Power Rangers All Killer, No Filler Watch Order Part 3 - The Experimental Era
Hello my friends! I hope you've all had a fantastic holiday!
Welcome back to my blog, where we are continuing with our Power Rangers Franchise Watch Order to narrow down the best episodes for each season, so that if any of you out there want to sit and watch Power Rangers, either as a single season or as the entire franchise, then you have a more manageable list than either the 30-50 episodes per season, or the 973 episodes that the franchise contains overall.
Like with the previous part of this Watch Order the majority of the seasons we are about to discuss are pretty standalone, with the exception of some crossovers that will feature returning characters. As a result you don't need to watch more than the one season in most cases.
However there are multiple seasons here that I think are well worth watching, and providing that you can accept some of the campier and cheesier elements that come with a season of superhero kids tv I think there are some very fun serialised storylines here. And with all these series being officially released for free on YouTube currently there has never been an easier time to watch them.
So let's get on with the list.
Power Rangers: S.P.D.
S.P.D. is set in 2025, with a group of Rangers who work for the Space Patrol Delta, an organisation set up to police the alien populations now living on Earth, but they end up in conflict with the forces of the Troobian Empire. Its a pretty fun series, with one of the best teams of Rangers in my opinion since Time Force, although some stylistic choices come in from this series that make some of the visual action just a bit more boring than it used to be, although it still looks unlike pretty much anything else on kids tv.
E3 Confronted
E4 Walls
E5 Dogged
E6 A-Bridged
E7-E8 Sam
- Standard episodes introducing the Rangers, allies, enemies, and status quo for the series. Each of the first few episodes gives focus to one main member of the cast while also developing the Rangers arsenal. If you wanted you could skip everything but the first three, but the others are fun.
E13 Abandoned
E14-E15 Wired
E16 Boom
- The new Shadow Ranger makes his debut, there's some development for the villains, and Boom gets a focus episode.
E20 Perspective
E21-E22 Messenger
E23 Zapped
- We learn more of Cruger and Grumm's history and see the introduction of the Omega Ranger.
- A really important episode for Sky, and a great two-parter overall. The episodes immediately after are another two-parter, but they aren't essential, despite adding a new power-up.
- Kat Manx gets to morph in this one, something she does a lot more in expanded media.
E31 History
E33 BadgeE34 Insomnia
E35 Wormhole
E36 Resurrection
E37-E38 Endings
- As we lead into the finale we also get not one but two team-ups with the Dino Thunder team.
Power Rangers: Mystic Force
Mystic Force is not a series I am a huge fan of, and a large part of that is that the story meanders in a way that I find very annoying, and then rushes to the end, although it is admittedly a pretty fun ending. As this series also has one of the bigger recurring casts I'm focusing here on the episodes that focus on the ongoing storyline and major developments in the plot of the show, but the notes I feel I might put in won't say anything new that I haven't said for other seasons before - they develop our heroes, or the villains, or the metaplot. So I may tone them down going forward.
E1-E2 Broken Spell
E8-E9 Stranger Within
E13 Scaredy Cat
E18-E20 Dark Wish
E21 Koragg's Trial
E22-E23 Heir Apparent
E24 The Light
E25 The Hunter
E27 The Snow Prince
E28-E29 Light Source
E31-E32 Mystic Fate
Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive
Full disclosure - I do not like this season. In fact most of the fandom does not like this season. It is not well-written, does not have great characters (for the most part) and has a story and main villains that are not the best. That said there are a few things here worth watching, so here is the essential list. This is the first season to include multiple groups of villains as well, which can be interesting at times. There is a globe-trotting scope to parts of this, with explorations of ancient mythology that can be fun, but unfortunately Power Rangers doesn't really have the budget to deliver on the ambition.
E11-E12 Face to Face
E13-E14 Man of Mercury
E20-E21 Once A Ranger
- When Rita and Lord Zedd's son attacks the Rangers find themselves replaced by a team of Retro Rangers, comprising Adam from Mighty Morphin, Tori from Ninja Storm, Kira from Dino Thunder, Bridge from S.P.D., and Xander from Mystic Force. This was the 15th Anniversary episode, and while not perfect it is more fun than most of this season.
- Has a pretty important revelation about one of the team that improves the series drastically for its back-end.
E29 Way Back When
E30 Two Fallen Foes
E31 Nothing to Lose
Power Rangers: Jungle Fury
I think this is one of the most underrated series in the franchise. It picks up on some of the more long-form storytelling that the two previous series have tried, but I find that it works a lot better both here and especially in the following series. Of course this does mean that to get the essential story you will need to watch more episodes, as there are many moving parts to this ongoing story. The core cast help to make this one of the best, and plenty of recurring characters that keep the story moving forward until its conclusion. I definitely recommend this one.
E1-E2 Welcome to the JungleE4 A Taste of Poison
E7 Pizza Slice of Life
E8 Way of the Master
E9 Good Karma, Bad Karma
E10 Blind Leading the Blind
E11 Pushed to the Edge
E12 One Master Too Many
E13-E14 Ghost of a Chance
E16 Friends Don't Fade Away
E17 No 'I' in Leader
E19 Path of the Rhino
E20 Dash for the Dagger
E21 Race to the Nexus
E22 Arise the Crystal Eyes
E23 Fear and the Phantoms
E24 Blue Ranger, Twin Danger
E25 One Last Second Chance
E27 Tigers Fall, Lions Rise
E28 The Spirit of Kindness
E30 To Earn Your Stripes
E31 Path of the Righteous
Power Rangers RPM
RPM, as I said in my podcast, is a series that makes a lot of changes to the established Power Rangers tropes. It was much more serialised in its story-telling, and told a story set in a post-apocalypse with the last human city constantly under attack, with rangers all having suffered losses of people close to them in a much more mature type of storytelling. And yet it was also still a very welcoming show for an all-ages audience, and one of the best series available in the franchise in my opinion. Also many actors from this cast went on to have storied careers in primetime television. Honestly I could easily recommend this entire show, but I'll cut it down to the most essential ones below, although that will still include most of the series to be honest. The two episodes in Italics I have further notes to explain why you may choose to watch them, but they could easily be skipped if you wish. This is the first series confirmed to take place in a different timeline to the rest of the franchise.
E1 The Road to CorinthE2 Fade to Black
E3 Rain
E4 Go for the Green
E5 Handshake
E6 Ranger Green
E7 Ranger Red
E8-E9 Ranger Yellow
E10 Ranger Blue
E11 Doctor K
- Easily the single best episode in the entire franchise in my mind. The story being told here is tragic and the cast play their roles perfectly, especially Olivia Tennet, who was only a teenager at the time.
E13 Brother's Keeper
E14 Embodied
E15 Ghosts
E16 In or Out
E17 Prisoners
E18 Belly of the Beast
E19 Three's a Crowd
E20 Heroes Among Us
E23 And… Action!
- This episode is completely non-canon, but is a very fun and interesting look at how Power Rangers is made. I speculate that has come about as a result of some drastic behind the scenes changes, allowing the team to use some previously shot but now abandoned stunt footage in order to recover some costs.
E24 Ancient History
E25 Key to the Past
E26 Beyond a Doubt
E27 Control-Alt-Delete
E28 Run Ziggy Run
- Has some great moments between Dr K and Ziggy in its framing story but is essentially just a clip show, something that will become more regular in the franchise going forward.
E31-E32 Danger and Destiny
- Honestly I think this is probably the best finale episode that Power Rangers has ever produced, despite some very strong contenders in Countdown to Destruction, End of Time and End of the Power Rangers, in Space, Time Force and Wild Force respectively.
Power Rangers: Samurai
Samurai was part of a new direction for the franchise after a couple of years break, and while I do think more highly of it than many others in the fandom it is very flawed. For starters it follows the plot of the Super Sentai series that inspired it very closely, and while Shinkenger has one of the best plots in Sentai the almost word for word translation of its very Japanese culture influenced plot doesn't always work, and while the production values for props and costumes are very impressive restrictions on the actors behind the scenes make the cast feel quite flat a lot of the time. This also starts a trend of the Power Rangers having two seasons to tell a story, with the second season usually having a "Super" tag somewhere in the title. Any in Italics contribute to elements of the overarcing plot or development of the Rangers but don't have the same dramatic impact as the rest.
E1-E2 Origins- These episodes were aired out of order originally, but you can usually find this corrected on streaming.
E6 Sticks and Stones
E7 A Fish Out of Water
E8 There Go the Brides
E9 I've Got a Spell on Blue
E10 Forest for the Trees
E12 Jayden's Challenge
E13 Unexpected Arrival
E14 Room for One More
E17 The Tengen Gate
E18 Boxed In
E20 The Ultimate Duel
Super Samurai
Season 2 of Samurai. Still has a lot of the same issues, although there are a lot more essential episodes here, especially as the series builds to what is still a pretty satisfying climax.
E3 Trading Places
E4 Something Fishy
Clash of the Red Rangers - The Movie
- This actually came out during Samurai (but fits in continuity here), and features the team working alongside Scott from RPM, who0 for various behind the scenes reasons remains morphed throughout. Not terrible, but not essential to the series or particularly memorable as team-ups go.
E8 Kevin's Choice
E9 Runaway Spike
E10 The Strange Case of the Munchies
E11 A Sticky Situation
E12 Trust Me
E13 The Master Returns
E14 A Crack in the World
E15 Stroke of Fate
E16 Fight Fire With Fire
E17 The Great Duel
E18 Evil Reborn
E19 The Sealing Symbol
E20 Samurai Forever
Power Rangers: Megaforce
Once again Megaforce is not a great show. In fact its a strong contender for one of the worst Power Rangers series overall, and annoyingly it was one filled with promise for an anniversary season based on (one of) the Sentai shows it was adapted from. I say one of because it was adapted from two, one for each of its seasons, and neither felt like they had enough episodes to explore the ideas presented within, leaving a series full of squandered potential. However I will put notes for the anniversary episodes should you just wish to watch them.
E8 Robo Knight
E14 Gosei Ultimate
E16 The Human Factor
E19 The Human Condition
E20 The Messenger
E21 End Game
Super Megaforce
Season 2, which features a slight improvement over the previous season.
E4 A Lion's Alliance
- The team go to Animaria and team up with the Red Lion Wild Zord
- Jayden and Mentor Ji return from Samurai to help the team.
- Casey returns from Jungle Fury.
E9 Power of Six
E14 In the Driver's Seat
- The Rangers head to Corinth to get new zord.
E16-E17 Vrak is Back
E18 Emperor Mavro
The Legendary Battle: Extended Edition
- This special is essentially an extended and combined version of episodes 19 and 20 of the series, and for the most part the additions do improve the overall episode. Features guest appearances from previous rangers Tommy, TJ, Cassie, Leo, Damon, Karone, Carter, Dana, and Wes, as well as brief non-speaking appearances from Mike and Emily of Samurai.
And so that is nearly all of the franchise so far! In fact there are only a few series left, but due to a lot of the connections that they have between them, as well as the ways that connect to other parts of the franchise legacy I'm going to cover all of those together.
So I'll be back very soon with the next part of this blog as we complete our Power Rangers Watch Order, and then the next blog after that will be my first 2025 update to cover everything that is coming for everything Garhdo Goes Geek.
In the meantime please all of you do the very best to look after your physical and mental health as best as you can, and I will speak to you all again very soon!
Bye for now.
Garhdo
Comments
Post a Comment