Power Rangers Zeo
| Power Rangers Zeo | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Haim Saban Shuki Levy |
| Starring | Catherine Sutherland Nakia Burrise Steve Cardenas Johnny Yong Bosch Jason David Frank David Yost Austin St. John Paul Schrier Jason Narvy Richard Genelle Gregg Bullock |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 50 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | FOX |
| Release | 1996-04-20 – 1996-11-27 |
Power Rangers: Zeo (often abbreviated as PRZ, and often simply called Zeo) is a continuation of the television series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It is based on the Super Sentai series Chouriki Sentai Ohranger (translated as Super Power Squadron Overtech Hardware Ranger). The title could also be interpreted as Super Power Warriors King Ranger, due to the fact that the term "Ou" or "Oh" can also mean "King" in Japanese. Power Rangers: Zeo is the first series in Power Rangers that is part of the annual Ranger suit change to match the annual change of the Super Sentai series.
Synopsis
In the series, after recovering from the destruction of the Command Center, the Rangers discovered the Zeo Crystal intact in the rubble. The Zeo Crystal guided them to a portal, which took them deep underground, where Zordon and Alpha 5 had survived by hiding in the heretofore unmentioned Power Chamber.
At this time, a new set of villains called the Machine Empire decided to take control of the Earth. They chased Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd away from the moon, and Rito and Goldar were left on Earth, with no memories of their past.
The Rangers become the Zeo Rangers, empowered by the Zeo Crystal. Tanya Sloan joined the team as Zeo Ranger II - Yellow, while Billy Cranston became their technical advisor. Through their battles with the Machine Empire, they were sometimes aided by the mysterious Gold Ranger.
It turned out the Gold Ranger was an alien, Trey of Triforia. He was injured in battle, and was forced to pass on his powers to a worthy warrior while he healed. He first tried Billy, but it turned out that Billy had unintentionally gained negative proton energy from the explosion of the Command Center. The powers then went to Jason Lee Scott, the Red Power Ranger from the first generation. Jason was strong and had sufficient energy to hold the powers.
Billy later left Earth to be with his alien girlfriend, Cestria, on Aquitar. Jason, whose life force was declining because of the Gold Ranger powers, had to return the Gold Ranger powers to Trey of Triforia in order to save the powers (and his life). Rita and Zedd destroyed the Machine Empire royalty, only to decide to take a vacation, leaving the way clear for the next villain, Divatox.
Rangers
| Actor | Character | Title | Symbol | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catherine Sutherland | Kat Hillard | Zeo Ranger I – Pink | Circle ● | |
| Nakia Burrise | Tanya Sloan | Zeo Ranger II – Yellow | Balance = | |
| Steve Cardenas | Rocky DeSantos | Zeo Ranger III – Blue | Triangle ▼ | |
| Johnny Yong Bosch | Adam Park | Zeo Ranger IV – Green | Square ■ | |
| Jason David Frank | Tommy Oliver | Zeo Ranger V – Red | Star ★ | Team leader |
| Ted, Tim, and Tom DiFilippo; voiced by Brad Hawkins | Trey of Triforia | Gold Ranger, original | Kanji for King 王 | Lone agent |
| Austin St. John | Jason Lee Scott | Gold Ranger, temporary replacement |
Allies
Villains
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| David Stenstrom | King Mondo |
| Alex Borstein | Queen Machina |
| Barbara Goodson | Prince Sprocket/Orbus |
| Oliver Page | Klank |
| Douglas Sloan | Prince Gasket |
| Melora Harte | Archerina |
| Lex Lang | Louie Kaboom |
List of Power Rangers: Zeo monsters
Other Villains
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Ed Neil | Lord Zedd |
| Robert Axelrod | Lord Zedd/Finster (Voices) |
| Bob Papenbrook | Rito Revolto |
| Kerrigan Mahan | Goldar |
| Carla Perez | Rita Repulsa |
| Barbara Goodson | Rita Repulsa (voice) |
Arsenal
- Zeonizers: Interlocking, wrist-moutned devices that harness the energy of the Zeo Crystal, and empower the Zeo Zords. These devices allowed the Rangers to morph once the leader proclaimed "It's Morphin' Time!", followed by the team connecting the devices and calling out the phrases listed below.
- "Zeo Ranger I – Pink!"
- "Zeo Ranger II – Yellow!"
- "Zeo Ranger III – Blue!"
- "Zeo Ranger IV – Green!"
- "Zeo Ranger V – Red!"
- Zeo Blaster: The amalgamation of the five core Rangers' weapons, a Zeo Pistol and a Zeo Blade. It could fire powerful blasts of energy to destroy opponents.
- Zeo Blade/Laser Pistol: Standard Zeo Ranger side-arms that can be combined for extra power.
- Zeo Sword: Red Ranger's personal weapon.
- Zeo Hatchets: Green Ranger's personal weapons.
- Zeo Axes: Blue Ranger's personal weapons.
- Zeo Double Clubs: Yellow Ranger's personal weapons.
- Zeo Shield: Pink Ranger's personal weapon.
- Golden Power Staff: Gold Ranger's personal weapon, capable of firing laser blasts. The Staff allowed the Gold Ranger to morph once he called out "Gold Ranger Power!"
- Zeo Cannon: A powerful cannon that draws its power from all the Zeo Rangers.
- Defender Wheel: Any of the Rangers can enter this giant wheel and launch themselves at an opponent, destroying them in a spinning mass of energy.
- Zeo Jet Cycles: Five vehicles used for offroad transportation that come in handy when the teleportation system is offline.
Billy and Alpha 5 built the Zeozords after the Ninjazords and Shogunzords were destroyed. The Red Battlezord was created with the Battle Borg technology, and was controlled by Tommy as Zeo Ranger V − Red, through telepathic link. Pyramidas was the Gold Ranger's sole Zord, and acted as a Carrier Zord. Trey of Triforia also supplied the Zeo Rangers with the Super Zeozords and the Warrior Wheel.
- Zeo Ultrazord
- Pyramidas (Trey, Jason/Gold)
- Zeo Megabattlezord
- Red Battlezord(Tommy/Red)
- Zeo Megazord
- Zeozord I (Kat/Pink)
- Zeozord II (Tanya/Yellow)
- Zeozord III (Rocky/Blue)
- Zeozord IV (Adam/Green)
- Zeozord V(Tommy/Red)
- Super Zeo Megazord (refactored from ultra)
- Super Zeozord I (Katherine/Pink)
- Super Zeozord II (Tanya/Yellow)
- Super Zeozord III (Rocky/Blue)
- Super Zeozord IV (Adam/Green)
- Super Zeozord V(Tommy/Red)
- Warrior Wheel (Jason/Gold)
- Template:Ent The Super Zeo Megazord could be housed within Pyramidas instead of the Zeozords to become the Zeo Ultrazord, as well.
Trivia
- The numerical designations given to the Rangers also represent a number related to their respective shapes:
- Zeo Ranger I – Pink's circle has one edge.
- Zeo Ranger II – Yellow's balance sign (the equals sign, "=") is comprised of two oval-like bars, which each have a single edge.
- Zeo Ranger III – Blue's triangle has three edges and vertices.
- Zeo Ranger IV – Green's square has four edges and vertices.
- Zeo Ranger V – Red's star has five points/vertices.
- The Gold Ranger's symbol "王" is the Japanese kanji for "king" (his counterpart in Ohranger was the KingRanger). It has six lines coming out of a central line (while not officially designated "Zeo Ranger VI – Gold", he is the sixth Ranger added to the team).
- Power Rangers: Zeo has the distinction of being the second longest running series containing 50 episodes.
- A total of 32 short segments, dubbed the "Zeo Serial" by fans, were shown at the start of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers reruns in the weeks leading up to the premiere of Zeo. The segments combined to form a continuing narrative in which the Machine Empire's arrival is discovered by scientists and the government on Earth, as well as Rita and Zedd on the moon (though the segments involving Rita and Zedd contradict similar events in the actual Zeo series premiere). Additionally, Bulk, Skull, and Lt. Stone have a run in with some Cogs. The Rangers themselves do not appear. Each short segment ended with a chorus singing "it's coming" as more and more elements of the Zeo logo were revealed over time.
- This was the first series that featured a Yellow Ranger who had a skirt as part of her suit and was a female in both the American version and its Super Sentai counterpart, this would be repeated in Power Rangers: Turbo, Power Rangers: In Space, Power Rangers: Dino Thunder, and Power Rangers: S.P.D.. Note that even though the S.P.D. Yellow Ranger did not feature a skirt on her uniform, her Super Sentai counterpart was indeed a female.
- It was never explained as to how Austin St. John (Jason Lee Scott) was able to return to Zeo as the Gold Ranger as he left on unpleasant terms two years prior on MMPR as the original Red Ranger along with Walter Emmanuel Jones (Zack Taylor) and Thuy Trang (Trini Kwan).
- This was the first series to feature a Ranger team where half of the team was not born in North America (Katherine Hillard [Zeo Ranger I, Pink] was born in Australia, Tanya Sloan [Zeo Ranger II, Yellow] was born in Africa and Trey, the original Gold Ranger, was born on the planet Triforia).
- This was the first series that assigned a Power Ranger a specific numeral designation, this would be repeated again in Turbo, Space (by way of the Mega V space craft), Lightspeed, Time Force (by way of the Time Fliers), and S.P.D. In some way, Wild Force had its own numbering system by the number of golden stripes going across the chest on the Rangers' costumes.
- It was the first series to have a Ranger named after a metallic element: Trey/Jason the (Gold Ranger). This would be repeated in Power Rangers: In Space with Zhane the Silver Ranger, Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue with Ryan the Titanium Ranger, and a currently unnamed Silver Ranger on Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive (this may be renamed, as the Lunar Wolf Ranger in Power Rangers: Wild Force was originally named a Silver Ranger).
- This series notable for featuring villains who were entirely mechanical and depended on artificial intelligence, villains of all other series have been of organic substances and/or humanoid in appearance.
- This was the first series to feature a child villain (Prince Sprocket), this would be repeated in Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue with Impus (although later in the series he matures into an adult form, Olympius), Power Rangers: S.P.D. with the introduction of Mora, who was actually an adult named Morgana.
- This was the first series to feature at least one Ranger from the previous incarnations appear, this trend would continue all the way up to Power Rangers: Ninja Storm which stands as the only Power Ranger series not to have a crossover or special Ranger guest star to date, however, after Ninja Storm the tradition has continued.
- At one time, this was the only series that featured a former Ranger receiving their own opening credit during another series (i.e. David Yost as "Billy" and Austin St. John as "Jason"). This would later be repeated in Power Rangers: Dino Thunder, where Jason David Frank was credited for his role as Tommy Oliver.
- This was the first of two Power Rangers series to use footage from the Sentai team-up specials for their team-up. This footage was used for Rangers of Two Worlds Part 1 and 2 , which used footage from Chouriki Sentai Ohranger VS Kakuranger.
- In one of Zeo's most major departures from Ohranger (Zeo's Super Sentai counterpart), Prince Sprocket and Prince Gasket were brothers, whereas in the Sentai Kaizer Buldont (Gasket) was in fact an older version of Prince Buldont (Sprocket)
- Despite the fact that the Ohranger King Brace was released in America as the Gold Ranger Zeonizer, it was never used in Power Rangers: Zeo.
- For the second time, a Ranger (or more) had the chance to grow Zord-size to battle a giant monster (Ninjor in MMPR doesn't count since he wasn't a Ranger, but Tommy in Green with Evil does). During the final battle with King Mondo, Trey of Triforia, the Gold Ranger, powered the Zeo Rangers so all of them could grow and fight him. This would be repeated in Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy when the Magna Defender used to grew, changing into Mega Defender to combine with Torozord, and again in Power Rangers: Mystic Force with the Rangers becoming their Zords and with Knight Wolf and the White Mystic Ranger able to grow into giants.
- According to an interview with Karan Ashley, who portrayed Aisha Campbell in Seasons 2 and 3 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the reason she didn't return to become the Yellow Ranger during Power Rangers: Zeo was due to not being able to deal with the long work schedules. She was disappointed in not getting a better send off, but understood they could only do so much with the footage they had to work with. Her character would head off to Africa to find one of the Zeo Crystals but decides to stay there to help animals in need and sends a girl named Tanya back in her place. Nakia Burrise, who portrayed Tanya Sloan, would take over as the Yellow Ranger for the Zeo season.
- Many times within Zeo, the abbreviation "U.A.O.H." could be seen on weapons, computer screens, and in the Zord holding bay. This is all due to the Sentai footage being used from Ohranger, in which the Rangers were part of an organization known as "United Airforce Overtech Hardware", or "U.A.O.H."
- Power Rangers" Zeo was the second of four series where cast bloopers would be shown at the end of an episode during the ending credits, but the first to do so full time. There would often be censorship-like bleeps used during these scenes, however they usually signified the end of a take and not profanity.
- Rocky and Jason were the first Red Rangers to be given a new color (Rocky became the Blue Ranger, while Jason became the Gold Ranger.) This would been seen again in Power Rangers: In Space with T.J. receiving the Blue Ranger powers. It was also seen in Power Rangers: Dino Thunder with Tommy receiving the Black Ranger powers. Though they had met prior to this series, this would be the first and only time that they would be on the same team.
- This was the first series to feature a two team crossover featuring the Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers' Aquitian Rangers. This trend would be repeated for every following season (with the exception of Power Rangers: Ninja Storm) starting with Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy through Power Rangers: S.P.D..
- This is the only series that shares the same morphing call with its predecessor. In the Zeo, the morphing call is still "It's Morphin' Time!"
- The end of Zeo and the beginning of Turbo marks the first time that Ranger powers were simply abandoned, rather than actually destroyed.
- Of the first four series, this was the only one that did not have an extended length version of the theme song as existed for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers: Turbo, and Power Rangers: In Space. Zeo was also the first and so far only series to further shorten its theme song from the normal TV show length when the second half of the series began airing. Power Rangers: Turbo would do just the opposite and add length to its originally twenty second theme song when the intro sequence was redone for the changed cast.
- This is the first series that employed the use of a two-part morpher. Power Rangers: Turbo used keys to morph, as did the Magna Defender in Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy and the Black Dino Ranger in Power Rangers: Dino Thunder. The most recent series to use a two-part Morpher is Power Rangers: Mystic Force, with the Solaris Knight's Solar Cell Morpher, which employed the use of a magical card.
- Trey of Triforia is the first known Ranger to bear a scar, as he has cut across his left eye.
- Zeo Ranger IV - Green's shape, while a square, can be seen as a rectangle on his visor, Zeo-bike, main title screen, and as a square-shaped octagon in the interior of his Super Zeo Zord.
- Power Rangers: Zeo is the first series to have a fully assembled team up episode. The Zeo Rangers and Alien Rangers allied in "Rangers of Two Worlds Pt. 2"
- Trey of Triforia held the Gold Ranger Powers prior to the creation of any other Zeo Powers. This makes Zeo the first series ever to have a member of a Ranger team already exist prior to the beginning of the series.