Holy Rao, that Power Rangers Podcast got a lot more listeners than I thought!? Good job, guys! I love you. Oh crap, did I say that too soon!? Uh, uh, uh, Power Rangers post! Let's take a look at my favorite Power Ranger series! This is The Panel Biter's Top 5 Power Rangers Series!
5. Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue
"Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue" was the first Power Rangers show that made the Rangers seem more like superheroes than series prior. This team was a government-funded team of life-risking adults who were tasked with not only fighting superpowered demons from the underworld, but also put out fires and helped in natural disasters. The first-time government angle gave a lot more believability to The Rangers as their morphers, weapons, and zords all had a easily explainable origin. The American-made Titanium Ranger was a nice nod back to the first series with Green Ranger Tommy and the story telling in Lightspeed Rescue often tipped the can for Power Rangers plot lines. Plus the Red Ranger was more shooty than punchy!
4. Power Rangers Wild Force
Animals are a great theme for a super-team, there are so many animals in the world you could literally do anything. And thats what "Power Rangers Wild Force" did with it's animal-themed Rangers, zords and optional weapons to attach! The various animals used were clever and the actual story was much different than anything before. The Red Ranger had a Tarzan background, the villains felt mythical and better connected by their distinct horns, and the crossover episodes for Wild Force were the best as they came. I also very much enjoy the costumes and their mix of uniform and distinction, every Ranger had different abilities depending on their animal, a neat addition.
3. Power Rangers SPD
The future holds many awesome things in "Power Rangers SPD", a society integrated with alien life, scientifically endowed superpowers, giant vehicles/robots, and an organization of color-clad crime stoppers! SPD followed B-Squad, a team of up-and-coming law officers are given morphers and assigned to protect their planet and others as The Power Rangers. This show offered more sci-fi stories, and smartly written characters with equally interesting villains. SPD is also famous for it's more sharpened acting and its spectacular choreography. Framing in the far future means the writers could ignore the modern logic of past series and have fun with the concept of a Power Ranger organization.
2. Power Rangers Dino Thunder
What's better than the classics? The spiritual successors! Well, sometimes. Like this one! "Power Rangers Dino Charge" took a few pages from the first Power Rangers series and condensed it into a more character-driven show about three teenagers who get dinosaur-themed powers from morphing stones. As if their Bowser-looking villain and cool dino-powers weren't cool enough, these Rangers were mentored by Tommy Oliver, the first Green Ranger/White Ranger from the first series. Tommy doubled as The Black Ranger for the team, and when the formally evil White Ranger joined the team was at five members. This team was involved in some cool crossover episodes and it's smaller cast made the show feel more personal and back-to-basics.
1. Power Rangers In Space
Finally-my favorite Power Rangers series-"Power Rangers In Space". I was never a Star Wars fan, I was never a Star Trek fan, I was never a Battlestar Galactica fan, but these space heroes are ones I could follow. I loved this show, maybe it was the sleek and organized look of the Rangers, maybe it was the diverse characters both on and off the team, maybe it was the science-fiction heavy episodes or the awesome zords formed together to fight the interesting villains like The Psycho Rangers, Darkanda and Ecliptor. Or maybe, just maybe, it was the fact that this show was the cherry on top for The Power Rangers first years on air. From Mighty Morphin' to Zeo to Turbo to this, it was a hype train that couldn't stop. In Space had fantastic writing and really felt like the first universally aware Power Rangers series. Its main character Andros was a captivating stranger who led a team of characters we got to know through Turbo, and to see the Rangers on space surfboards was ridiculously cool. This show stands as my favorite Power Rangers series because of the care that went into it, the only bad episode was the TMNT crossover and even that is laughably bad. If you have any doubt about a series to revisit, I'd highly suggest giving this one a look.
Thanks for Reading and Happy Celebration September!
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