Power
Rangers
Power
Rangers is a long-running American entertainment and
merchandising franchise built around a live action children's television
series featuring teams of costumed heroes. the series took its initial
premise and much of its footage from the Japanese tokusatsu Super
Sentai franchise. Its first entry, Mighty
Morphin Power Rangers,
debuted on August 28, 1993, Despite initial criticism for its action
violence targeted for children, the franchise has continued, and as of
2009 the show consists of 17 television seasons, 15 different series,
and two theatrical films. The last new series, Power Rangers: RPM,
ended on December 26, 2009. In 2010, the original series was
rebroadcast in lieu of a new series utilizing footage from the 2009 Super
Sentai television series. On May 12, 2010, it was announced that
Saban bought back the rights to the franchise and has plans to premiere
the 18th season with 20 new episodes on the Nickelodeon network.
Rangers regularly operate in teams of five, with a special sixth
Ranger frequently joining the team part way into the series. More
recently a core team of three will later expand to include additional
Rangers. Each Ranger's suit and energy spectrum will match a specific
color, with red, yellow, and blue joined by some combination of pink,
green, black, or white. Rangers may take their names fom their
respective colors (Red Ranger, Blue Ranger, etc.) but sometimes also
use numbers or other names. There is usually no more than one Ranger of a
given color on a team, but exceptions of this rule are generally given
alternate names (in Time Force, there were two Rangers with
red-colored costumes; the first was the Red Time Force Ranger, the
second was the Quantum Ranger). Each team's costumes are nearly
identical aside from color and helmet design (most notably the shape of
the opaque visor) and perhaps a numerical designation. Any additional
Rangers will regularly have additional costume modifications, usually
some form of altered suit design and/or armor.
In mid-2010, Haim Saban's Saban Brands bought the Power Rangers
franchise back from
Disney and will air a new eighteenth season of Power Rangers on
Nickelodeon in Spring 2010 with the previous 700 episodes being rerun
on Nicktoons. It was also announced that Saban plans to make a new
Power Rangers movie.
