Power Rangers VHS and DVD Releases #3 (Disney)

I decided to make a catalog of various VHS and DVDs. It was hard to find pictures of everything. But I tried. Some images and info are from http://powerrangersmediainfo.blogspot.com/ 

http://powerrahut.info/power-rangers-ninja-storm-prelude-to-a-storm-vhs-video/

Power Rangers Ninja Storm: Prelude to a Storm

DVD/VHS "Prelude to a Storm", "There's No "I" in Team" and "Beauty and the Beach"

Power Rangers Ninja Storm: Looming Thunder

DVD/VHS  "Looming Thunder" "Thunder Strangers, Part I" "Thunder Strangers, Part II" "Thunder Strangers, Part III"

Power Rangers Ninja Storm Lightning Strikers

DVD/VHS Return of Thunder, Part one to four

Power Rangers Ninja Storm Samurai's Journey

VHS/DVD: "Pork Chopped, "The Samurai's Journey, Part I"  "The Samurai's Journey, Part II" "The Samurai's Journey, Part III" DVD Bonus Features: Ninja Moves and Virtual Trading Cards

Power Rangers Ninja Storm: Cyber Clash

VHS/DVD "Scent of a Ranger" "I Love Lothor" "Good Will Hunter"  "All About Beevil"

DVD Bonus Features: Ninja Moves and Virtual Trading Cards

Power Rangers Dino Thunder: Day of the Dino

VHS/DVD  "Day of the Dino, Part I", "Day of the Dino, Part II", and "Wave Goodbye"  Bonus Features: Ninja Storm episodes "Storm Before the Calm, Part I" and "Storm Before the Calm, Part II", Ninja Moves and Virtual Dino Thunder Trading Cards

Power Rangers Dino Thunder: Legacy of Power

VHS/DVD "Legacy of Power", "Back in Black", "Diva in Distress", "Game On" and "Golden Boy" DVD Bonus Features: Ninja Moves and Virtual Trading Cards

Power Rangers Dino Thunder: White Thunder

VHS/DVD "Beneath the Surface", "White Thunder, Part 1", "White Thunder, Part 2", "White Thunder, Part 3" and "Truth and Consequences"

Power Rangers Dino Thunder: Collison Course

VHS/DVD: "Leader of the Whack", "Burning at Both Ends", "The Missing Bone","Bully for Ethan" and "Lost & Found in Translation"

  Power Rangers Dino Thunder: Triassic Triumph

DVD/VHS "It's a Mad Mad Mackerel" "Copy That" "Triassic Triumph" "A Star is Torn" "A Ranger Exclusive" and Bonus Features: Power Rangers SPD: Exclusive Featurette, "Return of the Ranger" Featurette and Ninja Moves

Non-Super Sentai Power Ranger Exclusive Artwork In Action Card Game Cards

When the Power Rangers Action Card Game came out, we fans (or I, on my own) assumed that the artwork was only coming from Super Sentai Dice-O (2010-now). Some cards are mixed with photoshoots of Mighty Morphin, RPM, Samurai and Lost Galaxy. But recently it has been revealed they are also using artwork from Ranger Strike (2006-now). Funny enough, American Power Rangers fans saw Ranger Strike artwork with the Power Rangers Collector Card Game back in 2008 but there was only one series and was quickly cancelled. This week Bandai America's ACG Facebook page revealed cards for Gold Samurai Ranger (Mega Mode) and Red Dragon Fire Ranger.

Red Dragon Fire Ranger is from Mystic Force only and did not appear in Mahou Sentai Magiranger. So this is new artwork exclusively made for the American card game. Red Dragon Fire Ranger is a Battlizer, which were only in Power Rangers than Super Sentai. SPD Battlizer is the only one to appear in Sentai that AFTER it appeared in Power Rangers, having appeared in Magiranger vs. Dekaranger. The SPD Battlizer did get artwork for the Rangerstrike and Dice-O cards so fans suspect we would only get those. In fact, the SPD Battlizer appeared in the CCG (2008).

I am not surprised to see Mega Mode, I figured they would make artwork for them. But it has been pointed out that the same pose of Gold was used in a Super Samurai poster--meaning it is a photo just enhanced with photoshop. I am pleasantly surprised to see the Battlizer though. Other than SPD Battlizer, I hope we get the original In Space Battlizer, Lost Galaxy Battlizer, Ninja Storm Battlizer, and Shogun Mode. I doubt we will get Lightspeed Rescue Red's because it was more of a bike-related armor but we'll see.

Related: http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2013/03/guardians-of-justice-power-rangers.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2013/03/rangerstrike-card-art-used-for-action.html

Bulges: Cups or Not to Cup #2

Two years ago I brought up the point that Dan Ewing (Dillon/RPM) brought up that Disney had the male cast members wear athletic cups. In the post, I hypothesized that Disney had athletic cups but Saban didn't have athletic cups. Now I have a new theory that in Samurai and Megaforce, they don't use athletic cups either, even for public appearances. So I decided to go more in depth into it. A fan who commented on the last post known as David brought up a good point, an athlete cup would make sense in the fictional world, they are fighting, they have the suits for 'protection' so they do need 'protection' there more than anywhere else.


Some people might find this inappropriate as I have close-ups so if you are interested, press 'read here' or if not, move on.

Colors chosen for Power Rangers Merchandise

--

UPDATED 7/11/12

I thought I'd take stock of who is included in merchandise. Updated with a chart counting the toys, dolls, plushes and Mega Bloks figures of individual Rangers.

 The most obvious choice is the Red Ranger, he is included in everything through every season and sometimes by himself. The main three colors that get most in merchandise is Red, Blue and Pink. If there is no Pink, it's Yellow. Yellow is barely in merchandise, because most of time Yellow is female even though in Power Rangers, Red, Blue and Yellow are the most common colors. When it comes to T-Shirts, Halloween Costumes and Birthday stuff, it is more common to see Red and Blue together. In rare case where Blue is female, male Yellow takes his place like in Ninja Storm or Green in Mystic Force. Most of the time in clothing or any other promo, the third boy color gets shafted. For example, for Samurai there is more Red and Blue merch than Green. Green Samurai was absent in McDonald toys, Birthday products, early Mega Masks (he is getting one soon) and Halloween of 2011. And the Sixth Ranger, coming in late, is rarely in merchandise. Rare cases include the original White Ranger, Silver Ranger, Magna Defender, Quantum Ranger and Omega Ranger. Most of the time they are in time for the Halloween costume but not for anything like clothing or birthday stuff. As for the toys, I have mentioned before that the boys get more cyles and battlizers and different toys. But for some reason, Red and Blue get more than Green or Black.

PRESS 'READ MORE' for Charts and more stuff!

Related: http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2008/08/power-rangers-boys-club.html |  http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2008/09/power-rangers-halloween-cotumes.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2009/08/can-you-hear-me-power-ranger-walkie.html

Disney's reasons for leaving Power Rangers

I know Disney Era is over and done with, but for some reason, I can't get over it. I miss seeing Power Rangers in Disney Stores and at Disney World. If only Nick had a store or still were omnipresent in Universal Studios. The official reason Disney gave for leaving Power Rangers was that parents found it 'too violent.' NY Times says, "Mothers, the research showed, disliked the violence — particularly the hand-to-hand combat — that is part of the franchise’s D.N.A. Ultimately, Disney decided not to brand the Power Rangers as a Disney product, which made the franchise something of a black sheep at the company."  It seems hypocritical as Disney made a deal with Marvel and now Disney Stores carry toys of Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor and the Avengers. And all those movies are way more violent than Power Rangers. 

VengeanceGOD of Rangerboard went on a Disney Cruise in 2009 and spoke to the Head of Marketing for Disney's Live Action Films Division.

One of the things he covered in the talk is things they look for when merchandising things to boys. The best things to have were: Transforming vehicles, Signature Weapons, Superheroes, Martial Arts, Spaceships, and Race Cars. Since PR has had all of that at one point or another, I asked him why Power Rangers had been canceled when it hit all those points. I'll try and quote his response as closely as I can, so stuff in parenthesis is stuff where I don't remember exactly what he said.

"We picked up Power Rangers when we purchased ABC Family and (we had a few good years with the property). I think we hit a plateau with Power Rangers, and we had a few good ideas (to bring the franchise into the future). But Power Rangers' parent company (Toei), which has a stake in it, didn't like them." I asked if he was talking about the animated series, and he laughed and said he had no idea what I was talking about. Then he said, "We had a few ideas, and animated may have been one of them."

As I, Lavender Ranger, said before.... That I believe Disney wanted creative control over Power Rangers and Toei wouldn't let them or how the Head of Marketing said, they didn't like them. But with Marvel, I don't think they have much control either but I think they mostly wanted their ideas to go through like the cartoons that will premiere on Disney XD. Disney really wants the boys' market and Marvel had multiple properties to do so with. Disney CEO Bob Iger said, "For instance, we just rebranded and renamed a channel, Disney XD, which is basically a Disney channel with more boys in mind, which is off to a great start. And they had licensed about 10 hours a week of Marvel television already when we made the deal."

The following is from Tommy Lawson of Rangercrew:

More importantly, this is a quote from the 1996 SEC Filing for Fox Kids Worldwide:
In general, the Company pays Toei a fee per episode for all rights to exploit the applicable property throughout the world (other than certain parts of Asia) in all media and pays Toei a royalty based on merchandising royalties and/or certain distribution revenues. Disney chose to respond to the dispute with Toei over Power Rangers in this way - by making sure Toei collects as little royalty money as possible from the merchandising sales of Power Rangers. The first move was clear - the move to airing Power Rangers only on ABC Kids, a very lowly promoted block, pre-empted many times over the course of a year. It is the second move that may not be as clear, but should make perfect sense once I explain it - the "18th season" of Power Rangers being the reversioned Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

  Toei obviously had enough money to do the Legend War and all of Gokaiger, so it seems they don't need Power Ranger money that much, but Bandai does count Sentai and Power Rangers international sales as one. But now with Power Rangers Samurai, Toei must be collecting a lot of royalty. Some fans don't think Toei has much say in PR but since they collect royalties, they do. They have said before that in that they give the footage and Saban/Disney do whatever they want with it. So Toei doesn't have creative control over what happens in the episodes of Power Rangers but they do have control of the property in what theme it will be and if it will animated or not like it was rumored Disney was working on. I think Disney wanted to choose the next theme and control what toys they make. One rumor was that they wanted their people to design the toys and not Bandai/Plex.

 Anyways, we might never get a straight answer, but the reason this is important is that we have a better understanding of the contracts between Toei and Saban. Now that Saban is back, Toei are probably more open to Saban's ideas like having two years of a Shinkenger adaption. While not as radical as saying an animated idea, Toei probably knows Saban respects the brand and understands the rules. Rules being Toei controls what weapons and themes the team gets and Saban can add new stuff to PR (like Mega Mode, etc.) and it remains in live-action.

Power Rangers Locaitons (New Zealand)

I've covered common locations used for Super Sentai or other Tokusatsu in Japan: here and here

All of this information is from the awesome wiki site Power Rangers Unpatched

"US" scenes in seasons 11 and onward were filmed in and around Auckland, New Zealand, which doubled for the following cities for Ninja Storm to Samurai.

The Sky Tower was a prominent feature in assorted city skylines: Blue Bay Harbor, Reefside, Newtech City, Briarwood, San Angeles, Ocean Bluff, Corinth and the Samurai city. The Sky Tower is an observation and telecommunications tower located on the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets in the Auckland CBD, Auckland City, New Zealand.

The Vero Centre (constructed as the Royal & SunAlliance Centre) is a high rise office tower located in Auckland, New Zealand. Constructed in 2000, it was Auckland's first major tower built since the 1980s. The Vero Centre, with its "halo" roof, was often recognizable downtown: Blue Bay Harbor,  Reefside, Newtech City, Briarwood, San Angeles , Ocean Bluff, Corinth  and the city samurai is in.

Fight scenes set in the following cities were filmed outside the Vector Arena: Ocean, Bluff Corinth, and unnamed city (Samurai). Vector Arena is a 12,000-seat arena for sports and entertainment events in Auckland, New Zealand. Named for a sponsor, Vector Limited, the arena is located at Quay Park, Parnell, very close to the former Auckland Railway Station. A particular loading dock area (apparently behind the Vector Arena) also appeared frequently Ocean Bluff and Corinth.

Unpatched's Recycling Location page

Locations: http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2010/07/commonly-used-japanese-locations-in.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2011/03/commonly-used-japanese-locations-in.html

Is Saban contracted to adapt all consecutive Super Sentai series into Power Rangers?

UPDATED 7/2/12 6PM EST
Saban Brands has stated after the International Licensing Expo 2012 that they are contractually obligated by Toei to not skip a Sentai season.

Here is a question that is asked a lot but I don't think it has been highly investigated. The question I am referring to is the fact that so far (as of 2011) Power Rangers has been adapted from every consecutive Super Sentai series since 1992. No series after Zyuranger (1992) has been skipped for footage. They may have skipped suits like Dairanger but they used the footage for zords, some arsenal, and monsters so I still consider it using a consecutive Sentai series, same goes for Season 3 and Kakuranger. They didn't skip a consecutive season because if they did, we wouldn't had Thunderzords or Ninja Zords. Adapting for me is using any amount and size of footage. In the credits for Season 2, they mention Dai Rangers and end of season 3 they mention Kakuranger, very little Zyuranger footage was ever really used by season 3. So the question is if Saban (and Disney when they owned the franchise) contractually obligated to do the Super Sentai series in order and not skip one? Linkara has brought this up in History of Power Rangers, he felt like Carranger could be skipped. Many people have wished many a Super Sentai series would be skipped, many even thought Shinkenger was 'unadaptable' and now we have Kanji at McDonalds. Linkara also brought up the topic of the possibility of using a Super Sentai series prior to Zyuranger. Many fans had brought up in the past that a past Sentai could be adapted. I agree that could have. I would had welcomed to skip a series as well. 

 

So far it is an unspoken rule to not skip one. I think it goes higher than Saban or Disney, I think Bandai is also in the works. Many people think Toei doesn't play into a lot of Power Rangers but I think Toei is more in control. Because Toei recently approved that Power Rangers Mystic Force to be an online game for South Korea. Also Toei lets Sentai be labeled as Power Rangers in Korea and Thailand, so maybe Toei has more sway. Also at the end of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Movie, (which I've seen so many times lately because of my nephew) it says A Saban Entertainment/Toei Company production. Anyway, there is no official statement that we know of that a Sentai series can't be skipped for Power Rangers. But I, myself, with no confirmation believe that they can't skip a Sentai series. Maybe there is a contract and maybe not, but since no series has been skipped, makes me think there is a contract or an unspoken agreement. Also fiscally it is bad financial move, here are cons and pros. The reason there is more cons and than pros is that some cons are to adapt or not adapt.

Disney vs. Saban: Production, Merchandising and Promotion

I didn't like the 'versus' part but I wrote it to attract attention, yes, I'm not above it. I am comparing how both companies that have run the Power Rangers franchise. As we all know, Disney bought Fox Kids and other stuff from Saban, including Power Rangers in 2002. Disney moved production to New Zealand and produced Ninja Storm to RPM. In 2010, MMPR was re-aired with special effects as a 'reversion' and Saban rebought Power Rangers from Disney. I'm comparing Saban brands/Samurai stuff with Disney Era, very little of early Saban.

DISNEY PRODUCTION

Civilian Powers
Disney had a ongoing thread in most of their seasons where when the Rangers were not morphed, had individual super powers. Fans did not like this and some believed this was redundant as many had martial arts skills and going against the lore of the Power Rangers. I didn't mind it at times. Ninja Storm, Mystic Force and Jungle Fury already had powers in their original Sentai related to elements or animals, so there wasn't much difference in PR. As for RPM, they had individual powers but only when they were morphed, so doesn't count. The seasons that added civilian powers were Dino Thunder, SPD, and Operation Overdrive.

First Female Red Ranger
Power Rangers claimed the first female red warrior in 2005 while Super Sentai did it in 2009 with Shinkenger. While neither had completely original outfits, Charlie the A-Squad SPD Red Ranger had a semi-original uniform made from motocross gear.

Explosions
Incorrectly called "Kalishpolisions' as if Executive Producer Bruce Kalish but stunt coordinator Koichi Sakamoto is responsible for the excessive explosions in most of the Disney Era seasons.

Props from Japan
One of the negatives of filming in the United States was it was hard to ship every prop from Japan, probably because of money, maybe because of time. All I know is that props were more easier to ship from Japan to New Zealand. About 5554 miles apart. In MMPR, they never used the foam Dragon Shield, always the floppy cloth one. But in PRDT, they clearly used the original foam shield, probably shipped from Toei directly and not old MMPR reserves.

Toei shooting Sentai footage in New Zealand
May not be a big deal for Power Ranger fans, but I did like to see a comradery between Toei and Disney in that Toei had them shoot footage in New Zealand for Super Sentai. The New Zealand team used their own suits and their own stuntmen and sent the footage to Japan.

Roll Calls
Roll calls of each Ranger was pretty common in Sentai, even in Zyuranger. Remember that footage they would use when the Rangers would call their Thunderzords? Well, that was when they would say they own names. Sometimes, they would say their real name as well. This wasn't used until Space (1998) and then again SPD (2006). The last time they did this was for Jungle Fury.

Heavy Censoring
Censoring was common during early Saban era, changing gruesome plots from Sentai changing into goody plots, but Disney even changed orange fire to purple fire and real fire into CGI fire during Zord battles.


Superimposing footage
I notice that Disney did more superimposing, putting their actor over the Japanese actor.


DISNEY MERCHANDISING
Excessive Amount of toys
There is no official confirmation that Disney is responsible for the excessive amount of toys, repaints and repackaging but judging by the toyline for Samurai, that has less toys than even the 2010 MMPR wave. Compare the Time Force and Wild Force lines, and there is more toys. If you notice Ranger Central toy section (which right now is done because of the merger but will be up soon again), I made more pages of waves for the Disney seasons than for the Saban seasons. I'm sure Bandai was involved too as well, but I remember one Bandai representative saying at a recent Toy Fair that they worked closely with Saban to make sure the toys match what is on the show for Samurai.

Merchandise
I feel like more merchandise was around with Disney, compared to 1997-2001. There was a lot of merchandising and promotion during the Power Rangers hayday, I think Disney got close to it but not as much. There was adult T-shirts, Disney Store toiletries, and other merchandise that wasn't around during MMPR. But for RPM, there was very little merchandise and almost no promotion.

Disney Store Exclusives
For me, I believe Power Rangers got more exposure in the Disney Era compared to the late Saban era where the popularity waned down from 1997 to 2001 mainly because of Disney Store. Disney Store had a lot of exclusive, in conjunction with Bandai.


DISNEY PROMOTION
Jetix on ABC Family
During Wild Force to SPD, Power Rangers aired on ABC Family and ABC, and there was repeats of old episodes and marathons and special contests.

Jetix on Toon Disney
From SPD to Jungle Fury, Power Rangers aired on Toon Disney. They had old episodes too and Power Rangers episodes even aired at night. In 2009, Bruce Kalish left at the end of Jungle Fury and went to Aaron Stone and Toon Disney became Disney XD. RPM aired on ABC only and at the end of the show, it said Jetix productions.

Official Website
I don't have a picture of the official Disney website, but it had special games and character descriptions that have been transferred to the Saban Powerrangers.com but there has been some bios missing. Some of the games have also been transferred.

Lack of Promotion
By RPM, it got very little promotion or merchandise. The only 'promotion' would be the toys. And any TV promos would be on ABC and mostly during RPM aired and the old shows on ABC, but they were all old shows from the Disney Channel. I'm an elementary school teacher and kids were unaware of ABC and only knew of RPM from DVDs.



SABAN PRODUCTION
Stay in New Zealand
For Samurai, Saban chose to keep shooting in New Zealand but bring in American actors to New Zealand. For MMPR to Wild Force, they shot in California and the reason shooting was moved to New Zealand was because of costs. Saban continued censoring. From Saban (Turbo or PRiS) to Disney to Saban now again, more new footage has been shot and less Sentai footage being used.

Move to HD
Power Rangers Samurai is now airing in HD. Boukenger (2006) was the first Sentai to air in HD, but the footage was cut for NTSC smaller frame for Power Rangers from PROO to RPM, taking out important stuff or making it look awkward. But now that Shinkenger footage is used for Samurai, you can see everything because the full widescreen is being used. Above is Jungle Fury and Gekiranger comparison.

SABAN MERCHANDISING
Merchandise??
Supposedly we are to get merchandise soon according to Saban Brands, so far we only have toys, video games, digital stuff and above Bandai America stickers for a ToysRUs event. But I'm sure in a couple of months, we will see merchandise and this will sound blasphemous.



Back in the day with MMPR, Saban had tons of merchandise, more than they even had with Disney. There was juice, soap, clothing (both boys and girls), ice cream, sock-em-roock-em robots, board games, video games, computer games, plush toys, walkie talkies, night lights, book bags, sleeping cots, slushie cups, water bottles, child size dolls, and much more!


SABAN PROMOTION
Official Website
They moved a lot of the Character bios from the Disney PR website, but has a lot of original stuff like games and streaming Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episodes until Power Rangers Samurai premiered in Nickelodeon.

Facebook and other social media
Something Disney didn't do was have an official Facebook page, contests, polls and Q&A. Also Hector David Jr. (Mike) is on Twitter quite often. Also there are some stuff available on iTunes and for iPhone.

 The three Samurai males were on Teen Bop recently, last time the PR boys were on a magazine like that was Lost Galaxy in 2000.

Cast at events
The cast was invited to the Kids Choice Awards, they flew to Los Angeles from New Zealand and shortly went back. They didn't appear as presenters in the show nor interviewed. Q&A videos of them in a hotel the same day are available online officially. They recently were at Comic-Con International and they have done TV interviews, youtube interviews and public events like back in the day for MMPR.

Live Shows
Back in 1995, MMPR had a live show tour. There is to be something similar according to Saban Brands.

Nickelodeon
Supposedly reruns were to appear on NickToons but hasn't happen as of yet, a year after they said it would in October 2010. Nick heavily promotes Power Rangers new episodes and toy commercials, but not much now during repeats. NickToons have done Samurai marathons and stuff like that. Power Rangers briefly appears in a promo for all Nick shows.

Related: http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2010/05/disneys-contributions-to-power-rangers.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2010/05/positives-of-disney-franchise.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2010/05/super-sentai-on-going-concepts.html