8 Things That Happen In Every Power Rangers Season

April 21, 2024, 7:30 p.m.

Movies

8 Things That Happen In Every Power Rangers Season

0 0

Some Power Rangers tropes define the franchise and appear in virtually every season of the show. There have been 30 Power Rangers seasons since 1993, going from Mighty Morphin to Cosmic Fury. Given the success of the original series, it made sense for Power Rangers to stick to a formula and repeat tropes every year. As a result, certain storylines and character dynamics can be found in every Power Rangers team.

Even those who may have only watched a couple of Power Rangers series would recognize familiar elements in all other seasons.

Many of the classic Power Rangers tropes originate from the Super Sentai franchise. This includes long morphing sequences, mecha battles, and the monster-of-the-week formula that defined the series for 30 years. Whether the next Power Rangers show will repeat these tropes and formulas is difficult to say, but the fact is that the franchise crafted a very familiar identity thanks to these recurrent storylines. Even those who may have only watched a couple of Power Rangers series would recognize familiar elements in all other seasons.

Season Release Year Mighty Morphin 1993 Zeo 1995 Turbo 1997 In Space 1998 Lost Galaxy 1999 Lightspeed Rescue 2000 Time Force 2001 Wild Force 2002 Ninja Storm 2003 Dino Thunder 2004 S.P.D. 2005 Mystic Force 2006 Operation Overdrive 2007 Jungle Fury 2008 R.P.M. 2009 Samurai 2011 Megaforce 2013 Dino Charge 2015 Ninja Steel 2017 Beast Morphers 2019 Dino Fury 2021 Cosmic Fury 2023

8 Unprepared Teenagers Become Power Rangers

Notable Exceptions Include Lost Galaxy And Lightspeed Rescue

Apart from a couple of exceptions like Lost Galaxy and Lightspeed Rescue, all Power Rangers seasons start with unprepared teenagers becoming superheroes. Some characters, such as the ones from Mighty Morphin, were chosen to become Rangers – which does not mean that they were ready for it right from the start. Others, however, became Rangers purely by accident. For example, Ninja Storm’s Shane, Tori, and Dustin were the only three ninjas left at the academy and had to become Power Rangers because of the lack of better options. In Dino Thunder, Tommy’s students accidentally discovered the morphers.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

More recently, Ollie and Amelia accidentally discovered Zayto’s base in Power Rangers Dino Fury and had to morph into Rangers to survive. In Cosmic Fury, Fern became the Orange Ranger to rescue the Power Rangers’ mentor when the rest of the team was unavailable. Another interesting example comes from S.P.D., during which the B-Squad became Power Rangers after the A-Squad disappeared. In Time Force, while most of the team included highly trained officers from the future, Red Ranger Wes was a regular human from the 21st century with no combat training at all.

7 The Power Rangers Become Swore Enemies Of The Season’s Big Bad

The Villain Usually Has A History With The Rangers’ Mentor

It usually takes just one episode for the Power Rangers to become sworn enemies of the season’s main villain. This trope started with Rita Repulsa in Power Rangers’ very first show, as she had already fought Zordon before and was now back for revenge. Rita’s grudge against the Rangers would continue for several years and even made a comeback in Power Rangers: Once & Always. The same applies to Lord Zedd, the Machine Empire, Divatox, and virtually every other Power Rangers villain. While most of them simply wanted to take over the world, others had more interesting backstories.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

For example, Dino Thunder’s Mesogog was hiding his true identity and had a history with Tommy Oliver. Mesogog was also the father of Trent, who would become the evil White Ranger. In Lightspeed Rescue, the Lightspeed operation was created to stop Queen Bansheera from returning. In Dino Fury, Void Knight was revealed to be Amelia’s father, whereas Void Queen turned out to be her mother. Adding a personal rivalry between the villain and the Rangers allowed each Power Rangers season to explain why there was a monster every week attacking the city the current heroes were based on.

6 An Evil Power Ranger Appears

The Evil Ranger Trope Is A Fan-Favorite

“The Evil Ranger” might be the most famous Power Rangers trope, appearing in multiple seasons and resulting in some of the best characters in the franchise. Not every Power Rangers season has a proper evil Ranger arc like Tommy Oliver’s Green Ranger story. However, most of them see at least one of the Rangers become evil for one episode or include some type of clone created to replicate the Rangers’ abilities. More than 30 years later, the original Green Ranger arguably remains the most iconic of the evil Power Rangers.

Related Power Rangers’ New Team Has A Never-Before-Seen Lineup (Including A New Color) Power Rangers’ most recent team featured a never-before-seen lineup, including a Ranger color that had never appeared in the 30-year-old show.

There were plenty of great evil Rangers after Tommy, though. One major example is the Psycho Rangers from In Space. Unlike Tommy or most of the other evil Rangers in the franchise, the Psycho Rangers were not humans but rather manifestations of evil itself. Created only to destroy, the Psycho Rangers beat the heroes more than once. Other iconic evil Rangers include the Titanium Ranger from Lightspeed Rescue, the Thunder Rangers from Ninja Storm, and the White Ranger from Dino Thunder. In 2023’s Cosmic Fury, Ollie was an evil Ranger for most of the season.

5 The Power Rangers Welcome A New Member

The “Sixth Ranger” Is Often The Team’s Most Powerful

No Power Rangers team ends the show with the same amount of members as when it started. The “sixth Ranger” trope comes from Super Sentai and has even been acknowledged in-universe, with both Sentai and Power Rangers confirming that there is something special about the “sixth member.” It must be noted that “sixth Ranger” is a generic term that is not always accurate. A better term would be “extra Ranger,” as not every team starts with five heroes. For example, Ninja Storm begins with three Rangers and ends with six.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

In Dino Thunder, the three main Rangers are eventually joined by the Black and White Rangers to form a team of five. Dino Fury also began with three Rangers – Red, Pink, and Blue – and later expanded its roster to six with the arrival of the Green, Black, and Gold Rangers. Many of the sixth or extra Rangers were once evil Rangers, such as the Green Ranger in Mighty Morphin or the Titanium Ranger in Lightspeed Rescue. In Cosmic Fury, the extra Ranger was Fern, who was also the show’s first Orange Ranger.

4 The Power Rangers Get New Powers & Costumes

Battlizers, Capes, Special Weapons, & More

One of the coolest Power Rangers tropes is the upgrades the heroes receive throughout the season. From special armor to new weapons, a Power Ranger never ends a series without receiving some sort of upgrade. Most Red Rangers gain access to the Battlizer mode, which is when the resistance of their armor and their sheer strength are enhanced on a massive scale. Battlizers usually include special weapons that are integrated into the armor and can only be used once.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

Later Power Rangers seasons have introduced the concept of keys, which allow them to unlock new powers and abilities as the season progresses. In Dino Fury, every new ability the Rangers unlock comes from one of the Dino Fury keys they have access to. These transformations usually result in new accessories and costume upgrades, including but not limited to shields, shoulder patches, and capes. Some of the best Power Rangers costumes of all time were born from these special upgrades.

3 A Previously “OP” Power Ranger Gets Nerfed

Evil Rangers Become Weaker After They Are Redeemed

Power Rangers tends to introduce an incredibly powerful Ranger, only for this character to become significantly weaker later on the show. Essentially, some Power Rangers are so "OP" that they have to be nerfed after their introduction. This usually applies to the evil Rangers, who have to be stronger than the heroes when they first appear but cannot remain as such once they join the team. The original Green Ranger easily defeated all five Rangers upon their first encounter, yet Tommy was “just another Ranger” once he joined the team.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

In most cases, Power Rangers simply makes the previously-OP Ranger weaker and pretends as if they were never ridiculously stronger in the first place. In other cases, however, the show finds more creative ways to nerf a character. Perhaps the best example comes from Lightspeed Rescue, which used several tricks to remove the Titanium Ranger from the story instead of just making him too weak. Shortly after he joined the Rangers, Ryan Mitchell had to deal with a curse that wouldn’t let him use his powers properly.

2 The Power Rangers Lose Their Powers And/Or Zords

It Usually Happens At The End Of The Season

The final episodes of every Power Rangers season usually see the heroes lose their powers, base, or even their Zords in a major battle. This raises the stakes for the rest of the season and allows the show to introduce new powers or wrap up the story. In Mighty Morphin, the Rangers lost their powers and Zords twice. In both cases, this allowed Power Rangers to use new Sentai footage featuring different Zords. One of those storylines led right into Power Rangers Zeo.

Related All 10 Times The Original Power Rangers Returned After Mighty Morphin The original Power Rangers wrote their name in pop culture’s history during Mighty Morphin, but many of them would return in later seasons and movies.

The destruction of the Command Center in Turbo prompted the Rangers to leave Earth, resulting in a brand-new setting for Power Rangers in Space. Having the base or the Zords be destroyed is perhaps the most common way of wrapping up a Power Rangers series and easily explains why the heroes are no longer active when the new season begins. That said, this trope has led to some plot holes. For example, despite the destruction of the Dino Zords in MMPR, the classic Dino Megazord reappeared in Beast Morphers’ “Grid Connection” crossover.

1 A Power Rangers Crossover Episode

All Power Rangers Seasons Exist In The Same Multiverse

Power Rangers would not be the successful TV franchise it is without the instant classic crossover episodes, most of which have a Sentai counterpart. It has been a tradition since In Space to have the current heroes meet previous Rangers in special episodes, although this did not happen in every season. However, even when there is not a major crossover between two Rangers teams, there are at least a couple of cameos or namedrops to remind viewers it all takes place in the same Power Rangers chronology.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

The list of best Power Rangers crossovers of all time includes episodes like “To The Tenth Power,” “Forever Red,” “Thunder Storm,” “Once A Ranger,” and “Dimensions in Danger.” The anniversary specials, such as “Forever Red” and “The Legendary Battle,” are even more special than the usual crossovers because they celebrate important landmarks in the franchise. Cosmic Fury, the latest Power Rangers season, did not have a specific crossover episode but included characters from Mighty Morphin, Dino Charge, and Ninja Steel.