Power Rangers Monday – Top 5 Coolest Things Not Adapted from Super Sentai

It’s Monday which means it’s time for another Power Rangers Monday article! Last week, we talked about the Top 5 Things That MUST Be Adapted from Kyoryuger to Dino Charge, and it was a huge hit! Thanks everyone for taking part in the discussion. A lot of you disagreed with our feelings that the overall theme of music should be adapted and it was an awesome discussion on both sides. A lot of you also wanted to see Deathryuger as the Navy Ranger, or rather his 100 Years After adaption of being Kyoryu Navy. Either way it was a lot of fun – and if you missed it, check out the multi-page discussion by clicking here!

This week you voted on our topic of discussion – and you chose for us to discuss the Top 5 Coolest Things Not Adapted From Super Sentai! Not being super-versed in all things Super Sentai, I reached out to our content director Den-O, a self-proclaimed Super Sentai enthusiast, and with his help, came up with a rather fun and interesting list. Please click the “Read More…” option and check out the list we came up with!

Please take a moment and vote on next Monday’s article – we brought over a couple of options from the last poll and added three new options of which they would all be extremely fun to write and research! So vote, discuss, and read on!

Welcome to another segment of POWER RANGERS MONDAY – a weekly article that we put up looking at things POWER RANGERS related. Last week, we featured, in our opinion, the Top 5 things that MUST be adapted from Kyoryuger to Dino Charge. This week, we’re taking a look back at the Top 5 Coolest Things from Super Sentai that NEVER made it to Power Rangers.

There’s a lot of reasons why certain things don’t make it to the Power Rangers side of things. Back in the earlier days of the show’s production, there simply wasn’t time to see how things were going to pan out in the Super Sentai series – production on Power Rangers started while the Super Sentai series was still airing, which led to frustration on the production side (as voiced by many previous producers and writers of Power Rangers). Most notably was Power Rangers In Space – a series that in America, was done as a space series because a lot of the early Sentai footage seen by producers was space ships and such. Truth be told, Megaranger, the series it was adapted from, actually had the heroes traveling in and out of a video game, virtual world type of scenario, and not space. But by the time the producers of Power Rangers discovered this, production was too far along as a space series to shift the focus. What we got ended up being one of the greatest Power Rangers series of all time.

But here are our Top 5 Coolest Super Sentai Things That Never Made It In To Power Rangers!

Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch, but hear us out. For those who do not follow Power Rangers at all, Gosei Sentai Dairanger WAS featured in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (season 2). The White Ranger is actually from Gosei Sentai Dairanger, while all the other Power Rangers were from Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. The Thunderzords and the monsters are also from Dairanger. What happened on the production side was this – Saban Entertainment (now known as Saban Brands) had run out of footage to use for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (who used the series Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger for footage). They had a few options – either pay Toei (the producers of Super Sentai) to create more new footage (which they did, the famously known “Zyu2” footage), adapt the suits from Dairanger (which they didn’t do), or simply cut and paste different elements of the show and shoot original footage of the Rangers in suits (which they did).

The White Ranger was actually a young child in Dairanger. You know, there’s some irony in that these days…

Rather than confuse kids by changing the suits in the height of the show’s popularity, the producers chose to first pay Toei to create some new footage (which they did at the tail end of Season 1 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers). Proving to be too costly, Saban Entertainment decided to use what they could of the Dairanger footage (new zords, new monsters), and simply shoot any morphed scenes using original footage – many times, especially in Season 2, you don’t actually see the monsters with the Power Rangers in the same shot – saving them money and allowing new merchandise without having to explain new suits. It worked well. This trend continued in to Season 3 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, where they did the same thing again, this time using footage from Ninja Sentai Kakuranger. The biggest difference is they created a new team of heroes, the Alien Rangers, and had them use the suits from Kakuranger, in order to use more of the Japanese footage.

This trend would end after Season 3 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, when production simply couldn’t afford to keep using the original suits, and thus, Power Rangers Zeo happened. That series featured the use of Choriki Sentai OhRanger footage, including the suits, allowing production to cut costs dramatically and bring back the original formula from the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

However, the suits from Gosei Sentai Dairanger were never used. There is a lot of talk that at one time production thought of using the suits (as they have the rights to use them with the footage contract) to give more explanation to the Magna Defender from Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, explaining that his team perished and he was the lone survivor, hence his rather anti-hero persona, but it never happened. The Dairanger suits did finally appear as “NEW POWERS” in Power Rangers Super Megaforce, but no explanation was given other than “powers not yet seen before on this world”.

What? A Green Ranger from Goseiger (aka Power Rangers Megaforce)? That’s right – there was actually a Green Ranger in the series that was adapted to Power Rangers Megaforce. But if you blinked you probably missed him. Here’s the deal with Goseiger which was never adapted in to Power Rangers Megaforce.

The Goseigers were angels and each shared a power with each other. Red and Pink shared the power of the sky, Yellow and Black shared the power of the land, and Blue had the power of the sea. But Blue also had a partner that was no longer with the team – Gosei Green. In the actual story, Gosei Green (also known as Magis) died prior to the Goseigers appearing on Earth protecting Gosei Blue. Because of that, Gosei Blue returns to the same spot every year on the anniversary of Gosei Green’s death to leave flowers behind.

Gosei Green’s suit was simply a green version of Gosei Blue’s suit (though it is never shown fully), and his animal partner was never truly revealed though in-show hints make it seem like it was the crab. Gosei Green wasn’t counted amongst the 199 Heroes in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, leaving him without a key much like VRV Master (keep reading, because something with him is included in this list!).

Why do the Green Rangers always die in Super Sentai?

Just imagine that kind of amazing story development could have been given to any number of characters on Megaforce. Maybe Tensou could have been the Green Ranger, whose personality was put in to the robot to preserve his life? Or maybe he was from the same planet as Orion the Silver Super Megaforce Ranger, and his death is what awoke Gosei to create the other Rangers, and is one of the reasons why Orion has come to Earth?

To dream of what could have been.

Really? We’re being cheap and including two Sentai shows that weren’t fully (or at all) adapted in to Power Rangers? Yes, yes we are. But again, hear us out – while this series receives a lot of hatred from the Super Sentai community, it is one of those shows that, over time, has grown on a number of people who truly enjoyed the series. We feel that it is only fitting that we include a series that is only being skipped due to an unmarketable toy line receive it’s proper dues in this list.

The series features a villain who is trying to come in to our world using a new energy source known as Enetron that powers all of civilization. With the help of a villain named Enter (don’t worry, “Escape” shows up later), the world and the Enetron are in danger. Thus, three youths who each have special abilities are turned in to the Go-Busters, a unit that protects humanity and tries to stop the villains from taking the Enetron.

The suits are drastically different than what Super Sentai had used in 35 years prior – they were more leather-like in appearance, seemingly abandoning the use of lycra or spandex. There was also no stock morphing footage, and yes, when it was time to henshin the device called out “It’s Morphin Time!”. Their weapons materialized from their headquarters when they called them, and in all honesty, the Megazord fights were some of the best ever filmed. Not to mention above all else that two of the main villains in the series were actual actors and not in-suit monsters.

The suits begin to grow on you after 3 years.

The series was skipped in terms of adaption for Power Rangers because there was no actual marketable gimmick with the toys. Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters ranks as one of the lowest selling toy lines in Super Sentai history, as well as one of the least-watched Super Sentai shows in history. Bandai Japan also called Go-Busters a “failure”, and ever since, Super Sentai has seemingly returned to being targeted towards a younger demographic with full lycra/spandex suits and bright colors.

There has been word from various Power Rangers groups that claim to have inside sources with the show’s production that some of Go-Busters themes will make it in to Power Rangers Dino Charge. However, considering the season isn’t even in production yet, and the word from Saban Brands hasn’t always been kept, we’re not holding our breath.

Everyone remembers Power Rangers Turbo and Justin, the new Blue Ranger who was a kid. It also featured the changing of the cast of Power Rangers saying goodbye to the popular favorites and introducing a new cast of heroes. It was also the series that ended prematurely due to horrible ratings and toy sales, and nearly spelled the end for Power Rangers as a whole. Ironically, in Japan it was Carranger (a goofy, comedic series meant to serve as a series finale) that ended up saving Super Sentai. So always remember- what’s good in Japan will be bad for America. We kid, we kid. But there’s some elements that are worth noting that were different between the series that we think should have been adapted!

You all know the story of Power Rangers Turbo – an alien from another planet arrives and the evil space pirate Divatox plans to use his magical powers to free an ancient evil that she plans to marry to conquer the world. After that, she spends half a season trying to blow stuff up with bombs until her brother arrives to actually instill some plot in to the series.

But in Carranger, an alien named Dappu arrives and gives five teenagers the powers of Carrangers using his Kurumagic (aka Carmagic). Their job is to stop the evil Exhaus from destroying the planet Earth as Dappu’s home planet was destroyed. Unlike in Power Rangers Turbo, where his counterpart simply arrives and leaves as a plot device, Dappu remains on Earth with the Carrangers. However, Dappu must go in to periods of hibernation, and as luck would have it, the bad guys got tougher right when it happened. And when the going got tough, the mysterious VRV Master, known as the “Lone Space Wolf”, appears to help the Carrangers out.

VRV Master (our “Phantom Ranger”), is actually the father of Dappu and appears to help the Carrangers out when they need it, as well as to scold them when they’ve upset or offended Dappu (most notably in the Christmas episode). In an act of pure heroism, VRV Master allows himself to seemingly be destroyed to allow Dappu to flee the Earth so he wouldn’t be captured by the villains. But have no fear! He is alive and well, and in the end of the series, blasts off in to space with his son Dappu.

But wait a second! If Dappu is the son of VRV Master, shouldn’t VRV Master have to hibernate too? The answer is yes! But he avoided hibernation because of his addiction – coffee. Specifically coffee milk.

So Phantom Ranger is the daddy to Baby Sinclair from Dinosaurs. Everything makes sense now.

VRV Master in Power Rangers was known as the Phantom Ranger who never had a chance to reveal his identity. He appeared robotic (his toys even featured removable pieces to reveal circuitry) and without his power gem would basically die. The producers never fleshed out an identity for the character, though depending on whom you speak to, they say now they would have considered either Billy (the original Mighty Morphin Blue Power Ranger who left for Aquitar so he wouldn’t die during Power Rangers Zeo) or the father of Justin (the Turbo Blue Ranger whose father was always busy at work and never had time for Justin).

VRV Master isn’t considered to be an actual Sentai Hero, as he does not appear in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger nor did he ever receive an actual key. He, like a very small number of Super Sentai characters, remain in limbo to this day in terms of what their historical value is.

This is one of those rare mysteries that until someone sits Saban Brands down and asks why they didn’t do this in Power Rangers it will never be truly known. Richard Brown, an American traveler, comes to Japan to learn the ways of the samurai. After being saved by the Shinkengers, he admires them and makes it his goal to be just as strong as they are. He eventually discovers their hideout and is taken in by Shinken Blue to be trained as a samurai.

At one point, a monster attacks the city and the Shinkengers rush out to fight. Richard Brown decides to tag along. Because of his interference, the team is nearly defeated. Shinken Blue informs Richard Brown that he cannot teach him any longer and that he must go. But the language barrier is strong and Richard Brown hears that he has nothing more to learn, and thus, he randomly appears during one of the Shinkenger roll call moments, dressed to fight as Shinken Brown.

He ends up being badly hurt and the Shinkengers are on the verge of defeat. But Richard Brown, even while hurt, tells the other Shinkengers never to give up, giving them the strength to rise up and defeat the monster. It is then that Shinkengers realize that while he doesn’t have the ability of a samurai, he does indeed have the heart of one, and he returns to America to spread the teachings of the samurai.

Richard Brown is so Bulk that it hurts. WHY DID YOU NOT USE THIS SABAN?!

Now, everyone who read that immediately thought the same thing – BULK. The classic bully from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was brought back for Power Rangers Samurai and, more or less, took on the role of Richard Brown’s character from Shinkenger. He even trains in the Rangers’ Shiba House to become a samurai. However, rather than actually become Shinken Brown, Bulk (and his fellow samurai-trainee Spike) are left to be comedic devices that serve absolutely no relevance to the plot of each episode.

It is, in my humble opinion, a complete travesty that Bulk never got to be the American adaption of Shinken Brown. He even fights a monster (albeit very comedically) and spends the entire series wanting to be a Samurai. The character receives virtually no payoff to his journey throughout the entire series, serving as, once again, nothing but a comedic role that has nothing to do with the plot of each episode. We feel that this is simply one of the greatest “misses” that should have been adapted. Not only did it fit the character Bulk, but his story line throughout the series (if you can call it a story line) would have fit perfectly if he appeared as Shinken Brown.

So what do you think of our choices? What choices would you have made? Join in our discussion by clicking the “Discuss on TokuNation forums” link! There’s so many things from Super Sentai that were never adapted for Power Rangers and we’re curious what your Top 5 is.