The longest running kid program, with new episodes for consecutive years, without a "year/two year break", keeping the same traditional name is... ... Power Rangers They are currently in their 14th year (EDIT: 23RD YEAR NOW) and entering their 15th Year Anniversary next season with "Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive". For 15 years straight they have been #1 in toy sales for boys. Here's the listing, for those bored. EDIT: Whoa! Time flies! Currently it is 2015 (not 2006) and the series is back with Saban Brands, its 23rd year as Power Rangers Dino Charge YEARS/NAME: 01 - Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (uses Zyuranger footage, and made-for-Saban Zyuranger 2.0 footage) 02 - Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (uses brief Zyuranger 2.0 footage, all MMPR footage is US-shot, then Dairanger footage for all zord battles) 03 - Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers/Alien Rangers (all MMPR footage is US-shot, Alien Rangers is based off Kakuranger) 04 - Power Rangers Zeo (uses OhRanger footage) 05 - Power Rangers Turbo (uses Carranger footage) 06 - Power Rangers: In Space (uses Megaranger footage) 07 - Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy (uses Gingaman footage) 08 - Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue (uses GoGo V footage, Titanium Ranger is first US-made Ranger) 09 - Power Rangers: Time Force (uses Timeranger footage) 10 - Power Rangers: Wild Force (uses Gaoranger footage) 11 - Power Rangers: Ninja Storm (uses Hurricanger footage) 12 - Power Rangers: Dino Thunder (uses Abaranger footage) 13 - Power Rangers: Space Patrol Delta (SPD, uses Dekaranger footage) 14 - Power Rangers: Mystic Force (uses Magiranger footage) 15 - Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive (uses Boukenger footage) 16 - Power Rangers: Jungle Fury (uses Gekiranger footage, the Shark, Bat, and Elephant Rangers are US-made Rangers) 17 - Power Rangers: RPM (uses GoOnger footage, story is 100% original) 18 - Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 2.0 (cancelled, was a "reversioned" attempt at the original MMPR with special effects added, etc.) 19/20 - Power Rangers: Samurai / Power Rangers: Super Samurai (airing now, uses Shinkenger footage, nearly 100% identical) 21 - Power Rangers: Megaforce (A parody of MMPR in essence) 22 - Power Rangers Super Megaforce (featuring Gokaiger footage as a "power up" mode and Sentai teams as "new powers") 23 - Power Rangers Dino Charge (airing now) 24 - Power Rangers Dino Super Charge (airing 2016) Notable events include the 10 year anniversary episode which aired during "Power Rangers: Wild Force" which brought back every single Red Ranger (save one, Steve Cardenas as "Rocky") in a team-up episode against villians originated (so the story says) from the "Power Rangers Zeo" series. As another throw-back, some of the villians wore the costumes of the "Big Bad Beetleborg" series, and many villians were voiced by former Power Ranger actors (Catherine Sutherland "Kat" and Walter Jones "Zach"). Another was the return of Jason David Frank (Tommy in MMPR, PRZ, PRT) as the Black Dino Thunder Ranger in "Power Rangers: Dino Thunder". He narrated the history of the Power Rangers for the 500th episode, as well as had an episode where he had to fight his "past Rangers" (MMPR Green, MMPR White, PRZ Red) in the episode "Fighting Spirit" in Dino Thunder. Some moments that Power Ranger fans love regarding the series history: MMPR - "Green With Evil" The first appearance of "Tommy", who is the evil Green Ranger. The final part of this 5 part series has Tommy turning good and joining the other Power Rangers. MMPR - "White Light" The Rangers find themselves completely overmatched by a new monster, when they discover Zordon (their mentor) has created a new Ranger. The White Ranger is none other than Tommy, who becomes the leader of the team and helps them beat the monster. This remains one of the most-watched kids television show episodes of all time. MMPR - "The Return of the Green Ranger" Tommy, now the White Ranger, is forced to fight the evil clone of himself who now holds his old Green Ranger powers. PRiS - Season Finale 3 parter Literally the "end of the Zordon" era, as what happens to Zordon controls the fate of all the monsters and "main villains" we've come to know for the first 5 years of Power Rangers. PRWF - "Forever Red" All the Red Rangers from Power Rangers history join forces to fight off the remnants of the Machine Empire. All by Steve Cardenas, "Rocky" from MMPR/PRZ, return for this one-shot special episode. PRDT - "Fighting Spirit" Tommy, now a mentor for the current team of Power Rangers and also the Black Ranger, has to fight incarnations of his previous Ranger-selves (Red Zeo, White MMPR, Green MMPR) to save his own life. PROO - "Once a Ranger" Thrax, the son of Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa, arrives on Earth and unites the Operation Overdrive villains in to an "Alliance of Evil". They destroy the morphing grid, causing the Operation Overdrive Rangers to become powerless. The Sentinel Knight then picks 5 Rangers from the past and restores their powers - Tori (PRNS Blue), Kira (PRDT Yellow), Bridge (PRSPD Red), Xander (PRMF Green), and Adam (MMPR Black). With the help of Alpha 6, the morphing grid is repaired and 11 Rangers battle Thrax for the fate of the Earth. Another fun fact, the character that played Adam (MMPR Black, Zeo Green, Turbo Green) is Johnny Young Bosch. If that name sounds familiar, it's because he played "Vash" in Trigun. Some YouTube links. MMPR Season 1 Intro YouTube MMPR Season 2 Intro YouTube MMPR Season 3 Intro YouTube Zeo Intro YouTube Turbo Intro YouTube In Space Intro YouTube Lost Galaxy Intro YouTube Lightspeed Rescue Intro YouTube (audio sucks) Time Force Intro YouTube Wild Force Intro YouTube Ninja Storm Intro YouTube Dino Thunder Intro YouTube SPD Intro YouTube Mystic Force Intro YouTube Every season is currently available on Netflix (including Season 1 of Power Rangers Samurai), and DVD collections of the first 7 seasons are available now or will be very shortly.
You missed one very important PR moment. PRiS: Countdown to Destruction Considered the best ending in the entire PR series. (Time Force is #2) Zordon sacrifices himself to save the universe.
go go tacky, ultra, man in a lame suit, mega lame z0rd! meh if hasbro euro didnt consentrate on this crap, we might have some transformers but noooo we get one or 2 a year after evrywere else. DIE POWER RANGERS DIE
no mention of the first movie? which had awesome costumes, decent CGI Zords (and Ooze...) the Turbo movie smurfed otoh
Don't blame Hasbro because Power Rangers was good. Hell, I don't like PR anymore, but I love Sentai because they actually give teh show a story and people actually die. Sure, the newer series in Japan seem to be more kid friendly than the ones from the 80s and early 90s, but as always, every series differs in its enjoyability. DaiRanger is the best Sentai ever. As is 99's GoGoV and 2005's MagiRanger, whereas this year's Boukenger, 1997's CarRanger, and 2004's DekaRanger were total crap.
I watched the first show back in fourth grade but havn't seen anything since. It's too bad transformers hasn't aired a show worth watching in a while. And when I do want to watch one it's never on.
I heartily maintain that in ten years or so, we're going to see a renaissance of Power Rangers as kids of that generation reach their thirties. Just like we're seeing a renaissance/resurgence of Transformers now. The kids who grew up on Power Rangers will be reaching adulthood, longing for the simple pleasures of their youth, and Hollywood will latch on to that.... we'll be seeing a new show, new toys, some grittier, more "serious" live-action movies, etc. Then a few years later the same thing will happen with Pokemon. Some sad information regarding the original Power Rangers.... Thuy Trang, the girl who played Trini, the yellow ranger in the original show, died in a car crash a few years ago here in San Francisco.
Haven't watched PR since Turbo. I never did watch that second part of the one episode where the villain shrinks the PR's. Never found out. But damn, 15 years!? What a legacy. And I grew up on these guys, too. I feel old all of a sudden. ...A live-action Pokemon movie!? Oh HELL no. My condolences to the original Yellow Ranger and her family. R.I.P. Thuy Trang
I used to love Power Rangers as a kid. Watching it now, the dialogue is terrible. I can barely watch it. I can still watch Transformers because it feels the dialogue is "meant" to be cheesy.
I remember my brother and I watching the first few episodes of the first season and thought they were total crap. We both thought it was a Voltron/Transformers/Ultra Man rip-off. Now to hear that they're about to celebrate their 15th year and still have new episodes being filmed sounds unbelievable to me. I know it's true and all but there's still this quasi-state of disbelief.
Wow, I never knew that little factoid before. I mean it's logical that there was some reason she was written off for most of the 2nd half. But never thought it was Lukemia. I always say that I'll never watch Power Rangers again. But every year I get roped into it somehow Let's see at 15 years this means I was about 13 years old when Power Rangers first started
Eh. To me, the Japanese low-budget Zords ended up looking better than the CGI Zords. But that's probably because I only got around to seeing a part of the movie only six or so years ago.
Thinking about that If you watch the various PR shows it's obvious that as the show progressed over the years the Zords as the monsters ended up looking less "Fake" if you catch what I'm saying. That was the one thing that irked me about Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, at the time the Megazord looked so fake. At least nowadays the Zords actually look sweet And I HATED the look of the Ninja Megazord in the movie.I like the Ninja zords in the series WAY better. At least the PR:Turbo series takes directly after the PR:Turbo Movie. They even used the same style for the Turbo Megazord
i was 14 when they 1st came on tv in like 1991. there was a kid show void after the death of all the 80's shows. sure TMNTs was still on and I think was still just as popular but what can I say, robots draw boys attention. I watched the 1st 3 years of power rangers...after that, none. My Nephews, one is 7 and one is 5, love the power rangers tv show, however they like transformers toys better, thanks to me Their mom, my sister, wont let them watch transformers, she says they are too violent, however Power Rangers is ok? lol. Go figure.
I just want to stop for a moment, and point out that PR Time Force was easily one of, if not the, greatest seasons of the show. The storyline was basically taken straight from the Sentai version, and resulted in a suprisingly mature and almost always engaging season.
I used to watch the show religiously when I was a kid, but I never bought any of the merchandise (I was a bigger fan of X-Men, another Saban show). I think I stopped watching around the point where Bulk and Skull got turned into monkeys. And I see no mention of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover in the "highlights" segment. Was it really that bad?
Finally. Someone who can swallow whatever ill-concieved pride people have nowadays and admit that PR was, while not always "good," a fun show. I mean, when watching G1, I can barely stand it. Power Rangers is a much more bearable show, yet for some reason people scoff at it as though it's Satan's child-recruitment services. The very mention of "Power Rangers" nowadays (to at least everyone I know) brings about feelings of intense disgust and repulsion, as though people are so adverse to their own childhood. Good to have an admittedly fond look back.
I was in second grade when Power Rangers started, and I hadn't watched it since Zeo when the Gold Ranger was introduced/passed his powers to Jason (fell into the "too old for it" trap like all of my friends, and there were too damn many repeats). Then, just for the heck of it, I started watching Generations alongside SPD and Mystic Force on Toon Disney this past summer, along with reading stuff on Wikipedia. And I'm beginning to see why it's consistently #1. Because it freaking rocks! The stories have more or less become more mature (the narrative, not the violence) while still keeping the "cheese" factor it had in the beginning. I mean, in Mystic Force, I love the dynamic of Koragg being Leanbow and Nick is his son Bowen. I don't know if I can bring myself to buy any of the toys, though.
Man, I was 6 or 7 when they first came on. I loved it all the way until Turbo. I didn't like the idea of car Zords. That's what Transformers are for. Thats what I said at the time. I do kinda like Mystic Force, and that Titan Megazord is pretty badass. If they ever go on clearance, I'm picking one up.
