Anyone here ever watch Power Rangers?

[Pink Jazz]

For those who are in their 20s here, I was wondering, has anyone here ever watched Power Rangers? Just to let everyone know, Power Rangers is still going on with the current season being Power Rangers Super Megaforce.

My favorite season was Power Rangers in Space in 1998. PRiS gave the show a bit more of a mature twist and is often credited for saving the show from cancellation after the poor ratings of the previous two seasons (Power Rangers Zeo and Power Rangers Turbo). My favorite Power Ranger of all time was Andros the Red Space Ranger.

Now, I would start watching Power Rangers again if they would have a male Pink Ranger (don't make him gay!) and either a female Green Ranger or a female Black Ranger (don't make her a lesbian).

My dream Power Rangers team would be known as Power Rangers Global Force, and each Ranger would be from a different country of the world:

• Pink Ranger - American Male - Leader
• Red Ranger - Italian Male - Second-in-command
• Blue Ranger - French Female
• Green Ranger - Mexican Female
• Black Ranger - Chinese Female
• Yellow Ranger - Native South African Male

The Pink Ranger would be in a relationship with the Green Ranger, the Red Ranger would be in a relationship with the Black Ranger, and the Yellow Ranger would be in relationship with the Blue Ranger.

[DaBigE]

I recall watching it once, and with the exception of the [then] pink ranger, wanted to gouge-out my eyes after that.

[Pink Jazz]

I recall watching it once, and with the exception of the [then] pink ranger, wanted to gouge-out my eyes after that.

Do you happen to know which season?  The original Pink Ranger from the first and second (and most of the third) seasons of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers was Kimberly.  She was replaced by Katherine in the third season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, who continued through Power Rangers Zeo and the first half of Power Rangers Turbo.

Since Power Rangers' peak of popularity was in the first and part of the second season, I presume the Pink Ranger you most likely saw was Kimberly.

[DaBigE]

Yeah, the name Kimberly sounds familiar.

[US81]

My kids watched MMPR, so I watched with them. It was over a period of maybe two or three years, their interest waned as the original roles got recast with new actors, so I'm really only familiar with the older incarnation.

I like some of the ideas you have, although a part of me wonders if a male is the commander, why not a female second? Also, why match them up in relationships? Can't they just be friends? Wouldn't that make it easier to avoid or at least minimize some of the gay/lesbian/straight typing? Being a kid show and all....

That said, I do like that you're deliberately going against color stereotypes. My kids and I had a few conversations about whether or not the yellow Ranger should have been Asian, the black Ranger being African-American, the pink Ranger being female and the blue, male, etc.

At any rate, I probably don't remember it well enough that I should offer an opinion, but here it is, anyway. Lol.

[Pink Jazz]

My kids watched MMPR, so I watched with them. It was over a period of maybe two or three years, their interest waned as the original roles got recast with new actors, so I'm really only familiar with the older incarnation.

I like some of the ideas you have, although a part of me wonders if a male is the commander, why not a female second? Also, why match them up in relationships? Can't they just be friends? Wouldn't that make it easier to avoid or at least minimize some of the gay/lesbian/straight typing? Being a kid show and all....

That said, I do like that you're deliberately going against color stereotypes. My kids and I had a few conversations about whether or not the yellow Ranger should have been Asian, the black Ranger being African-American, the pink Ranger being female and the blue, male, etc.

At any rate, I probably don't remember it well enough that I should offer an opinion, but here it is, anyway. Lol.

Well, the original Black Ranger Zack was African-American and the original Yellow Ranger Trini was Asian.  Their replacements, Adam and Aisha, respectively, had their races switched with Adam being Asian and Aisha being African-American due to parents complaining about racism with the first cast.  Ironically, Tommy (previously the Green and then the White Ranger) was made the Red Ranger in Power Rangers Zeo, and there were episodes about his Native American heritage, yet nobody complained about it.

Also, Power Rangers has had two female Blue Rangers, one in Power Rangers Ninja Storm (Tori) and another in Power Rangers Mystic Force (Madison).  Power Rangers has also had three male Yellow Rangers, one in the Mighty Morphin' Alien Rangers mini-series (Tideus), one in Power Rangers Ninja Storm (Dustin), and one in Power Rangers Mystic Force (Chip).  Note that some of the female Yellow Rangers' counterparts in Super Sentai (the Japanese series that Power Rangers is based on) were male, which is why many of the Yellow Ranger costumes lack skirts.  Pink unfortunately has always been female, and Green/Black have unfortunately always been male.

As for why a female isn't second-in-command, note that Power Rangers has actually had two (or three if counting the few episodes in Power Rangers Super Samurai) female leaders throughout its history.  One was the White Alien Ranger Delphine in the Mighty Morphin' Alien Rangers mini-series, and another was Pink Time Force Ranger Jen in Power Rangers Time Force.  Normally the Red Ranger is the leader and has almost always been male except for a few episodes in Power Rangers Super Samurai.  Second-in-command is also usually male and is usually either the Blue, Green, or Black Ranger.

[Duke87]

I remember Power Rangers becoming really huge about the time I was in first grade. When this happened I instantly decided I hated it and wanted nothing to do with it, without ever having watched it. The show's content was irrelevant, what I hated was how seemingly everyone was suddenly obsessed with it. I couldn't deal with that.

To this day I don't think I've ever watched an episode of the show.

[Laura]

My kids watched MMPR, so I watched with them. It was over a period of maybe two or three years, their interest waned as the original roles got recast with new actors, so I'm really only familiar with the older incarnation.

I fall into this camp as well. It hit really big when I was in first grade, and I probably watched it until third grade. I remember almost nothing about it except that I really liked Kimberly and Trina (the pink and yellow rangers).

I had no idea it was still on. I do appreciate when things last long beyond their popular phase.

[US81]

Well, the original Black Ranger Zack was African-American and the original Yellow Ranger Trini was Asian.  Their replacements, Adam and Aisha, respectively, had their races switched with Adam being Asian and Aisha being African-American due to parents complaining about racism with the first cast.  Ironically, Tommy (previously the Green and then the White Ranger) was made the Red Ranger in Power Rangers Zeo, and there were episodes about his Native American heritage, yet nobody complained about it.

Also, Power Rangers has had two female Blue Rangers, one in Power Rangers Ninja Storm (Tori) and another in Power Rangers Mystic Force (Madison).  Power Rangers has also had three male Yellow Rangers, one in the Mighty Morphin' Alien Rangers mini-series (Tideus), one in Power Rangers Ninja Storm (Dustin), and one in Power Rangers Mystic Force (Chip).  Note that some of the female Yellow Rangers' counterparts in Super Sentai (the Japanese series that Power Rangers is based on) were male, which is why many of the Yellow Ranger costumes lack skirts.  Pink unfortunately has always been female, and Green/Black have unfortunately always been male.

As for why a female isn't second-in-command, note that Power Rangers has actually had two (or three if counting the few episodes in Power Rangers Super Samurai) female leaders throughout its history.  One was the White Alien Ranger Delphine in the Mighty Morphin' Alien Rangers mini-series, and another was Pink Time Force Ranger Jen in Power Rangers Time Force.  Normally the Red Ranger is the leader and has almost always been male except for a few episodes in Power Rangers Super Samurai.  Second-in-command is also usually male and is usually either the Blue, Green, or Black Ranger.

I was fairly certain that there was a male actor in the yellow ranger costume. It was what it was - a show for children - that was reasonably inclusive for its time. And I said earlier, once my children lost interest, I stopped watching as well, so all the info you have about the later incarnations was new to me and interesting. 

[english si]

To this day I don't think I've ever watched an episode of the show.

If you've watched one, you've watched them all.

High school drama interrupted by small monster, whom they kung fu and just before they beat the big bad makes massive, meaning that they need their robots, which can't quite do it, so they need to make one big robot out of their individual ones...

OK, one week someone might be kidnapped, or busy, or away, so they have to try and do it without a ranger. And before long, the conglomerate robot wasn't good enough, so they had to bring in 'Ultrazoid', which could defeat the bad guys easily (at first). I was 6 or 7, and I wondered why they bothered with the smaller robots (and especially individually - which worked in like the first two episodes and then never again), when Ultrazoid always won and they never called until they were nearly dead.

I began to sarcastically mock it after about 10 episodes, then actively avoid it (I think I played catch/football on my own outside - IIRC, I even did that at a party as the other boys all went and watched it. It was boring, but better than Power Rangers) before the first season was done. OK, I was too young to get the teen drama, but it was actually the fighting that I found boring and formulaic.

It was what it was - a show for children - that was reasonably inclusive for its time.

You pick five kung fu people at random from a school, throw them together and magically you have a fairly balanced gender ratio and every one a different race. I'd have called trying too hard if it wasn't 6 and it wasn't how every show imported from America at the time seemed to work and I just assumed that America was a land where you never really made friends with people with the same colour skin.

Certainly, when I was a little bit older (like 8 or 9), I found it pretty racist that Captain Planet (thankfully a show my peers and brother all loved to hate for being preachy. We'd all do the sarcastic mockery) did the same with its team - like somehow having 'one of each' was better than not caring about the colour of the skin of the team.

[The Nature Boy]

Let's not forget the two biggest plotholes:

1. Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd ALWAYS targeted Angel Grove, California where the Power Rangers happened to live. Why not target New York or Los Angeles at least? The Power Rangers might be surprised if you varied your attacks a bit.

2. Angel Grove had the best infrastructure crew ever because they were always able to repair roads and buildings really quickly after a monster destroyed everything.

[Stephane Dumas]

Let's not forget the two biggest plotholes:

1. Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd ALWAYS targeted Angel Grove, California where the Power Rangers happened to live. Why not target New York or Los Angeles at least? The Power Rangers might be surprised if you varied your attacks a bit.

2. Angel Grove had the best infrastructure crew ever because they were always able to repair roads and buildings really quickly after a monster destroyed everything.

The same thing happens in lots of others series and animes like Sailor Moon.

Anyone also remember the 2 guys Bulk and Skull?