Craft a Compelling Story
Power Rangers is a global franchise that has a variety of stories, history, and other forms of medium. However despite the success of the last twenty-seven years, the franchise lacks mainstream buzz. Yes the franchise seems to be going in the right direction, due to the success of Beast Morphers, its comic book series from Boom Studios, and it Lightning Figure Toyline Collection. But what have made the franchise underwhelming with audiences and fans is the story. Granted the Neo Saban seasons had very memorable moments, but the story was not in par with past seasons.
Yes Power Rangers have the same formulaic storytelling in all of its seasons. The monster of the day, a problem a character or Ranger is facing, destroy monster, and defeat it again with a Megazord, rinse and repeat. However what makes Power Rangers special is the great lessons of love, friendship, inspiration, and teamwork. Those core values is what makes the show great and a great role model for children.
However, the franchise does have open potential to expand the themes or stories that can resonate with older fans and casual audiences alike. Yes as mentioned earlier, Power Rangers have been dubbed by causal audiences as a kid show. But it does not have to be always like that. The Power Rangers comics and a past interviews that I helped conduct with a former Rangers explains that narrative
BOOM Studios Power Ranger Comics
A great example of excellent story in the Power Rangers medium is the the comic book series from Boom Studios Comics. The Power Rangers comic book series has been very successful with fans and critics. One of the main reasons is the great top notch writing and story of each of their issues. The writers seem to always take riskier, but appropriate moves to keep the story fresh and exciting.
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Saban’s Go Go Power Rangers comic book series is an example of that, as they do a fresh take and a great re-telling of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The success of the series spawned highly successful story arcs such as Shattered Grid, Pink Ranger Arc, Ninja Turtle Cross-Over Arc, and the Soul Of Dragon Arc. All of these story arcs showed great and story development that kept fans wanting more and help gain interest from casual readers. If Hasbro decides to make an Power Rangers show, Boom Studios issues can be an inspiration or a starting point.
William Shewfelt Morphin Network Interview
Another example is from a past interview I did on my page The Morphin Network. Me with my co-host Leonard interviewed the Red Ninja Steel Ranger William Shewfelt in early 2018. During the interview we asked about his experience working on Power Rangers Ninja Steel and how he became an actor.
We also talked about his upcoming projects and gave as advice in learning how to be fit and always to have a great work ethic. However one of the key highlights of the interview was when William explained his thoughts on what the Power Rangers franchise needs to do in order to expand its brand.
During William’s interview he first showed his love and appreciation for the franchise. When we asked William of his thoughts of the franchise and legacy he said this:
“My take on the Power Rangers brand and what it means to people, I want to see this brand blow up. I want to see it so do well, and I want to see it expand from where it currently is. William then added this great take “in 1993 we learned something, and that was that so many young people I identified with you know outcasted, rejected, or rebellious teens that just didn’t fit in with society. Then they had these superpowers and contributed to society, to the world, learn life lessons along the way, learn about teamwork along the way, and helping people out and giving back to the community.”
William then added in this importance statement as he said:
‘”Power Rangers incapulates all of those lessons so well in a format so well, thats really good for young kids, but I think that it could go so far beyond that”. William then added to his statement “I love being part of that legacy, but what I really want to see for Power Rangers in the years to come is the same kind of thinking that helped it explode in 1993, hopefully Hasbro starts to do this. If they start to adopt riskier and thinking outside of the box, and ok we have a younger, well we have a more mature audience now, because kids now are watching Deadpool, and Avengers.”
Then William concluded his statement by saying “They do not need to be pandered to, they don’t need to be you know, things in a cutsie format, like kids are smart.”
Overall William’s statements are indeed correct and relevant to today’s society and mainstream media. Young audiences especially children are being exposed to more mature media that was deemed to dark in recent decades or years. But the positive that the younger generation is gaining from current children’s entertainment media is stories that have actually great character development, story, and mature tones that is appropriate enough to air.
Final Thoughts
In the end, an ideal season of Power Rangers is one that treats the kids like they are respected adults, and make adults feel like they are nostalgic kids again. Truly great seasons of Power Rangers have characters and stories that are both solid and layered.
As a kid, one needs be enraptured by the surface layers. While as an adult, one needs to be able to dissect and appreciate the deep layers. Without the deeper layers, even kids won’t get much mileage out of the character/story, and the “nice”/”edgy” surface will leave people deprived of the nuance and growth that the mind is starved for.
Lastly, the season doesn’t have to be precisely like Time Force. That season is a homeostatic node in a spectrum. There are other seasons that deviate from it in both directions, but still maintain enough of that balance to keep them as timeless classics, such as Lost Galaxy (1999), Ninja Storm (2003), Jungle Fury (2008), and RPM (2009). RPM takes place in a post-apocalyptic future, but it takes time to balance humor, and Ninja Storm has the tone of a laidback teen sitcom, but it still balances it with fast-paced action, and complex character elements and development.
Overall Power Rangers have the potential to becoming something greater. It’s always have been there for the past twenty seven years. Hopefully Hasbro can bring out that true potential and make Power Rangers even greater.
KEEP READING: RANGER SPOTLIGHT: RORRIE D. TRAVIS (POWER RANGERS BEAST MORPHERS)
Source: Morphin Network, IGN
