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 and American versions

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 Lightspeed Rescue series, every time one of the monsters or villain is a demon in the original version, it is not described as such, the rare occasions when Sentai characters are seen bleeding even when they are suited up, they are cut or reshot scenes. Some of the shows have already had episodes skipped because some female monsters and villainesses had an appearance with very attention to female anatomy (such as Shower Banki from Go-Onger, Zonette from Carranger, Shibolena from Megaranger or Shelinda from Gingaman, for instance). A common trend in the franchise is that if the transformation device of the characters is, for instance, a weapon, then it is changed to another object. In series like Dekaranger and Gokaiger, even though a gun is fired, it does not 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.

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, who 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, as the mutation scene of Dora Franke into Zombie Franke (Mutitus) was considered disturbing. The zombie monster appeared as a completely different character named Mutitus, being altered into a different form as well. God Horn, Daizyuzin's sword falls from the skies when summoned, which could be interpreted as a reference to religion, since the aforementioned giant robot is said to be an avatar of a deity who guided the rangers rather than a mere 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 lifespan when he was outside the Lapseless Room), in the American version, the Green Ranger just lost his powers (the green candle was simple an indicator of him losing his powers). The irony was that during Zyuranger's run in Japanese television, despite many fans' letters sent to Toei to bring back Burai/Dragon Ranger, the producers went against this decision, as they wanted to teach the younger public that "even heroes can die".

Denji Sentai Megaranger

In Megaranger, in one episode, Galaxy Mega, the team's main giant robot couldn't defeat the opponent, and INET, the organization allied with the rangers, took control of it by installing an AI which made the robot fight without a pilot in order 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 found by the team, the Mega Voyager. In the American version, scenes showing Mega Voyager with the Voyager Spartan/Mega V3 running through it at its waist were cut. In Megaranger, the monsters were enlarged by Bibidebi, an imp-like monster, which infected the monsters with an enlarging virus by biting them, but in the American version, the villains' lair simply shot a beam which enlarged the monsters.

Seijuu Sentai Gingaman

In the Gingaman series, Hyuga, Ginga Red's brother transformed into the Black Knight with his sword, Bull Riot, while in the American version, although his sword was important for the story, he transformed with the Magna Morpher (which is a repurposed Aura Changer from Dairanger) worn on his arm, as it is with the rest of the team, except for being on both of his arms. The silver-haired villainess Shelinda, who had a rather revealing siren-themed outfit, was replaced by the less conspicuous Trakeena, who had a less revealing insect-themed outfit.

Mirai Sentai Timeranger

The sixth ranger of the team, Time Fire, initially he was the member of the City Guardians, a private quasi-military group created by Wataru Asami, a rich man (who is also the father of Time Red) to protect the city. In the plot of an episode, Time Fire, along with the Timerangers tried to prevent the Londerz Family 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. Both 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, due to the team being made up by police officers. Near the end of Timeranger, Time Fire was killed in battle, but in Time Force this scene was not used.

Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger

In Hurricaneger, 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, at the end of the series, but were redeemed and became allies of the main characters. In the Japanese version, Shurikenger, the sixth member, who did not had a fixed civilian form, having to assume various human disguises, died in battle, while in Ninja Storm, the Samurai Green Ranger who was the ranger form of Cam Watanabe, simply sacrificed his powers. In this series there was another team of rangers, the Gouraigers. These characters while fought monsters, fought the Hurricanegers as well, who were from rival ninja schools, due the fact that the Gouraigers were willingly evil to obtain the Evil Will (the actual main antagonist) for their father. The American production ended up realizing that it couldn't use that, because it wouldn't be a good example for children to put the characters attack each other with weapons for that reason. They decided to separate the fight scenes against the rangers and against the monsters in two contexts. In the American version when the Thunder Rangers (Gouraigers) appeared, Lothor, the leader of the monsters lied to them that the Power Rangers mentor killed their adoptive parents, becoming allies of monsters and enemies of Power Rangers. The scenes where they face the monsters, were only used later after the Thunder Rangers found out that Lothor lied and that he was the one who killed their parents. And then they joined the Power Rangers to face the monsters.

Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger

The American producers of Power Rangers 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. In Abaranger, the Armor of Darkness, which was a suit of armor which was used by several characters (among these, two of them being villains), was adapted in Dino Thunder as Zeltrax, a cyborg villain who has a rivalry with Tommy, the Black Ranger.

Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger

In the American version of Dekaranger, Power Rangers: S.P.D., when DekaBreak, the sixth member of the Dekarangers debuted, it was shown that he can catch every bullet fired at him at super speed. In the American version, a red glow effect was added on the bullets in post-production to look like laser beam shots, and apparently it can not only catch the shots, but stop them as well. Being another police-themed series like Timeranger, In Dekaranger, the opponents were "deleted" after the Judgement, where if the red "X" (which meant guilty) on their transformation device glowed instead of the light blue "O" (which meant innocent) on said device, the opponent was considered "guilty" and was destroyed by the finishing attack). In Power Rangers: SPD, however, the rangers made use of the "containment cards", where the opponents would be imprisoned after these cards are swiped on their transformation devices or weapons before the finishing attack, and so after the explosion the opponent was seen on the tiny screen of that containment card rather than destroyed like in the Japanese version (possibly to avoid references to police brutality or to death penalty).

In the a Dekaranger episode, Dekamaster had an opponent fired a big bullet at him. When he blocked it with the D-Sword Vega, it seemed that the bullet made him recoil 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 an energy sphere, 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 performs 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 religion (usually Christianity) is referenced by mixing up his stuff with stuff from several mythologies. 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, alluding to Cerberus of Greco-Roman mythology and of Dante's Inferno. In the American version, there were a lot of jokes about the character's canine appearance that wasn't one of them.

Mahou Sentai Magiranger

In Magiranger even the transformation of the characters was rooted in a religious reference, a light coming from the sky and the auras were half of them being heavenly beings, the Heavenly Saints. In the American version, Power Rangers Mystic Force, they made the magic circle appear in the air, then their Ancient Mystic Titans (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 (in his Flagel form) and MagiShine (as Sungel), which were Heavenly Saints, were affected the following change, now they (Wolf Warrior and Solaris) had two armors known as Ancient Mystic Mode, 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 full-bodied character.

Juken Sentai Gekiranger

In Gekiranger, a martial arts-themed series, the transformation devices are the GekiChangers, a pair of clawed gauntlets, obviously due to the feline motif, in the American version, the Solar Morphers were sunglasses that incorporated into their helmets during the transformation (however, the GekiChanger's equivalent, the Battle Claws, were still part of the rangers' arsenal). GekiViolet has a slightly different fighting motif (Muay Thai), his transformation device is basically a wolf head-shaped gauntlet with a boxing bell ring, with part of the whole fight scene seems to be take place in a fighting ring. In the American version, Power Rangers Jungle Fury, this scene was removed and the object used was changed to simply have a button and a little sound, not even noticing that it's a boxing bell. 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 his transformation device worked in conjunction with the character's link with his animal spirit. He only succeeded because he saw that the monster was about to kill a baby, and when the monster saw Jan transform, he changed his mind and decided to attack GekiRed. In the American version, the monster was about to attack a woman. In every series of the Super Sentai franchise, the villains have a small army of non-human footsoldiers. In Gekiranger, this was a bit different, where the monsters were footsoldiers who went through this situation: The group leader took a small object with an animal theme (containing an animal spirit) placed on the footsoldier, giving him a real personality, voice and a different fighting style, after a while he turned into a monster themed after said animal. 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 was inside him. In the American version the transformation was just a simple scene. In Gekiranger, the monster Sea Fist Demon Rageku has breasts that are not properly covered by a cloth, which in the American version of the series the cloth completely covers her breasts. Also in Gekiranger, Mele's armored form had her breastplate featuring a detail resembling chameleon eyes on her breasts, which were omitted from the American version, due to said detail looking like nipples.

Engine Sentai Go-Onger

Power Rangers RPM, is considered a more serious adaptation than Go-Onge, and actually had darker moments than the Japanese series. But there was a change that until it was childish. In the Japanese version, Go-Onger, the premise is that the mecha came from a world of talking animal-themed vehicles, which had a time limit to stay out of it. There were only two ways to help humans deal with the mecha that left their world, and they didn't have that limitation. The first was to transform them with a part of their power, the second was that they were going to take them with their souls out of their bodies, reducing them to a toy car-sized and their souls to cartridge-like objects, the Engine Souls. 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 "Engine Souls". The characters only combined the two when they had to face a giant robot. In the American version, the zords are not sentient, and the small objects are Engine Cells, small energy sources that the team's mentor created. The producers of Super Megaforce, used the idea of ​​a sentient zord when they adapted the episode in which the Gokaigers obtained 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 "inactive", the implicit idea was that it would only come out of the small size when the cell was placed in it, as in the series RPM. Most of the Japanese footage had the background edited to have the sky recolored to red, to fit the setting of RPM, which was post-apocalyptic, compared to the light-hearted Go-Onger.

Tensou Sentai Goseiger

The producers were heavily criticized for the creation of Power Rangers Megaforce, which was made with footage from Goseiger scenes and footage from Gokaiger, 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 because of many religious references, which was the core sentai being angel-themed, but Japanese producer Toei refused and Saban resumed both shows and thus Gokaiger becoming the second season of Megaforce. The Goseigers' mentor, Master Head, not only seems a religious reference (it resembled Zeus), but the Goseiger symbol is a stylisation of his face. In Power Rangers Megaforce, he got replaced by Gosei, which looked exactly like the Tensouder/Gosei Morpher, resembling a Tiki, whose in-show explaining was that he was an alien who took a the form of a Tiki to contact and communicate with the inhabitants of the Earth under a form familiar to them. It was never explained why their main enemy Buredoran/Brajira, which in the American version was called Vrak, shifted into a multi-winged armor when it became more powerful (which in the Japanese version, Goseiger, was his true and final form), but the American production used a lot the scenes where he had a chupacabra/centipede-themed armor (known in the Japanese version as "Buredoran of the Chupacabra" or as "Vrak Earth Armor" in the American version), assuming that the younger public may think that the villains with an animal motif were a rule.

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger

When scenes from Gokaiger, where characters can transform into rangers from previous series were used, the scene from the last episode had to undergo a change. It turned out that the scene had Gokai Red and Gokai Silver invading the Gigant Horse, Zangyack Emperor's spaceship to fight him, as they stole another ship, which was thrown against the former to invade it, resulting in its crashing with the Gigant Horse. The characters wonder if they died in the crash but they landed with Gokai Silver uses the power of Go-Onger's Go-Wings to land with their flight power, but Gokai Red uses Goseiger's power to land with angel wings (which could be construed as a religious reference). In the American version, Super Megaforce, they used the powers of the Space Rangers to land using the Cyber Gliders, their flying surfboards (possibly due to the fact that the Gokaiger suits in Super Megaforce were an upgrade of their powers from Megaforce which were the Goseiger ones, as their transformation sequence shows). In an other episode, The unmorphed Gokai Red was captured and imprisoned by being chained to an iron cross while the Zangyack forces showed off that they managed to vanquish the team leader. 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 Troy being chained in a vertical metal beam, rather than a cross, as the Japanese version could be potentially construed as a reference to Christianity, even though actually, crucifixion used to be a form of capital punishment and execution in Japan.

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 Torin, the bird-like team mentor who becomes a Kyoryuger and during the attack he releases his wings from inside the suit. In the American version of Power Rangers: Dino Charge, Zenowing'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 Gaburivolver, the transformation device and standard sidearm, which would trigger the transformation. In the American version (Dino Charge), although this was kept, 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 puppet was turned into one of his machine monsters, Puppetloid/Controlatron, with the word turned into "Lessiah" in the final fighting scene, while in the first fight, the word seemingly vanishes, to begin with. The production didn't do that when it was the bulldozer-themed Bulldozerloid/Bulldozertron monster, but the reason was that it didn't last for anything in the story, it didn't appear very much in the episode.

Shuriken Sentai Ninninger

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

Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger

In an episode of the series Ryusoulger, the characters are facing an enlarged Unicorn Minosaur, Ryusoul Pink holds her hand on a giant chain attached to a giant iron ball and Ryusoul Blue 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 skills to the characters are described as the souls of sentient 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 Ryusoulger, the sixth team member transforms using a pistol-like object. The transformation mechanism is similar to the objects the rest of the team wears on the wrist: Objects called Ryusouls are placed on it, and a medieval knight helmet visor is placed on the dino's head. But the sixth Ryusoulger has to fire a shot after that. In the American version, Power Rangers DIno Fury, the character doesn't fire a shot, so his weapon morpher is more similar to a morpher during transformation than to a weapon. In the Japanese version after Gaisoulg (the knight-themed villain) became good, he fought a monster that trapped the rangers inside him and managed to free Ryusoul Red, but died after that and gave his power to Ryusoul Red; in the American version Void Knight (the equivalent of Gaisoulg) didn't die after he managed to free the Red Ranger, he just gave him the source of his power for him to use to save his comrades, and left now that he couldn't fight anymore.

Skipped adaptations

There is a Japanese TV series, which was not adapted for reasons of censorship: Lupinranger vs Patranger (known also as LuPat). The plot is about a group of super thieves inspired by the book character "Arsène Lupin", (whose protagonist is a gentleman thief) they are after a group of magic items he found that the villains want too. And this plot bumped into a group of super cops. In this entire scenario, the policemen seem incompetent, the two groups attack each other, a truce rarely happens between the two teams. And there was already a truce in which they shared the cockpit of the giant robot, and the leader of the police was established as being useless as a leader. The thieves were already able to combine the police vehicles with their robot, but the policemen could not switch vehicles. And when a golden and silver character emerged who claimed to be an ally of the two teams, instead of uniting the teams, he made the situation more complicated than ever, because he had already battled the characters he claimed were his allies. To make this series a series of the Power Rangers franchise it would be necessary that not even the scenes with the giant robot were used and this is the limit of censorship Power Rangers. However, according to executive producer Simon Bennett, the reason why LuPat was not adapted was because the police-themed Patrangers were an issue due to police brutality incidents in the United States and Lupinrangers could not be adapted because (in Bennett's words) "Rangers can't be criminals". Ressha Sentai ToQger, which was a train-themed sentai, did not got adapted as well, due to its low toy sales in Japan.

Power Rangers

Time Force

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 from 13 of the first 30 episodes involving skyscrapers being under attack or destroyed, and the scenes of people panicking as a result were also 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 Quantasaurus Megazord for the same reason.

Ninja Storm

• The episode "Snip It, Snip It Good", in which the monster of the week Snipster trying to infect everyone at a peace conference at a city council to cause chaos and cause people argue and fight eachother, was initially delayed from its original air date due to the then-recent outbreak of the Iraq War as it was felt that the original plot about a peace conference to try and avert a war was not appropriate. The show finally air later with the peace conference replaced by an environmental confederence trying to increase energy efficiency, which meant meant that there's a quest to acquire the ancient and powerful Turtle Mace some 20 episodes after it originally debuted by being used as if it had always been there, apparently everyone except the first three Rangers had the day off, and that is the most ethnically diverse city council ever.

Power Rangers (2017) film

Marketing posters for the 2017 Power Rangers film caused controversy showing the Yellow Ranger, Trini Kwan, who is played by Becky G in the film. Fans were already outraged about an Hispanic-American actress replacing a role previously played by a Asian-American actress and they believed Trini was not the same without Trang. The poster that set off the controversy on social media depicted Becky G as Trini standing on her Zord, with the caption "Driver's Ed not required.", which fans considered offensive and disrespectful in light of the circumstances of Trang's death. Fans replied to the social media posts with "#JusticeforThuy". The marketing posts were removed from the official Power Rangers Twitter account, but not from the eOne Films account.

Dino Fury

According to showwriter Simon Bennett, a major supporting character, the Park Warden Carlos Garcia, who was originally written as "Sheriff Garcia", a police sheriff, with the Parks HQ being an actual sheriff's office in the original script. However, the writing process overlapped with the height of the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement, and it was decided that it wasn't a good time to have a cop as a prominent character, and thus the role was rewritten, a change which was supported by Hasbro. This had some weird results as Garcia still otherwise acts and is treated like the head of police -- cops are shown to still exist in the series, and they still answer to him as if he were their superior despite being a park ranger.