The Power Rangers franchise has gone through a number of different eras since it began decades ago, and there are seven shows from the Disney era that still hold up to this day. Power Rangers first began with Saban Entertainment as an adaptation of Toei’s long running Super Sentai shows in Japan, and morphed that footage together with brand new American made materials for a brand new show altogether. But the process changed quite a bit when the franchise rights were bought by Disney, and they took over its creation for several years worth of iterations. But like before, each show had its own personality.
There were some significant changes from how these Power Rangers shows were being developed by Disney compared to before. Shorter overall runs, changes in the age of each of its main characters, changes in tone and more. But at the same time, the Disney era of Power Rangers had plenty of seasons that fans hold in high regard to this day. Some even hold up better through a modern day lens than many of the older Saban era shows do as well. Read on for a breakdown of seven Power Rangers shows from Disney that do just that.
7.) Power Rangers Wild Force
Power Rangers Wild Force was the first series to be impacted by the sale to Disney, and about half of its episodes would be changed to reflect it. It was certainly a great send off for the Saban era as its team had two of the best crossovers in franchise history with “Forever Red” and “Reinforcements From the Future,” but also ended with its team of Rangers standing completely powerless in front of a giant version of their greatest foe. It’s just at last place on the list not because of content, but because if you look up what happened to Wild Force’s Red Ranger actor it might kind of spoil how you look back on it all.
6.) Power Rangers Mystic Force
For as fruitful of a premise as a magical team of Power Rangers actually is, it’s very surprising to see that Power Rangers Mystic Force is still the only version of the franchise to go that route. Introducing fans to a team of young magical users, these spellcasters took on all kinds of powerful enemies over the course of their tenure. It had a notable Red Ranger who was in search of his missing parents, but the rest of the cast didn’t quite get as much attention. But at the same time, it’s hard to deny how cool these Rangers actually looked in motion. And for an era like Disney’s, coolness really carries quite a lot of weight in terms of being able to remember it all.
5.) Power Rangers Jungle Fury
But when you’re talking about coolness, Disney had some of the best core teams in this regard. Jungle Fury introduced fans to three students from a martial arts school who had to take on a legendary fighting spirit. Starting out with three members of the team, fans were introduced to one of the best mentors of the franchise overall with RJ (who ends up being the very first Purple Ranger with a kick ass Muay Thai theme) and a trio of completely original Rangers that weren’t seen in Japan. On top of being mostly hand to hand fights throughout its season, and this one is such a good series to go back and rewatch.
4.) Power Rangers Ninja Storm
The coolest team of the Disney era, however, was the very first one launched under their umbrella. Power Rangers Ninja Storm didn’t follow some conventions of previous seasons like not offering a crossover episode for the first time, but at the same time it leaned into others to carve out its identity. Following a trio from a ninja school who also enjoyed various extreme sports in their free time, this series also had a building romance, a Green Ranger mystery, two Evil Rangers that eventually became full members of the team and more. It was both fresh and nostalgic, and was the perfect start for the Disney era on a whole.
3.) Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Power Rangers Dino Thunder then leaned fully into nostalgia years later. Not only were its Rangers the first team of teenagers with attitude in quite a long time, but the show even brought back the late Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver after many, many years. He returned to the series as a full-on doctor, and became a Power Ranger once more. There were some truly cool episodes that are great to look back on because of that choice too as they dove into Tommy’s mind and anxieties, an episode revealing the original Super Sentai source material, awesome crossovers with a future series, and more. It just has so much to breakdown and enjoy if you decided to go back and check it out now.
2.) Power Rangers SPD
Power Rangers S.P.D. (which stood for Space Patrol Delta) was a very unique series as while it wasn’t the first team to be part of a larger military force, it was the first team that was explicitly revealed to be the second choice. With “A Squad” gone missing, the series follows a ragtag group that forms “B Squad” and ends up saving the day before it all comes to an end. There’s so much to enjoy here with a rivalry between its Red and Blue rangers, one of the coolest sixth rangers ever (who took out 100 enemies with his debut), heartbreaking stories about loss, critiques of classic and prison systems and much more. It’s just multi-layered and still a great series to look back on after all this time.
1.) Power Rangers RPM
But Disney truly hit its peak of their run with the franchise with its grand finale. Power Rangers RPM was the final Power Rangers series for a long time, and was set in a post-apocalyptic world where a Skynet level virus had reduced humanity down to its final city. This team of Rangers were the only ones left who could defend humanity’s final hopes, and fought tooth and nail to save their world. It’s even more impressive when you look back and see the very goofy Super Sentai show it was inspired from. Like Power Rangers In SpaceDisney went in an entirely different direction with their finale and ultimately cemented their place in history with one of the best Power Rangers shows ever really.
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