Linkara's History of Power Rangers

[montypython]

The first time I ever saw a live-action sentai team show was when I was six visiting relatives in Japan; I thought it was cheesy then and when Power Rangers showed up in the States it just reinforced my views on that.

[Anguirus]

You say that like it's bad.

[Norade]

The first time I ever saw a live-action sentai team show was when I was six visiting relatives in Japan; I thought it was cheesy then and when Power Rangers showed up in the States it just reinforced my views on that.

That was the entire point though! It is meant to be a cheesy good time!

[montypython]

The first time I ever saw a live-action sentai team show was when I was six visiting relatives in Japan; I thought it was cheesy then and when Power Rangers showed up in the States it just reinforced my views on that.

That was the entire point though! It is meant to be a cheesy good time!

Well, back then I was always more of an animation fan than live-action (with some exceptions), stuff like Transformers (Generation 1), Voltron (Go-Lion and Dairugger XV), Robotech (Macross) or even really old anime like Pa-Man or Doraemon for that matter. For live-action shows my tastes ran more along the lines of Airwolf (didn't see the A-team until they started syndication).

[Drooling Iguana]

It is meant to be a cheesy good time!

I suppose they got it half right, then.

[JME2]

I have fond memories of MMPR; it was a key part of my childhood. My college roommates and I designated the first film as one of our Friday night movies to drink to...

[Zor]

Juts a heads up, he's got the review of Lost Galaxy Review up on his blog.

Yeah, i must agree with him in regards to the title aspect, waiting through the better part of the series until they end up spending a few episodes into the Space Pirate Gulf. I also must admit that i do rather like the villians this episode, cheesy as they were and i must say that i think as far as cannon fodder baddies went, the stingwingers at least had a Bug feel going for them.

Zor

[Agent Fisher]

Lost galaxy wasn't very good, in my memory. Of course, when I watched PRLG's Rescue Mission as an young lad, that was one of the most awesome episodes I remember.

[Jim Raynor]

My little bro watched a bit of Lost Galaxy and Lightspeed Rescue, and I was grudgingly impressed by them. Looking forward to seeing where they fit in.

Great find! Just started watching these and am really enjoying them. I feel like I should have given the series more of a chance as a kid...I was turned off by the filler and by the eventual costume changes, but it looks like a great deal of effort was made to keep to the "same" show and consistent. Knowing as I do now (not when I was 8.) that it had to creatively incorporate Toei footage would have led me to appreciate it more, no doubt...back then a lot of stuff was arbitrary weirdness I couldn't put my finger on.

There's some cool stuff in LG, but LR and later seasons really don't make much of an effort to fit in with the others. But for anyone who loved the original MMPR as a kid, watch Dino Thunder, the 2004 season. That's the one later season that is VERY connected to the past. It's also a fun recreation of the MMPR high school formula, only done better and with more sophistication. The season still has the PR cheese, and its story struggles at some points because it was stuck with some of the worst, borderline unusable Japanese footage ever. But it knows how to poke fun of itself, while being quite well done a lot of the time.

Lost galaxy wasn't very good, in my memory. Of course, when I watched PRLG's Rescue Mission as an young lad, that was one of the most awesome episodes I remember.

It's regarded as a top 3 season by many people. It starts off pretty shaky, and the lack of strong connections to past seasons (a first at the time, although now it's the status quo) was a big turn off. But the series gets a lot better as it goes on, and is pretty awesome when it turns into a continuation to Space (the popular #1 pick for best season). "Rescue Mission" was an awesome episode that dared to abandon the PR formula for one day and just do Alien for kids. I was surprised at what they were able to get away with.

[Zor]

Just a heads up, Linkara posted Lightspeed Rescue

As far as power rangers went, i only bothered to see a few episodes of Lightspeed. That said i do find the Lightspeed Rescue theme to be better than Turbo or Lost Galaxy and i must say that the Batlings are without a doubt the Lamest power rangers cannon fodder guys out there.

Zor

[Ritterin Sophia]

Batlings are without a doubt the Lamest power rangers cannon fodder guys out there.

At least their bosses looked kick ass.

[Zor]

He's uploaded the one for Time Force

Zor

[SylasGaunt]

I've been watching this and it really makes me want to go back and look at some of these other seasons since, like many, Turbo made me abandon the series entirely.

[RogueIce]

So in related news, No Pink Spandex (a PR fan site that does a lot of interviews and films Con panels; very good quality work) did an interview with David Yost, the MMPR Blue Rangers. Over the years, there have been plenty of rumors and speculation about why he left the show. Well, in part three of the interview he reveals what made him finally leave. And it wasn't what I was expecting at all.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

For those who don't want to watch the videos, even though it is a good interview:
Spoiler

Homophobia from some of the crew. In short, somebody calling him a "faggot" one too many times. Not from his fellow cast, at least, he didn't mention that.

[Jim Raynor]

I haven't seen the Yost interview myself yet, but I've read about what he revealed. This is freaking huge and has shown up on mainstream celebrity news sites today like Perez Hilton, Entertainment Weekly, TMZ, etc. It could get bigger soon after Yost does his magazine interview. Pretty surreal, when old-timer PR fandom has been fringe for so long, with people nostalgically coming out to talk about it only in the last few years.

[Zor]

Wildforce

For some reason this comes across as Power Rangers: Ferngully to me.

Zor

[Majin Gojira]

I'd call it Power Ranger's take on Captain Planet more than Furngully. Mostly because the villains lack the cheese of Tim Curry. Not that they were bad, mind you, but c'mon: TIM CURRY!

[JME2]

I'd call it Power Ranger's take on Captain Planet more than Furngully. Mostly because the villains lack the cheese of Tim Curry. Not that they were bad, mind you, but c'mon: TIM CURRY!

Heh.

[Ritterin Sophia]

Fucking finally, he spoiled us with those two a month-ers so now I'm impatient.

PS: No, I was not one of the people who cared enough to demand he continue, just fyi.

[Zor]

And he put up Ninja Storm

Zor

[Koolaidkirby]

from all the ones I've seen from when I was a kid, the one that seemed the best was the time travel one (time force i think?)

-the citizens of the city that had giant monsters fighting giant robots all the time actually tried to fight back without relying on the power rangers all the time (tried to build some sort of giant anti monster tank, and had an anti-cannon fodder police force)
-main villain has a plausible reason for being evil besides world domination for its own sake.
-main villain redeems himself (iirc)

[Iroscato]

Wait...is there seriously an adult Power Rangers fanbase? I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I play Pokemon for God's sake, it's just taken me by surprise. Haven't watched it for years hehe.

[Zor]

Wait...is there seriously an adult Power Rangers fanbase? I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I play Pokemon for God's sake, it's just taken me by surprise. Haven't watched it for years hehe.

If Children of the 80s enjoyed GI Joe and Power Rangers into adulthood, Children of the 90s can enjoy Power Rangers now. Their is going to be a big Spongebob Nostalgia Boom by 2015.

Zor

[Mayabird]

Wait...is there seriously an adult Power Rangers fanbase? I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I play Pokemon for God's sake, it's just taken me by surprise. Haven't watched it for years hehe.

If Children of the 80s enjoyed GI Joe and Power Rangers

I'm thinking you meant Transformers or something along those lines.


Koolaidkirby: Yeah, the one you're thinking of is Time Force.

[Anarchist Bunny]

I personally left the franchise near the end of Zeo. This was mostly due to change in school getting out meant I wasn't at home when it aired. I remember calling Jason coming back as the Gold Ranger after Billy said he couldn't. I caught bits and pieces in the years to come, but never could get back into it. I did eventually hear about Forever Red, found it, and immediately loved. Lightspeed Rescue was the last series I caught any episode of, so Wildforce was the only Red Ranger I wasn't atleast a little familiar with.

I got into TGWTG about a month before Linkara started HoPR, and while I think the storyline has bogged down his main review, HoPR absolutely awoke my dormant love of Power Rangers.

I've started watching Samurai in the last week, and so far think its ok, I do like that the megazord is a costume again, i absolutely loathed what I've seen of full cgi.