When many of us were growing up television aimed at kids was mostly episodic.
That is one episode had little if anything to do with those that preceded or
followed. This stand-alone approach to programming made things easier for the
television networks since they didn’t have to be concerned with the order that
the episodes where aired. It does appear that the youth of today is far more
demanding that we were back in those innocent days of the fifties and sixties.
Now they demand a far more complex storyline; one that can not be developed or
resolved in a single episode. This has resulted in the producers of children’s
television moving towards stories that are more like a grown-up continuing
series that any kids television before. Another major change in youth-oriented
television is splitting it up into more tightly defined age groups. Back in the
day there were cartoons and some family-friendly live action shows but nothing
targeted for the tween set. Now tweens drive the markets. For boys that can’t
seem to get interested in Hannah Montana there is something the level of action
they want. One of the most famous and longest enduring shows like this are the
‘Power Rangers’. This series is unlike most of what was made for kids. It is one
of the longest running shows of its kind having started here in the States in
1993. It also has frequent and major changes in the cast and the direction of
the show. This has kept it fresh over the fifteen years of its run so far.
Usually there is a major story act that defines a particular season. The latest
one ‘Jungle Fury’ is now out of DVD through its current distributors, Disney.
While the girls are off making believe they are a rock star the boys are out
playing Power Rangers.
A typical season of the series has 32 episodes. Disney has been breaking down
the season into six episodes releases. So far we have the first two that cover
episodes 1 through 12. I am sure the rest will come out on a regular schedule.
The Power Rangers was based on the Japanese tokusatsu, or special effects
serialized action series. The episodes shown here are not just re-dubbed from
the Japanese counterparts by the cast with English speaking American actors and
given a more westernized slant. The typical format is a group of teenagers is
given the ability to morph into martial arts superheroes. They also generally
have specialized weapons and in most instances vehicles. When the need arises,
they can join their vehicles together to create a super weapon. The colors of
their transformed uniforms know the rangers. The colors are significant, and any
changes to the lineups of characters remain true to the ever-growing backstory.
For example, a yellow ranger is always female while a white range may be either
gender and typically uses a sword like a weapon. All of the core ranges are
expert in all forms of martial arts and usually, have to learn to fight as a
team since each has very strong individual personalities.
For ‘Jungle Fury’ we get a new set of rangers. Casey Rhodes (Jason Smith) was
tapped to become the Red Ranger. His spirit animal is the shark; always moving
and deadly. As the ‘Red Ranger,’ Casey is expected to be the leader of the new
Ranger group. He was trained by the gorilla to spirt. Taking on the mantle of
the Blue Ranger is Theo Martin (Aljin Abella). His animal force is the Bat and
was trained by the Antelope spirit. The Yellow Ranger is Lily Chilman (Anna
Hutchison) and controls the Cheetah spirit and was trained by the Penguin. She
is fun loving and one of the liveliest of this group of rangers. Having only
three core rangers is a break from tradition, but that is ultimately part of the
fun of the show; they play with the established format. There is two noncolor
coded rangers to fill out the usual number of five. The Wolf Ranger, R.J. James
(David de Lautour) wears a violet colored costume and can transform into a wolf.
He has more of a position over the other rangers helping to train and arm them.
Last, there is the Rhino Ranger, Dom Hargen (Nikolai Nikolaeff). He has a lot of
difficulty fitting in and has been trying to become a master for years.
In the basic story, the evil spirit of Dai Shi has been roaming the earth for
many centuries. He was once a multi-headed dragon that sought to control the
world. He was defeated by the first of the Pai Zhua master. At the start of this
story, he has escaped his prison and is once again on the loose. The Pai Zhua
masters have to bring into existence three new rangers to train and hopefully
defeat Dai Shi.
Set One: Into the Jungle
This segment opens with Theo, Lilly, and Casey as new members of a secret
martial arts group. They are approached by the Masters and told that they would
be given specialized training and weapons for a very important mission. It
doesn’t take long before Dai Shi becomes aware of this and tries to use the
infamous five poisons to defeat the still training young people. While the
training has been going well, Theo receives a set back when he is bested in
battle. This results in him gaining a more modest perspective and additional
training. Theo is also somewhat upset with Casey becoming closer to Lilly.
Set Two: Way of the Master
RJ leaves Casey in charge of the pizza restaurant he owns. Casey wreaks havoc
when he fails to take control as a leader and lets everyone do whatever they
want. The trio learns an increasing control of their powers and begins to meld
as a team. Things are upset when RJ is hurt Casey demands a new Master. This
opens things up for the introduction of Master Finn. Now the team has to
discover how to cope with different training methods. The Rangers also grow in
their control over their weapons and their use of their spirit animals.
Unlike the previous season DVD sets, this one is plain vanilla so far. There
are no extras provided. Typical of all seasons of the Power Rangers this is a
battle royal between good and evil. There are the usual subplots of feeling
isolated and difficulties in fitting in that speak directly to the target male
tween audience. This is what has made this show so enduring. The core values
stay the same, there is also plenty of martial arts action, and the cast is
constantly changing. There is continuity in this series that flows from one
season to the next. This has the effect of building a much larger context for
each season arc to build on. This is also something that the parents will find
easy to get into. The Power Rangers has been around long enough may have been
exposed to one group or another. In any case, this is a series to start collecti