I recently heard that the Power Rangers franchise is ending after the latest season called RPM. Not only was I surprised it was ending but I was surprised that Power Rangers was still on the air. The Power Rangers franchise is based off the Japanese Super Sentai franchise about 5 teenagers given special powers to defeat various evil forces throughout the world and the universe. While Super Sentai began all the way back in the mid-70s, it wasn't adapted for the U.S until 1993. In many ways, the franchise was more of a success in the U.S. than in Japan! Back in the early 90s when the series debuted, to say it was a phenomenon would be an understatement! I mean if you were a child in the 90s, then mostly likely you were obsessed with Power Rangers and had at least 1 toy from the franchise. When the first season came out I was 5, the perfect age to be drawn in by this epic looking kids show. But as with adolescence, I lost interest around the early 00s and moved on. But looking back on the franchise that spawned 17 seasons, 2 motion pictures and millions of merchandise sold, you can see why Power Rangers was a cult classic for children between the ages of 5-12. I will show the high and low moments of the PR history but mostly drawing my opinion of the first 10 seasons out of 17:
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993-1996)
Season 1 Line-Up: Jason, Zack, Billy, Kimberly and Trini. Tommy followed.
Season 2 Line-Up: Tommy, Kimberly, Billy, Aisha, Rocky and Adam
Season 3 Line-Up: Tommy, Billy, Aisha, Rocky, Adam and Kat
Villians: Rita Repulsa (Season 1). Rita Repulsa/Lord Zed (Season 2 and 3)
Hightlights of the Seasons: The pilot episode, the Original Dinozord (simply freakin' cool), The Evil Green Ranger arc, the Thunder Megazord, The Ninjor arc and The Introduction of the White Ranger.
The Lows of the Seasons: The consistent replacing of cast members (Jason, Zack, Trini and Kimberly for Rocky, Aisha, Adam and Kat). The Alien Ranger Mini-Arc (very lackluster, even when I was a kid).
Overall: Season 1 of Power Rangers will always be legendary, it's the most remembered season and what generated the entire craze for Power Rangers. Season 2 and 3 were great, not as good as the first as Aisha, Kat, Adam and Rocky were mostly in the shadow of the original rangers they took over for. The only other real weak spot is the Alien Rangers mini-series as the show was in the middle of a transition between incarnations of the Power Rangers and felt like it had to stale until Zeo started. Anyway, Rita is without a doubt the best villain of the series and Lord Zed probably the most badass, even having to be toned down because parents thought he was too scary for kids. This is my favorite incarnation and the best seasons as Mighty Morphine brings out the most nostalgia out of me.
Power Rangers Zeo (1996-1997)
Season 4 Line-Up: Tommy, Kat, Adam, Rocky and Tanya. Jason followed.
Villains: The Machine Empire
Highlights of the Season: Cool new villains, new exotic costumes, The new command center aka Command Chamber, The Gold Ranger arc and Jason returns to become the new Gold Ranger.
Lows of the Season: Billy is no longer a ranger and there's no real ending to the Zeo powers.
Overall: Zeo is a hard season to remember for me, not because it was bad, it actually was a great successor to the first 3 MMPR seasons. What I do remember was the awesome theme song which I still remember to this day. Also, I can't forget Jason coming back as the Gold Ranger; it was so cool having him back as he is probably the best ranger of the entire series. Although I wish this season gave Billy more to do as he became more of a second Alpha and by season's end abruptly left. Even so, what I do remember was really cool, the new morphers were nice and the new costumes were excellent being inspired by Egyptian mythology. Also, Tanya was as Aisha replacement was expectable even thought I wonder how an African girl from a tribe could quickly adapt to American life so smoothly, lol.
Power Rangers Turbo (1997-1998 )
Season 5 First Line-Up: Tommy, Kat, Tanya, Adam and Justin
Season 5 Second Line-Up: T.J., Cassie, Carlos, Ashley and Justin
Villian: Divatox
Highlights of the Season: The Turbo Megazord, the Graduation episode, the Vampire episode, the robot rangers episode and season finale.
Lows of the Season: Justin, Zordon and Alpha 5 leave, Dimitria and Alpha 6 enter and mid-season replacements.
Overall: Besides MMPR, this is the season I remember the most. The Turbo saga started with the release of the second Power Rangers movie, which wasn't as good as the first and sorta bombed. The transition between Zeo and Turbo was probably the weakest transition of power rangers as there was no real ending to the Zeo powers and there was never really an explanation as to where the Turbo powers came from. Anyway, the Turbo Rangers were another cool version of the power rangers and the Turbo Megazord has to be my favorite among zords as the turbo megazord was the first power rangers toy I bought as a kid. Divatox, while not the most sinister villain, was among the funniest or probably the funniest villain of the series. While the abrupt replacement rangers mid-season were hard to get use to as they really don't become their own until the following season in space, but they weren't terrible. Now as for Justin, looking back, he was quite annoying. It was cool seeing a kid getting to be a power ranger but seriously, sometimes it felt like the other 4 were babysitting him throughout the whole saga. But this was def a fun installment in the franchise.
Power Rangers In Space (1998-1999)
Season 6 Line-Up: Andros, T.J., Carlos, Ashley and Cassie. Zhane followed.
Villains: Astronema. Darconda followed
Hightlights of the Season: Andros, whole new setting, cool concept, Zhane/Silver Ranger arc, the Zhane/Astronema romance, the Psycho Rangers episode, TMNT crossover episode, Andros' lost sister storyline, the revelation of who his sister is, Darkonda and the season finale.
Lows of the Season: End of the Zordon Era
Overall: In Space has to be the best season since the first up to this point. In retrospect, it has some of the most mature storylines of any season and the new setting in space was a refreshing change for the series. The replacement turbo rangers are more likeable and cool here because they come into their own and Andros has to be the best red ranger/leader after Jason and Tommy. Andros is tough, had a tough life, especially losing his sister at a young age. I really liked this storyline as it's the most thing I remember looking back on this season. It was a nice reveal with Astronema being his sister as it's the first time the hero and villain were connected on a personal level. It was original (ish) stuff like that made this season really standout. I also loved the introduction of Zhane, the Silver Ranger as he was a great addition, especially the back story of the character, the brother like relationship he had with Andros and his little romance episode with Astronema. Drakanda was one of the best villians to come from the series as he was much darker than the others and loved how he tied into Andros' storyline. This season of power rangers also marks the end of the Zordon era as Andros kills Zordon whose essence destroys all the evil in the universe. It's a very epic finale which brought the first 6 seasons full circle as past villains were defeated for good and the war that Zordon was fighting for had finally ended.
Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (1999-2000)
Season 7 Line-Up: Leo, Kai, Damon, Kendrix and Maya
Villians: Scorpius. Trakeena followed.
Highlights of the Season: The premiere episode, The Psycho Rangers return, the Manga Defender, the lights of Orion, the force field episode, Karone returns and the season finale.
Lows of the Season: Kendrix's death
Overall: After pretty much rapping up the first 6 years, Lost Galaxy was the first power rangers season to start from scratch, a whole new set of rangers with new different missions. I really liked lost galaxy and remember watching the premiere like it was yesterday. The concept was cool with the Quasar Sabers being like 5 swords in the stone that chose 5 people to become power rangers. Also the Tera Venger setting had a nice "Star Trek for Kids" feel. Leo was a cool rebellious character and I how he's thrown into becoming a power ranger after losing his brother, Mike. It's because of his brother's sacrifice that he dedicates himself fully into becoming a Power Ranger. I liked the Manga Defender, especially the storyline with his son, which was pretty sad. I also liked how they connected his story with Mike's sacrifice. It was also great watching Mike become the Manga Defender. This season also marked the tradition of old rangers from the last season teaming up with the current rangers. Watching the Space rangers and Galactic rangers team-up against the Psycho Rangers was awesome but ultimately sad how it led to Kendrix's death. At the same time, it gave the opportunity for Karone to return and have redemption as the new Pink ranger. In the end, this was a good season with another awesome finale and those galacta beasts were some badass zords.
Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue (2000-2001)
Season 8 Line-Up: Carter, Joel, Chad, Kelsey and Dana. Ryan followed.
Villains: Diabolico. Olympius followed.
Hightlights of the Season: The Ryan/Titanium Ranger arc, the Galaxy Rangers return, Olympius rises to power, Joel's crush on Ms. Fairweather, the amnesia episode, the Cyborg Rangers, the Supertrain Megazord and V-Lancers.
Lows of the Season: the season finale
Overall: I think what's so unique about this season was it was the first season where there were no alien villains, no mystical or extraterrestrial powers for the Power Rangers and no secret identities. The Lightspeed Rangers' powers and zords were man-made and the villains were demons this time. Again, this was a nice change for the series and it was nice seeing Earth actually more involved with the evil that threatens them. I think my favorite part about the series was Ryan's storyline and the intro of the Titanium Ranger. While it was a rehash of the original Evil Green Ranger storyline, it was slightly different as Ryan was the son of Captain Mitchell and was the brother Dana, the Pink ranger. It was a touching little storyline with the Captain losing his son and I loved how father/son/daughter reunite. Also, Joel had some hilarious moments when chasing after Ms. Fairweather and her always some how shutting him down. The demonic villains were cool, especially Olympius once he took over Diabolico. Not as good as Lost Galaxy and especially not In Space, but the Ryan story was another mature storyline for the series which made it very watchable and man, did I love that Supertrain Megazord!
Power Rangers Time Force (2001-2002)
Season 9 Line-Up: Wes, Jen, Lucas, Katie and Trip. Eric followed.
Villain: Ransik
Highlights of the Season: The Time Travel concept, the costumes, Eric the Quantum Ranger, Wes' father issues, Jen as the leader, The Lightspeed rangers return and the season finale.
Lows of the Season: The Silver Guardians
Overall: What I liked most about this season was the time travel angle and the year 3000 setting. The way the season began was pretty cool with Ransik escaping in the future going to the past to change history. It kinda made the Power Rangers mission in this season much greater as the consequences of them losing would literally change the world for the worse. I also loved Jen, as she was the first female power ranger to really take charge and was the leader of the group. I also loved how her fiancee's death triggered Jen's attitude throughout the whole season and lead to her romance with Wes. Wes was a good character and his struggling relationship with his father was played out well. Also Wes's rivalry with Eric was fun to watch, even if the character was a bit of d!@k. My only problem was the rest of the Silver Guardians were useless considering Eric was the only ranger among them. Ransik wasn't the most sinister villain but was the last real tolerable villain of the series. Time Force is also the last season I truly watched and enjoyed as what's to come saw the Power Rangers franchise taking a horrible plunge into garbage.
Power Rangers Wild Force (2002-2003)
Season 10 Line-Up: Cole, Taylor, Max, Danny and Alyssa. Merrick followed.
Villain: Master Org
Highlights of the Season: The Time Force Rangers return and the Forever Red episode.
Lows of the Season: Everything else!
Overall: I watched very few bits and pieces of Wild Force aka the two moments I just mentioned. Why? Because this is where power rangers completely fell apart, I really didn't like the concept for this season or much of anything else, even the theme song irritated the hell out of me. Cole was probably the worst red ranger ever at this point and the rangers' personalities as a whole starting feeling flat. Also this season is where they started using too much of the CGI instead of more of the Japanese footage. But what makes this season worth watching is because it's the 10th anniversary season which lead to return of the past 9 rangers from the past 9 seasons. It's one of the best episodes of the series as fans get to see some of their favorites like Jason and Tommy fight again with their old costumes from the early years of the series. It's definitely a power rangers' episode I loved watching over and over again til this day and shows just how great this series began but ultimately how lackluster it became, starting with this very season. Not to mention, this was the season where Disney took over the franchise and they obviously are to blame for why the series took a turn for the god awful!
Power Rangers Ninja Storm (2003-2004)
Power Rangers Dino Thunder (2004-2005)
Power Rangers SPD (2005-2006)
Power Rangers Mystic Force (2006-2007)
Power Rangers Operation Overdrive (2007-2008 )
Power Rangers Jungle Fury (2008-2009)
Power Rangers RPM (2009)