Power Rangers

[Agent Richard07]

I wanted to see what the new Power Rangers series was going to be called, but saw that his is the first one in a long time that will run for two years.

[Samurai8472]

Scans from Toei Max

[timothy]

very cool.

[DigificWriter]

Takeru wrote:

---

More like the second half of the same season that pretends to be its own thing with a new title and a power up that was cut out of the first half.

Saban and Nickelodeon call it a new season, but let's be honest, that's only happening for marketing reasons, it's the same team fighting the same villain group based on the same sentai. There's nothing new seasony about it, a new zord, new villain and some sort of armor are just the regular mid season upgrades.

Christopher wrote:

---

^Well, technically, for several years starting with Zeo, the transition from one Sentai-series adaptation/series title to another happened in the middle of the broadcast season, so each distinct series -- Zeo, Turbo, in Space, Lost Galaxy, etc. -- was split across two seasons with a big gap in the middle. So it seems like Saban is just returning to the way it used to handle the series, although it put the gap in the winter instead of the summer.

I'm not sure if you guys are using the term 'season' in TV terms or production terms, but I'm talking in production terms. Saban is treating Samurai and Super Samurai the same way they did MMPR, with PRS being equivalent to MMPR S1, and PRSS being equivalent to MMPR S2. I personally think it is stupid given that they've never before used a single Sentai series as source material for two seasons, nor have they ever had PR seasons that are only 20 episodes long, but that's what they've chosen to do.

[Christopher]

^Well, sure, it's not exactly the same. What I'm saying is that, for instance, the 1996-7 broadcast season contained the second half of Zeo and the first half of Turbo, the '97-'98 season was the second half of Turbo and the first half of PRiS, etc. I'm not sure how the production seasons broke down, but each series was split into two half-seasons, the first half in the spring (i.e. midseason of one broadcast year) and the second in the fall (i.e. the start of the next broadcast season).

[DigificWriter]

Christopher wrote:

---

^Well, sure, it's not exactly the same. What I'm saying is that, for instance, the 1996-7 broadcast season contained the second half of Zeo and the first half of Turbo, the '97-'98 season was the second half of Turbo and the first half of PRiS, etc. I'm not sure how the production seasons broke down, but each series was split into two half-seasons, the first half in the spring (i.e. midseason of one broadcast year) and the second in the fall (i.e. the start of the next broadcast season).

You've just described typical TV production operation procedures. However, that is not what we are dealing with in the case of Power Rangers Super Samurai.

What we ARE dealing with is a scenario wherein Saban has chosen to use a single Sentai series - Shinkenger - to create two full - and completely separate - seasons.

According to Saban's official and internal production statistics, Power Rangers Super Samurai will premiere on the 18th of this month as the 20th season of Power Rangers, following the MMPR Reversioning (Season 18) and Power Rangers Samurai (Season 19).

[Christopher]

DigificWriter wrote:

---

You've just described typical TV production operation procedures.

What? Not at all. Typically a season starts in the fall, takes a break in the winter, then resumes in the spring. What I'm saying is that the different Power Rangers series were out of sync with that cycle, so that a given broadcast season (starting in fall, ending in summer) contained the back half of one PR series in its first half, and the first half of the next PR series in its second half. I know it's a bit tricky to follow.

However, that is not what we are dealing with in the case of Power Rangers Super Samurai.

I never said it was. I just cited a similar practice they used in the past. I understand perfectly well how the current situation is different from that one, but I thought it was worth acknowledging the similarities, in order to suggest that the precedent might offer some insight into why Saban was taking this distinct yet related approach now.

[DigificWriter]

^ Hmm. I don't really see any similarities at all between what you described and what Saban is currently doing, but that might be because we've never ever had a season of PR - or any Saban show, for that matter - that only consisted of 20 episodes, the final two of which were clip shows (as was the case with Samurai).

As an aside, my distaste/dissatisfaction with the stance Saban has taken means that, for me, PRS and PRSS will be counted as a single season (Season 18). This is the same stance I take with regards to MMAR, which I count as part of MMPR S3.

[Christopher]

DigificWriter wrote:

---

^ Hmm. I don't really see any similarities at all between what you described and what Saban is currently doing...

Umm... the fact that a given series/incarnation was split into two distinct segments with a long gap between them, and that those two segments belonged to different seasons?

The main difference being, of course, that on FOX we got two half-series in each broadcast year, so that each distinct series still fell within a single 12-month (or actually 9-month) span; whereas in this case, the first season of Samurai was February to December 2011 and the second begins this February, so the episodes are more widely distributed.

but that might be because we've never ever had a season of PR - or any Saban show, for that matter - that only consisted of 20 episodes, the final two of which were clip shows (as was the case with Samurai).

The season lengths these days are shorter than they were back then. The thing to remember is that PR used to be aired five days a week on FOX. Now it's a once-a-week show, and it's long been typical for weekly television series to have seasons of 22-24 episodes, if not fewer. Plenty of cable series these days air only 13 episodes per year. Having 24 episodes in the first season and 20 in the second may be an unusual approach for Power Rangers, but it's well within the norm for weekly TV series in general.

As an aside, my distaste/dissatisfaction with the stance Saban has taken means that, for me, PRS and PRSS will be counted as a single season (Season 18). This is the same stance I take with regards to MMAR, which I count as part of MMPR S3.

I've never seen it counted any other way. Every episode guide I know of lists MMAR as the last 10 episodes of season 3. A legitimate case can be made for treating it as a distinct phase of the series, but that doesn't translate to being a distinct season in any technically valid sense.

In this case, though, we have one set of episodes aired in 2011 and another set starting one year later in 2012. Regardless of when and how they were produced, blocks of episodes that are aired a year or more apart are, by definition, broadcast in two different seasons.

[DigificWriter]

Apparently, Samurai has 22 eps; Clash of the Red Rangers belongs, story-wise, to Super Samurai, although I believe that Saban considers it to be separate from both it and PRS.

[Christopher]

Okay, that's two 22-episode seasons, which is even more typical.

[Samurai8472]

2nd quarter toys revealed.

The new ranger and his buddyroid won't be revealed till past April


Gold Beet Buster and Silver Stag buster




DriBlade





MorphinBrace


Silver Stagbuster is actually Gold's robot buddy. Silver can transform from Buddyroid to Silver Stagbuster

[barnaclelapse]

Samurai8472 wrote:

---

Scans from Toei Max

Awesome. I think I actually want to check this out.

My godchildren are absolutely obsessed with the PR stuff that's available on Netflix. Watching them watch the first couple seasons of "Mighty Morphin'" makes me feel very, very old indeed.

[DigificWriter]

Christopher wrote:

---

Okay, that's two 22-episode seasons, which is even more typical.

It's actually one 22-episode season (Samurai), one 20-episode season (Super Samurai), and one 2-hour movie (Clash of the Red Rangers), at least by internal Saban logic.

Another thing: by choosing to do things the way they have, Saban has basically robbed the Gokaiger footage of any special significance or meaning, since, if they follow the pattern they've established, they'll use Goseger footage for Seasons 21 and 22, and not get to using the Gokaiger footage until Seasons 23 and 24; since none of those years are actually what would be considered 'anniversary seasons', the fact that Gokaiger was created as an anniversary Sentai season will be rendered meaningless.

Re: your question about MMAR, there's no one concensus on whether or not it is considered part of MMPR S3 or its own individual thing; there are some fans, like myself, who view the two as a single whole, and there are other fans who view them as separate entities.

[Christopher]

DigificWriter wrote:

---

It's actually one 22-episode season (Samurai), one 20-episode season (Super Samurai), and one 2-hour movie (Clash of the Red Rangers), at least by internal Saban logic.

You mean a 1-hour movie, right?

Another thing: by choosing to do things the way they have, Saban has basically robbed the Gokaiger footage of any special significance or meaning, since, if they follow the pattern they've established, they'll use Goseger footage for Seasons 21 and 22, and not get to using the Gokaiger footage until Seasons 23 and 24; since none of those years are actually what would be considered 'anniversary seasons', the fact that Gokaiger was created as an anniversary Sentai season will be rendered meaningless.

So? Anniversaries are arbitrary. And I'm sure there are countless meanings in various Super Sentai series that have been glossed over or eliminated altogether in the PR adaptations.

Re: your question about MMAR, there's no one concensus on whether or not it is considered part of MMPR S3 or its own individual thing; there are some fans, like myself, who view the two as a single whole, and there are other fans who view them as separate entities.

But whether the fans consider them separate entities is an entirely distinct question from whether they constitute separate seasons either in production or broadcasting terms. The definition of a season is a matter of scheduling, not content. (The same goes for how "Clash of the Red Rangers" is defined.)