Power Rangers Vs Zyurangers

I recently purchased The Super Senti Zyuranger complete collection on DVD. It is the first time a home video collection of Zyurangers or even Super Senti had been released in North America. Incase your not familiar with Super Senti or Zyurangers it is the source archive footage where Mighty Morphin Powers Rangers spawned from. The DVD set in not dubbed for such a thing would ruin the authentic nature of Zyurangers. Power Rangers is a stylized martial arts superhero program aimed at children that uses fighting combat, and giant robots to battle Rita Rupulas threats to earth. Rewind one year earlier in 1992 with Zyurangers and you have something that's familiar yet different in many ways. I discovered Zyurangers about five years ago on You Tube. It has answered so many questions I had about Power Rangers as a kid. Zyurangers looked a lot more like a complete show rather than material that's spliced together.
As I am turning 30 in a year I watch and compare both Power Rangers and Zyurangers, I question what I loved so much about Power Rangers. I think Zyurangers has helped me awnser a lot of those questions.
 I think what I like about Power Rangers was the sence of wonder that the program had. Like for example I  always wondered where the zords went after being used. It was explained by Zordon that they were hidden in volcanos and moutains but it still left me to wonder. You saw the same footage of the zords over and there is a good reason for that. Power Rangers was bigger on technology while Zyurangers focused more on Myth and Fantasy. Power Ranger jumped right to it's technology with the zords despite Zordon and his robot assistant Alpha never taught  their young warriors how to operate these zords. Zyurangers on the other hand take its time to develop. The Zyurangers start in hand to hand combat and with weapons. My favorite episode of Zyurangers was the quest they undertook to get the weapons. As I said before the zords at first show Solo, then in the sixth episode the zords come to together. Rita Repulsa was given that name by her western producers obviously because she's repulsive. In Zyurangers Bandora as she's named is more sinister and she gets her powers from Satan. In the Power Rangers universe Zordan and Rita had a conflict which lead Rita to trap Zordon in a time vortex which was why he communicated via tube.
 One of my favorite episodes of Zyurangers was where Gekki the red or Tyrano Ranger, the leader of the group finds himself transported to the future with Tokyo destroyed and he finds his comrades burned alive. And in the dusty ruins of Tokyo he finds something he's never seen before and that's what we know here in the west as the megazord buried in the dust.
 As I discuss in this article on how Zyurangers answers many questions I always had about Power Rangers. In this episode and a lot of Zyuranger episodes the relationship offered with the zords and the guardian beast is must more intimate, and up close as oppose to power rangers were they just pop out for a few moments. But what Gekki finds in the ruins of Tokyo is Daniujin the great beast god. A better name than mega zord and like the guardian beast when formed together Daidjin  still had a personality and acts as a advisor to the Zyurangers. Rita Repulsa was funny and witty her evil pursuits. Yet what I didn't realize until I was older was this wasn't a western actress, and her voice was dubbed. Rita Ruplusa is really Bandora, a singing dancing space witch who hates and despises children and wants them whipped off the earth. There is a reason why Bandora hates children so much.
Bandora was a queen from the prehistoric times who had a son named Kai who was a total dick to the dinosaurs. Bandroa whiped out most of the dinosaurs but was stopped by the guardian beast. Bandora was assisted in becoming a witch with the help of Satan who looked like a madiras nightmare and also later appeared in Power Rangers but not as Satan. The Zyurangers were from  five different tribes that each worshiped a different dinosaur. The Zyurangers never wondered Tokyo as ordinary civilians. They wondered around Tokyo in their tribal apparel. With no question in mind the mild mannered power rangers wore the same color clothes everyday. In Zyurangers five tribal warriors sealed Bandora away sending her to the planet Nemesis which in Power Rangers was decribed as the moon despite there being daylight and had puddles recording to the westernized Rita. The Zyurangers were frozen in stasis mirrors from what ever BC until 1992 when astronauts along with two children arrived on the planet nemesis (not the moon.). The astronauts unsealed Bandora (not Rita Repulsa.) Bandora lands her horrible eighties night club in down town Tokoyo cuasing mass hysteria. Hey who wouldn't be frightened, I mean her palace was like Uncle Jessie's smash club, and every cheap sitcom set which involved blue neon lights combined.
In Power Rangers we saw the same morphing sequence over and over again. This was due to the fact that the western actors were in different locations then the ones in Zyurangers. Instead of  a giant floating head in a tube, Zyuranges had a more solid mentor a wizard named Barza. Instead of a low budget command center the Zyurangers had a beautiful underground fantasy world.  Despite Zyurangers were grounded in the realm of fantasy they had no means of teleportation and used cycles as means to get around. Dose that make sense. I think those cycles were in Power Rangers once. Gene Roddenberry had a similar problem while developing Star Trek. Teleportation needed to be written in to the program due to the fact shuttle crafts being used over and over would create time restraints.
In Power Rangers, their wrist communication watch acts a communicator so Zordon can dispatch his rangers and allow them to teleport to the command center. When needed the Power Rangers would use their communicators to teleport to the command center, and they turn into waves of light each matching their assigned color.
In Zyurangers the gaurdain beast actually talked and often appeared to advise the warriors. On Power Rangers we saw the zords form into the megazord immdeadltlly in the first episode. While I still love Power Rangers certain elements have grown stale on me in my adult years as they would by nature. Why dose it take five people to operrate a giant robot?. I love the fantasey elements you see in Zyurangers because a lot of it its much cooler and makes more sence. (Well apart from the yellow ranger being a boy that is). I like how Zyurangers focuses on more myth and magic than just scifi on a low budget.
Another center piece that was written around each story of Power Rangers was the concept of civil service which would also be demonstrated in Power Rangers PSA. The Zyurangers would get involved would get involved Random children showing up at birthdays, hospitals ect.
As I said before Bandora is much sinister than her western translation. One episode went to much more sinister methods of child torture. Powers Rangers had to take a lot of liberties to make the green with evil mini series watchable for western audiences. Things are more vivid in Japanese children shows such as, occult magic, blood, children being tortured, and most of all death.
A sixth Sentai Ranger had never been introduced in its run, however in Power Rangers it presented not only a new dynamic which was a new hip cool ranger which kids fell in love helping expand the shows popularity getting more kids to watch the show; but brought with it much more conflicts with writing the sixth ranger into the westernized Power Ranger story line.
In Power Ranger Rita for an unexplained reason has a green power coin even through its stated only Zrodan holds the power coins and its origin is never really explained. Good looking good great spirited scrappy (okay I've said enough), Tommy Oliver the new kid catching attention at a karate completion becomes a candidate for Ritas very own Power Ranger. Rita puts Tommy under a spell which overpowers him and he turns into the dick Green Ranger who destroys the command center and the rangers zords. This also might have been one of the first times an American actor put on a ranger suit which was for the command center scene. Tommys spell is later broken and the dick green ranger returns to the lovable cool guy, and joins the other rangers in their battle against Rita. Tommy's and the green rangers introductions was the first step in the on going evolution you would see through out the series.
Power Rangers from its inception was a thirty minuet toy commercial. In Japan each Sentai program was like a circus that would come to town, sell a few toys then pack up and leave. On the very last episode of season one of Power Rangers Rita was suppose to be trapped and the rangers were suppose to go to their senior prom. Possibly Saban was going to use other Sentai footage for a second season but nobody expected Power Rangers to expand in popularity the way it did. I mean the things you see in Power Rangers were never meant for a western audience. Giant monsters, and giant robots, and super hero fighting squads were never a corner stone  in the North America, nor so much with its children. One of my favorite episodes from Season One was the episode food fight. Each week producer of Power Rangers would receive footage and would not know what to do. I think the producers had to focus a theme that would center around the stock footage. Like the episode with the pig, make a story that centers around food, and the episode with the clown insert a carnival. (A circus would have made more sense.) In Zyurangers the episode which involves the pig is much different. The pigs eats all the food in Tokyo leaving its citizens to starve. The male yellow Zyuranger Boi be friends a tormented overweight child who's family's love for food brings them together. The pig destroys the family's bound, however it is restored once the monster is defeated. Another favorite monster of mine being the sphinx turns into a human Paul Rubins like riddler who traps children's spirits in trees. Another thing you never see in western television. This is where the beast gods first show up. Gekki finds the dinocystles that free his comrades and form the mega beast god. In Power Rangers I never got the point of the dino crystals. In Power Rangers I don't think there was a story that introduced them. I never even had them as a fricken toy.
The source of Zyurangers power was the dino buckler, instead of the very nighties its morphin time they'd shout dino buckler! Sounds pretty cool I think. In Power Rangers the morphers were the source of their power, and they would hold them up to the sky and summon the aurora of their dinosaur. (Dose that make sense).
As the teenage Power Rangers would participate in civil service to show how they were moral and good hearted the Zyurangers would often get involved with random children in Tokyo. They'd often visit the children in the hospital after the post after math of the a battle. In Power Rangers attacks on Angel Grove are a normal occurrence like any monster attack on Tokyo even if its Godzilla or Bandoras monsters. Both cities in both universes always rebuild in no time.
Bulk and Skull two nighties stereotypical bullies were another corner stone in Power Rangers and the overall real stars of the show at least in the end. Their humiliation provided comic relief for each episodes ending.
 Change after change after change would take place in series due stock footage running out or actors not liking their fast food like wages given to them. Both times Tommy came back reprising the green ranger and later taking up the white ranger really helped expand the program. Tommy later took up the leadership role demoting the red ranger despite red is usually the color of leadership. But with Zyurangers it was a different story with a much different green ranger or Green Dragon Ranger in other words. Why was Tommy referred to as dragonzord as opposed to green dragon? (Dose that make sense)?
A gnome who was also from the prehistoric period claims there another Zyuranger in stasis named Buri. Is not under a spell and his action are sought with free will rather than just a spell. Unlike Rita who had the green power suit hidden in a tomb, I think. Dose that make sense. Buri was already wrapped and hidden away in a tomb like a mummy and awakened despite the military like efforts of Barza and his gnome comrade who's also from their same period and assisted the Zyuranger in defeating a monster in a previous episode. Buri is mad claiming that Gekki isn't the true prince of the tribe and are brothers. That's right the red and green rangers are brothers. They were sons of the black knight who was killed in combat who Omoto King killed for adopting Gekki. Buri avenged the death of his evil father. After missing the forming of the Zyurangers Buri goes into stasis hoping to one day get revenge on the Zyurangers. Upon being thrown from Bandoras moon palace, Buri meets clotho the white child like reaper who is the spirit of life. Buri was killed while in statis during the ice age, and the green candle is keeping him alive. Buri must stay in a parnel dimension stay extend his life force, however what ever Buri wishes to leave the candle melts down. Buri still countinues his revenge of the Zyurangers. The megabeast god order Gekki to kill Buri, however Gekki cannot do so. This forms a bound between the two brothers, and Buri loses his desire for revenge. The Zyurangers go unaware to of Buris issue and Buri keep sweeping in the save the Zyurangers at the last minuet. Unlike Tommy who was a vital part the Power Rangers at this point in the original Zyurangers Buri was distant from his comrades. Bandora leans of Buris borrowed time of destroys the parnel dimension of the Zyurangers fail in a quest to save him. Buri however dose save a child who sees in dream as he dreams of arriving to the land of dead. Buri sets out to save the child, and luckily finds him with out much difficult in Tokyo. He lets him ride the Dragon Zord, he eventually get hurts the battle after math and goes the hospital. With little time left Buri gives Gekki his power vest and then begins his decent to the land of the dead. The quest that was originally to save Buri saves the little boys life and Buri leaves earth with a sense of fulfillment.
In Power Rangers to elements presented in Zyurangers with death were a problem in the craft for western children. As said before Tommy is the new kid in angel grove swoops Kimberly off her feat before falling under Ritas spell. Green with Evil was a five episode story arc were the command center was destroyed Tommy total their zords even through they clearly sink into lava. The Ranger later defeat Ritas spell and the prophecy and the sixth Power Rangers in full filled. But Tommy has a different story arc then his eastern counter part. Tommy lives among the ranger as one not to die. So this did creaet a problem of the writing in Power Rangers. The stock footage for the green rangers could not  last long, so what were the writer for Power Rangers to do. Power Ranger borrowed the candle from Zyurangers only the candle was draining Tommy's powers. Tommy transfers his Powers over to Jason so Rita cant reclaim them. Tommy then disappears from the show without much explanation to where he went. I always through a Power Rangers went to the Bahamas when they retired.
Zuyrangers had more epic ending with Bandoras son returning and taking over his own mech, not to mention dawning a mega man look. The Zyurangers who on quest to retrieve their guardian beast, they defeat the Kais mech and Kai dies in Bandora arms, and the mega beast god prisons Bandora once again.  With their mission complete the Zyuranger leave the newly hatched dinosaurs to some local children. With their mission complete Barza the guardian beast and the Zyurangers go to retire to the land of the gods. In Powers there a two part battle were Goldar pilots cycoplis with Goldar escaping the firing death that Kai was submitted to. The city throws a celebration for the power rangers and all ends well that every episode of Power Rangers. Zordon gives then the choice to remain Power Rangers or return to ordinary citizens. After the footage from Zyurangers ran out of use with Saban Power Rangers still continued due to its un foreseen popularity. New Zyuranger forage was shot for Saban just for Power Rangers. Power Rangers was now a self sustained program which was now no longer mining from Zyurangers. Finally the question on every fans mind was answered which was where their parents were. This left the writer with a perfect story arc where Rita would capture the rangers parents. In exchange the rangers must surrendered their power coins to goldar, however no honesty is held. This was monumental moment as rating soured as every American child's  favorite Rangers returned to help. Zordon gave Tommy a boost of power and he returns to help temporarily. Despite his power will eventually die out Tommy still rejoins the team. Power Rangers didn't not have a big finale like Zyurangers and ended on very soft note.
Both Zyurangers and Power Rangers are great but Zyuranger is better and more epic. It dosent make me dislike Power Ranger but opens up the world or both worlds even further. This reason being because I think Power Rangers makes the east and west become one and shared.

Comicons: Comics or just media

On March 28th of this year I attended my seventh comicon at the Emerald City event in Seattle WA. Over the years the vent has grown and grown. Numbers of attendees of cross players fan boys and fan girls have grown since my first experience in 2007. Of course in 2007 we didn't have Game of Thrones as a HBO series, Bad breaking Bad hadn't even aired yet so fandom hadn't quiet exploded.  Comicons have always been about more than just comics. They always welcomed Trekies, Star Wars fandom everything SCIFI. True for many years now comicons have become more than just comics, and they have been a huge pop culture media event. I was always skepticle about conventions because I'm not really all for dressing up, and never really liked the idea. Until I went to ECC for the first time in 2008 in hopes to meet Smallvilles Lara Valdermort who cancelled at the last minuet. She's always cancels conventions I wonder why. I read in an article about another Smallville star Erica Durrance that a fan tried to kiss her at a con.  ECC has grown in numbers since I went in 2007 and with these numbers massively growing I feel like comicon has becoming lass about comics. I mean go to con to at least in end after meeting the celebrity guest, and awesome cross players to indulge in what the title of the event suggest. My comics are becoming simply a side dish at comicons as cross playing or to make it more simplified sitting around in costumes and mingling ss taking over the medium. Comics themselves are being pushed replaced. This year at ECC I had a tough time finding comics as journeyed through a labyrinth of cross players advertiser and so on exhausting the efforts I set out far. I had fun and this year was a success for ECC but it could have better. There a big difference between comicons now and they were in early 2000's before 2010. The rise of comicons has a lot to with the revenge of the nerds factors, and that has little do with the 1984 film. The real revenge of the nerds has been in our everyday lives, through that were it had its biggest effect. In 2010 everyone ditched to long dead social network Myspace or went for the newly improved Face Book which now had a shared wall in which could see and interact with. Apple had introduced was still on the rise with their products with the IPAD in 2011 and Iphones becoming more popular than ever. You could say that Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg and the most infulencial names in the real revenge of nerds. In with that revenge the names of Steve Jobs and Mark Zukkerberg or just as influential in nerd culture such as Star Wars Video Games, Comicbooks and so forth. Everything about Nerd Culture comes together collectively and at comicons you might not be able to tell the nerd billionaire from the nerd that lives in his parents basement. But why must comicons push comics out. Its like going to a food convention and finding little food. More to the point its like when MTV stopped showing music videos 24/7. Soon they are just going to have to call comicon media con or cross player con. If not those options at least try to keep the comics a float.