#137 - It (Was) Morphin' Time!

 Hello everybody! On July 21st, 2025, I started a journey unlike any other...

Just kidding.

I started my journey into the entire Power Rangers franchise. Here are my thoughts...

I finished Mighty Morphin' Season 1 on July 27th.
My goshness, it was so dated. It was just oozing low-budget. However, the season did eventually get better. By the original planned ending, episode 40, the quality improved and it wasn't too bad of a sit-through. The bonus 20 episodes were decent enough as well.

MMPR S2: August 1st
This was a much weaker season. Part of this is because they tried to keep going with the original suits and characters from the first season, even though it was an adaptation of the next Super Sentai season. (If you didn't know Power Rangers was an American adaptation of a Japanese show... well now you know). The overall story was also not as engaging but the writers did a decent job of cobbling something together when half of the main actors walked off set.

MMPR S3: August 2nd
Out of the first three seasons, this one was my favorite, if you consider the primary 33 episodes and not the extra 10 that aired separately. Even though they still tried to use elements from Zyuranger (which was used for the first PR season), they were much more willing to move on to new concepts. The original formula was going stale, so they shuffled things around. I'm also glad they had enough overlap time to give Kimberly a proper way out as Kat takes her place as the next pink ranger. (30-year-old spoiler!)

Mighty Morphin' Alien Rangers / Season 3.5: August 3rd
Fun fact, I also saw Jurassic World Rebirth earlier that day. I liked it more than Dominion, but that only means it's my second-to-least favorite Jurassic movie.

As for Alien Rangers, it was alright. You can tell it was meant to be filler, but it did allow for more elements from Kakuranger to be adapted.

Zeo: August 7th
Zeo was a decent season, and the first time they fully moved on from the Zyuranger content. This was also the best of Bulk and Skull, who used to be exclusively comedic relief. But over Season 2 and 3, they became properly established characters alongside Detective Jerome. Why did Zeo renamed the black ranger to the gold ranger is beyond me. Maybe they wanted Jason's return to seem cooler.

Turbo (Movie): August 7th
Finally, Power Rangers in true HD! They did a Blu-ray release a little while back. It looks really good, especially compared to the episodes from this time.

Anyway, the movie itself was rather bland. It acts as an "Episode 0" for Turbo as it comes right off the back of Zeo. Divatrox was a rather fun villainess, though.

Turbo (Series): August 12th
Turbo failed as a season for multiple reasons. Part of it was the character regression of Bulk, Skull, and Jerome that was set up in the movie. Dare I even say- devolution. (The joke is that Bulk and Skull were turned to monkeys for half the season). I was also very disappointed in the Divatrox outfit change from the movie to the show, although I understand the reasoning.

You could tell the actors were getting fatigued. Tommy used to be so lifelike, but here, he just looked tired. Around the halfway mark of the season, nearly all the folks from the start of Turbo were swapped out for a newer crowd. My only disappointment is that it felt abrupt. The new faces uplifted the season, but the change happened quickly.

Some people also complained about Justin being a ranger, but I think he was fine. It's rather funny to see how much taller he becomes as the Blue Ranger. It's like "You must be this tall to morph."

In Space: August 16th
In Space had a bit of a rough start, taking place immediately after Turbo. The primary villainess didn't seem interesting at first because her character was rather chill. As a comparison, Divatrox had much more character and enthusiasm (which was fun to watch).

After several episodes though, PRIS started getting interesting as the story became more engaging. The season became more serialized compared to most of everything beforehand being episodic. It also had a good ending to the whole story that was being told since the first Power Rangers season. When viewed by itself, it is the end of a 6-season story.

Lost Galaxy: August 21st
It felt like the awkward middle child to me. The story itself sort of continues on from PRIS, but apart from a few minor characters and setpieces, it is mostly a standalone season. As a whole, Lost Galaxy is alright, but the characters and the story didn't dive too deep. Not to mention that despite being call "Lost Galaxy" they were only ever in the Lost Galaxy for about 6 episodes out of the 45 episodes total, one of which was the first blatantly-obvious recap episode I have noticed.

Lightspeed Rescue: August 21st
Starting from a completely clean slate, Lightspeed Rescue was a breath of fresh air. Right off the bat was an interesting premise, based mostly around being a first responder, particularly assisting firefighters. I really liked seeing the characters help folks out of a burning building, and similar circumstances, but it gave a sort of grounded feel.

The zords used had the most unique individuality thus far. Before this point, each zord just felt like another part of the megazord. They were also used extensively outside of combat with the week's monster, which I feel is not often done in all the Power Rangers I've seen so far.

They also had the Rail Rescues, which was a big ol' train that delivered their regular zords. It could fly and even go into space. And you already know how much I like trains (and am so disappointed they didn't adapt that one train-themed Sentai series).

Anyway...

Lightspeed Rescue had a really good red/leader ranger. As expected, he had a rough start taking on the new role, but eventually became the role model team leader, as you would expect, particularly in taking charge of situations when needed.

Unfortunately, though, most of the other "good guys" don't have as much character depth. They're fine to have around and help out, but only a couple of them had defining character traits that I picked up on. One of the secondary villains was interesting though, compared to the main and other side villains.

Something else positive is that this is the first time the characters didn't have to hide their Ranger identity, which worked out for the better. As mentioned before, this went along with them helping out regular firefighters and paramedics. There was also a whole support team the rangers had behind them, compared to being an isolated group. It was a nice change in base camp.

As Lightspeed Rescue continued on, eventually, it felt like things were getting a little stale with the storytelling. There wasn't much interesting going on for either side. The final few episodes did pick up at least, as the season came to an end. I am satisfied with the ending.

You might be able to tell, that this became my #1 favorite season (with In Space becoming #2).

Time Force: September 10th
I originally was not a big fan of Time Force. I just thought it was alright and rated it rather low compared to everything that came before it. But as I continued on with the franchise, I realized I was rather hard on it because there are far worse seasons that came out afterward.

Wild Force: September 15th
Wild Force tried to be really serious, but didn't pull it off like Time Force or Lightspeed Rescue. And similar to LR, nearly every character was flat and uninteresting. The story had some decent moments, but overall, I found it to be mediocre.

Ninja Storm: September 19th
This was the first PR season to go from Los Angeles to New Zealand. The audio quality took a massive dip and was really distracting. However, the season itself was an absolute blast. It was the total opposite of Wild Force and came out super fun. This was also the first time a season started with only three Rangers instead of five. It allowed for much deeper character development and gave them room to move on their own. When the season ends with six Rangers, it feels well-earned.

Dino Thunder: September 25th
This was another season that started with only three Rangers, but it did not go as deep as Ninja Storm. I was a big fan of the PS2 game back when I was a small fry, and I remember watching at least most of the season back when it was on Netflix a long time ago, but for this watch-through, I was a little disappointed. I found to season to be rather mundane. Thankfully, they cleaned up the audio problem partway through. The end almost sounds as good as Wild Force and earlier.

Mystic Force: October 1st
Right off the bat with the opening, I was immediately not a fan. And the whole magical wizard and fantasy theme- not a fan either. I've always far-preferred sci-fi tech than magic. But theme aside, this season did not stand out to me either. "Hi, the name's Xander," was fun, and Phineas was a good character, but other than that, I didn't feel any attachment to the characters.

Operation Overdrive: October 10th
Against popular opinion, I liked the theme for OO more than MF. Most people will say this was one of the worst seasons, and to some extent, I agree. It's weak spots are really weak. On multiple occasions, one or more of the Rangers give up being a Ranger. They say "No more for me," and require some convincing of an outside force to stick around a little longer. It also felt a little "Collect the Zords" based, but not to the extent Wild Force was. WF had so many zords that only one of them actually felt important.

Jungle Fury: October 12th
Similar to Ninja Storm, this season was a lot of fun and also started with only three Rangers. I also think the "wild animal" theme was made interesting, and their mentor RJ was great. The sunglasses morphers were rather lame though, but at least it was different than all the wrist or cell phone morphers that were used beforehand.

RPM: October 23rd
Taking the opposite direction of Jungle Fury, this season had a serious and darker tone. However, it was done well. Character choices and actions have weight. The enemy feels threatening. The setting is unique. And there is still enough time to point out the explosions that happen after the Rangers morph.

Even though this season is character-driven and serious, it still has a lot of fun moments and creative writing. I believe this season is most recommended to watch for people who are not Power Rangers fans. It takes the most liberties and part of that is, like In Space, it was another season expected to be the last. In the end, it was changed into another dimension, but that works out well for future seasons.

I've also heard it was the total opposite of the Sentai season it adapted, Go-Onger.

Samurai: October 15th
You might have noticed I watched this season before RPM. That's because I wanted to organize it with Super Samurai because there was a crossover special between Samurai and RPM, that takes place right at the beginning of Super Samurai.

As for Samurai... it's not that good. After a one-year gap after RPM aired, Samurai returned and disappointed many older fans. The acting is weak (especially the line delivery), and it tries to be as goofy as MMPR while very closely trying to adapt Shinkenger. Shinkenger is very rooted in Japanese history and most of that did not translate for Western audiences at all.

The biggest success of this season was bringing on new PR fans. It had just enough good points to be liked by new people back then.

Clash of the Red Rangers: October 23rd
This was completed before I finished RPM, so that I maintained episode chronology. It was a weak crossover and didn't accomplish much. Not only was it a disappointment to bring back only one RPM ranger, but he was morphed the whole time.

The original actor for the red RPM Ranger went union, which meant he could not provide his person or his likeness in any non-union production. He only provided his voice for this special. In the end, this didn't provide the audience with any extra information other than creating a villain that got to be reused a couple of seasons later. It almost feels disrespectful to RPM, but oh well.

Super Samurai: October 24th
This season was a marginal improvement from Samurai. They cut back on the slapstick humor by Bulk and Not-Skull (it was his nephew, Spike) and involved them with the Rangers more instead of being entirely separate. The line delivery is still low-quality and nobody gave poor Lauren a chance. Her acting was actually good, but aside from that, she was introduced late in the story to serve one purpose (like Shinkenger). However, she failed and nobody was there to comfort her as everybody wanted to get Jayden back.

Lauren is one of the most tragic characters in all of PR history and probably the most tragic Ranger.

Megaforce: October 28th
The writers said to themselves "Know how we tried to closely adapt Shinkenger? We'll try even harder to adapt Goseiger." Samurai did a poor job and Megaforce was no better. My goshness, there was barely any story. The vast majority of the season was comprised of extended fight scenes. Based on a chart someone made on Reddit, Megaforce had 40% original footage. That means 60% of the time, they used Sentai footage. Why did Power Rangers use Sentai footage to begin with? First, to save costs. Second, is to use it for fight scenes. Megaforce took this to the extreme.

Robo Knight, at least, was a good character. Him and Magna Defender from a while back are both great.

Super Megaforce: October 30th
This is when Power Rangers became so bad, it was good.

"My key is the wrong color." "There's a simple explanation for that."

Super Megaforce Frankenstein's Goseiger from the last season, along with the new Gokaiger. It was a mess. Not only was Gokaiger an anniversary season for Super Sentai, Super Megaforce was an annivesary for Power Rangers. This led to massive amounts of fanservice and callbacks to old seasons. Sure, this is alright I guess. This only becomes a problem when they reference Sentai seasons that came out before the Power Rangers adaptations. Looking at you, Turboranger (not to be confused with Power Rangers Turbo).

The season ended with a big battle that involved the cameos of many past Power Rangers actors, and many more in morphed form. With all the buildup, the battle itself was a little anticlimactic. However, it was neat to see the actors return, most of whom had a couple of lines and several shots beforehand. I only watched the extended edition of Legendary Battle because all my research points to it being the definitive version of those last two episodes.

Dino Charge: November 12th
After Super Megaforce, I cut back extensively from Power Rangers. It wouldn't be until partway through Super Dino Charge that I get back into it. During this period, I watched the Thai drama Harmony Secret, I finished reading And Another Thing..., I played the game Three Wishes which and watched the fourth season of Jurassic World Chaos Theory, most of which can all go in a different blog post.

Dino Charge was a big improvement over Samurai and Megaforce. It had a couple of rough spots, but the actors were enthusiastic and the character writing was solid. Sledge was also a fun villain to watch. The season took itself seriously when it needed to, but still had fun moments. Its biggest drawback was the large cast size it ended with.

Dino Super Charge: November 21st
It bothers me that the season is not called "Super Dino Charge" but because of the whole "Super Charger" dealio, this technically makes more sense. Oh well.

DSC was not as well-designed as its predecessor was. It quickly became ten rangers, a support character for the rangers, and a few other recurring people. Most of these people are sidelined while the core seven characters get the most amount of attention. It also couldn't stick to one villain for a long enough time for them to feel meaningful.

The biggest disappointment was the buildup for Heckyl to become the Dark Ranger. He had good setup but all that sort of fizzled out...

Ninja Steel: November 26th
We're going right back to Samura and Megaforce shenanigans. It's like they learned nothing from Dino Charge. Its biggest strength was Mick, the support character. His actor's been support for many years by this point, through acting and voices. Otherwise, the season was weak, particularly in writing.

Super Ninja Steel: November 28th
This season made some improvements over the previous, but also made the low points lower. It was fun to see Sledge make a return, but that didn't save the actions and motivations of the rest of the characters. It was just barely good enough that I ranked it right above MMPR Season 2 (which also shows how much I disliked that season).

It had a small arc that featured past rangers- Koda from Dino Charge, Gemma from RPM, and Wes from Time Force, giving a warning to the current Rangers about the "dimensions in danger." The setup worked well, but the payoff was a little weak. However, we did get cameos of even more previous Rangers, including Tommy advancing even more from his time in Dino Thunder.

There was a hint at the end of the previous season where Mick temporarily became another Red Ranger. It was a massive letdown for this season, with none of that being mentioned again.

Beast Morphers S1: December 4th
I really liked this season. Selling to Hasbro was a very good choice, at least when this aired. We once again start with three rangers (and it only goes as far as five). I believe character balance worked out well, and the story was interesting. This felt like a proper Power Rangers season after most of what we get between Samurai and Super Ninja Steel.

It was also an interesting choice, as this season reached back into the Super Sentai lineup. Go-Busters was originally skipped because Dino Charge jumped to adapting Kyoryuger. Then Ninninger was adapted for Ninja Steel, but that means ToQger was skipped as well and never got to be adapted. Sad times, because this season had a train motif. Oy!

Anyway, Beast Morphers justified the adaptation enough. Those working on production handled the season with good care.

Beast Morphers S2: December 6th
This season was alright as a follow-up, but it wasn't as focused as the first one. It did, however, continue from the loose thread that RPM left behind and reveals that Beast Morphers is a sequel to RPM (after some time). I think this decision was handled well enough, and gives back some to the RPM fans (and much better than Samurai tried to do).

Dino Fury S1: December 7th
I thought the setup for this season worked well enough. The characters were interesting. Unfortunately, it started leaning back into the Samurai and Megaforce shenanigans again. In fact, we also got an episode that followed up with Mick and other Ninja Steel elements. This was handled practically and made a decent connection with NS without dragging the season down too much.

Overall, the characters were a little stiff in writing, but the season wasn't that bad.

Dino Fury S2: December 8th
There was a noticeable downgrade from the first season. The story it wanted to tell just did not stick for me. It also feels like the direction it was going was not as focused as the first season. All the characters, for the most part, lost their character.

Once & Always: December 8th
For this special, I knew I had to watch it on our nice home theatre system. As for the content, it was decent. It was fun to see the return of old faces again, but the story felt like it tried to build up a very large scale without actually showing us the scale. This led to the central conflict with Robo Rita being portrayed as rather small.

It was really cool seeing a 2023 version of the Dino Megazord. It shows just how far visual effects have come over thirty years. It also ended with a recreation of the MMPR opening with 2023 visuals and character imagery. And I have to mention the dedication at the end to Thuy Trang and Jason David Frank, who portrayed Trini and Tommy, respectively- both of whom passed before O&A released.

Cosmic Fury: December 8th
This is the shortest full season of Power Rangers, as Alien Rangers doesn't count. However, it technically counts as Dino Fury Season 3, so it doesn't feel like the shortest.

For the story it was trying to do, there was some setup as far back as the first season of Dino Fury. But in the end, we never really feel the weight of Lord Zedd's full return and what he was trying to do. And this season once again adapted two seasons- that being Kyuranger and Ryusolger, but the vast majority of the season is original footage. It doesn't feel like two different sources.

Surprise! Heckyl returns as the Dark Dino Charge Ranger for a little bit. Oh boy, was that nice to say. And on top of that, Mick had a larger role this season. He finally got to spend more time as the extra Red Ninja Steel Ranger that was barely shown before. Then we can't forget Billy. Not only did he get a big role in Once & Always, he also had a big role here. In fact, he is the only character to have been in the very first Power Rangers episode and the very last Power Rangers episode. I give him major props for that.

But apart from that, Cosmic Fury fell flat. It doesn't feel like a big ending to the Power Rangers franchise. The season just sort of... ends. From a thematic standpoint, O&A works better, but people online insist that Cosmic Fury takes place chronologically after. There are minor details that support that, but it's not as rewarding. And it also feels weird with the back-and-forth it creates between DF S2 and CF.

As for how Cosmic Fury ends, it feels rather abrupt. I'll give it points for creativity, but it doesn't feel earned in any way and doesn't have the satisfaction of defeating supposedly the biggest bad in all of PR history. For as much as I liked Lord Zedd as an enemy at the beginning of MMPR S2, I think he should have stayed there. Dino Fury did not need to bring him back.

With this being the end of the Power Rangers franchise, I also watched it on my home theatre system.

So... is that the end?

Ha ha, nope.

SPD: December 14th
I watched SPD at the end because it chronologically takes place in 2025, which is after everything else I've listed already. Unfortunately, there are a few minor references to SPD tech in Super Megaforce and later which are technically plot holes. At least the SPD references in Mystic Force and Operation Overdrive acknowledge how far in the future it takes.

As for the show itself, it doesn't take place nearly far enough in the future. This year, 2025, (more precisely, July) is when SPD takes place and we have none of the technology or aliens thay showcased. It's the same thing as Back to the Future II taking place in 2015. Ironic how both those dates end in 5.

Anyway, SPD is a much stronger note to end the Power Rangers franchise on. It is a genuinely good season, and a full-length (38 episode) one as well. On top of that, it had two crossover episodes with Dino Thunder. Those stories were alright, but seeing Dino Thunder characters again after all this time is fun.

So... is that really the end?

Ha ha, nope.

Hyperforce: ???

So you see, I haven't actually seen Hyperforce. It's not a televised season. It was a tabletop series broadcast live. Each episode is around 2-4 hours, and sitting at 25 episodes, it's another 70 hours of watch time, equivalent to 210 regular episodes. For as much as I want to watch it, I think I'll pass for the time being. One day, I'll start getting through it.

So... is that really really the end?

Ha ha, nope.

I haven't seen the 1995 movie yet either. RPM and Dino Charge are acknowledged to take place in a different dimension. However, the 1995 movie is a completely different timeline. Season 3 retconned the changes that the movie set up, unlike Turbo, with the season following its movie. Therefore, the 1995 movie is a different continuity. I wanted to get through the entirety of the main timeline first. Hyperforce is a part of that, but I haven't decided yet if I really want to wait to watch the movie after Hyperforce, or if they are so far removed that the movie won't matter.

Then there's the 2017 movie which is an entirely different universe. I've already seen it twice now, so I'm in no rush to watch it again since it has nothing derived from the main series.

And with that... I end off this blog post. I wanted to talk about the other stuff I've been doing, but this became so long that it's not worth it. I'll just save that for another day.

Thank you all for reading. Bye!