By Brian Pham, Staff Writer
On Aug. 28, 1993, the first episode of “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” aired in America. Almost 16 years later the franchise that was kickstarted with this first episode is still running, and is currently on its 26 season, “Power Rangers Beast Morphers”. Even though “Power Rangers” is successful in America, many people do not know that it is actually based on a Japanese television series called “Super Sentai”.
Usually the fight scenes from “Super Sentai” are dubbed over in English, while the scenes where the characters are out of suits are originally American (with some exceptions). While these two series are similar in some aspects, they are actually very different in other ways. The first season of “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” is no exception with its counterpart “Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger” (translated to Dinosaur Squadron Beastranger), the 16 installment of the “Super Sentai” franchise.
Setting:
“Power Rangers” definitely takes on a more futuristic and technological approach with its setting, with robots and aliens being abundant in the series. From the robot assistant Alpha, to the main villains being aliens, there are an endless amount of beings that are encountered throughout the series. “Zyuranger,” however takes on a more fairy tale like setting. The main characters consist of knights, princes and princesses of human tribes who lived alongside dinosaurs— which were revived from suspended animation to stop the rampage of a witch who was released from her chamber. The ‘robots’ in “Zyuranger” are actually not robots, but instead sentient creatures as well.
Characters and Plot:
The main characters of “Zyuranger” are Geki (Red ranger), Goushi (Black ranger), Dan (Blue ranger), Boi (Yellow ranger) and Mei (Pink ranger). This can be contrasted with the main characters of “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” who are modern day teenagers chosen to become the rangers. They are Jason Lee Scott (Red ranger), Trini Kwan (Yellow ranger), Zack Taylor (Black ranger), Kimberly Hart (Pink ranger) and Billy Cranston (Blue ranger). Many people would be surprised to find out that the yellow ranger is actually male in the original. The later addition of the green ranger is also different because in “Zyuranger,” the green ranger, Burai, is the brother the red ranger. Whereas in “Power Rangers,” the green ranger is another high school student, Tommy Oliver, who was enchanted by the main villain, Rita Repulsa, with powers. While the main villains of these two series are both witches, they too are vastly different. The witch in “Zyuranger,” is a prehistoric woman named Pandora who sold her soul to Satan to wage war on the dinosaurs after they killed her son. After she was defeated she and her monsters were sealed on the planet Nemesis before they were accidentally released by astronauts. The main villain of “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” Rita Repulsa, is an alien witch who was trying to conquer the universe before she was sealed in a trash dumpster on the moon by a sage named Zordon.
While there are many more differences that can be found between the series, such as “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” borrowing elements from other series of “Super Sentai,” both are good and influential in their own right, and should both be watched if given the chance to see the differences between them.
