts, which also leads to the English-dubbed action sequences being "re-dubbed" or "restored" back to Japanese as well.

Characters

• Rangers
• Villains
• Enemy Grunts
• Monsters

See also

• List of Power Rangers cast members
• List of Power Rangers voice actors
• List of Power Rangers villains
• List of Power Rangers monsters
• List of Power Rangers planets
• List of Power Rangers episodes
• Zord
• Battlizer
• Super Sentai
• VR Troopers
• Masked Rider
• Big Bad Beetleborgs
• Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills
• Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad

References

1. "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1 in Forums > Discs & Movies at DVDActive". Retrieved 2007-05-15.
2. "alphamusic: Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers - The Complete Season 1 (DVD)". Retrieved 2007-05-15.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Power Rangers" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

External links

• Jetix' Official Power Rangers website
• Official Disney Power Rangers Websites
• Template:Tv.com show
• Power Rangers Universe Wikia

• Articles that may contain original research from June 2007
• Power Rangers
• Fox network shows
• American Broadcasting Company network shows
• Children's television series
• 1990s fads
• 1990s American television series
• 2000s American television series
• Action figures
• Bandai brands
• Jetix