By Billy Martel
Power Rangers Super Mega Force, the most recent incarnation of the Power Rangers franchise aired its final new episode of the year on November 22nd. Sometime next year we’ll receive an announcement about the title of the next incarnation that’ll most likely last another two years before getting replaced by another. Likewise a new Power Rangers reboot movie is planned to premier sometime in 2016 along with several video game tie-ins and comic book adaptations. Power Rangers has been an enduring part of Saturday morning television in the United States and abroad since 1993, They had a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, and there are conventions dedicated to their legacy set up across the country. Which is strange when you consider that it’s a relic of a long outdated method of inter-cultural adaptation.
A Brief History of Power Rangers:
Power Rangers Super Mega Force, the most recent incarnation of the Power Rangers franchise aired its final new episode of the year on November 22nd. Sometime next year we’ll receive an announcement about the title of the next incarnation that’ll most likely last another two years before getting replaced by another. Likewise a new Power Rangers reboot movie is planned to premier sometime in 2016 along with several video game tie-ins and comic book adaptations. Power Rangers has been an enduring part of Saturday morning television in the United States and abroad since 1993, They had a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, and there are conventions dedicated to their legacy set up across the country. Which is strange when you consider that it’s a relic of a long outdated method of inter-cultural adaptation.
A Brief History of Power Rangers:
In Japan there is a genre of film and television called "Tokusatsu", which translates to “special filming.” It essentially refers to films that rely heavily on special effects. Originally Tokusatsu was split into three different factions: Kaiju stories of giant monsters like Godzilla or Gamera, Superhero stories like Super Giant or Kamen Rider, or Mecha stories of giant robots like Giant Robo. These all still exist as their own individual sub-genres, but in 1978 a new Tokusatsu sub-genre emerged called “Sentai”. Sentai refers to a group of soldiers. It combines all three Tokusatsu sub-genres. The Sentai are a team of superheroes who fight Kaiju with giant robots. Ever since the first Sentai series Battle Fever J (Kanno, Ochiai, Orita, Yoshikawa, 1979-1980) was created by Toei, the biggest film production and distribution company in Japan, there has been a new Super Sentai (the franchise title Toei assigned to Battle Fever J and all subsequent Sentai) series every year as well as dozens of copycat series from across Japan.
In 1992 the most recent Sentai series was Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Tojo, Ogasawara, Sakamoto, Watanabe, Amemiya, 1992-1993). It was this series that Haim Saban, a producer of children’s television in America, saw while on a trip to Japan and decided to bring to the states. But rather than dub the series and risk alienating viewers, he decided to shoot all new footage with American actors and scripts, edit it into the Sentai footage and create an entirely new show called Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Saban, and Levy, 1993-1995). Because one of the main concepts in Sentai was that the characters would always have a device that would transform them into their superhero forms through a flashy special effect, it was relatively easy to have American actors use the same devices, make a similar special effect, and put it together to show the new actors in the new footage “morph” into the suited Japanese stuntmen in the old footage.
In 1992 the most recent Sentai series was Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Tojo, Ogasawara, Sakamoto, Watanabe, Amemiya, 1992-1993). It was this series that Haim Saban, a producer of children’s television in America, saw while on a trip to Japan and decided to bring to the states. But rather than dub the series and risk alienating viewers, he decided to shoot all new footage with American actors and scripts, edit it into the Sentai footage and create an entirely new show called Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Saban, and Levy, 1993-1995). Because one of the main concepts in Sentai was that the characters would always have a device that would transform them into their superhero forms through a flashy special effect, it was relatively easy to have American actors use the same devices, make a similar special effect, and put it together to show the new actors in the new footage “morph” into the suited Japanese stuntmen in the old footage.
By making their own series instead of simply adapting the old they could also clean up the Japanese series’ content. Zyuranger often included scary scenes of child sacrifice, which were all cut from the US version. The complex dark storyline about how the villain Bandora was trying to bring her son back from the dead by destroying the planet, was now about Rita Repulsa, a generic villain who wanted to take over the world by sending an army of monsters to fight the Power Rangers. The tragic death of the green ranger towards the end of the series was changed to the character losing his powers and retiring peacefully from monster fighting before taking on the role of the white ranger (a completely different character from a completely different Sentai in Japan).
Another hurdle was the fact that the Sentai was only supposed to last a year but American shows are built to run indefinitely. Saban tried to pay Toei to shoot new footage for them but that could only last until their money ran out. After three seasons of recycling the footage from Zyuranger, Saban finally gave in to formula and changed the name of the show to Power Rangers Zeo (Saban, Levy, 1996) for its fourth season. Now each season is adapted from the most recent series of Super Sentai. Power Rangers Super Megaforce (Saban, 2014) was adapted from Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (Ishinomori, 2011).
Legacy and Impact:
Another hurdle was the fact that the Sentai was only supposed to last a year but American shows are built to run indefinitely. Saban tried to pay Toei to shoot new footage for them but that could only last until their money ran out. After three seasons of recycling the footage from Zyuranger, Saban finally gave in to formula and changed the name of the show to Power Rangers Zeo (Saban, Levy, 1996) for its fourth season. Now each season is adapted from the most recent series of Super Sentai. Power Rangers Super Megaforce (Saban, 2014) was adapted from Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (Ishinomori, 2011).
Legacy and Impact:
Initially Power Rangers generated many duplicates like Masked Rider (Saban, Levy, 1995-1996) adapted from Kamen Rider Black RX (Ishinomori, 1988-1989) or Big Bad Beetleborgs (Saban, Levy, 1996-1998) adapted from Juukou B-Fighter (Tsuchiya, Kanai, Hazuki, Tomoe, 1995-1996). None of them ever achieved the same popularity that Power Rangers did. Attempts to create a show with a similar premise as Power Rangers without using Japanese footage were laughable failures such as The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog (Saban, 1998-1999), and Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills (Fisher, Staahl, 1994-1995)
This technique of localization may seem strange to some. But as I said before it’s a part of an American tradition of localization that goes back a long way. In the 1950’s when Godzilla was popular in Japan and the USA wanted to show the film here, Transworld Releasing Corp shot brand new footage with actor Raymond Burr as an American reporter commenting on all that was going on to add some context for American viewers. You might be asking yourself at this point: why not just dub? The problem as it was perceived at the time was that dubbing makes things look silly. There is a threshold for suspension of disbelief when watching a movie about gods and monsters that is very easy to break by something like bad acting, or bad effects, or poor sound quality. Dubbing is like a triple threat in this case. Voice actors who dub have a reputation for being particularly bad actors, whether they are or not is a case by case situation but the reputation still exists. Dubbing is often of a different sound quality than the rest of the sounds in the film which can be distracting. And finally the unreality of seeing a person’s lips move out of synch with their words is very difficult to get beyond.
This technique of localization may seem strange to some. But as I said before it’s a part of an American tradition of localization that goes back a long way. In the 1950’s when Godzilla was popular in Japan and the USA wanted to show the film here, Transworld Releasing Corp shot brand new footage with actor Raymond Burr as an American reporter commenting on all that was going on to add some context for American viewers. You might be asking yourself at this point: why not just dub? The problem as it was perceived at the time was that dubbing makes things look silly. There is a threshold for suspension of disbelief when watching a movie about gods and monsters that is very easy to break by something like bad acting, or bad effects, or poor sound quality. Dubbing is like a triple threat in this case. Voice actors who dub have a reputation for being particularly bad actors, whether they are or not is a case by case situation but the reputation still exists. Dubbing is often of a different sound quality than the rest of the sounds in the film which can be distracting. And finally the unreality of seeing a person’s lips move out of synch with their words is very difficult to get beyond.
We now live in a world where dubbing is no longer considered as laughable as it once was. The success of films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Lee, 2000) among others have proven that seriously adapted foreign material can stand on its own. The anime series Attack on Titan (Araki, 2013) became a huge hit with American audiences this year despite not having an official dub. US viewers were willing to simply read subtitles. So one would think that in this world where localization of foreign products is the least invasive it has ever been in the US that Power Rangers would fade away into obscurity. But instead it’s seeing more popularity than it has in years - not just in the USA but abroad as well. Maybe it’s the adaptability of the format; maybe it’s just the attraction of the cool explosions and awesome martial arts. Whatever the reason Power Rangers is here to stay for the foreseeable future. As the rangers themselves would say: "May the power protect you."
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