The Legacy of Power Rangers and Finding Greater Value in Entertainment

by Aaron Riley

Entertainment shapes our lives in many ways whether we realize it or not. As we grow older, we may use entertainment and fiction as an escape from the stresses of reality and our day to day lives. This could be through books, movies, television, or online media. Our attitudes and tastes in entertainment evolve as we grow older, but for many of us, there is a show or franchise that sticks to us from our childhoods. For me, it was Power Rangers, probably one of the longest running children’s show franchises in recent history. While many may not take the series seriously, Power Rangers as a franchise has shown itself to be wildly successful and popular among demographics of all ages over the 30 years that it’s been airing. In contrast, much of the entertainment in this day and age may not have the same effect. While many pieces of media may be entertaining at the moment, they may not provide as much value as when it comes to thought provocation or valuable takeaways. Power Rangers, from both a business and entertainment standpoint, is one of many examples of a long running, beloved franchise and can be used to start a more broad conversation about how we interact with media nowadays and the type of content we are platforming.

A Brief Power Rangers History

As mentioned before, Power Rangers has been airing for over 30 years, since 1993 to be exact, but I’ll try my best not to bore you with 3 decades of Power Rangers lore. I more so wanted to touch upon the franchise from a production standpoint and tie that into what exactly makes it so special and beloved 3 decades after its first season aired. In order to better understand the production behind this franchise, we must first take a quick trip to Japan.

Super Sentai refers to the Japanese Tokusatsu series that Power Rangers derived its premise and a lot of its footage from. The idea of the colorful, spandex wearing superhero teams we know as the Power Rangers, originally came from Super Sentai, which began in 1975. It was in 1993 that Super Sentai teams were adapted for a more global audience, starting with Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, which would then be adapted to the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Though many of the fights and action scenes from Power Rangers are Super Sentai footage, there are still plenty of original plotlines, characters, and action footage. This use of Super Sentai footage is just part of what makes Power Rangers a strong business.

Power Rangers as a Business

Using Super Sentai footage aids in keeping production costs low. Using already recorded footage, a lot of which is being reused among multiple episodes or even multiple times per episode, is such an easy way to cut costs without the audience noticing. On top of that, another cost cutting measure taken was moving production from the United States to New Zealand because it was cheaper. When it comes to operating a business, the goal is often to keep costs low to maximize profits. The executives behind Power Rangers definitely knew what they were doing to keep costs low, but how exactly did they go about making money?

When you have a franchise centered around colorful superheroes with cool weapons and giant fighting robots, toys and merchandise is an obvious market to explore. From action figures, to toy weapons, to collectible, made to scale ranger helmets and morphers, Bandai and now Hasbro, both manufacturers of Power Rangers toys, had plenty of material to work with. Alongside merchandise sales, Power Rangers aired on various popular channels for kids over the years such as Fox Kids, Jetix (which was owned by Disney), various Nickelodeon adjacent channels, and most recently, Netflix. 

Building a Powerful Brand

Depending on how you feel about production practices and marketing, what I’ve said up to this point may paint Power Rangers as a company in a bad light. The idea of cutting corners during production and banking on merchandise sales may, understandably, be unappealing to some. To me however, it's more intriguing than anything else.

What I find intriguing is the fact that fans are able to overlook the practices and controversies associated with this franchise because of their love for it. Power Rangers will always hold a special place in my heart and in the media, and so many other people would say the same. When I was younger, Power Rangers had taught so much about teamwork, companionship, and problem solving, along with having relatable characters, engaging plotlines, and super cool fight scenes that had me excited to get up and watch every Saturday morning. I occasionally look back on my childhood and think about how times have changed. I would think back to shows I used to watch and wonder why I used to like them, but that’s never been the case with Power Rangers. Everytime I recall a memory or stumble across a clip or episode on YouTube, I can’t help but smile and feel the same excitement I did when I was a kid. There is so much love and community surrounding this franchise that there are even full blown conventions dedicated to it, that being Power Morphicon. Power Rangers, as a business and as a franchise, is an example of peak childhood entertainment, or entertainment in general, and its 30 years of airtime speaks for itself.

Generation Alpha and “Brain Rot”

With the rise of social media and online content creation, the way in which we experience entertainment as a whole has changed quite a bit. Many of us, myself included, have veered away from traditional television and gravitate more towards online content. Though online content creation has paved the way for thousands to build an online presence and livelihood for themselves, a lot of the content that goes the most viral and gets the most attention is oftentimes…questionable. 

The umbrella term “Gen Alpha Humor” is often used to describe some of the current popular phrases in meme culture, some of which include “skibidi”, “Ohio”, and “sigma”. While many, understandably, cringe when encountering these terms online and consider it “brain rot”, many still get a kick out of it when used both ironically and unironically. Similar can be said about the late 2010s and early internet meme culture. 

Along with the virality of unconventional phrases, the rise of short form content has also played a role in how we interact with entertainment. This shift in content format has made it harder for us to actively engage with longer pieces of media. This could be movies, TV shows, books, or even simple YouTube videos. The overconsumption of short form content has shown that there are possible effects on attention control and also contribute to boredom proneness and affect our response to stimuli.

How Does This Tie Into Power Rangers?

I do not necessarily believe that every piece of entertainment we consume needs to be a thought provoking masterpiece. It’s completely fine to indulge in the occasional piece of “brain rot” or something just meant to make you laugh. There is a time and place for all types of entertainment. I do, however, find it important that we put a bit more thought into how we interact with entertainment. Rather than overindulging in content that’s main purpose is to entertain, consider balancing it out a bit with content with more compelling characters and a compelling story that really resonates with you and gets you thinking.

I like using Power Rangers as an example of profitable entertainment done right. I am fully aware that most creatives out there don’t have easy access to the resources of a full production studio like Power Rangers did. However, I do believe it is still possible to make compelling, valuable content and stories that resonate with audiences while still being able to cut corners where necessary in order to make the profit to continue producing that content. I’ve found that many audiences don’t place as much value in production as they do the quality of the story. While well made visuals definitely aid in entertaining and storytelling, they can easily be ignored and overlooked if the given story is hollow and lacks substance.

Wrapping Things Up

Power Rangers, as a series and as a business, has been handled brilliantly in many ways over the past 3 decades. It sets a framework for what well made, profitable entertainment looks like. The way in which we engage with entertainment can affect us in ways that we may not even realize, whether it be possible negative effects or learning to see the value in fulfilling entertainment, regardless of how it was produced. It's important that we consider how we interact with entertainment and continue to uplift and praise the media and stories that enrich our lives and can look back fondly on down the line.