Power Rangers

Power Rangers is an American entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise Super Sentai. Produced first by Saban Entertainment, second by BVS Entertainment, later by Saban Brands, and today by SCG Power Rangers and Hasbro, the Power Rangers television series takes much of its footage from the Super Sentai television series, produced by Toei Company.

Differences between the Japanese series and the American version.

In many ways the franchise can be seen as a censorship of Japanese series from the Super Sentai franchise. The Japanese have a different idea than the American one of can be shown into a children's show, and they often create plots with religious (usually Christian) references. The producers of the franchise usually remove or alter these scenes: Aside from the Lightspeed Rescue series, every time one of the monsters is a demon it is altered, it is not described that way, the rare occasions when Japanese series characters are seen bleeding even with the superhero super costume, they are cut or reshot scenes.

Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger

In the TV series Zyuranger, the characters faced Dora Franke, a Frankenstein-themed monster who after being hit by a powerful attack turned into Zombie Franke, a zombie creature very different from what he was and then mutated by Dai-Satan (the show's final villain), a being with a diabolical name that emerged. In the American version, the first series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the scene of the defeated Franky was edited to result only in that explosion that reduces the monster to dust and that appears a lot in the Japanese series. The zombie monster appeared as a completely different character that was always called Mutitus, being altered into a ddifferent form as well. God Horn, Daizyuzin's sword falls from the skies and this could be interpreted as a reference to religion, since the aforementioned giant robot is said to be an avatar of a deity and not a simple giant robot, as made very clear in the story, in the American version (Mighty Morphin) there is no explanation for the sword falling from the skies. While in Zyuranger, Dragon Ranger, the sixth member died near the end of the series (as the green candle symbolized his life), in the American version, the Green Ranger just lost his powers (the green candle was simple an indicator of him losing his powers).

Denji Sentai Megaranger

In Megaranger, in one episode, Galaxy Mega, the team's main giant robot couldn't defeat the opponent, and some of his allies took control of him to try to stop the monster while the characters went after another giant robot that had been prepared for such an emergency. Galaxy Mega was almost destroyed in the fight, but was saved thanks to the new giant robot the team found. In the American version, scenes showing the giant robot with a spear-like thing running through it at its waist were cut. In the Megaranger series, in one episode the team's normal giant robot couldn't defeat the opponent, and some of his allies took control of him to try to stop the monster while the characters went after another giant robot that had been prepared for such an emergency. The normal giant robot was almost destroyed in the fight, but was saved thanks to the new giant robot the team found.

Seijuu Sentai Gingaman

In the Gingaman series, Hyuga, Ranger Red's brother transformed into the Black Knight with his sword, Bull Riot, while in the American version although his sword was important what triggered the transformation was the Magna Morpher that was on his arm, as it is with the rest of the team, except for being on both of his arms.

Mirai Sentai Timeranger

The sixth ranger of the team, Time Fire, initially he was the member of a quasi-military group created by Wataru Asami, a rich man who wanted to charge for the services of the group. In the plot of an episode, Time Fire, along with the Timerangers tried to prevent the villains of the show from taking the V-Commander, TimeFire's transformation device. He defended himself using a real handgun, but in the American version, the realistic-looking handgun fired a laser. B oth the Timeranger series and its American version Power Rangers Time Force, technically didn't kill the enemies, they captured and froze them in a small capsule, all because the team was made up by policemen. Near the end of Timeranger, Time Fire was killed in battle, but in Time Force this scene was not used.

Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger

In Hurricanger, there were two villains with a human appearance, Furabijou, who had an insect theme and Wendine, who had a snake theme. In the American version (Ninja Storm) they were not destroyed as in the Japanese version, they at the end of the series, they were redeemed and became allies of the main characters.

Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger

The American production of Power Rangers series Dino Thunder, surprisingly created a crazy episode in which the characters are watching the series Abaranger that this series is based on. The scenes in which things like guns appear have been removed with the excuse that the scene shifts from the television to the characters who are watching TV and commenting on the subject. Abarekiller, the fifth ranger, died in battle after his transformation device exploded if was not kept safe, but this was not the case with the White Ranger in Dino Thunder.

Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger

Like in the American version of Dekaranger, Power rangers: S.P.D., in the debut of DekaBreak, the sixth member of the Dekaranger team, he revealed that he can at super speed catch every bullet fired at him. In the American version, the production put a red color on the bullets to look like laser beam shots, and apparently it can not only catch the shots, but solidify them as well. Being another police-themed series appeared like Timeranger, Dekaranger did not kill the oponents. The American production decided that the American version (Power Rangers: SPD) would have this "futuristic prison", and they would lock them into memory card-like objects that they could put in their guns before making the final big shot, and so after the explosion the opponent was seen on the tiny screen of that memory card. A common trend in the franchise is that if the object that transforms the characters is a weapon or something, then they transform it to something else.

In the episode of Dekamaster, an opponent fired a big bullet at him. When he blocked it with the sword it was like the bullet was pushing him backwards and he managed to throw it against the fuse of a bomb near Swan-san. In the American version, it wasn't a bullet but a sphere of energy, and he threw it against the timer of a bomb near Kat (the American version of Swan-san). At that time it was considered necessary to change the color of the flames that appear in the environment when Dekamaster makes his final attack. In the American version (Power Rangers SPD) the flames were blue, but currently the flame color is no longer changed when the scene looks like this. Sometimes Christianity is referenced by mixing up his stuff with stuff from mythology. This was done in Dekaranger, where DekaMaster (which is an alien whose description is a antropomorphic dog) when he became a Dekaranger, his title was Hell's Guard Dog, in an allusion to Cerberus of Greek mythology. In the American version, there were a lot of jokes about the character's appearance that wasn't one of them. In series like Dekaranger and Gokaiger, even though the guns fire doesn't always cause explosions, the guns seem to fire bullets, so the editing of the Power Rangers series easily manages to turn the scene into a laser gun shooting.

Mahou Sentai Magiranger

In Magiranger even the transformation of the characters was rooted in a reference to Christianity, a light coming from the sky and the monster auras were half of them heavenly beings. In the American version, Power Rangers: Mystic Force, they made the magic circle appear in the air, then their theme (because in this version the giant robots are them becoming titans) went to them, and then they jumped in the circle and became Power Rangers. The characters Wolzard and MagiShine that were entirely these Christian refrences gained the following change, now they (Wolf Warrior and Solaris) had two armors, the first one that appears in their transformation was the first version, and the Power Ranger costume was the second version. Still on Magiranger, Vancuria, the character that in the American version was named Necrolai, had a costume that simulated exposed breasts, the American production created a new torso for the costume and avoided using the Japanese scenes with the character.

Juken Sentai Gekiranger

In Gekiranger, a martial arts-themed series, the transformation are the GekiChangers, a pair of clawed gauntlets, obviously because of the idea of claws, in the American version they were sunglasses that incorporated into their helmets during the transformation. GekiViolet has a slightly different fighting theme, the object that transforms him is basically a boxing gong. And for part of the fight the whole scene seems to be taking place in a fighting ring. In the American version Power rangers Jungle Fury, this scene was removed and the object it uses was changed to be just a button and a little noise, not even noticing that it's a gong. In Gekiranger, Jan tried to transform into Geki Red in the episode in which the trio finally turned into the Gekirangers. But it failed because its object of transformation works in conjunction with the character's contact with his animal spirit. He only succeeded because he saw that the monster was about to kill a baby, and when the monster saw the hero transform he changed his mind and decided to attack the hero. In the American version the monster was about to attack a woman.

Engine Sentai Go-Onger=

The Power Rangers RPM series, is considered a more serious adaptation than the Go-Onger series, and actually had darker moments than the Japanese series. But there was a change that until it was childish, in the series Go-Onger, the premise is that the zords came from a world of talking vehicles, and that they had a time limit to stay out of it. There were only two ways to help humans deal with robots that left their world, and they didn't have that limitation. The first was to make them superheroes with a part of their power, the second was that they were going to take them with their souls out of their bodies, it reduced their bodies to toy cars and their souls to cartridge-like objects. In fact, the copied powers were cartridges like these that gave energy to the objects that transformed the characters and gave energy to their weapons, although they looked like copies were referred to as souls. The characters only combined the two when they had to face a giant robot. In the American version, the zords are not alive, and the small objects are Engine Cells, small energy sources that the team's mentor created. The production of the series Super Megaforce, used the idea of ​​a live zord when they adapted the episode in which the Gokaigers won a vehicle from this world that had not joined the Go-Ongers. But in the Power Rangers version, it was never said that without the cartridge the zord is "dead", the implicit idea was that it would only come out of the small size when the cell was placed in it, as it is in the series RPM.

Tensou Sentai Goseiger

The production was heavily criticized for creating the series Power Rangers: Megaforce, which was half some Goseiger scenes and half some Gokaiger scenes, it made a lot of common things in the franchise too rushed and spoiled the story. But the reason was that Saban wanted to skip the Goseiger series because of many religious references (The core sentai being angel-themed, for example) , but Japanese producer Toei wouldn't let it, and they summarized the two series and a Gokaiger became the second season of the American version called Megaforce. The Goseigers' mentor, Master Head, not only seems a religious reference, but the Tensouder is are attempt to sum up his face, in Power Rangers Megaforce, he was exactly like the morpher that looks like a Tiki, with the justification being that he is an alien who took this form to communicate with the inhabitants of Hawaii, in his attempt to contact them using a form familiar to them. It was never explained why their enemy monster, which in the American version was called Vrak, made itself a multi-winged armor when it became more powerful, but how the American production used a lot the scenes where he had a centipede-themed armor, the children audience might think that the rule is an animal motif.

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger

When scenes from the series Gokaiger (where characters can transform into superheroes from previous series) were used, the scene from the last episode had to undergo a change. Turns out the scene was the red and silver heroes invade the Gigant Horse, Zangyack leader's spaceship, and fight him, as they stole another ship and threw it against this one to invade it, the ship ended up crashing. The characters wonder if they died in the fall, but they land, Gokai Silver uses the power of Go-Onger's Go-Wings to land with their air power, but Gokai Red uses Goseiger's power to land (with religious reference) with angel wings. In the American version, they used the powers of the Space Rangers to land using their flying surfboards. Still on Gokaiger, in an episode Gokai Red, without his costume, was captured and imprisoned in a metal beam while the Zangyack forces showed off that they managed to overcome the team leader, but the metal beam was shaped like a cross. And the way he was chained to the metal beam was a reference to Christianity. As the American production would have to do their own version of the scene since he was without his helmet, they did the scene with a metal beam in a straight vertical shape and he stuck it in a normal way too.

=Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger

In Kyoryuger, Kyoryu Silver has an attack called Trinity Streiser, where he draws a triangle of energy in the air with his sword, and throws it at the opponent, the name seems to be a religious reference (because of the Trinity on its name), when actually is a word play with the word Tori, which in Japanese means "bird", due to him actually being a bird-like being who becomes a super hero and during the attack he releases his wings from inside the suit. In the American version of Power Rangers: Dino CHARGE, this character's attack is compared to a prism, and he was shown to be able to turn a stone into a prism with this attack. In the Kyoryuger series, the characters would place a Zyudenchi (Beast Battery), a battery-like object into the Gaburivoler, the transformation device and standard sidearm, which would trigger the transformation. In the American version (DINO CHARGE), although this was maintained, the American production reused the idea of ​​the Spirit Rangers of Kyoryuger, two characters who only needed the batteries to transform themselves. The show's producers created episodes where they don't even have to touch the energy source, just be with it. In the Japanese version, the villains Candelila and Luckyuro, had the ability to assume human-looking women and became good, while in the American version, Poisandra and Curio respectively, these two characters didn't had that ability and remained evil.

Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters

The villain of the series Go-Busters is an artificial intelligence named Messiah, and even creates machines that have that word written on them, the production of the American version Power Rangers Beast Morphers, censors that word. When the American production adapted an episode in which a toy was turned into one of his machine monsters, they turned the word into Lessiah and put it in the story that the toy's brand is Lessiah. The production didn't do that when it was an excavator monster, but the excuse was that it didn't last for anything in the story, it didn't appear very much in the episode. Some of the shows have already had episodes skipped because the monsters had a "very attention to female anatomy" appearance.

Shuriken Sentai Ninninger

In the series Ninninger, the characters put Nin Shurikens, toy ninja stars into their Ninja Ichibantou, their swords to transform themselves, and the American production made the series Ninja Steel in which they Karakuri Hengen, another weapon from Ninninger for the characters in the American version to put on their ninja stars.

Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger

In an episode of the series Ryusoulger, the characters are facing a unicorn monster, when it becomes gigantic, Pink Ranger holds his hand in a giant chain attached to a giant iron ball. And the Blue Ranger takes the opportunity to jump from the top of a building where the monster is close and attack it, but with a simple movement of his free arm, the monster throws the Blue Ranger away. He crashes into a building's windowpane, but that part was deemed inappropriate for the American version "Power Rangers: Dino Fury", and was replaced by a scene where he falls on top of a smaller building. In Kyoryuger and Ryusoulger, the objects that give the characters tricks are described as the souls of living beings, in the American versions (Dino Charge and Dino Fury), they are just gadgets. Only the rangers' energy source is associated with the dinosaur spirits. In every series in the Super Sentai franchise, the villains have a small army whose soldiers are something that is not human. In the Gekiranger series this was a bit different, in it the monsters were soldiers who went through this situation: The group leader took a small object with an animal theme (which contains an animal spirit) and placed it in the non-human soldier. This made him have a real demeanor, voice and a different fighting style, after a while he turned into a monster with this animal as a theme. But the transformation scene was the non-human soldier having his head and arms entering his body and the rest of him exploding, and the monster form popping up as if it were inside him. In the American version the transformation was just a simple scene.

Changes since September 2001

• A number of changes have been made in Time Force since the terrorist attacks that took place on September 11, 2001, with scenes involving skyscraper buildings being under attack or destroyed, and the scenes of people panicking as a result edited for reruns. The opening sequence for the early portion of the season initially featured the Time Shadow Megazord standing atop two towers; this would later be changed in reruns to a shot of the Q-Rex Megazord Mode for the same reason.
• Between the episodes "Something to Fight For" and Part 2 of the 2-episode of "Clash For Control," every episode was heavily edited to remove scenes of buildings exploding. The reason for this is because the episode "Destiny Defeated" aired on September 15, 2001 (which was four days after the attacks) and buildings exploding became taboo. All re-airings after this had the footage of buildings detonating, although this editing did not include episodes that did not show buildings exploding.
• On September 3, 2001, the actress who played Trini Kwan, the first Yellow Ranger in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Thuy Trang was killed in a car crash. Some of Trini's stunts and injuries in the original series were toned down after Trang's death.
• Marketing posters for the new Power Rangers film caused controversy showing the Yellow Ranger Trini Kwan who is played by Becky G in the film. People were already outraged about an Hispanic-American actress replacing a Asian-American actress and they believed Trini is not the same without Trang, but the poster is what really set them off, depicting Becky G as Trini standing on her Zord, with the caption "Driver's Ed not required.", which fans considered offensive and disrespectful, some replying the social media posts with "#JusticeforThuy". Those posts were removed from the official Power Rangers Twitter account, but not from the eOne Films account.