Power Rangers

Power Rangers is an American entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise Super Sentai.  Produced first by Saban Entertainment, second by BVS Entertainment, later by Saban Brands, and today by SCG Power Rangers and Hasbro, the Power Rangers television series takes much of its footage from the Super Sentai television series, produced by Toei Company.  The first Power Rangers entry, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, debuted on August 28, 1993, and helped launch the Fox Kids programming block of the 1990s, during which it catapulted into popular culture along with a line of action figures and other toys by Bandai.  By 2001, the media franchise had generated over $6 billion in toy sales. 

Despite initial criticism that its action violence targeted child audiences, the franchise has been commercially successful. ,  Power Rangers consists of 27 television seasons of 20 different themed series and three theatrical films released in 1995, 1997 and 2017.  

In 2010, Haim Saban, creator of the series, regained ownership of the franchise after seven years under The Walt Disney Company.  In 2018, Hasbro was named the new master toy licensee.  Shortly afterwards, Saban Brands and Hasbro announced that the latter would acquire the franchise and the rest of the former's entertainment assets in a $522 million deal, with the first products from Hasbro becoming available in early 2019. 

Premise

Since Power Rangers derives most of its footage from the Super Sentai series, it features many hallmarks that distinguish it from other superhero series.   Each series revolves around a team of youths recruited and trained by a mentor to morph into the eponymous Power Rangers, able to use special powers and pilot immense assault machines, called Zords, to overcome the periodic antagonists.  In the original series Mighty Morphin, the wizard Zordon recruits "teenagers with attitude" against Rita Repulsa. 

When "morphed," the rangers become powerful superheroes wearing color-coded skin-tight spandex suits and helmets with opaque visors; identical except in individual rangers' color, helmet design, and minor styling such as incorporating a skirt.  Morphed Rangers generally possess enhanced strength, durability, agility and combat prowess.  Some possess superhuman or psychic abilities such as super-speed, element manipulation, extra-sensory perception or invisibility.  In addition, each individual ranger has a unique weapon, as well as common weaponry used for ground fighting.  When enemies grow to incredible size (as nearly all do), Rangers use individual Zords that combine into a larger Megazord. 

Rangers teams operate in teams of five or three, with more Rangers joining the team later.  Each team of Rangers, with a few exceptions, obeys a general set of conventions, outlined at the beginning of Mighty Morphin and implied by mentors throughout many of the other series: Power Rangers may not use their Ranger powers for personal gain or for escalating a fight (unless the enemy does so), nor may the Power Rangers disclose their identities to the general public.  The penalty for disobeying these rules is the loss of their power. 

As in Super Sentai, the color palette of each Power Rangers team changes every series.  Only Red and Blue appear in every Ranger team, while a Yellow Ranger has been present in every season except Power Rangers Dino Charge.   Other colors and designations also appear throughout the series.  A Rangers' color designation also influences their wardrobe throughout the series: civilian clothing often matches Ranger color. 

History

Adapting the Super Sentai series
Before creating Power Rangers, the idea of adapting Sentai series to the American public emerged in the late 1970s after the agreement between Toei Company and Marvel Comics to exchange concepts to adapt them to their respective audiences.  Toei, together with Marvel, created the Spider Man series, based on the comics of the same name, and produced three Super Sentai series, which had great success in Japan.  While Stan Lee and Marvel tried to sell the Sun Vulcan series to various television stations, including HBO, but unlike what happened in Japan, this did not succeed and after three years, the agreement ended. 

Several years later, another idea to adapt Super Sentai began in the 80s when Haim Saban made a business trip to Japan, in which, during his stay at the hotel, the only thing that was being transmitted on his television was the Japanese series "Super Sentai".  At that time, Saban was fascinated by the concept of 5 people masked in spandex suits fighting monsters, so in 1985, he produced the pilot episode of Bio-Man, an American adaptation of Choudenshi Bioman, which was rejected by several of the largest American television stations. 

Production of Power Rangers episodes involves extensive localization of and revision of original Super Sentai source material in order to incorporate American culture and conform to American television standards.  Rather than making an English dub or translation of the Japanese footage, Power Rangers programs consist of scenes featuring English-speaking actors spliced with scenes featuring either Japanese actors dubbed into English or the action scenes from the Super Sentai Series featuring the Rangers fighting monsters or the giant robot (Zord and Megazord) battles with English dubbing.  In some series, original fight scenes are filmed to incorporate characters or items unique to the Power Rangers production.  Like many of Saban Entertainment previous ventures in localizing Japanese television for a Western audience, the plot, character names, and other names usually differ greatly from the source footage, though a few seasons have stayed close to the story of the original Super Sentai season. 

Along with adapting the villains from the Super Sentai counterparts, most Power Rangers series also feature villains with no Sentai counterpart.  Generally, the primary antagonist of a Power Rangers series (for example, Lord Zedd, Divatox, etc.)  are not adapted from the Sentai.  Exceptions to this includes Mighty Morphin, Zeo, Lightspeed Rescue and a few others which only use villains adapted from the Japanese shows. 

The series that began the franchise, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (an American adaptation of the 1992 Japanese Super Sentai Series, Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger), began broadcasting as part of the Fox Kids block of programing that aired on the FOX network.  It lasted for three seasons (from 1993 to 1996). 

Hasbro announced National Power Rangers Day to be celebrated annually on August 28. 

Broadcast history

Saban Entertainment distributed Power Rangers from 1993 until the end of 2001, and Fox broadcast the series until the fall of 2002.  The Walt Disney Company purchased the franchise as part of a buyout of Fox Family Worldwide that took place in 2001.  Fox Family Worldwide subsequently became ABC Family Worldwide Inc. This buyout also saw Saban Entertainment becoming BVS Entertainment in 2002, from News Corporation, Fox's parent company, and Haim Saban.  The show continued to air on Fox Kids until its replacement by the 4Kids Entertainment-produced "FoxBox.  From September 2002, the series had aired on various Disney-owned networks, including the ABC Kids program block, ABC Family, Toon Disney, and Jetix-branded outlets worldwide.  When Wild Force ended, Disney moved production of the franchise from Los Angeles to New Zealand.  This resulted in the closure of MMPR Productions and the dismissal of many members of the production.  Jetix blocks would air in the United States on ABC Family and Toon Disney.  On February 12, 2009, Toon Disney was replaced with Disney XD, with Power Rangers being removed from the new channel's lineup.  Several ABC affiliate broadcasting groups, including Hearst Television, declined to air the series due to the lack of FCC-compliant educational and informational content. 

The Saban-era seasons used the "Saban's Power Rangers" moniker.  Although Mighty Morphin, Zeo and Turbo occasionally used the Saban Entertainment wordmark (albeit mostly for advertising), this did not become commonplace until In Space.  Wild Force also used the "Saban's Power Rangers" moniker pre-production prior to the Disney buyout before production began.  Since the re-acquisition of Power Rangers by Saban in 2010, this practice has continued once again starting with Samurai, and will continue with the Hasbro-era seasons. 

From 2005 until its discontinuation in 2007, Jetix aired reruns of the series, branded as Power Rangers Generations, and showcasing select episodes from Mighty Morphin through Dino Thunder. 

2008's Power Rangers Jungle Fury was originally set to be the final season, but due to obligations with Bandai, Disney produced one more season: Power Rangers RPM.  An article in The New Zealand Herald published on March 7, 2009, identified RPM as the last season of the Power Rangers run.  Production manager Sally Campbell stated in an interview, "...at this stage we will not be shooting another season."  A September 1, 2009, revision to Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia by Disney's head archivist Dave Smith states that "production of new episodes [of Power Rangers] ceased in 2009".  Production of Power Rangers ceased and the  series by BVS Entertainment, RPM, ended on December 26, 2009. 

On October 1, 2009, Bandai released a press release that Disney would re-broadcast Mighty Morphin Power Rangers starting in January 2010 on ABC Kids in lieu of a new series using footage from the 2009 Super Sentai television series.  A new toy line accompanied the series and appeared in stores in the later part of 2009.  On August 14, 2010, ABC's over-the air Power Rangers telecasts ended on the network's West Coast affiliates due to programming preemptions; the network stopped broadcasting the program altogether two weeks later on August 28, and subsequently returned the program's time slot to its affiliates. 

On May 12, 2010, Haim Saban bought back the Power Rangers franchise from Disney for $43 million and announced plans to produce a new season of the television series.  The eighteenth season, Samurai, began airing on Nickelodeon on February 7, 2011, with the previous episodes beginning rebroadcast on Nicktoons later that year.  It was also announced that Saban plans to make a new Power Rangers movie. 

On July 2, 2012, it was announced that Saban Brands would launch a Saturday morning cartoon block on The CW, called Vortexx, on August 25, 2012, that would air Power Rangers Lost Galaxy.  The series was removed before the season even finished, ending up doing so on the Vortexx website.  The block itself ended in fall 2014. 

To commemorate the series' 20th anniversary, Nickelodeon began airing Power Rangers Megaforce on February 2, 2013, featuring all of the past rangers from the series' 20-year history in the last episode of the season.  On October 1, 2013, Saban Brands announced that it had extended agreements with Nickelodeon and Bandai America Incorporated through 2016 for its globally recognized Power Rangers franchise.  The 90s Are All That aired Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as part of Mighty Morphin Weekend in 2013. 

In May 2014, Saban Brands and Lionsgate announced that they are planning to produce a new Power Rangers feature film, and would hopefully launch a Power Rangers film franchise.  The movie, titled simply Power Rangers, was released on March 24, 2017, with mixed reviews and a failure at the box office, as a result, the future of a cinematographic universe for the franchise is uncertain.  RJ Cyler, who starred in Power Rangers stated on August 20, 2018 that Hasbro has yet to announce any plans for a movie sequel. 

In January 2016, Saban and Nickelodeon extended their broadcast partnership through 2018.  In February 2018, the companies announced that Power Rangers would continue airing on Nickelodeon through 2021. 

Television series

The first six seasons (beginning with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and ending with In Space) followed an overarching, evolving storyline.  The second season began the annual tradition of the Rangers acquiring new Zords to battle enemies while the core suits from the first season were used, except for that of the White Ranger.  With the fourth season, Zeo, Power Rangers began following the Super Sentai series' practice of annual Ranger suit changes.  

Although the seventh season, Lost Galaxy, had ties with the preceding season, it was otherwise the first season to follow a self-contained story, as would later seasons of the show up until the seventeenth, RPM.  The season also began the tradition of team-up episodes featuring Rangers, villains, and other characters from past seasons.  

Beginning with the eighteenth season, Samurai, the show returned to a multi-season format similar to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, with self-contained storylines told across two seasons each. 

Feature films
The Power Rangers franchise has also generated three theatrical motion pictures.  The first two are distributed by 20th Century Fox, and the third film released in 2017 by Lionsgate. 

A new Power Rangers movie that will be a new reboot is in development by Paramount Pictures and Allspark. 

Distribution
Power Rangers has long had success in international markets and continues to air in many countries, with the exception of New Zealand, where the series filming takes place .  As of 2006, Power Rangers aired at least 65 times a week in more than 40 worldwide markets.  Many markets carry or have carried the series on their respective Fox or later Jetix/Disney XD channels or have syndicated the program on regional children's channels or blocks, either dubbed into the local language or broadcast in the original English.  Since the 2010 acquisition by Saban Brands, international television distribution rights for Power Rangers have been managed by MarVista Entertainment. 

Broadcast in East Asian territories has been treated differently from in other international markets due to the prevalence and familiarity of 'the Super Sentai brand originating in Japan.  Power Rangers was briefly banned in Malaysia for supposedly encouraging the use of drugs because it contained the word "Morphin'" in its title, which could be associated with morphine.  The show eventually aired without the offending word.  In Japan, many Power Rangers television seasons and movies were dubbed into Japanese for television and video with the voice actors often pulled from past Super Sentai casts, leading to the English-dubbed action sequences being "re-dubbed" or "restored" back to Japanese as well.  Power Rangers Mystic Force is the latest season to be broadcast in Japan on Toei Channel in January 2014, with the Magiranger cast voicing their counterparts.  After broadcast of Power Rangers ended in South Korea with Wild Force, Bandai of Korea started airing dubbed Super Sentai series under the 파워레인저 (Power Ranger) brand on JEI TV.  Some seasons of Super Sentai broadcast in South Korea have similarly named titles as their American counterparts, such as Power Ranger Dino Thunder for Abaranger in 2007 and Power Ranger S.P.D. in place of Dekaranger. 

Home media

, 33 Power Rangers DVD collections have been released in the United States:
 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; Buena Vista Home Entertainment (DVD compilation of episodes from five different seasons of Power Rangers.  The episodes include "Forever Red" and "White Light" [Tommy's reintroduction as the White Power Ranger])
 Power Rangers Ninja Storm Volumes 1–5, 2003; Buena Vista Home Entertainment
 Power Rangers Dino Thunder Volumes 1–5, 2004; Buena Vista Home Entertainment
 Power Rangers S.P.D. Volumes 1–5, 2005; Buena Vista Home Entertainment
 Power Rangers Mystic Force Volumes 1–3 and 'Dark Wish', 2006; Buena Vista Home Entertainment
 Power Rangers Operation Overdrive Volumes 1–5, 2007; Buena Vista Home Entertainment (The release of an entire season for the first time in the US.) 
 Power Rangers Jungle Fury Volumes 1 & 2, 2008; Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (Volumes 3-5 are only available in the UK.) 
 Power Rangers RPM Volumes 1 & 2, 2009; Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
 Power Rangers RPM 'Bandai Demo DVD', 2009; Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (A promo DVD given away at Disney Stores.  Contains the episode In or Out). 
 Power Rangers Samurai Volumes 1–5, 2012; Lionsgate Home Entertainment
 Power Rangers Samurai "Monster Bash" and 2 MMPR Halloween episodes; Lionsgate Home Entertainment
 Power Rangers Samurai "Christmas Together, Samurai Forever" and 2 MMPR Christmas episodes; Lionsgate Home Entertainment
 Power Rangers Super Samurai Volumes 1–4 plus The Complete Series; Lionsgate Home Entertainment

Internationally, additional DVD releases have occurred (such as Lightspeed Rescue, Time Force and Wild Force in Germany) and as free DVDs attached to the Jetix magazine, published in the UK.  Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3, Power Rangers Zeo, Power Rangers Turbo, and Power Rangers in Space have been released in Germany as well in both English and German, with Power Rangers Lost Galaxy only in German.  Additionally, Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder, S.P.D., Mystic Force, and Operation Overdrive saw complete boxset releases in the UK.  In France, Mighty Morphin Season 1 and Season 2 have been released in their entirety in 5 episode DVD volumes, and the first 25 episodes of Season 3 were released in May 2008.  In Italy, Mighty Morphin, Zeo, Dino Thunder and S.P.D. have appeared in their entirety.  Zeo and S.P.D. were made available as commercial DVDs, while Mighty Morphin and Dino Thunder were issued as bi-weekly volumes at newsstands. 

The iTunes Store previously made Power Rangers episodes available: part of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, all of Power Rangers S.P.D., and the first 26 episodes of Power Rangers Mystic Force.  Subsequent seasons and episodes of the program also made their appearances in the iTunes Store, but , Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie is the only Power Rangers film available.  In 2012, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1 volumes 1 & 2 were released on iTunes to coincide with the DVD releases.  As of February 2013, all 3 seasons of MMPR were released on iTunes. 

On June 15, 2011, all episodes of Power Rangers from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1 to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers re-version were made available for instant streaming on Netflix.  In 2015, Power Rangers became available on the iTunes Store. 

On March 12, 2012, Shout!  Factory announced a home video distribution deal with Saban, which includes the first 17 series of Power Rangers.  Shout!  Factory released the first seven seasons on DVD in August 2012, seasons 8-12 on November 2013, a 20-year collection on December 2013, and seasons 13-17 on April 2014. 

On March 22, 2012 Lionsgate Home Entertainment reached a home media distribution deal with Saban to release Power Rangers Samurai to DVD and Blu-ray. 

Toys
On February 15, 2018, Saban Brands announced that their 25-year partnership with Bandai will end in 2019.  The next day, it was confirmed that Hasbro will be the new "global master toy licensee" for the franchise starting in April 2019, with a future option for Hasbro to buy the entire franchise. 

Video games

Comics

Power Rangers has had several series of comics over the years. 

 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Hamilton Comics, 1994-1995. 
 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Marvel Comics, 1995-1996. 
 Power Rangers Zeo, Image Comics, 1996. 
 Power Rangers Turbo, Saban Powerhouse, 1997. 
 Power Rangers Ninja Storm, Disney Adventures, 2003. 
 Power Rangers Ninja Storm, Tokyopop, 2003-2004. 
 Power Rangers Ninja Storm, Jetix Magazine, 2003. 
 Power Rangers Dino Thunder, Tokyopop, 2004. 
 Power Rangers Dino Thunder, Jetix Magazine, 2004. 
 Power Rangers S.P.D., Jetix Magazine, 2005. 
 Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, Jetix Magazine, 2007. 
 Power Rangers Super Samurai, Papercutz, 2012. 
 Power Rangers Megaforce, Papercutz, 2013. 
 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Papercutz, 2014. 

In 2015, Boom Studios won the Power Rangers comics license, which brought a lot of award-winning publications. 

 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, BOOM!  Studios, 2016–present. 
 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink, BOOM!  Studios, 2016-2017. 
 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Annuals, BOOM!  Studios, 2016–present. 
 Power Rangers: Aftershock, BOOM!  Studios, 2017. 
 Go Go Power Rangers, BOOM!  Studios, 2017–present. 
 Justice League/Power Rangers.  BOOM!  Studios/DC Comics, 2017. 

Books 
In November 2018, Insight Editions released Power Rangers: The Ultimate Visual History, detailing the various toys and television seasons over the franchise's 25-year run. 

See also

 Big Bad Beetleborgs
 Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight
 List of Power Rangers cast members
 Masked Rider
 Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog
 Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation
 Super Sentai
 Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad
 Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills
 VR Troopers
 List of the highest-grossing media franchises

Notes

References

External links

 
 Power Rangers at Bandai

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