If you look at the picture above, you probably think of the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, costumed heroes who have been kicking their way across TV in different incarnations for nearly 20 years?but you’d be wrong. These are actually the Zyurangers, the stars of a Japanese TV series that inadvertently spawned a global sensation.
The Marvel Connection to Super Sentai
Ky?ry? Sentai Zyuranger
is now known as the progenitor of
Power Rangers
in the U.S.?but that almost wasn’t the case. American audiences could’ve experienced the wave of mania that accompanied
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
almost a decade earlier?and it would’ve been thanks to Marvel founder Stan Lee.
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In the 1970’s Marvel made a deal with Toei, the production company behind the “Sentai” tokusatsu shows?a series of live action, special-effects-laden kid’s shows about different teams of masked superpowered heroes fighting monsters. Sentai had become a smash hit in Japan in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Stan Lee saw an opportunity to bring the Sentai concept to America?and in exchange, he lent some of Marvel’s most iconic comic book characters to Toei to create shows around. Marvel and Toei’s deal created four shows: the infamous Japanese
Spider-Man,
plus three Sentai series called
Battle Fever J
,
Denshi Sentai Denjiman
, and
Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan
. The agreement left a permanent mark on Sentai show history:
after the introduction of a giant robot for Spider-Man to use in
Spider-Man
, Toei adapted the concept to all Sentai series going forward: amping the scale of the action up, and turning the entire genre into “Super Sentai” shows.
The deal however, went no further?the relative failure of
Spider-Man
made Lee hesitant to give Toei further Marvel characters, and an attempt to adapt
Sun Vulcan
for America failed, leaving Marvel and Toei’s deal to expire. Toei were invigorated by it however: thanks to Marvel, the Sentai genre had evolved into Super Sentai, and was reaching a new height of popularity in Japan.
Enter Zyuranger
Although several Super Sentai series had made it out of Japan during the 80’s?most notably
Goggle V
?none had made it to the U.S. It would take nearly a decade for someone to attempt after Marvel, but unlike Marvel’s own plans for
Taiyo Sun Vulcan
, the adaptation would be far more extensive than simply dubbing one of Toei’s shows into English. Enter Saban Entertainment.
Haim Saban, the head of Saban Entertainment, approached Toei offering a partnership to air the then-most recent Sentai show, 1992’s
Ky?ry? Sentai Zyuranger.
He had become fascinated by the Super Sentai concept, after seeing the 1985 show
Bioman
. But unlike Marvel, Saban did not want the full show: Their request was simply to use the action sequences that had been shot for all 50 episodes of
Zyuranger
, so that Saban could build an entirely new action series around it (and, most importantly, own the majority of the rights to it).
This allowed Saban to essentially eject the vast majority of
Zyuranger
’s plot, and develop a vastly different story to slot the action sequences into. Originally,
Zyuranger
was not about modern-day people becoming superheroes, as many Super Sentai shows were. Rather, it was about a group of Humans who came from an ancient civilization that existed during the time of the dinosaurs 170 million years ago. The 5 heroes?Boi, Mei, Dan, Goushi, and Geki?were placed in suspended animation following the sealing away of their evil rival, the witch Bandora, only to reawaken in ‘90s Japan, following Bandora’s escape. Each hero represented one of 5 prehistoric “Guardian Beasts”, and they invoked their powers to summon giant robot dinosaurs and battle Bandora’s alien forces from a planet named Nemesis.
Saban thought that, while the use of the action footage (where all the actors were masked by their superhero suits, and therefore unrecognizable) would save their show a considerable amount of money, the story itself wouldn’t resonate with American audiences?and adapting the Super Sentai concept was already a risky enough venture for Saban, following a costly legal dispute the company endured with Children’s TV company DIC Entertainment the year before.
So Saban chose to completely cut the non-action scenes and film its own story, transplanting the action to a fictional California town and changing the main cast to be a group of diverse American “teenagers with attitude”: Jason, Kimberly, Zack, Billy, and in a major change from
Zyurangers
, a second female star, Trini. Trini would replace the male yellow TigerRanger Boi?hence why in all the costumed sequences, the yellow ranger’s suit doesn’t have the same “skirt” attachment as the already-female Pink Ranger’s.
Certain other elements of
Zyuranger
remained?Bandora the witch became Rita Repulsa, for example?but for all extents and purposes, Saban’s new show was radically different. Needing a new name for the series, Saban kept the “Ranger” moniker from
Ky?ry? Sentai Zyuranger
and dubbed its show
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers
.
Moving On
Much to Saban’s surprise,
Power Rangers
became an overnight sensation in America. Demand for the series was at an extreme?despite a backlash from parents due to the violent (and frequently explosive) nature of the show. But this massive success created a major problem for Saban, however:
Zyuranger
, as was the tradition for Super Sentai shows, only lasted for a year.
After 50 episodes,
Zyuranger
was replaced by an entirely new show,
Gosei Sentai Dairanger
, the same year
Power Rangers
first aired in the U.S. With 60 episodes planned for
Power Rangers
’ first season alone?and more to come, capitalizing on the monstrous success the show had found?Saban quickly found itself running out of action footage to edit into the show.
Only one option remained: while simultaneously negotiating for the rights to use
Dairanger
footage, Saban approached Toei and monster-suit-maker Rainbow Productions and asked them to make a half-season’s worth of new action footage and monsters using the
Zyuranger
costumes, specifically for use in
Power Rangers
. In an unprecedented move, considering the “one-and-done” approach to Super Sentai shows in Japan, Toei agreed to create the footage. The fact that footage was being shot specifically for
Power Rangers
allowed Toei and Saban to introduce elements from the American show that weren’t found in
Zyuranger
, such as a romantic relationship between the Pink Ranger and the sixth addition to the team, the Green Ranger (named Burai in
Zyuranger
, Tommy in
Power Rangers
).
The new footage would be completely exhausted early into
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
’ second season, and although U.S.-based filming would retain the original superhero suits from
Zyuranger
for the main cast, Saban moved on to using footage from
Dairanger
and its followup, the Ninja-themed
Ninja Sentai Kakuranger
, in later seasons of
Power Rangers
. Eventually, Saban gave up on trying to extend the original
Power Rangers
storyline, and instead approached the franchise in a similar way Toei did with Super Sentai, with the characters, storylines and suits changing after each standalone season, making it easier to adapt footage. Although it played a major role in turning
Power Rangers
into a global hit,
Zyuranger
’s direct impact on the franchise was over.
Zyuranger
Today
In the West,
Zyuranger
long remained a sort of “secret” to
Power Rangers
as a franchise?it was rarely if ever acknowledge that the series had an ongoing relationship with Toei’s Super Sentai series. In fact, despite over two decades of
Power Rangers
shows airing in America, not a single Super Sentai show in its original form has officially made its way to the U.S..
That is, until this year: having announced a deal with Saban at San Diego Comic-Con in 2014, Shout! Factory released the first offically subtitled version of
Ky?ry? Sentai Zyuranger
on DVD in February 2015
, making the series the first ever Super Sentai show to be released in its original format in the U.S. It may have taken 23 years, but American
Power Rangers
fans can finally experience the show that started it all.