Power Rangers RPM
Power Rangers RPM (Racing Performance Machines) is the seventeenth season of the American children's television series Power Rangers, which uses footage, costumes, and other props from the Super Sentai series. In the case of RPM, the season was an adaptation of Engine Sentai Go-onger, the thirty-second installment of the series.
| Power Rangers RPM | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Action-adventure Science fiction Cyberpunk Dystopian fiction |
| Created by | Haim Saban Toei Company Eddie Guzelian |
| Based on | Engine Sentai Go-onger by Toei Company |
| Developed by | ABC The Walt Disney Company Saban Capital Group Toei Company |
| Directed by | Mike Smith Jonathan Brough Vanessa Alexander Charlie Haskell Peter Salmon |
| Starring | See "Cast" |
| Narrated by | Olivia Tennet |
| Theme music composer | Brad Hamilton |
| Composer(s) | Leigh Roberts Wayne Jones William J. Sullivan |
| Country of origin | United States Japan |
| No. of episodes | 32 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Koichi Sakamoto Eddie Guzelian Judd Lynn |
| Producer(s) | Sally Campbell Charles Knight Jackie Marchand |
| Production location(s) | Auckland, New Zealand Kyoto, Japan, & Tokyo, Japan |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | BVS Entertainment Renaissance Atlantic Entertainment Toei Company, Ltd. Ranger Productions, Ltd. |
| Distributor | Disney-ABC Domestic Television Disney-ABC International Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC (ABC Kids) |
| Picture format | 480i 720p (HDTV) |
| Original release | March 7 – December 26, 2009 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Power Rangers Jungle Fury |
| Followed by | Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Re-version) Power Rangers Samurai |
The season was the third and final to air on ABC stations, premiering March 7, 2009 on ABC Kids. Due to the low ratings of the preceding season, Jungle Fury, RPM was also the final season to be produced and distributed by Disney and Renaissance-Atlantic Entertainment,[1] putting the series on a two-year hiatus until the premiere of Power Rangers Samurai in 2011.
Power Rangers Beast Morphers is its direct sequel.
Story
An AI computer virus named Venjix takes over all of the Earth's computers, creates an army of robot "Grinder" droids and destroys or enslaves almost all of humanity. Only the city of Corinth remains, protected by an almost impenetrable force field from the toxic atmosphere of the wasteland outside. Venjix tries various plans to destroy Corinth and Doctor K's RPM Power Rangers fight to protect it.
Production
Australian actor Eka Darville, who previously starred in series three of Blue Water High, was reported to have a role in September 2008 in what was then unknown as RPM or Racing Performance Machines which began production in September 2008 in New Zealand.[2][3] Heidi Kathy Bradhurt had been cast as an extra,[4] but her profile initially listed her as the Yellow Ranger, named "Kayla," whose name and actress had since been changed to "Summer" played by Rose McIver. Daniel Ewing had been reported in November 2008 to be playing a major character named "Dillon," revealed to be the Black Ranger.[5] Other cast members include Murray Keane in the role of "Benny",[6] Charlie McDermott voicing "General Crunch",[7] and Jason Hoyte as a guest role named "Mr. McAllistair".[8]
An article of The New Zealand Herald reported that Power Rangers RPM was to be the final season of the Power Rangers series. Production manager Sally Campbell stated in an interview "...at this stage we will not be shooting another season".[9] A September 1, 2009, revision to Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia by Disney's head archivist Dave Smith states that production of new episodes of Power Rangers ceased in 2009.[10] A re-version of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers began broadcasting in early 2010 instead. However, in mid-2010, Haim Saban bought the Power Rangers franchise back from Disney[11] and production was restarted during that year for a 2011 series.[12]
Jungle Fury (which was said to have low ratings) was originally set to be the final season, but obligations with Bandai forced Disney to produce one more season.
Reception
RPM is commonly considered to be one of the darkest, best, and most adult-oriented seasons in all of Power Rangers history. Flixist ranked it second-best out of twenty seasons, remarking "showrunners decided to go for broke and throw everything they had into creating a post-apocalyptic film for kids. Lifting creative elements from films like Mad Max and Terminator, then adding a Power Rangers layer helped give this season a vibe no other season had before. It was more creatively cemented than years past, and actually had good cinematography"[13]. Geeky Brummie ranked it third, saying "Dillon and Ziggy are two of the best rangers and work fantastically together. The season also has some of the most surprising revelations in the franchise’s history"[14]. Comic Art Community ranked it fourth, saying "The childlike elements of the base material were generally ignored for a very dark, adult season of the show that involved the attempted genocide of mankind which included various character deaths in the show"[15]. Eric Francisco, writing for Inverse, called it the darkest, the best, and "smart, clever, and so hysterically funny that it should stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best cult science-fiction series", and echoed the connections to Mad Max and The Terminator[16].
Cast and characters
RPM Rangers
- Eka Darville as Scott Truman, Ranger Operator Series Red.
- Ari Boyland as Flynn McAllistair, Ranger Operator Series Blue.
- Rose McIver as Summer Landsdown, Ranger Operator Series Yellow.
- Milo Cawthorne as Ziggy Grover, Ranger Operator Series Green.
- Dan Ewing as Dillon, Ranger Operator Series Black.
- Mike Ginn as Gem, Ranger Operator Series Gold.
- Li Ming Hu as Gemma, Ranger Operator Series Silver.
Allies
- Olivia Tennet as Doctor K, mentor to the Rangers and creator of the RPM powers.
- James Gaylyn as Colonel Mason Truman, Scott's father.
- Damien Avery as Colonel Hicks
- Mia Koning as Vasquez
- Murray Keane as Benny
Villains
- Andrew Laing as the voice of Venjix
- Adelaide Kane as Tenaya 7/15.
- Mark Mitchinson as the voice of General Shifter
- Charlie McDermott as the voice of General Crunch
- Leighton Cardno as the voice of Kilobyte
- John Sumner as Fresno Bob
Episodes
References
- "The Darkest Season of 'Power Rangers' Was Also Its Best". Inverse. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
- Labi, Sharon (2008-09-07). "Craig Wing, Angry Anderson and crew in council elections | The Daily Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
- "In Production". The New Zealand Film and Video Technicians' Guild. Archived from the original on 2006-08-13. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
- "Now Casting - Heidi Kathy Bradhurt Resume". Retrieved 2008-09-28.
- "NIDA student scores starring role". Inside Film. 2008-10-28. Archived from the original on 2008-11-06. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
- "Murray Keane Details". Retrieved 2009-01-17.
- "Actor Biography: Charlie McDermott: Johnson & Laird" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-01-17.
- "Jason Hoyte - Karen Kay Management". Archived from the original on 2009-01-22. Retrieved 2009-01-17.
- Eriksen, Alanah (March 6, 2009). "'Power Rangers' defeated". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
- "Supplement to Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia" (pdf). 2009-09-01. p. 87. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
- "CORRECTING and REPLACING PHOTOS Bandai America Powers up Like It's 1993; Brings Back Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in New Toy Line". Business Wire. October 1, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
- Abrams, Rachel (September 22, 2010). "'Rangers' revamps". Variety. Retrieved September 22, 2010.
- https://www.flixist.com/every-power-rangers-season-ranked
- https://geekybrummie.com/blog/power-rangers-shows-rated-worst-best-part-1-20-11-2
- http://comicartcommunity.com/comicart_news/top-10-seasons-power-rangers
- "The Darkest Season of 'Power Rangers' Was Also Its Best". Inverse. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
External links
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