It’s Morphin’ Time… after time… after time… Those Crayola-colored defenders of justice, the Power Rangers. have been kicking and punching their way to victory for 25 years and to celebrate, they are getting a token that few superheroes ever have, their own National Day of recognition. August 28th, fans are encouraged to dress in ten colors of their favorite “teenagers with attitude” and share photos and memories on social media with the hashtag #NationalPowerRangersDay.
Also to mark the occasion, Nickelodeon will air a special 25th anniversary of ‘Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel’, entitled ‘Dimensions of Danger’ which includes guest appearances by the Time Force Red Ranger, Jason Faunt and the Pink Turbo Ranger, Catherine Sutherland. The most popular Ranger of all, Jason David Frank will also appear. Frank originated as the Mighty Morphin Green Ranger, before leading the team as the White Ranger. He also went on to embody other Rangers in subsequent seasons.
This event was spearheaded by Hasbro, who purchased the PR brand from Saban in May. Hasbro will take over production of the toys from Bandai, who have produced them since 1993 when the first series ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ launched in the US. Hasbro has extensive plans to thrust PR back to their earlier heights of popularity which includes trying again with a big budget film franchise, following last year’s ‘Saban’s Power Rangers’ which disappointed at the box office.
‘Power Rangers’ was the brainchild of Haim Saban, who caught episodes of ‘Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger’ or ‘Super Sentai’ in Japan. The show featured actors dressed in vibrant spandex uniforms with stylized motorcycle helmets, battling gray spandex-clad villains before jumping into their robotic Zords to take down a “giant” monster. Though some of the sequences resembled cheesy old ‘Godzilla’ movies, Saban saw something special and through the FOX network, imported the series, swapping out scenes of Japanese actors with Americans– Austin St. John, Amy Jo Johnson, Walter Jones, Thuy Trang, David Yost, and later Frank– but keeping the original action sequences intact and the show became an instant sensation. Now, here we are 25 years later.
