Top 10 Alternate Versions Of The Power Rangers - Part 2

Turns out a site listing fan-made Rangers looks insanely similar to the one listing real stories. And I mixed a couple of fan-made ones in. I made an oopsie. But this time, I’ve made sure to not just double check, but triple check that these are real. I am hoping to keep my foot as far from my mouth as humanly possible. Let's take a look at the Top 10 Alternate Versions of the Power Rangers, Part 2!

10. POWER RANGERS NINJA STORM

Ninja Storm, the 11th season, was a weird time for Power Rangers. They had barely survived being canceled by moving to film to New Zealand and going non-union. And the New Zealand thing stuck; the show continued to be filmed there for years. But this season did see the return of OG production manager Doug Sloan, who was with the show from the beginning up until Turbo. As you probably guessed, this was a ninja-inspired team, fighting against the evil, and surprisingly funny, Lothor, with the help of their zords and power spheres, as well as a number of weapons and gadgets. It was a lot more lighthearted than previous versions, which some fans loved, and others didn't like. Personally, I think the whole concept of Power Rangers is so campy, it's best to keep it as lighthearted as possible. Let’s be real, this is a formulaic show, where people beat up big baddies then hop in their big machines and fight them some more. This isn’t The Godfather. Give me some damn levity.

 9. Fury POWER RANGERS JUNGLE FURY 

Jungle Fury, the sixteenth season of the show, was a bit of a victim of circumstance. It took place during the 2007-2008 Writers Guild strike, which means several episodes in the middle had to be written by non-union writers instead of the original ones. When the real writers came back, they were stuck trying to work everything back into a cohesive story that they liked. That said, it actually turned out to be a pretty popular season! It started out with just 3 rangers, which let us really get to know them, plus the martial arts were totally rad. But there were definitely some drawbacks too. The villains were weak, one of whom was named "Jarrod". I'll let you figure out how popular That decision was. And since the writers have stuck in a corner thanks to the strike, the ending was super anticlimactic. But it wasn't the worst season ever, and the theme song was totally rocking.

  8. POWER RANGERS WILD FORCE

Here’s the first of my boo-boos from last time. Because I accidentally used a fan-made Wild Prime instead of Wild Force. Jerks. But this time, I’ve got the right one, and it’s a really cool one! First and foremost, the Zords are insanely cool. They had all sorts of awesome animal Zords, Giraffe, Shark, Elephant, Eagle, Lion, Tiger, and Bears, Oh my! Sorry, got carried away. As I was saying, the Wild Force had a BUNCH of Zords with even more combinations. They fought against the Orgs, these evil, mutant, demon things with horns. Who, as the red ranger learned, have no hearts. And one was a wedding dress. Like previous seasons, the Wild Force had team-up episodes, but they took it a bit further. Since it was the 10th season, they did something special and had an episode called Forever Red. It saw Cole Evans, the Wild Force Red Ranger, team up with the other 9 Red Rangers in a final showdown with the Machine Empire.

 7. POWER RANGERS TIME FORCE

Time Force was the 9th season of Power Rangers, and similar to In Space and Lost Galaxy, it's generally considered to be among the darker seasons. It involved death, and social issues like racism, more than previous seasons. Instead of teens, the Time Force was made up of professional adults, Time Force Officers who went to the past to stop Ransik and his army of convicts. Ransik was pretty interesting relative to other Power Rangers villains since he actually had some good qualities. He clearly cared about his daughter Nadira, even turning himself in at the end after he accidentally hits her. Also, fun fact, they had to cut out certain scenes out of the final version. This is because the season came out soon after the attack on September 11th, and scenes of people screaming while buildings come crashing down would have been in bad taste. Okay, that wasn’t actually very fun. So uh, that was just a fact. OH but that reminds me, if you’re a fan of the show Friends, there was one airport scene that ended up being cut because of 911, but if you want to see it, look up Friends Airport Security. I was so psyched to see 4 minutes of Friends that I had never seen.

6. RPM POWER RANGERS RPM

RPM, the 17th season of Power Rangers, almost didn't get made, since Disney originally planned to cancel the series after Jungle Fury. But, possibly due to a contract dispute with Bandai, they caved and made RPM. And it went off to a pretty crazy start, with Executive producer Eddie Guzelian having blown through the entire budget halfway through the season. So he was fired. But the season ended up being fairly well received. Personally, I love the Zords. A lot of the vehicle seasons have kinda lame ones, where they’re just like, Cars! Or, Spaceships! But that’s lame, I want animals! And RPM made a compromise, making cars that look like animals! Shark, Wolf, Croc, Eagle, Lion, Bear, Falcon, Tiger, Whale… there are many, and they are pretty cool. The series was actually pretty dark too, taking place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland in an alternate universe. Which was weird for some, especially with how strange it was having colorful rangers in a dreary wasteland. But they were so badass that a lot of people were totally cool with it. Oh, and are you wondering what RPM stands for? Me too. They never actually said in the show. One would assume rotations per minute, but that isn’t exactly badass. But Bandai says it stands for Racing Performance Machines, so let’s go with that. Side note, Bandai sounds totally wrong, should it be Bandai? All the commercials say Bandai. I don’t know what to believe.

  5. POWER RANGERS MYSTIC FORCE

This is the other boo-boo I made in Part One, where instead of Mystic Force, I accidentally used Mystic Warriors. People need to be more imaginative with their damn names. Anyway, all saltiness aside, Mystic Force is right up my alley. Because there’s magic! And I love magic! Mystic Force is way more fantasy-inspired than other versions. Years ago, an army of the undead, led by the evil Morticon, tried to take over the human realm. However, a legion of wizards managed to drive them off and cast them back to the underworld. But then when the show begins, the army is once again attacking, and in true power ranger fashion, 5 teenagers are chosen to fight the Undead army using magic. Their Zords are similarly fantastical, with a Phoenix, a Garuda, a Mermaid, a Sprite, and a Minotaur, which is totally badass. They even make friends with a genie. Yeah. If you’re looking for a change of pace, Mystic Force is the place to go.

4. POWER RANGERS IN SPACE

 The last list a lot of people had an issue with the fact that I had Lost Galaxy and not In Space. Frankly, it's just because I watched the Last Galaxy more when I was a kid, but as luck would have it, I get to do a part 2 so you can have both! Power Rangers in Space was the 6th season in the franchise and was actually intended to be the last. But the ratings were so huge, it kinda saved the franchise. Why the big ratings? Well, they changed up a bunch. It was the first season to use an orchestral score instead of rock music. They changed up a bunch of the characters. But most of all, it was the conclusion to the previous 6 seasons, which really helped to revitalize the story, which was becoming a bit dull. This season saw the Space Rangers, with their Astro Morphers, taking on the evil Astronema, who was the sister of the Red Ranger, Andros. While trying to save Zordon. The Zords aren’t as cool as some other seasons since they’re just spaceships, but the emotional conclusion to the Zordon era was pretty great. And sad. RIP Zordon.

 3. POWER RANGERS ZEO

Zeo was a big one for Power Rangers. It was the fourth season and the first time that the costumes changed. This would, of course, be the first of many costume changes, and it wasn't exactly a surprise since Super Sentai did the same thing a lot. But it was still a bit risky, especially since kids often don't do so well with change. But since the ratings were dropping, they knew they had to change things up, and rather than killing off the main character, they decided to change up the costumes, and also power up the rangers. It was the first time robotic villains were seen when previously the Rangers had more or less had the monopoly on robotics. Anyway, Zeo saw a new set of rangers take on the mantle, after harnessing the power of the Zeo Crystal, becoming Power Rangers Zeo. They used their weapons and Zeo Zords to take on King Mondo's army of mechs. Mondo was basically Dr. Eggman from Sonic, with his mechanical minions, but like... he somehow managed to be even less competent.

 2. POWER RANGERS DINO THUNDER

Dino Thunder was, in my opinion, one of the coolest looking teams of all the seasons. It was the 12th season and saw the return of Dinozords, something that I'm always a fan of. It also saw the return of none other than Tommy Oliver, the hugely popular character best known as the green ranger. This time he was, fittingly, a paleontology professor. And 3 of his detention students found dino gems, turning them, and Tommy, into Dino Rangers. The gems gave them superpowers, with different members gaining different powers, like Super speed, super strength, and a sonic scream. They had a bunch of cool weapons and vehicles, but as with any Dinozord season, the highlight for me is the Zords. Tyrannozord, Tricerazord, Pterazord, Dragozord, Stegozord... so great. Dinosaurs are cool. There's a bit of a confusing story behind this too. The Dino gems came from the meteors that killed off the dinosaurs. But in Dino Super Charge, End of Extinction, it was retconned so that the dinosaurs never went extinct so these rangers wouldn't have gotten their powers. But then Super Ninja Steel revealed that Dino Charge actually took place in an alternate universe. So everything is still canon. Good.

 1. POWER RANGERS S.P.D.

SPD, the 13th season, is seen as one of the best by some, but not all fans agree. SPD, or, Space Patrol Delta, takes place in 2025 when the Troobian Empire decides to attack Earth. The A-Squad of the SPD decides to go rogue, so the B-Squad has to take the reins. And the series had a lot going for it. The acting was actually quite good, with surprisingly decent actors bringing some legitimacy to the show. This allowed for some more character-centric shows, with each character getting their own episode to flesh out their personality. Which is part of why some younger viewers didn’t like it as much? They had some cool weapons and cool vehicles, although they weren't animals so they lost out a bit in my books. It was also the first season to have a female Red Ranger, which was pretty nifty. Go ahead and call me a soyboy, I think that's great. That said, the season wasn't perfect. Some fans thought they borrowed too much from the Super Sentai counterpart, and others thought the characters were boring. But that doesn’t stop SPD from being one of the highest rated seasons ever.