“Ah! After ten thousand years I’m free! It’s time to conquer Earth!”And with that a media juggernaut began here in the US.
August 28, 1993 marks the 20th Anniversary of the television broadcast of Day of the Dumpster; the first episode of the
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Since then the Power Rangers are thriving, currently on their 16th series.
Since 1993, a generation has not gone by without some iteration of the Power Rangers being on TV. In celebration of this occasion, let’s look back on some of the highlights of the franchise.
The Sixth Ranger
A recurring theme throughout the franchise has been the introduction of a sixth Ranger to the core five Rangers. Only in four series has there been an absence of an official sixth Ranger and on some occasions even a seventh Ranger is introduced. Usually when a sixth Ranger is introduced, they are given more power than the original Rangers and are given special armor to differentiate themselves from the original team such as a chest piece and a Zord that can form its own individual Megazord.
Evil Power Rangers
The Rangers usually spent their time battling monsters, but on special occasions, they would battle evil Power Rangers. The first instance being Tommy Oliver, the original Green Ranger, in the five-part arc entitled ‘Green With Evil’. At the culmination of the arc, the evil spell over Tommy is broken and he joins the other Rangers on the side of good.
In
Power Rangers: Ninja Storm, one of the aspects of the show advertised was that there were five Power Rangers, however two of them were evil. The Thunder Rangers were tricked into believing that the death of their family and destruction of their school was at the hands of the Ninja Rangers and their sensei. Even after the Thunder Rangers found out the truth about their parents and school, they didn’t officially join the team until later and instead were sort of brooding hero characters for the show.
Legacy
With the success of the Power Rangers, Saban Entertainment used this as a way to launch other series in the vein of Power Rangers where normal kids got special powers and battle suits to fight monsters. Here are some of the series the original Power Rangers spawned:
VR Troopers – Three teens discover a laboratory where they are told of a Virtual Reality world that exist filled with monsters who are bent on conquering both it and the human world.
Big Bad Beetleborgs – Three kids accept a dare to enter the haunted house of Hillburst Manor. The three meet a comedic ghost named Flabber after releasing him from a pipe organ. He grants the three their wish to become the Big Bad Beetleborgs; heroes from their favorite comic book series. However this wish also brought to life their sworn enemy who each week brought a monster from the comic books for them to fight.
Masked Rider – This series actually served as a spin-off to Power Rangers in America. In season three of
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Rangers travel to Alpha-5’s homeworld, Edenoi, where they meet Prince Dex who is also the hero Masked Rider. After a battle with Count Dregon’s forces, the Rangers return home, but not before Count Dregon himself follow them to Earth. Dex is then given to charge to go to Earth as well and defeat the Count.
Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation – Yes, believe it or not, because of the success of the Power Rangers franchise, it helped launch a live-action Ninja Turtles series. The Turtles even had a crossover episode in
Power Rangers in Space where they are turned evil and forced to fight the Rangers. However, the show only lasted one season and garnered negative reviews with even Turtles co-creator Peter Laird stating he never wants to hear about Venus de Milo (the female turtle) ever again.
We want to know some of the memories you have about the Power Rangers. Leave them in the comments below.
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