When evil reigns free and darkness seeks to conquer Earth, the world must rely on five teenagers with attitude to save the day. Dressed in goofy costumes, cool gadgets, and a badass theme song, the “Power Rangers” series stormed into America in 1993. And throughout the years, what began as a very troubled product has since exploded into a worldwide crazy phenomenon. So much so that we got a reboot movie this year in 2017; that means it’s been a solid 24 years of Power Rangers glory.
Of course, one can’t talk about the “Power Rangers” without mentioning the “Super Sentai.” After all, the “Power Rangers” are the American counterpart to Japanese series. As early back as the very first “Mighty Morphin” series, Saban Entertainment made the very controversial decision to take stock footage straight from the Japanese show “Super Sentai” and splice it together with their own shot scenes of the teenagers outside of their costumes. What resulted was a very clever way to save production costs for both the Japanese and American products.
There goes someone’s childhood, though given some of the goofier moments of the series, it suddenly brings a new light of clarity. This method of filming the series has continued to this very day, with both the Super Sentai and the Power Rangers gaining a worldwide audience because of it. Really makes you want to go back and watch the earlier seasons with a newfound understanding.
What’s even crazier is that “Super Sentai” had been running for far longer than “Power Rangers,” dating back to 1975. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers we Americans all remember as the first iconic season was in fact only the 15th season for Super Sentai. In total, the Super Sentai series is around 42 years old now. That’s a lot of morphing power.
Something must have gone right because both shows are still running true and strong to this day. And with the arrival of the new “Power Rangers” 2017 movie-which by the way, is the third Power Rangers theatrical film; the first was back in 1995 and followed more closely to the show’s storyline, followed by the second in 1997 basing on the Power Rangers Turbo team-it’s evident that the Power Rangers’ popularity will only grow more and more on a global scale.
Whether you’re new to the series or an old timer, one cannot deny the powerful influence these Rangers have had on pop culture and the minds of children. Combining action and comedy into a blend that reaches to inspire audiences, it’s easy to see why a simple idea to save production money has evolved into a growing entity of its own right throughout the years. There’s never enough power in the Power Rangers.
It’s morphin time.
Just added quotes for titles, and added Turbo as the second movie. Overall solid little piece.
