Twenty
years ago, five teenagers with attitude leapt on to our TV Screens
and captured our imagination. Jason, Billy, Kimberly, Zack and Trini
were the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, chosen by the great and
powerful Zordon to battle the threat of Rita Repulsa – an evil
space witch who wanted to enslave or destroy earth.
The
show has survived cancellation three times – once in 1998, again in
2002 and more recently in 2009 when Disney sold the series back to
Haim Saban who has gone on to produce Power Rangers Samurai and Power
Rangers Mega Force. Twenty years on, I’m still as passionate about
the series as I was when it first began – it’s legacy is
impressive, and the Rangers still hold a place in the hearts and
minds of big kids everywhere.
2013
– 2014 marks the 20th
Anniversary of Power Rangers, so to celebrate, here’s my Top 5 Best
seasons of the show so far:
5.
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (1993 to 1995)
Purely from a standpoint of childhood nostalgia, I look back on Mighty Morphin’ very fondly. Having watched the series that Season 1 was adapted from, I can hardly say it did the source material justice but there were things that Mighty Morphin’ did very well – particularly in the first two seasons. The character-base was brilliant, the five teens with attitude were well defined and were interesting to watch. Each had their own unique personality and traits, brought something to the group the others didn’t or couldn’t, and made for a great viewing experience. There was comedy, drama, tension and awesome action scenes – what more could one ask for?
Despite
being looked upon as being a one-dimensional series – MMPR saw the
characters grow and develop over time. The character arc with Tommy
was probably the thing I will remember most fondly about MMPR. The
guy who started out evil, turned to the side of good, had his powers
taken away, restored, drained for the last time, and then returned to
lead the team as the White Ranger. Bulk and Skull went from being
the token bullies who only served to annoy, to being fiercely
determined to find out who the Power Rangers really were, and finally
giving up on that dream to become Junior Police Officers.
For
the most part, the villains weren’t dangerous – Goldar, Squat,
Baboo and Rito Revolto in particular were just stupid and goofy,
Finster seemed more content serving Rita than conquering the
universe, and Rita Repulsa wasn’t as threatening as her Japanese
counterpart. Lord Zedd kinda pushed the boundaries a little, brought
that fear factor to the show and showed us what a really scary and
dark villain was like – but was watered down toward the end of
Season 2 due to complaints from parents that he was too scary.
A
lot of fans look upon Mighty Morphin as being the definitive series
of Power Rangers, but for me, it lacks the bite of the later seasons
which are far better developed, structured and executed as a whole.
For me, it has great nostalgia value, is a great reminder of the
1990s, and deserves it’s place as a Kid’s TV Classic, but it is
far from being the best series of the show. The cast changes that
took place over three years with four major characters being forced
out or leaving of their own volition took its toll on the series, and
by the time Zeo came around, the show was suffering for it. But the
campiness, stupidity and fun was well worth the watching.
4.
Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue (2000)
Lightspeed Rescue wasn’t universally loved when it first came out. It was the first season to make a clean break from previous continuity, standing completely alone in the now-expanding Power Rangers universe. Whilst Power Rangers In Space had brought the end to six years of continuing storylines, Power Rangers Lost Galaxy was something of a hybrid – keeping a sense of continuity with Bulk, the Astro Megaship and even an Alpha Robot in the series. Lightspeed Rescue was the bold step forward with no ties to previous continuity – and had the first Power Ranger team created by human science and technology, and not magic.
For
me, it’s a winner. It’s something new, different and exciting we
never had before. It’s akin to movies where the Government has
created Federal Agencies to tackle major threats from outer-space.
In this case, it’s demons from our own planet who ruled the planet,
and wish to reclaim the land their Palace was built on thousands of
years previously, which is now the city of Mariner Bay.
The
characters are adults – they have careers, skills, experience and
attributes that they bring to the team – fire-fighting,
expert-pilot, aquatic stunts, climber and a paramedic, they’re the
best of the best – it’s not ‘teenagers with attitude’, it’s
honouring real heroes who put their lives on the line every day of
the week to keep us safe and I truly think Saban’s team did an
excellent job in paying tribute to these people in choosing the
characters they did. However, with the dynamics of the team and the
way they have been thrown together, there’s still learning curves,
obstacles to overcome and lessons to learn. The cast are well-chosen
for their roles and work well together, and play off one another
perfectly. There’s genuine chemistry here which reminds us of the
original five Rangers from 1993.
Further
to that, I believe it is the first Power Ranger season to follow the
storyline of the Super Sentai original, which works perfectly here.
The storyline is good enough to follow, and with some additions such
as the Titanium Ranger (The
first US-created Ranger),
there was a depth to Lightspeed Rescue, which sets it apart from
other Ranger seasons.
3.
Power Rangers: Dino Thunder (2004)
Out of all the seasons that Disney produced, this one was by far my favourite. The villain, Mesagog is completely different to the villains who proceeded him, that being that he’s basically an experiment gone wrong, and became the living, breathing alter-ego of the scientist, Anton Mercer, who is at constant odds with the beast, who’s bent on bringing back the age of the Dinosaurs. He’s cold, he’s calculating, there’s nothing redeeming or humane about him – he’s just pure, unrepentant evil through and through.
In
a bid to unify the universes of Disney and Saban, they brought back a
fan-favourite – Tommy, to clock up his fifth incarnation as a
Ranger – this time graduating to Black Ranger. Now, this as
fan-service is awesome, but it also adds a new dimension to the
series. Tommy acts as the team’s new mentor, passing on his years
of experience as a Ranger, and being brutally honest, there’s no
veteran Ranger better for a new team to learn from. Tommy was
introduced to the franchise as a servant of evil, who suffered the
painful loss of his powers twice – the first very quickly; the
second, a more protracted affair. He then served as the team’s
leader when he returned as the White Ranger, fought very different
type of villain as the Red Zeo Ranger when the Machine Empire
attacked earth, and sacrificed his powers mid-way through Turbo.
He’s seen it, done it and printed
the
T-Shirt.
Dino
Thunder is darker in tone than a lot of other Power Ranger seasons,
with underlying storylines of resentment, rivalry and deeply hidden
secrets, which rise up through the season, whilst still retaining the
fun-factor with the comic-relief characters, Cassidy (Wannabe
Reporter)
and Devin (Hopelessly
devoted sidekick, head over heels for her, locked in the ‘Friend
Zone’ until the final episode).
However,
it’s not without its flaws, mainly elements outwith the control of
the production department – Jason David Frank, who plays Tommy had
business commitments in the United States which meant he had to skip
a large part of the shoot (Power
Rangers has been shot in New Zealand since 2002),
cue Tommy being frozen in an amber block, stuck in his Ranger suit
for part of the season (even, it seems, unable to remove his helmet –
as they do so frequently in the Command Chamber!) and for the latter
part of his physical absence, turned invisible...! The other major
flaw was the fact that despite Doug Sloan and Ann Austen’s attempt
to veer away from the Sentai storyline for Abaranger (from
which much of the footage is drawn)
– when the White Ranger was introduced, they were forced to follow
and comply. And even when they turned their White Ranger, Trent, to
the side of good – the original Sentai footage saw their White
Ranger continue on as a bad guy. The only way around it? Easy –
clone him for American audiences...
On
the whole, it’s one I’d recommend watching – characters are
likeable, the episodes are well-written and the storyline is killer,
right until the end.
2.
Power Rangers Time Force (2001)
Time Force is an excellent season of Power Rangers. At the time, this raised the bar for the standard of a Power Ranger season. A mutant criminal, Ransik, from the Year 3000 breaks free from police custody and proceeds to take over a prison full of cryogenically frozen mutants, and is bent on taking them all back with him to the year 2001, where there is no Time Force Police to stop him. After ‘killing’ the original Time Force Red Ranger, Alex, his fiancée, Jen takes it upon herself and three of her colleagues – Trip, Lucas and Katie to chase him back in time, against the orders of her commanding officer. When they arrive in 2001, they are stranded, and try to activate the Time Force morphers – but cannot do so as the DNA code is locked and cannot be activated without a Red Ranger.
This
is when Wes, Alex’s ancestor from 2001 comes to the fore. Jen
tracks him down, begs him to use the morpher in order to unlock the
others. He eventually does so, but quickly has it snatched back from
him after Jen deems him unworthy of being part of the team. This is
of course until Wes comes to realise himself that he has nothing to
fight for, and never has done – having lived a life of privilege
from birth. But he still has a personal struggle – his father will
not allow him to carve out his own destiny, and continues to control
him. Wes makes the bold step to walk away from his father and joins
the Rangers in their new clocktower home.
Time
Force is all about carving out your own destiny. The Rangers are
fully aware that when they go back to the year 3000, a lot will have
changed in terms of world history – all brought about by Ransik’s
rampaging army, and their own interactions with people in this time
frame. The stories and subplots are fantastic, from Katie’s
(Yellow Ranger) fears about the changing of the future; Trip’s
(Green Ranger) feelings about his inadequacies, and position within
the group and Jen and Wes’s growing attraction to one another.
It’s also the first time we see a sixth ranger who is almost
completely peripheral to the team – Eric (The Quantum Ranger), who
is bent on driving himself to the top of his profession and
impressing his boss – Mr Collins, Wes’s dad, who has formed a
group called the Silver Guardians.
Possibly
for me, the best plot would have to be the changing relationship
between Wes and his father. Mr Collins discovers that Wes is a Time
Force Ranger, and doesn’t know how to take it, but later goes onto
form his own group which charges a premium to protect the City –
The Silver Guardians. Initially, he invites Wes to lead the team and
bring the Rangers with him, believing they could make a fortune. Wes
disagrees with this, knowing his work as a Ranger is a voluntary
sense of duty. It does not stop Mr Collins making the others an
offer however, which they begin to seriously consider before turning
it down to stick with Wes. However, over time, Mr Collins does begin
to understand Wes’s reasons for wishing to carve out his own
destiny, and in a heated exchange with Ransik, who’s invaded his
lab in search of a serum which he sorely needs to survive, he ends up
fighting for his life after telling the mutant how proud he is of his
son.
Eric
himself has a lot to prove and fights alone for much of the series,
reluctant to work with the Time Force Rangers. He’s struggled all
his life and continues to do so, he does not want pity, he wants to
be admired for what he’s going to achieve. As Quantum Ranger, he
takes up the leadership of the Silver Guardians and ups Mr Collins’
ability to tackle Ransik’s threats.
Ransik
replaced the Japanese leading villain, who still appears in the show,
but in a reduced role. He’s a complex character, shunned by
society who rejected him for being a mutant and later became
responsible for a criminal empire of mutants who decided to fight
back against the oppressive human race. He himself, however, has a
lot to answer for – after being bitten by another mutant and almost
being killed, a scientist took pity on him and gave him a serum which
saved his life – in recompense, Ransik killed the scientist and
burnt down his laboratory. Little does he know, that scientist would
later become one of his own followers, Frax, the robot who would
become so bitter toward Ransik’s cruel and bitter treatment that he
would try to destroy Ransik and the Power Rangers himself.
Time
Force is just an excellent adaptation of the Super Sentai series
TimeRanger, which follows the same storyline, and has a very positive
message accompanying the series throughout – choose your own path
and know no fear!
1.
Power Rangers In Space (1998)
By 1998, the show was facing cancellation – Turbo had been a flop and the series’ popularity was waning. The Producers were given one more year and season to wrap things up in a satisfactory fashion – and despite having their budget slashed, they produced one of the best Power Ranger seasons in the history of the show, and put right a lot of the problems that had plagued Turbo.
Power
Rangers In Space sees the villains from the past five seasons grouped
together as The United Alliance Of Evil – a group bent on
conquering the Universe, led by the Dark Spectre. The season follows
on from where Turbo left off – Zordon’s been captured, the
Rangers have lost their powers and Dark Spectre is seeking a new
commander to follow on Divatox’s success and complete the conquest
of earth. Despite Rita Repulsa and Divatox battling it out for the
job, he chooses the up and coming Astronema to finish the job.
However, they’ve reckoned without the Red Space Ranger, Andros, who
eventually lets the earth Rangers join him and provides them with new
powers to take on Astronema, and track down Zordon.
In
six years of Power Rangers, we had nothing like this before.
Storylines would unravel over time and provide a deeper and darker
series of stories, which continued throughout the course of the
season. Our Red Ranger for this season is a refugee from a planet
conquered by the United Alliance of Evil, and now fighting back
against them in rebellion for his people.
Villains
like Ecliptor, Astronema’s General, were dangerous, intelligent and
deadly, not like the goofy, stupid and dimwitted characters who had
been there previously. Worse still, villains like Darkonda were
plain nasty, wicked and uncompromising in pursuit of their goals –
even if it meant hurting or even killing those who considered him
their ally. Astronema as a leading villain was an interesting
concept – we would later find out that she was in fact the Red
Ranger’s long lost sister, who had been kidnapped years before and
brainwashed for the side of evil – abducted by Darkonda and raised
by Ecliptor, who despite his harsh exterior, truly loved and cared
for her as only a father-figure could.
The
Rangers who took over from the previous team also came into their own
at this point – you were endeared to them, they had more
personality, vibrancy and character to their credit, and the new
character, Andros, was a worthy Red Ranger. Even the introduction of
the sixth ranger was more interesting than what we had had before –
Andros had kept a secret from his team mates. His best friend Zhane,
who had been his partner in crime-fighting as the Silver Ranger, had
been mortally wounded in battle and frozen in ice to preserve his
body until a cure could be found to help him. Even when he is
revived, he finds his powers are limited and he finds he can only
fight for two and a half minutes before unmorphing – and so he
needs to find a solution to the problem before he falls prey to the
enemy.
Probably
the best part of the Power Rangers In Space saga was the Psycho
Rangers. Five monsters linked to the Space Rangers who provided this
team with the greatest challenge any team has had to face to date.
The battle against this opposing team was prolonged, kept the Rangers
on their toes and saw them faced with several moments when they would
seriously have to use their intelligence and skill to defeat the
enemy – including a full-team colour change to blue!
As
a final series, it did have some fan-service. We saw Johnny Yong
Bosch return as Adam, morphing into the Mighty Morphin’ Black
Ranger again, and Justin made a return to tie-up loose-ends from
Turbo. Probably my favourite team-up was the one they did with the
Ninja Turtles – if you haven’t seen it, go on Netflix, buy a DVD
or look it up on YouTube if it’s still there, it’s a good
episode.
Countdown
to Destruction
was intended to be the final episode of Power Rangers, and for the
first time ever, we saw what was likely to happen when earth finally
did
fall to its knees. The situation is hopeless, the universe is in the
grip of a massive invasion of evil forces, and planets across our
solar system are held by the Dark Spectre. Andros finally finds
Zordon, and he urges Andros to destroy his energy tube. This pretty
much marks the end of an era as Zordon’s energy wave spreads
throughout the galaxy and wipes out the forces of evil we’ve known
and loved to hate for six years. It’s a satisfying conclusion to
the journey.
