20 Years of Power Rangers by Jacob Harman : Pop Culture Leftovers

20 Years of Power Rangers by Jacob Harman

January 12, 2014 12:12 am | Leave your thoughts

On August, 28, 1993, the 1990’s and pop culture as a whole were changed forever. That was the day that episode one of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, ‘Day of the Dumpster’, debuted on TV. From that point on, the power ranger’s franchise has firmly held its ground in the world of pop culture. There aren’t many kid’s shows that can boast about getting kids up off the couch and into martial arts, or that have had over 800 episodes, or that have their own convention. Yet power rangers can and for good reason.

Now, before I continue, I should point out that I’m biased. I’m a bit of a power rangers fan. I have the special collector’s edition legacy morpher, along with custom ninjeti and alien ranger power coins. I have power ranger action figures on various shelves, a vinyl white ranger on my desk at work, and a giant 31 inch black megaforce ranger on my desk at home. This show literally changed my life by getting me into martial arts, and now I’m a second degree black belt, directly because of a kid’s show. Yet this show is so much more.

However, instead of delving into why power rangers is still around and has been for 20 years, let’s look ahead to the future. The next season of power rangers is titled ‘Power Ranger’s Super Megaforce’, which uses suits and footage from the Japanese sentai Gokaiger. Now by a funny coincidence, our 20th anniversary happens to align with Saban, the company that makes power rangers, getting the rights from Toei to use the Gokaiger footage. Gokaiger focuses on space pirate rangers who, with the use of ‘ranger keys’, can use the powers of past rangers, taking on their forms, wearing their suits, and using their weapons and finisher moves.

I’ve started watching Gokaiger in preparation for Super Megaforce, and I am hooked Big Time! The main zord is a giant, red space pirate ship – it doesn’t get much cooler! Not to mention the Gokaiger/SMF pirate themed suits and weapons are totally bad ass. I am curious as to how Saban will adapt the Toei footage, which is a bit more graphic than we see here in the states. By a bit more, I mean the red ranger threw his sword through a guy’s body, like Kill Bill status. Also, their blasters aren’t traditional blasters. They look like colored versions of old pirate guns. The bad guys even shot up a bunch of innocent people, and I think it’s safe to say that we won’t see that in the American version.

Now, lets focus on the ranger keys. They are small figures who’s legs flip up and out pops a key, which is inserted into the Morpher in order to change/morph. This is such a great idea for Bandai to make money and for collectors to spend money on. A simple little figure of every ranger. That’s right.

Every. Ranger. Ever.

Well, in the Japanese version, at least. You see, there were 15 other Super Sentai teams before Zyuranger, which was adapted into MMPR. Gokaiger uses the suits and powers from all of those 15 seasons prior to Zyuranger (and one season after we didn’t get, which is confusing). So that’s a total of 16 teams that have never been seen on American television, and thus presents a tight spot for Saban and Bandai, who makes the toys. If Saban doesn’t use any footage of non-american rangers then we’ll miss entire episodes, not to mention the gigantic legend war, where every ranger ever gets together and fights the big bad of the galaxy. Bandai made a killing on the ranger key toys, and while they sold well in Japan, the import market to the US was huge, and not just for american season rangers, but for the Japanese only seasons as well.

However, with the toys for SMF already on the shelves, it looks like we’re only getting American era rangers, not to mention how much smaller the US keys are compared to the Japanese keys. They’re almost a full inch shorter and way less detailed, despite the fact that Bandai knows collectors would pay for higher quality American releases. All they have to do is look at the sales of their Legacy line, which was to celebrate the 20th anniversary. It brought back the original morpher and megazord but bigger with improved electronics, and it’s all diecast. They even released a gold morpher with the Dragon/White Tiger coins, also bigger and diecast. With the new diecast dragon dagger and dragonzord being released, and a tigerzord and titanius most likely on their way, and with the success of the S.H. Figuarts MMPR line, Bandai is missing out on a business opportunity to make a killing with ranger keys.

However, a few seasons from now, we’ll get an American version of Kyoryuger, which uses special bullets called ‘beast batteries’, and they’re over 40 different batteries available. I’m sure Bandai will do something with those, since collectors have been eating them up. Yet they’ll probably be cheaply made compared to the much better Japanese ones, and collectors will be left to hunt on Ebay.

So, what will we see in SMF? The Legend War has been filmed, and Jason David Frank, who plays Tommy Oliver, aka the ranger who has been the most different rangers, was very generous with his Twitter photos. We’ve seen him back in white and green, and he even transferred his dragon shield to the green samurai ranger at one point. There are a bunch of veteran rangers coming back, though not nearly as many as we would have liked to have seen.

As for plot details, we know the Megaforce rangers are getting the Gokaiger powers and becoming Super Megaforce, but we aren’t sure about much else. In the Japanese series, there were 50 episodes and two movies dedicated to Gokaiger. SMF is getting 20 episodes, and that’s it. Will it be good? I’m sure. Great? Maybe. Power rangers as a whole is a Tupperware for me, while some seasons are Taste its, and even a toss it or two (Operation Overdrive was horrible, except ‘Once A Ranger’ episode that brought old rangers back). I’m going to watch it. I’m going to buy the toys and display them proudly on my shelf; and once the legend war is finished, I’m going to sit back, smile, and look back at 20 years of a pop culture phenomenon. Here’s to another 20 years. Sorry, I gotta go, Zordon is calling! May the power protect you!

20 Years of Power Rangers by Jacob Harman

Leave a Reply Cancel reply