Power Rangers RPM

Power Rangers RPM is the 17th season of Power Rangers, borrowing props and footage from Engine Sentai Go-Onger.

It is the final season to be produced by Disney, as it was intended to be canceled following Jungle Fury; however following a still-active contract with Bandai, the show was given the green light and aired on ABC Kids.

It features the debut of Four Megazord Combination.

Eddie Guzelian and John Tellegen took over as executive producers and worked to bring a dark and gritty storyline inspired by films like The Road Warrior. However Guzelian was fired halfway through the show, due to rumors that he used up the show's entire budget and had been responsible for slowing production down due to perfectionism. He was ultimately replaced by Judd Lynn, who brought the series to its conclusion.

After the final episode aired, Disney announced that the following season would be a "revamped" version of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers; however, the long-term status of the franchise appeared to be in limbo until it was reacquired by Saban Brands who immediately announced the production of Power Rangers Samurai. RPM's storyline would be continued in the sequel season Power Rangers Beast Morphers.

## Synopsis

In the not-so-distant future, the mysterious and sinister Venjix Computer Network is attempting to conquer and lay ruin to the entire planet. It had succeeded and nearly conquered the entire Earth. Fortunately, mankind has retreated from the threat into environmentally-shielded domed cities to protect against the pollution and machines unleashed by Venjix. In the shining city of Corinth, an elite force of Rangers must learn to drive and operate an arsenal of radically advanced biotech vehicles in order to battle the attacking machine army bent on world domination.

The events of the show were intended to take place in an alternate universe, which was confirmed two years later in "Clash of the Red Rangers" when Scott travels to the main universe. As such, the Morphing Grid takes on a new name - the Bio Field. The only signs of previous characters are an Operation Overdrive helmet at Alphabet Soup and Jungle Karma Pizza.

## Production History

**Power Rangers RPM** was the first Power Rangers season since 2005 to have a fresh lead producer, as Bruce Kalish departed in 2008 to work on *Aaron Stone*. Taking his place was Eddie Guzelian, former *American Dragon: Jake Long* executive producer and *Kim Possible* story editor. RPM was his first live action series. With Guzelian came two writers he had been associated with on various Disney Channel projects, Matthew Negrete and Madellaine Paxson. The three of them, along with RPM story editor John Tellegen and producer Jackie Marchand made up the writing team for the 32-episode season.

A few months into production, Marchand left the show, seemingly fired given her message to the fans of "welcome from the peace conference", alluding to the situation in which Austin St. John, Thuy Trang and Walter Jones were written off the show. Not long after, Guzelian was fired mid-season by Disney executives, and replaced by returning writer and producer Judd Lynn in July. Reports have Paxson and Negrete leaving the show in solidarity with Guzelian. Lynn's return to the series that he has been involved with since day one was not an easy one, and there have been reports of difficulty with the transition between executive producers. Lynn left the series with Time Force, but a sudden rise in the quality of "Jungle Fury" writing caused rumors that he may have contributed a script under a pseudonym during the Writer's Strike.

### Audition Process

Milo Cawthorne auditioned for the Green Ranger, but was originally left off the short list until Eddie Guzelian requested he be brought back. Daniel Ewing had auditioned for *Power Rangers Jungle Fury* before RPM had casting calls. He had auditioned for the Red Ranger part in a red tank top. Mike Ginn originally auditioned for the Green Ranger, but got call backs for Red and Blue. Ultimately he was chosen for Gold. Ari Boyland had auditioned for many Power Rangers seasons before RPM and had a holding contract for Dino Thunder and one other. He had auditioned for Red and Black because Blue was not being auditioned because "He had no personality in the Sentai". They asked him to come in with any accent he wanted for Blue to which he did his New Zealand, Irish, and American accents including doing mime. Adelaide Kane had moved to New Zealand on her own and this was one of her first major productions.
For the episode Ranger Blue, the Aid Worker who is with Flynn was a boom operator that not only worked on RPM, but also worked on *The Tribe* when Ari was ten and on the show.

### Filming

Koichi Sakamoto trained the cast in stunt fighting as lead up to filming. Shooting times varied on set with some days taking upwards of 12 hours of work. Scenes of the desert wastelands were shot in an actual desert, the majority of which involved Mike Ginn and Daniel Ewing. The most difficult scene shot according to the majority of the cast was the Go-Onger scene in which the team piled into a van in the hot sun, when asked to take off their jackets they were told no as it would ruin the shot.

### Behind the Scenes

During Guy Fawkes Day while filming, Eka Darville threw some fireworks onto Adelaide Kane's balcony accidentally burning her clothes that were being left out to dry.

## Cast and characters

**RPM Rangers**

* Eka Darville as Scott Truman, Ranger Operator Series Red Eagle.
* Ari Boyland as Flynn McAllistair, Ranger Operator Series Blue Lion.
* Rose McIver as Summer Landsdown, Ranger Operator Series Yellow Bear.
* Milo Cawthorne as Ziggy Grover, Ranger Operator Series Green Shark.
* Dan Ewing as Dillon, Ranger Operator Series Black Wolf and Tenaya's Brother.
* Mike Ginn as Gem, Ranger Operator Series Gold.
* Li Ming Hu as Gemma, Ranger Operator Series Silver.

**Allies**

* Olivia Tennet as Doctor K, mentor to the Rangers and creator of the RPM powers.
* James Gaylyn as Colonel Mason Truman, Scott's father.
* Damien Avery as Colonel Hicks
* Mia Koning as Vasquez
* Murray Keane as Benny

**Villains**

* Andrew Laing as the voice of Venjix
* Adelaide Kane as Tenaya 7/15 and Dillon's Sister. In the final episodes, she joins the Rangers.
* Mark Mitchinson as the voice of General Shifter
* Charlie McDermott as the voice of General Crunch
* Leighton Cardno as the voice of Kilobyte
* John Sumner as Fresno Bob

## Reception

Flixist ranked it second-best out of twenty seasons, remarking "showrunners decided to go for broke and throw everything they had into creating a post-apocalyptic film for kids. Lifting creative elements from films like *Mad Max* and *Terminator*, then adding a *Power Rangers* layer helped give this season a vibe no other season had before. It was more creatively cemented than years past, and actually had good cinematography". Geeky Brummie ranked it third, saying "Dillon and Ziggy are two of the best rangers and work fantastically together. The season also has some of the most surprising revelations in the franchise’s history". Comic Art Community ranked it fourth, saying "The childlike elements of the base material were generally ignored for a very dark, adult season of the show that involved the attempted genocide of mankind which included various character deaths in the show". Eric Francisco, writing for Inverse, called it the darkest, the best, and "smart, clever, and so hysterically funny that it should stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best cult science-fiction series", and echoed the connections to *Mad Max* and *The Terminator*.

1. ↑ https://www.flixist.com/every-power-rangers-season-ranked
2. ↑ https://geekybrummie.com/blog/power-rangers-shows-rated-worst-best-part-1-20-11-2
3. ↑ http://comicartcommunity.com/comicart\_news/top-10-seasons-power-rangers
4. ↑ Template:Cite news