It started with a dumpster on the moon. Honestly, if you grew up in the nineties, that sentence probably just triggered a very specific guitar riff in your head. For over three decades, the franchise has recycled, reinvented, and sometimes completely broken its own rules to keep all different power rangers on our screens. Most people think it’s just colorful spandex and rubber monsters. They’re wrong. It’s a massive, multi-generational legacy that’s more complex than any show about teenagers with "attitude" has any right to be.
We’ve seen it all. Ninjas. Dinosaurs. Space cops. Rescue workers. Even whatever RPM was supposed to be—basically a post-apocalyptic car-themed fever dream that somehow became the best season in the show's history.
The Evolution of the Suit
The core hook of the show is the "Morphed" state. But the way the show handles all different power rangers has shifted drastically since 1993. In the beginning, Haim Saban basically took footage from the Japanese Super Sentai series Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger and spliced it with American actors. It was cheap. It was weird. It worked.
But as the years went on, the "colors" started meaning different things. Traditionally, Red is the leader. It’s the law. But then came Power Rangers Time Force and Power Rangers Dino Thunder, where the leadership dynamics got messy. In Time Force, Jen Scotts (the Pink Ranger) was the actual leader and tactical genius, while Wes (the Red Ranger) was more of the muscle and the heart. This subversion of the "Red is King" trope is exactly why fans stay obsessed with the lore. It isn't just about fighting; it's about the friction within the team.
The transition from the Saban era to Disney, and then back to Saban before Hasbro took over, changed the "vibe" of the rangers. Disney-era rangers, like those in S.P.D. or Jungle Fury, had more of a polished, high-budget action feel. Saban-era rangers always felt a bit more like a Saturday morning soap opera. Both have their charms.
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Why Dinosaurs Always Win
You might have noticed a pattern. Every few years, they go back to dinosaurs. Mighty Morphin, Dino Thunder, Dino Charge, Dino Fury. Why? Because kids love lizards. It’s that simple. But for the collectors and the older fans who track all different power rangers, the dinosaur seasons often represent the "stability" of the brand. When the ratings dip, the producers break the "In Case of Emergency" glass and bring back the T-Rex.
Beyond the "Core Five" Formula
While the classic lineup is usually a five-person squad, the "Sixth Ranger" is where the show usually peaks. Tommy Oliver, played by the late Jason David Frank, set the gold standard. He wasn't just another guy in a suit; he was an antagonist first. That "Evil Ranger" trope became a staple.
Look at the Titanium Ranger from Lightspeed Rescue or the Magna Defender from Lost Galaxy. These characters add a layer of "edge" that the base team lacks. They operate in the gray areas. They don't always follow the rules. In Power Rangers RPM, the "Gold and Silver" rangers were literally experimental pilots who were slightly unhinged from being trapped in a lab. It’s that kind of character depth that separates the "disposable" seasons from the ones people are still talking about at conventions thirty years later.
Then you have the "Extra" rangers. These aren't even officially part of the main roster sometimes. Characters like the Shadow Ranger (Commander Anubis "Doggie" Cruger) in S.P.D. showed that the mentor doesn't just have to sit in the base and give cryptic advice. Sometimes the mentor needs to draw a laser sword and take out a hundred mooks in a single take.
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The Multiverse is Real (and Messy)
For a long time, fans argued about whether all different power rangers existed in the same universe. For the most part, they do. Unlike Super Sentai, which often reboots entirely every year, Power Rangers has a loose, often frustratingly inconsistent continuity.
Events like "Forever Red" or "Legendary Battle" brought back dozens of past actors. Seeing the Red Space Ranger standing next to the Red Samurai Ranger is a dopamine hit that few other franchises can pull off. It’s the shared history that matters. When a new team finds a morpher, they aren't just getting powers; they’re stepping into a legacy that includes saving the planet from Lord Zedd, the Machine Empire, and literal demons.
The "Grimdark" Misconception
There’s a common trope in fan circles to try and make Power Rangers "dark and gritty." We saw this with the 2017 movie and that famous (or infamous) Adi Shankar bootleg short film. But here’s the thing: Power Rangers works because it’s earnest. It’s about colorful heroes who believe in teamwork.
When you look at all different power rangers across the timeline, the most successful ones—even the "serious" ones like RPM or Time Force—never lost that sense of hope. RPM is literally set after the world has been ended by a computer virus, yet it still features a guy who wonders why there’s a giant explosion behind him when he strikes a pose. It’s self-aware. It’s fun. If you take the "fun" out of a guy in a spandex suit fighting a giant rubber pig, you've missed the point entirely.
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Diversity Before it was a Buzzword
It’s worth noting that Mighty Morphin was incredibly diverse for 1993, even if some of the color-coding was... questionable by modern standards (Black Ranger being Black, Yellow Ranger being Asian). The show quickly corrected course and became a pioneer in showing kids of every background as superheroes. For a kid in the mid-nineties, seeing a diverse group of teenagers being the "chosen ones" was powerful. That tradition has continued. We’ve had rangers from all over the world, different ethnic backgrounds, and more recently, the first explicitly LGBTQ+ rangers in the comics and the Dino Fury TV series.
How to Actually Watch It Today
If you’re trying to catch up on all different power rangers, it’s a bit of a maze. Netflix has the most recent seasons, including the 30th-anniversary special Once & Always and the Cosmic Fury finale. The older seasons move around between streaming platforms like a game of musical chairs.
- Start with Mighty Morphin Season 1 for the vibes, but don't feel like you have to finish all 150+ episodes. It’s repetitive.
- Jump to Power Rangers In Space. It’s the "Avengers: Endgame" of the 90s era. It wraps up the first six years of story brilliantly.
- Check out Time Force. It’s widely considered the best acting and writing in the franchise.
- Watch RPM. It’s the "deconstruction" of the genre.
- Read the Boom! Studios comics. Seriously. They take the basic "teenager" archetypes and give them actual internal lives, trauma, and complex motivations. The "Shattered Grid" storyline is better than most big-budget superhero movies.
The reality is that Power Rangers isn't just one thing. It’s a legacy of stunt performers, voice actors, and colorful costumes that shouldn't work, but somehow, they do. Whether they’re fighting in the streets of Angel Grove or a futuristic city on another planet, the core remains: stand up, suit up, and work together.
To get the most out of your rewatch, focus on the "Transition" seasons where the show changes ownership. You can see the shift in camera work, the quality of the "Megazord" CGI, and the tone of the humor. Pay attention to the background—many seasons were filmed in New Zealand, and you'll start recognizing the same three parks being used for every "alien planet" or "deserted quarry" in existence. It’s part of the charm. If you really want to dive deep, look up the stunt actors; many of the people inside the suits are the same legends who have been doing the heavy lifting for decades.