Showing posts with label RPM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RPM. Show all posts

Saturday, November 7, 2020

Design Aspects that mean something in Sentai that doesn't mean anything in Power Rangers

UPDATED 11/8/20 6:05 PM EST

 I thought I would go over design aspects (suits, monsters, zords, emblems, and anything else) that mean something in Super Sentai that does not mean anything or the same in Power Rangers. Or it is just unexplained. 


The "Z" on the Megazords
We would see "M" on the Mastodon and assume it is for Mastodon and T on Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus and it was easy to figure out. But sometimes we would see a Z on Dragonzord in Battle Mode or its attacks or on the Ultrazord. The "Z" was not for Zordon but for Zyuranger, the primary Sentai that Mighty Morphin got its footage from.

Eyeballs on Zedd's Monsters
The majority of the Dairanger monsters with one eyeball because that was their motif, they had three eyes. In Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, it was left unexplained on half of his monsters (the other half were "Zyu2" monsters created exclusively for Power Rangers that were more animal based.

The In Space buckle logo
The symbol looks like an envelope, it is actually an "M." M for Megaranger.

Psycho Rangers Buckle Logo
The Psycho Rangers have a visible "N" on their buckles and it is for Nejiranger, 'Neji' is part of the Nejire, the villains of Megaranger. 'Neji' means twisted. 

Ninja Storm Symbol
It probably went unnoticed and fans assumed it was a ninja star, but the symbol was actually an "H," based on Hurricanger, the series Ninja Storm got its footage from.

Dragon Coin/Dino Thunder Symbol
When Dino Thunder came out, people thought it was related to Tommy's Green Ranger Dragon coin. But in reality, they are unrelated. It was just a happy coincidence. In Abaranger, the symbol is unrelated because it is a dinosaur footprint. In Zyuranger, the coin is a symbol of the dragonzord's footprint. 

Sky Saints in Mystic Force
Remember when the Mystic Force Rangers would morph and strange monster-like creatures would appear behind them? Even used in some Titan Megazord attacks. They were never explained, but they were the guardian saints of the Magiranger. Magiranger's father came from Magitopia and was a Sky Saint, including the counterparts for Imperius' good form, the Gatekeeper, Snow Prince, and Daggeron. They were all Sky Saints, the same species. In Mystic Force, it is unknown if they were the same species as Daggeron and Snow Prince. In fact, Daggeron and Leanbow's forms were called Ancient Mystic Forms but were not explained. 

RPM Symbol
The Go-Onger symbol had a "G" but the "G" was ignored for RPM. For Beast Morphers they did acknowledge the GB and called it Grid Battleforce. 

Gold Sashes in Dino Charge
Ever wonder why Graphite and Aqua Ranger have gold sashes? It is because in Kyoryuger, they are dead and are spirits. They were called Spirit Rangers. 

White Faces on Monsters in Dino Charge
The Dino Charge Monsters and main villains have white faces. Only Snide and Sledge don't have them. Sledge is American Only made villain, so he doesn't have it. Snide was originally from Kyoryuger vs. Go-Busters and an upgraded version of Zeltrax. The faces each had a different emotion.

Let me know if there are more. 

Sunday, October 11, 2020

Props and Concepts from Tokusatsu used in Power Rangers

 I have covered a couple of these topics before but here they are complied with some new ones. I will not include monsters that were reused later because there are too many to mention. 

Aura Changer/Manga Morpher
The Aura Changer, the morpher from Dairanger (1993) was changed to the Manga Morpher for Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (1998). They changed the colors and name of Dairanger changed to silver. The toy had the name of Lost Galaxy while the show just had it silver. They changed the knots on the extending item to silver.

Gorma Emperor/Master Org
The costume for the main villain Gorma Emperor from Daitanger (1993) was used for Master Org in Power Rangers Wild Force (2002).


Nanami/Kira
Nanami (Hurricanger 2002) was a singer, this trait was not moved to her counterpart Tori in Ninja Storm (2003) but given to Kira in Dino Thunder (2004). This was probably done because back then they usually got a few episodes in advance. They probably were already locked in character traits in Ninja Storm, that later after Hurricanger ended, producers liked that concept for Dino Thunder.


Rije/Mora and Rijewel/Morgana
In Abaranger (2003), the villain Rie was child-like became the woman Rijewel. The Dino Thunder series didn't have this concept. This concept was used for Mora/Morgana in Power Rangers SPD (2005). Morgana did get the battle suit from Succubus from Dekaranger (2004) so it was a composite character. This was probably done because back then they usually got a few episodes in advance. They probably were already locked in for villains for Dino Thunder and were not aware that concept would happen. Later after Abaranger ended, producers liked that concept for SPD.

Abarepink / Orange Ranger
In Abaranger (2003), Abarepink was a friend of the gang dressed as a fan-made pink ranger. This concept was not used in Dino Thunder. In SPD (2005), Boom made his fan made Orange Ranger costume. 

Thunder Stinger
B-Fighter (1995)/Beetleborgs (1996)'s Thunder Stinger becomes an unnamed weapon for Dr. K in RPM (2009). 

Baron Nero/Cosmo Royale
Toqger (2014)'s Baron Nero was used for Cosmo Royale in Ninja Steel (2017). They changed the face.

Jirayu and Gavan/Skyfire and Chaku
Jirayu (1993) appeared in Ninninger (2015) and Gavan (1982) appeared in Go-Busters (2012). Then when Ninninger was adapted as Ninja Steel (2017), Jirayu became Skyfire. Then when Go-Busters was adapted as Beast Morphers (2019), Gavan became Chaku.

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Age Differences between Cast Version 2 (2020)


I will note the age differences between the Power Rangers in each cast. Most actors are between the ages of 18 and 28, some have been in their thirties. And the original cast are entering their forties. Most cast members only have 2 to 5 years in difference within the cast.

When MMPR was shot in 1993, Amy Jo Johnson (Kim) was 22; Austin St. John (Jason) was 17; Thuy Trang (Trini) was 19; Walter Jones (Zack) was 25 or 26; and David Yost (Billy) was the eldest at 24. When Jason David Frank (Tommy) joined the cast, he was 20. David Yost had a 7 year difference from Austin St. John, the youngest. Paul Schrier was 23, he is a year younger than David. Jason Narvy was 19, 2 years older than Austin. According to NoPinkSpandex, Walter Jones lied about his age and is older than David. 

In season 2 when Johnny Yong Bosch (Adam) joined the cast, he was 18; Steve Cardenas (Rocky) was 20; and Karan Ashley (Aisha) was 19. David (25) and Johnny had a six year age difference. Amy Jo was 24; David was 25 and Jason was 21. By Season 3, Jason was 22; David was 26; Steve was 21; Johnny was 19 and Karan was 20 and Catherine Sutherland (Kat) was 21 when she joined the cast. Steve is 5 months older than Catherine.

Aquitar (Alien) Rangers: Karim Prince (Cestro) was born in 1974 and was 21 in 1995. Alan Palmer (Corcus) looks to be in his 40's now, so I suppose he was in his late 20's during this time. Same goes for David Bacon (Aurico). I am not sure about Rajia Baroudi (Delphine) or Tideus' actor Jim Gray.

By Zeo, Jason was 22, David was 27, Steve was 22, Johnny was 20, Catherine was 21 and Nakia Burrise (Tanya) was 21. David Yost has a six year difference with Nakia. When Austin St. John (Jason) was added, he was 21. Catherine is 11 months older than Austin. I don't know how old the triplets that played Trey are.

 Blake Foster (Justin) was 11, he was born in 1985 and he is now 26. Jason was 22 and later 23, Jason is about 12 years older than Blake. Johnny is 9 years older and Catherine and Nakia are about 11 years older. Hilary Shepard Turner (Divatox) was born in 1961, at the time she was 35, she was 12 years older than Jason David Frank and 24 years older than Blake. Carol Hoyt (Dimitria/Divatox) was 34 at the time. As for the new cast, Patricia Ja Lee (Cassie) was 22; Selwyn Ward (TJ) was 20; Roger Velasco (Carlos) was 20; and Tracy Lynn Cruz (Ashley) was 21. The eldest was Patricia and she is around 10 years older than Blake.

For Space, Christopher Lee (Andros) was 20, Patricia was 23, Selwyn was 21, Roger was 21 and Tracy was 22, Justin Nimmo (Justin) was 24 and Melody Perkins (Astronema) was 24. Justin Nimmo is 4 years older than Christopher. Melody is 8 months older than Justin Nimmo. Jason David Frank is 5 years older than Christopher Lee. Selwyn was a year older than Christopher. Paul Schrier was 28 and Jason Narvy was 24, 2 months younger than Melody.

 
In Lost Galaxy, Archie Kao (Kai) was 29, he is 10 months younger than David Yost. Reggie Rolle (Damon) was 23; Danny Salvin was 26; Cerina Vincent (Maya) was 20; Russell Lawrence (Mike) was 21; Varlie Vernon (Kendrix) was 23; Melody Perkins (Karone) was 25. Archie was the oldest and Cerine was the youngest. Danny is 6 years older Christopher Lee. Amy Miller (Trakeena), who married Reggie Rolle and I can't find her age.

 
In Lightspeed Rescue, Sean Cw Johnson (Carter) was 22; Michael Chaturantabut was 25; Alison Macinnis (Dana) was 20; Keith Robinson (Joel) was 24; Sasha Craig (Kelsey) was 18, Monica Louwerens (Angela) was 26; Ron Rogge (Captain Mitchell)  was 32--a year older than David Yost. Ron was only 12 years older than Dana and Rhett. Rhett Fisher (Ryan) was 20, 2 months younger than Alison.

Jason Faunt (Wes) was 27--five years older than Sean Johnson; Michael Copon (Lucas) was 19; Erin Cahill (Jen) was 21; Deborah Phillips (Katie) was 23; Kevin Kleinberg (Trip) was 18; Dan Southworth (Eric) was 27; Dan is 2 months older than Jason. Edward Albert played Mr. Collins and was 50 at the time, making him 23 years older than Jason Faunt. He passed away in 2006 at the age of 55 due to Lung Cancer. Vernon Wells (Ransik) was around 55 and I don't know how old Kate Sheldon (Nadira) is. So, Kevin was the youngest of the Rangers and Dan was the eldest, with a 9 year difference, more than David Yost and Austin St. John's age differences.

 
Wild Force: Ricardo Medina (Cole) was 25; Alyson Sulivan (Taylor) was 25--4 months older than Ricardo; Phillip Jeanmarie (Max) was 24; Jessica Ray (Alyssa) was 20; Jack Guzman (Danny) was 24; Philip Andrew (Merrick) was 24. Jessica Ray was the youngest and has a 5 year difference from Ricardo and Alyson. Ilia Volok (Master Org) was 37 and I don't know how old Ann Marie Crouch (Shayla) is.

 
Ninja Storm: Pua Magasiva (Shane) was 23; Sally Martin (Tori) was 18; Glenn McMillan (Dustin) was 19; Jason Chan (Cam) was 32---a year younger than Amy Jo Johnson; Jorgito Vargas Jr. (Blake) was 26 and Adam Tuominen (Hunter) was 23; Katrina Devine (Marah) was 23 and Katrina Browne (Kapri) was 28.

 Dino Thunder: Emma Lahana (Kira) was 20; James Napier (Connor) was 22; Kevin Duhany (Ethan) was 20;  Jeffrey Parazzo  (Trent)was 26; Jason David Frank was 31--a year younger than Cam. Jason, being the oldest, is 11 years older than Kevin and Emma, the youngest.

SPD: Brandon Jay McLaren (Jack) was 24; Chris Violette (Sky) was 24; Matt Austin (Bridge) was 27; Monica May (Z) was 21; Alycia P. (Syd) was 22; Michelle Langstone (Kat) was 26--a year younger than Matt Austin.  John Tui (Doggie) was 30.  John Tui had a 9 year difference between him and Monica.

Mystic Force: Firass Dirani (Nick) was 22; Angie Diaz (Vida) was 18; Richard Brancatisano (Xander) was 23; Melanie Vallejo (Madison) was 27; Nic Sampson (Chip) was 20; Antonia Prebble (Clare) was 22; Geoff Dolan (Leanbow) was 42. Of the main five, Angie was the youngest, having a 9 year difference with Melanie, who played her sister. Peta Rutter (Udonna) was 47, making her 25 years older than Firass and Geoff was 20 years older than Firass. Peta died in 2010 at age 51. John Tui (Daggeron) was 31.

 
PROO: James Maclurcan (Mac) was 22; Caitlin Murphy (Ronnie) was 21; Samuell Benta (Will) was 21; Rhoda Montemayor (Rose) was 28; Gareth Yuen (Dax) was 29; Dwayne Cameron was 26 (Tyzonn) and Ria Vandervis (Miratrix) was 23. Rod Lousich (Andrew) was 40--18 years older than James.

Jason Smith (Casey) was 24; Anna Hutchison (Lilly) was 22; Aljin Abella (Theo) was 23; David de Lautour (Robert James) was 26; Bede Skinner (Jarrod) was 32;  Holly Shanahan (Camile) was 27; Nikolai Nikolaeff  (Dom)was 27---a month younger than Holly. Bede was the eldest, 6 years older than David. Anna being the youngest, was 4 years younger than David and 10 years younger than Bede. Jungle Fury.

RPM: Eka Darville (Scott) was 20; Ari Boyland (Flynn) was 22; Rose McIver (Summer) was 22; Dan Ewing (Dillon) was 24; Olivia Tennet (Dr. K) was 18; Adelaide Kane (Tenaya) was 19; Milo Cawthorne (Ziggy) was 20 and I don't know old the others were. Dan was the eldest and Olivia was the youngest, 6 year difference.

Samurai: Alex Heartman (Jayden) was 20; Erika Fong (Mia) was around 24 years of age; Hector David Jr. (Mike) was 22; Najee De-Tiege (Kevin) was 25; Brittany Anne Pirtle (Emily) was 22 in December. Ricardo Medina (Deker) being born in 1977, he was 34 at the time. Paul Schrier, born in 1970 was 41. Felix Ryan (Spike) was 21. I don't know how old Steven Skylar (Antonio) was 23. Kimberly Crossman (Lauren) was 21. The youngest is Felix and Paul is 20 years older. Ricardo is 13 years older than Alex. OMG, Paul could be Alex and Felix's dad! Not Najee's dad, because that would be 15 year difference, well, who knows. Alex was born in February of 1990 and Felix in July, making Felix 5 months younger.

Megaoforce: Andrew Gray was born in 1987 and was 26 in 2013. Ciara Hanna was born in 1991 and was 22 in 2013. John Mark Loudermilk was also 22, five months younger than Ciara. Azim Rizk was born in 1990 and was 23 in 2013. Christina Masterson was 24 at the time. Cameron Jebo was 25, born in 1989. Andrew is the oldest and John is the youngest, they have a 4 year age difference. 


Dino Charge: Brennan Mejia was born in 1990 and was 25 in 2015. Camile Hyde was born in 1993 and was 22 in 2015. Claire and Camile are as old as the franchise. Yoshua Sudarso was born in 1989 and was 26 in 2015.  James Davies was born in 1989 and was 26 as well. James is a month older than Yoshi. Michael Taber was born in 1994 and was 21 in 2015. Davi Santos was born in 1991 and was 25 in 2015. Claire Blackwelder was also born in 1993 like Camile and was 22 as well, making it funny her character is supposed to be older. Jarred Blakiston (Prince Phillip) was born in 1991 and was 24 at the time. Ryan Carter (Heckyl) was born in 1992 and was 23 at the time of filming in 2015.  Arthur Ranford (Albert) was born in 1948, making him the oldest Power Ranger actor at the time at age 67. 

Of the main seven, the oldest is James Davies and the youngest Michael Taber, being 5 years apart. Arthur Ranford is 41 years older than James and 46 years older than Michael Taber. Ryan Carter who plays villain Heckyl is 3 years younger than James Davies and 2 years older than Michael. Jarred is about the same age as Davi Santos just like Camile and Claire are only a few months apart. I can't find an age on Reuben Turner (James) but he can't be that much older than Brennan. According to Rangerwiki (http://powerrangers.wikia.com/wiki/James_Navarro), Reuben was 28 at the time of shooting, making him only three years older than Brennan and about 2 years older than James Davies and 39 years younger than Arthur Ranford.


Ninja Steel: Christi (Sarah) was 24, Will Shewfelt (Brody) was 22, Peter Sudarso (Preston) was 27, Zoe Robins (Hayley) was 25, Nico Greetham (Calvin) was 22, and Jordi Webber (Levi) was 23. Will is younger than Nico by 2 months. Will and Jordi are only a year apart. Kelson Henderson (Mack) was in his 40s. 

Beast Morphers: Abraham Rodriguez (Nate) was 19 when they started, Colby Strong (Blaze) was 25, Liana Ramierez (Roxy) was 21, Rorrie Travis (Devon) was 24, Jazz Baduwalia (Ravi) was 20 or 21, and Jacqueline Scislowski (Zoey) was 19. Kristina Ho (Betty) was 25 and Cosmo Flores (Ben) was 22. Teulia Blakely (Commander Shaw) was 44 and is 24 years old than Jazz. 

Sunday, November 18, 2018

Power Rangers Ultimate Visual History Review

I know this is a few weeks late but I was busy with work and Rangerstop, here is my review. Written by Jody Revenson and Ramin Zahed, for Insight Editions which have done "Ultimate Visual Historys" for Ninja Turtles and Back to the Future and Revenson has done Harry Potter volumes. It has a touching foreword by Amy Jo Johnson. It is a behind the scenes book from the inception of Power Rangers (Saban in a hotel room) to the series humble beginnings to the juggernaut it became to getting a bit more mature (In Space to Time Force) to being acquired by Disney (Ninja Storm to RPM) to Saban Brands (Samurai to Super Ninja Steel) to now (Beast Morphers). Even a diehard fan such as myself didn't know Saban sang all Sentai songs from Goranger to Jetman, Alpha 5 being based on 50's robot toys and named after an obscure French film Alpha 60 and the literal taping of random hardware to become a new invention for Billy.

The book is thorough in explaining the plot of each season, the characters, villains, zords and the producers and writers. It shows stunning visuals, some we already know and some never before seen such as concept drawings for various things from command center, juice bar, Ninjetti table, Wild Force Animarium and Samurai wardrobe. It is inconsistent in its content of pictures, say, compared to the Super Sentai encyclopedia books as the content is not consistent (for example, Megaforce villains get a two pages but Super Megaforce villains do not). I am not being nitpicky but it gets a little glaring for someone that has ADHD or OCD which I believe (going to conventions) which is probably half of the fandom. (not a criticism but an observation)

The book is guilty of indulging a lot in the earlier seasons and movies than the later seasons but probably for the reader, who probably is guessed to be over twenty years old and probably not as intrigued to have 14 pages on Megaforce. The 2017 movie gets 14 pages. Each Saban Brands season gets 12 pages except Dino Charge gets 10. Disney seasons gets 8 pages except SPD and Operation Overdrive that get 6 each. Each Saban Entertainment season gets from 6 pages to 10. Migthy Motphin, because its 3 seasons and the movie, it gets 58. Zeo and Turbo series gets 6 pages each, Turbo movie, Lost Galaxy, and Wild Force gets 10, Space gets 12 and Lightspeed and Time Force gets 8. It probably had to do with what they had to explain and the amounts of photos. 

I found intriguing reasoning of the writers such as a lower episode count in Mystic Force made producers and writers happy they could use less of the sentai footage and focus on their own. With MMPR season 1, they had to use ALL the footage. Then in other seasons that had so little budget they had no choice but to use mostly footage. Supposedly the less original footage they had to make the more high quality they could had done with it. But unfortunately with Megaforce, it looks like who is in charge is what dictates what 'high quality' is. In the case of RPM, the book claims Disney says it was just the scheduling why they fired Eddie Guzelian but Ari Boyland at Rangerstop 2016 claims it was because Guzelian didn't use all the monster suits they were ordered.

The book doesn't make the usual mistakes other Saban Brands publications do with misnaming things and only trusting fan information. They do quote and site a lot of fan websites (even mine) but mostly with interviews with actors. They used two of my interviews, one with Davi Santos and another with Ryan Carter. Unfortunately I did see one mistake. They have little pamphlets inside and one covered toys and one claimed you had to scan Power Cards" that came with the Ranger Keys which is incorrect. The cards came in the first season of Power Rangers Megaforce and the keys in Super Megaforce. All in all, a great book but if you can't cough up $50, its understandable. With most books it can just collect dust. But for me, this is a book I'll be revisiting. 



Saturday, August 18, 2018

Power Morphicon 2018 News Round-up

Here is the round up. The con is not over just yet. I wasn't able to go this time. I've only been to Power Morphicon 3 and 4. We got all the info we wanted, the rest of the returning cast for the anniversary special, the new Beast Morphers cast and some toy info. I guess fans wanted to see Beast Morphers toys but I am guessing we might at a toy fair or NYCC Comic Con.

Official Video:
Power Rangers Ninja Steel
Anniversary specil "Diensions in Danger" airs August 28th at 8pm

Returning cast:
Jason David Frank - Tommy Oliver/Green MM/White MM/Red Zeo/Red Turbo/Black Dino Thunder (so far Green MM and Black DT)
Steven Cardenas - Rocky DeSantos/Red Mighty Morphin Ranger/Blue Zeo (here Red MM)
Catherine Sutherland - Kat Hillard/Pink Mighty Morphin/Zeo/Turbo Ranger (here Pink Turbo)
Selwyn Ward - TJ Johnson/Red Turbo/Blue In Space Ranger (here In Space Blue)
Jason  Faunt - Wes/Red Time Force Ranger
Jeffrey Parazzo - Trent/White Dino Thunder
Li Ming Hu - Gemma/Ranger Operator Series Silver RPM
Steven Skyler - Antonio Garcia/Gold Samurai Ranger
Ciara Hanna - Gia/Yellow Megaforce Ranger
Yoshi Sudarso - Koda/Blue Dino Charge Ranger

Official Video:
Power Rangers Beast Morphers


Red Ranger - Rorrie Travis 
Blue Ranger - Jasmeet Baduwalia
Yellow Ranger - Jacqueline Scislowski

Hasbro has revealed Lightning Collection
https://twitter.com/PowerRangers/status/1030896158191898625