Lazario wrote:But I think they probably still have a positive message for kids... do they? They did when I was a kid.
Yeah, but aside from the martial arts not being violence message, they had a few bad messages too:
1. If you have an enemy, you must kill him and make sure there's big explosions.
2. When a group of attackers come at you, you must handle them one at a time while they dance menacingly in front of you, and only a few choice punches are necessary to kill them.
3. Girls are the only ones allowed to be Pink rangers.
4. Guys are the only ones allowed to be leaders.
5. It's okay to ruin public and private property when you're in a large robot fighting a large enemy. Never mind that you cause a building to explode or you stomp on several cars.
I loved the old school Power Rangers, right up until Lost Galaxy when they decided to ditch everyone except Alpha.
1993-1996
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers - The very first series, wtih the dinozords, followed by the thunderzords, then the godawful movie that had no relation to the tv series which conveniently also had ninjazords. Didn't really enjoy when they replaced Jason, Zach, and Trini (who all wanted more money) with Rocky, Adam, and Aisha (I think that was her name). But they were okay rangers. And Tommy sucked as both the Green and White ranger. I found him entirely useless and never liked him. The whole Kat storyline was blah, and we lost Kimberly because of it (though Kat was a good Pink Ranger). We also had the Alien Rangers, didn't we? And of course the minions Squatt and Baboo and Finster. And Goldaar and Rito (Rita's brother). Zedd was a kickass villain too, and when he married Rita, it was probably the highlight of the show (though Mini Rita in that capsule was fun too!)
1996
Power Rangers Zeo - I probably would have tolerated the series if Tommy weren't the leader. I never liked Tommy, never will. When Jason came back as the Gold Ranger (only to lose it later, dammit), the show was okay to watch, as he suddenly became the leader again. And I never found out what happened to Billy. I know there was a point where he started aging rapidly, but what happened? Did he die? Did he go to another planet where he lived forever? What happened?
1997
Power Rangers Turbo - THIS one was where they jumped the shark by getting rid of Zordon (I think they had that veiled woman). And a frickin' kid, Justin. Man, he was more annoying than the son in Who's The Boss! And I must've missed a few episodes, because when did they suddenly change everyone?
1998
Power Rangers In Space - I loved this series, probably because Tommy wasn't in it (and neither was Justin, woohoo!), they were in space, and Astronema was one of the best two-sided villains since the time when Goldaar and Rito had amnesia and turned good! As usual, they had to even the bunch and included the comatose Silver Ranger, and as usual, I must've missed the episode where they decided to drop him too. It was so sad, though, when Zordon died. But at least his goodness turned Rita and Zedd into nice looking people, and all the other villains turned good (or in the machines case, they broke down).
1999
Power Rangers Lost Galaxy - I tried to get into this one, but I just couldn't. And I can't remember if it's this one or In Space where Adam guest-starred, with his broken morpher from the old school rangers (and it was SOOO kickass to see the old school uniform with the new one too!). I think this was the one where they also had a crossover with the In Space rangers, though it made no sense since Lost Galaxy was supposed to be using the spaceship from In Space since it was a museum or something!
After this, my memory of rangers get hazy, so I'm gonna check IMDB for the other series...
2000
Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue - I think I remember this one. It was like the Power Rangers were cops or something.
2001
Power Rangers Time Force - I have no idea what this one was. I'm guessing they travel through time?
2002
Power Rangers Wild Force - I think I watched several episodes of this one. It had that boy taken in by the rangers or something, and it turns out he's some important person or something. His name was Kite or whatnot, and there was also that crossover episode with ALL the Red Rangers. It was well done, except for the fact that they decided to herald Tommy as the best ranger of them all.
2003
Power Rangers Ninja Force
2004
Power Rangers Dino Thunder
2005
Power Rangers SPD
Have never seen those last 3 series (NF, DT, SPD), but the commercials make it look like it's following the formula of young peeps being power rangers and fighting a bad guy. They should shake it up a bit and bring some old school villains back. Heard that they even went so far as to bring back Tommy in one of the new series, ugh. If it were up to me, I'd kill him off in a dramatic death scene so we can be finished with him.
2006-2007
Power Rangers Mystic Force - since this is the new one, I haven't seen it yet as it hasn't premiered yet.
Escapay