And then I started wondering... what age range does it mean by childhood? There was my really young years (which I what I'm going with for Obsession), my mid-childhood (which is what I'm using for this one), and my later childhood (which was Boy Meets World). Obviously, as I just said, I'm going with mid-childhood, which is in the age range of, oh, 6-12 or thereabouts--and yeah, there's some overlap with the other age ranges... which makes no sense, but whatever.
Anyway, let's get on with it. So what am I considering my favorite childhood show (pretty much based on process of elimination)? Power Rangers.
That's right. Starting with Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and going through In Space (and partially Lost Galaxy), Power Rangers was everything to me. It was basically my second major television obsession growing up. I had VHS tapes (including Alpha's Magical Christmas, I believe it was called... as well as a "learn karate" video tape that I believe was hosted by Tommy). I had action figures. I had a video game for my Sega Game Gear (yeah, remember those?). I had a set of their weapons that combined together into one ultimate weapon. I had at least one morpher. I had both movies. I had a framed poster. I think I even had Pink Ranger gloves that talked when you hit them right (or something like that... and why pink? Yeah, I dunno). And on top of that, I never missed an episode. I even watched the rip-off shows that were even remotely similar (Masked Rider, Big Bad Beetleborgs, etc.).The Mighty Morphin' years will always be the best, despite--apparently--a lot of fan love for In Space, which I hardly remember. The relationship between Tommy and Kimberly; anything to do with Tommy in general, really; Rita and Lord Zed; Bulk and Skull--how can you not love it?
The Mighty Morphin' years started to come to a close around the time the first movie came out, in which they gained new powers and Zords (the Ninja Zords). Granted, they didn't use the movie as canon and gave an entirely different story on the new powers/Zords through the show... but whatever. This "ninja" era was cool, especially for the fact that they had an 'in-between' power up that wasn't regular weakness, but also wasn't full power morph.
Unfortunately, this didn't last too long as they decided to go Zeo, which was a pretty cool concept, I suppose. But they couldn't keep that very long either, having to shift into Turbo. This was by far one of the stupider seasons and one of the least liked. This one, too, started with a movie. Though the movie here was used as canon, strangely enough. But like Zeo, it didn't last very long. From here they went In Space, which is supposedly one of the best seasons of the original run. In Space was supposed to be the last season, but they kinda gave it one more nudge after that one had some of the highest ratings the show has ever seen. That final nudge was Lost Galaxy, where the majority of viewers stopped watching, myself included. I don't think I made it very far into this season. And after this, they pretty much rebooted the show every season with a new concept, new characters, new everything. Some might say Lost Galaxy is the first to reboot itself, but it actually had some long-term appearances by original-run characters throughout, so I can't say it was a full reboot like the seasons to follow.
However, if you want a good, detailed look back at the Power Rangers, check out Linkara's History of Power Rangers. Those videos are amazing. Just make sure you have a lot of time on your hands, because they can be pretty long. As of this posting, he's gone all the way through Lost Galaxy, but he's going to continue on with the one-off seasons that followed.
Awesome choice, sir! I'm a POWER RANGERS fan and proud of it. Well, of course, pre-Disney ownership.
ReplyDeleteGreat write-up, Nick. IN SPACE is a favorite of mine, as well.
Andy: Hell yeah! :P
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