Occasionally there’ll be times where I just randomly feel like looking back at things from your childhood. Nostalgia, right?
Sometimes it’s memories of trips you’ve taken, or toys or games you played with. Other times it’s a show or movie you loved at one specific point in time. Recently I started looking back on one franchise I enjoyed as a kid: Power Rangers. But unlike most original fans, I grew up in the generation where the series was owned by Disney.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that a brand new Power Rangers series was in the works at Disney+. In honor of National Power Rangers Day and the homecoming of the franchise to one of the best brands on the planet, I’ve decided to take the time and write about the fond memories and impact the series had on me. Maybe other who remember this strange and short period of time will enjoy this too.
To start with some background, Power Rangers wasn’t something developed by Disney but it does have a connection to another Disney-owned property, Marvel.
In the 1970s, Marvel and the Japanese studio Toei started a partnership together. From that they worked on a few projects but the most successful was a Japanese adaption of Spider-Man. It featured many changes from the original comics, including a giant mech robot. This proved to be quite popular so much so that Toei incorporated this element into another property they had called Super Sentai.
Super Sentai was so popular that Stan Lee actually tried to sell an American adaption of the show. But no one would take it, and the partnership had to come to an end. It wouldn’t be until a few years later when businessman Haim Saban made a trip to Japan and discovered just how popular Super Sentai was, that he decided to make an American version himself. He ultimately succeeded making a deal with Fox Kids. Instead of just doing an English dub of the Japanese series, Saban created a new show that spliced footage from Super Sentai (namely the fight scenes and mechs) and then incorporated new footage with American actors.
The new show became what we know as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It was a huge success that led to several more seasons over the years. Eventually in the early 2000s, Disney acquired the rights to the franchise in a deal that gave them a large portion of Fox Kids programming.
Disney would eventually take over from where Saban left off in 2003. That’s when the company’s first Power Rangers production was released, Power Rangers Ninja Storm. Despite a different name, the same practice was used of mixing Japanese footage from Super Sentai with newly shot footage with American actors.
The following series was one that became very popular with fans though: Power Rangers Dino Thunder. For me, the show will always have a special place in my heart because it was the first show in the franchise I remember watching. For other OG fans, this show was special because it featured the return of the late Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
As a kid, I just remembered being intrigued by the show. It wasn’t quite like a lot of other kids shows I watched at the time. In hindsight, I think it Power Rangers is responsible for introducing me to many interests that I have today. At its core, it’s a superhero show featuring people in brightly colored spandex costumes. In fact, it may have been the first live action superhero property I remember getting into, which led to me getting into superhero comics and other media. It also made me interested in other Japanese media (Giant robots fighting giant monsters is the coolest thing ever to a kid, so of course I wanted to find more stuff like that). It was only natural that I would eventually stumble upon Godzilla and other kaiju movies, as well as anime.
A lot of kids shows tend to try and shy away from violence, the Power Rangers franchise has always been somewhat controversial because of its fights scenes. Funny enough, my older sisters actually watched the original series when they were younger and would fight each other trying to act out the show. They were eventually banned from watching the show, so maybe there’s a little bit of justification to the concerns. However, I think that’s another reason kids enjoy the franchise. Children are smarter than people might think, and many can tell when they’re being talked down to. So I think being able to watch a show which pushed the limits of young violence, but was too gratuitous played a big part in it’s success.
Despite having more fight scenes then the average kids show, Power Rangers has always been a series made for children to enjoy. The villains are mostly guys in rubber suits that act like cartoon characters. The acting is…..not great across the board but it’s tolerable and playful. And that’s all a part of its charm.
Now, in 2009, Disney decided to stop making new seasons of the show due to falling ratings. But in 2010, Saban bough the rights to franchise back form the studio, before it was eventually taken over by Nickelodeon. While the rights have continuously moved around since then, as mentioned earlier, the show will once again return to Disney in the near-future.
Power Rangers isn’t the most serious franchise in the world and Disney may not have done the show any favors by taking it in a different direction, but there’s two things worth noting about the series’ time at the studio. Firstly, there’s also an argument to be had that it might have died much sooner without Disney’s intervention. The series’ era at the studio helped keep the alive when Disney could’ve easily just thrown it away. In the process of keeping it afloat, a new generation of fans was created.Secondly, the intro for each sequel series and spin-off had an amazing soundtrack.
I know, I know – everybody loves the original, but if you remember any of the intros to the Disney shows, you most certainly had them stuck in your head for days. Don’t believe me? Allow me to spread some of my nostalgia to you.
Here’s to an underrated chapter in the franchise’s history – and a bright future that’ll keep the show running another 30+ years…
