Your Favorite PR Series

[Remus Lupin]

I started a version of this thread on another forum I frequent, but it hasn't really caught on like I had hoped. I also searched to see if there was a similar thread here, but there wasn't ... at least not that I could find.

As most of you know, back in May (if I remember correctly), Netflix started streaming every episode of Power Rangers from MMPR s1 through the "re-version. So, I decided to do an entire series rewatch from start to finish and watch all the episodes again (even those I HATED with a passion the first time through). As I started to notice my old opinions changing, I started a thread to rate and rank the series.

I finished the rewatch through RPM last night. I will not watch the MMPR Re-version as that is simply the original series with "newer" effects. I will include it in my rankings, though, since Saban has stated that it was Season 18.

So, here is how I rank each series of Power Rangers from best (1) to worst (19):

1. MMPR s1
1. Time Force
1. RPM
4. Dino Thunder
5. Ninja Storm
6. Jungle Fury
7. Lightspeed Rescue
8. Lost Galaxy
9. SPD
10. Zeo
11. in Space
12. MMPR s2
13. MMPR s3
14. Mystic Force
15. Wild Force
16. Turbo
17. Samurai
18. Operation Overdrive
19. MMPR Re-Version

For the top three right now ... I cannot decide which is my favorite because they are all up there for different reasons. They are listed in Chronological order -- and, for now, that's how they'll stay. After completing the rewatch ... I still can't decide.

My thoughts changed on pretty much everything from Zeo through Lightspeed Rescue except for Turbo. I still really dislike Turbo. But Zeo/in Space were not as good as I remembered them being. in Space really fell because of the terrible acting from Christopher Khayman Lee and Melody Perkins. Melody Perkins was better as Karone and was even better in Lost Galaxy. I used to also not like Lost Galaxy and was complacent about Lightspeed Rescue. However, now I love both of those series. They had some of the best writing and acting and production in the entire franchise.

Now, while MMPR s1 has pretty low production value ... it was still a fantastic show. The acting did get better as time went on. The writing was usually pretty great. My only gripe would just have been the acting.

Then, the reason I put MMPR s2 and 3 so low would be just because they did a lot of things that took away from the production value. First off, when Austin St. John, Thuy Trang and Walter Jones started having the contract disputes, before the characters were gone to the conference, they had other people do ALL the ADR for Jason, Trini and Zack. They were also hardly ever seen on screen. And not only did the ADR voice actors do a terrible job of imitating the three ... but they also were not mixed into the show audio well. They were too low and also felt kinda tinny compared to the other ADR voices. Also, since they did not change the suits like Toei did in the source material, that led to a lot of visual problems and unnecessary story lines ... like when the Rangers are turned into kids. Now, I will admit that having the kids search for the Zeo Crystal parts was a great idea. But, they didn't have to be children for that storyline to happen.

However, Zeo fell a bit for me just based on the writing on the show, as well as some of the acting. Now, Catherine Sutherland, Johnny Yong Bosch and David Yost were fantastic and Austin St. John did a great job when he came back. Even Jason David Frank was decent. However, he kinda pissed me off because he never worked hard enough to learn the correct arm movements for the morph sequences like the rest of the team. Go watch the Henshin sequence for Ohranger and then watch one of the single rangers morph in Zeo ... and you'll see they're the same. However, if Tommy was involved in the morph, they did a simplified version that took a few seconds longer where they only move one arm at a time. So that showed laziness on his part ... for me.

Turbo ... was just terrible for me. One of the biggest gripes I had ... and most would agree ... Justin. Terrible ranger ... terrible character ... terrible actor. The writing was also starting to go down the hole with the series too.

I'm already on record about in Space. But I want to add that there was a lot of bad acting going on in this series. I think the writing was okay and the story with Andros and Astronema was a great idea ... if it had better actors to portray it. I will also admit that the Psychos were AMAZING! They were definitely done right!

Now, originally I stopped watching during Lost Galaxy. I don't remember if it was because I didn't like it or if it was just because that Fall I forgot to start watching it again. That's the problem with a kids show taking the summer off. Take off 3-4 months and you might lose your audience. But I digress. On this rewatch of Lost Galaxy ... I found myself constantly enjoying it. The acting was the best I'd seen in the series before Lost Galaxy and the writing was just as good. I honestly don't think I had a single gripe about this series.

Lightspeed Rescue was not as good as Lost Galaxy, but it was still pretty damn close. I found myself loving so much about this series on this rewatch for the same reasons that I loved Lost Galaxy. It was like they were on a mission to keep stepping up the production value and get rid of the stigma that Power Rangers had garnered in the industry. It was like they really wanted to ascend out of the realm of Children's Television. And they were on the right track!

The proof in the pudding of this fact comes in the form of Time Force ... the last true Saban series as PR was bought by Disney halfway through the airing of this series. Time Force was the most mature season of Power Rangers for the entire run of the franchise ... up until RPM. The acting was top notch and the writing was stellar. The production value was probably the highest of any children's television show I'd ever seen. I think they really made a legit Action Series that would be just as enjoyable for adults as it would be for the target audience. Plus, I just really loved the relationship between Jen and Wes ... even if it never really did get to happen. I may have to write a fic that brings Jen back to the past so they can be together.