Power Rangers: Forever Red

[CaptainChewbacca]

Its on YouTube Baby!

I was too old for power rangers when it started, and I watched it anyway. Now, on the eve of the fifteenth iteration of Power Rangers, let's look back at the awesomeness of the 10th anniversary.

Shall we?

[JLTucker]

So fucking gay. The only thing good about this video is we get to see Tommy Oliver, the Green Ranger and the White Ranger. Both of them were awesome.



.

The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Saga was the best.



I remember having the Fliphead toys and the battle station, where Zordon was located. I had the zords that combined into the Megazord. I wish I still had them.

[spikenigma]

Bah, they needed Jason Lee Scott (the original red ranger) to make it complete, good to see Tommy though, brings back memories

err....I mean: damn powers rangers, that stuff's for sissies and kids

[spikenigma]

EDIT: ...and I've just seen Jason Scott, he must have eaten a lot of pies during his time off!

[Stark]

Man, people are already talking about Power Rangers the way I used to talk about Voltron!

[JLTucker]

Here are some pics of the Power Rangers merchandise I once had.

[mr friendly guy]

Man, people are already talking about Power Rangers the way I used to talk about Voltron!

And I had a Voltron toy when I was a kid. I guess we are showing our age.

Although I do remember seeing bits and pieces of Power Rangers while I was in my high school years when I had nothing to do. I even did an English "review a tv show" assignment on the Power Rangers. I think I wrote something to the effect that in the defense of the Rangers, the show is so stupid it actually becomes funny.

[Stark]

Yeah I had the 'not safe for kids' Voltron combiner with the giant, five-pointed sword. I should have kept it, man, that ruled.

[Guardsman Bass]

I don't know if this counts as original, but I had the original Green Ranger's dagger-thingie, with the song on it that summons the dragon-zord. I remember it cost me about $25.00.

[Anarchist Bunny]

I've had that episode on my comp since I first heard about that episode earlier this year. Sure its terribly awful, but the nostalgia of it is high.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Yeah I had the 'not safe for kids' Voltron combiner with the giant, five-pointed sword.

Ha, we have two of those (no swords, though), but sadly both are broken.

[Faqa]

Ah, nostalgia. That was one of the first episodes I watched when getting back into the series....

For an infinitely more kickass summing up of it, let me present - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsvPv36T0iw

Forever Red was an awesome FAN episode(not surprisingly, it was WRITTEN by a fan), but it was far from the best episode of PR. For that, you need to turn to stuff like Time Force, Dino Thunder(for a number of reasons, but This is the big one....) or Mystic Force(chiefly because inconsistancies can be written off as "it's fucking MAGIC". And they ain't shy about borrowing, either...).

As for the 15th, it's Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive. I am cautiously optimistic, though it invokes thoughts of the dreaded Power Rangers: Turbo that nearly killed the franchise.....

In closing, let me present an awesome tribute to the recent Ranger teams - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy8TF0F7fZs

[Darth Raptor]

The thing that always pissed me off about Power Rangers, even as a kid, was that they never fought in their individual, dinosaur-shaped Zords. They always right off the bat combined into the giant, humanoid Voltron ripoff.

[Faqa]

The thing that always pissed me off about Power Rangers, even as a kid, was that they never fought in their individual, dinosaur-shaped Zords. They always right off the bat combined into the giant, humanoid Voltron ripoff.

They did, at times. The big incident that comes to mind is Tommy vs. Jason in Green With Evil(Tyranno vs. Dragonzord), though there were others. Some plant monster, I think, as well.

Then there were the Alien Rangers, who HAD no Megazord.

The current crop haven't done badly as individual Titans as well.

[Dartzap]

I somewhat remember the movie where Ooze, or whatever his name was, where the individual ninja zords did battle, before all clunking together for the final battle.

[RogueIce]

The thing that always pissed me off about Power Rangers, even as a kid, was that they never fought in their individual, dinosaur-shaped Zords. They always right off the bat combined into the giant, humanoid Voltron ripoff.

They did, at times. The big incident that comes to mind is Tommy vs. Jason in Green With Evil(Tyranno vs. Dragonzord), though there were others. Some plant monster, I think, as well.

Then there were the Alien Rangers, who HAD no Megazord.

The current crop haven't done badly as individual Titans as well.

They also used that tank form you see just before the MegaZord stands up in the first episode. Don't know if they did it again after that though.

And indeed, the individual Ninja Zords got to shine in the movie, as well as their introduction on the show IIRC.

[ThatGuyFromThatPlace]

oh man, good times.
I remember running through a hail storm to my friends house down the street becasue the storm had cut out our cable to watch the episode where the White Ranger was revealed...Man that was awesome.

[Jason von Evil]

I've read about that episode. The golden moment is a scene where all the RRs are fighting cannon fodder on a ship. One of the rangers just walks through the mess and shoots any CF that comes at him. That's just badass.

As for the Green Ranger, every kid loved him. He had a cool suit, that extra body armor and a dagger that doubled as a flute. I remember the first time they showed him summoning the Dragonzord. He just whipped the dagger out, brought it to his mouth and then "doo, doo doo doo, doo doo doo", then the Dragonzord just rose out of the water like fucking Godzilla.

I remember this one scene from an episode where Tommy was losing his powers. He had just finished fighting a tough battle, he was injured and his powers were starting to fade. Still, the other rangers were in trouble and needed the Dragonzord. So while playing against a hill, he pulls the dagger up to his mouth and starts playing the tune. His powers are so weak at this point that he has to play it several times. I think at some point, he actually pulled himself to his feet and continued to play it. Finally, the Dragonzord rises out of the water and the day is saved.

The reason why I remember the scene is because it was really well done. Each time he played the tune, I remember emphasis being put on each time. It was pretty dramatic because I think this was Tommy's last ride as the Green Ranger. IIRC, after the battle, DZ went back into the water and Tommy's Green Ranger costume faded, but not the dagger.

I'm convinced that the Dragonzord is still under the water at Angel Grove Harbor.

[Faqa]

I'm convinced that the Dragonzord is still under the water at Angel Grove Harbor.

Canonically, the last time it was seen WAS going back underwater after it's temporary return in "Return Of The Green Ranger"(and ASIDE from Tommy, it was a terrible arc). So you're probably right....

[Faqa]

I'm convinced that the Dragonzord is still under the water at Angel Grove Harbor.

Canonically, the last time it was seen WAS going back underwater after it's temporary return in "Return Of The Green Ranger"(and ASIDE from Tommy, it was a terrible arc). So you're probably right....

The golden moment is a scene where all the RRs are fighting cannon fodder on a ship. One of the rangers just walks through the mess and shoots any CF that comes at him. That's just badass.

Heh. That's Carter, Red Lightspeed Ranger. Certain moronic elements of the PR community branded him a "wuss" for that scene.

Of course, for that type of unintended funny, nothing beats the debut of "SWAT" armor, which includes a huge fucking gun.

Bad guy: <cannon fodder>! Get them!
SWATed up Ranger: *firing-squad style BLAST*
BOOM. <cannon fodder> goes bye bye. And it only took the show 13 years to figure it out.....

[Jim Raynor]

OK, I'll admit it. I'm a fan. Still am.

I was a bit too old for it when it first came out (being 9), but I still watched it secretly, when no one was watching. I admit the show is cheesy, and I'll never try to dismiss its stupid parts in a debate. I'm definately not part of (and have even been opposed to) those certain moronic elements of the PR community that Faqa briefly mentioned. For those of you who don't know, imagine the thick-headed VIP asskissing fans at theforce.net, and add an apparent lack of emotional/mental development. It really seems that a lot of these older PR fans are idiot man children who watch the show as if they're a part of its intended target audience.

As for myself, I watch the show partly because I liked it as a kid, and partly because (believe it or not) it has grown up over the years. In its better episodes PR is on par with syndicated action shows, and like the DCAU, older audiences can watch it without feeling too stupid (although the show still isn't on the maturity level of the DCAU). I've watched every season since the first (although I've fallen WAY behind on the current season, and still have to catch up one of these weekends in several marathon viewings), and believe me, MMPR is NOT the best one, despite the nostalgia around it. I reccommend Power Rangers in Space, Lost Galaxy, and Dino Thunder (the 2004 series where Tommy comes back).

This 10th anniversary episode, "Forever Red," was written by a fan, as Faqa said. That fan is Amit Bhaumik, who is to the PR fandom what Curtis Saxton is to us. Bhaumik never did any scientific analysis that I know of, but he is respected among intelligent and common fans alike. He used to have one of the largest PR sites on the net, where he documented hundreds of different subjects in an online encyclopedia (this was the 90s, before Wikipedia made such things easy and common). He later became a writier for the Wild Force season, which luckily happened to be the season that contained this anniversary episode.

Old timer fans can watch this episode not just for the Red Ranger teamups, but for the numerous references to villains and other parts of PR history sprinkled throughout. The action is also good, as they went all out for this episode. Remember that this was 2002, when "bullet time" was all the rage and before the Matrix series had squandered any goodwill it had among audiences. The slow motion effects are there, but they're used moderately and tastefully.

Tommy and Jason (the original Red Ranger) are treated like near-mythic figures in this episode, which was a huge gift to the fans. A hilarious part occurs during Jason's intro scene. Cole (the current Red Ranger at the time, a naive character who many fans hold to be an utter dumbass) is awestruck. He quickly wipes the sweat off his hands and tries to shake Jason's hand, but Jason instead pats him on the shoulder in a slightly condescending way and walks by. Jason appropriately calls Cole a n00b throughout the rest of the episode. However, with time running out (the show unfortunately being only a regular 30 minute episode), and Wild Force being COLE'S season, Bhaumik probably felt he had to redeem the character by the end. Cole single-handedly takes out Serpenterra (which was improperly sized, way back in Season 2 it was probably over a kilometer tall and dwarfed the Megazord) on his flying bike.

Besides the BS ending, the one thing I didn't like was Jason's line "I know some of you...some of you more than others." This line was spoken after Jason had dissed Cole as I described above, while he was walking by the rest of the Rangers who had lined up to meet him. To any normal viewer, this was a subtle connecting of the disparate parts of the PR universe, making it seem like Jason had met with and fought beside a lot of these guys in the past (other parts of the episode do imply that these guys all knew each other, well enough to goof around and know each other's stories). But last year, I found out that this was not the case. The last two Rangers (from the 2001 Time Force season) were members of a quasi-law enforcement organization. Apparently, Bhaumik had intended for Jason to have turned punk (evidenced by his badass motorcycle entrance, supposedly) over the unseen years, and to have had a run-in with the law and a confrontation with the Time Force guys before. It's nice that Bhaumik tried to mature the show a bit, but this was unexplained, totally random, and out of character. Fortunately, none of this is actually stated IN the show itself (as if it would have been approved).

The golden moment is a scene where all the RRs are fighting cannon fodder on a ship. One of the rangers just walks through the mess and shoots any CF that comes at him. That's just badass.

Heh. That's Carter, Red Lightspeed Ranger. Certain moronic elements of the PR community branded him a "wuss" for that scene.

I loved this subtle continuity. During the first few episodes of the Lightspeed Rescue (2000) season I thought the Rangers used their handguns too much. Not in a "LOLZ what a wuss" kind of way, but because the show is supposed to have martial arts, and it didn't look as good if the Rangers literally lined up and gunned down the monster. But it was great characterization for Bhaumik to bring it back for Carter in in this episode.

[RogueIce]

I remember this one scene from an episode where Tommy was losing his powers. He had just finished fighting a tough battle, he was injured and his powers were starting to fade. Still, the other rangers were in trouble and needed the Dragonzord. So while playing against a hill, he pulls the dagger up to his mouth and starts playing the tune. His powers are so weak at this point that he has to play it several times. I think at some point, he actually pulled himself to his feet and continued to play it. Finally, the Dragonzord rises out of the water and the day is saved.

The reason why I remember the scene is because it was really well done. Each time he played the tune, I remember emphasis being put on each time. It was pretty dramatic because I think this was Tommy's last ride as the Green Ranger. IIRC, after the battle, DZ went back into the water and Tommy's Green Ranger costume faded, but not the dagger.

I'm convinced that the Dragonzord is still under the water at Angel Grove Harbor.

Indeed it probably is.

The episode of which you refer sounds like "Green No More" and I liked that whole arc in the second season because, well, it was an actual arc in the Power Rangers. And it had started in the first season as well ("The Green Candle" and then "Return of an Old Friend"). I liked that a lot.

I'm still hoping they eventually get MMPR season set DVDs. There were some good stories in there.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Does anyone know what Doctor Tommy has his PHD in?

[Jim Raynor]

Does anyone know what Doctor Tommy has his PHD in?

Paleontology.

[JME2]

OK, I'll admit it. I'm a fan. Still am.

Me too, but mainly for the MMPR era andeven then its primarily nostalgia. (though, for the record, my interest started to wane during Zeo and it was fully gone by the time of Turbo. Watched a few bits of In Space here and there, and believe that that "Countdown to Destruction" was a hell of a way to close out the storyline that had begun with the MMPR pilot six years earlier). Anyway, I love MMPR in that it gave us one of my all-time favorite villains: