National Power Rangers Day

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers debuted on this day, all the way back in 1993. Though I wouldn't get into the series until around 1996 (roughly when I started Kindergarten), I've been watching the show consistently (for the most part) since then. Though remembered as a relic of the Nineties, the show has gone through numerous cycles and iterations, with many hits and misses.

For many like me, Power Rangers - along with Saban's other shows like VR Troopers and Big Bad Beetleborgs - served as an introduction to the tokusatsu genre of Japanese television. And just about everyone on some level knows about the classic Power Rangers theme song:

Personally, though, if you ask me which series appeals to me the most, it would be the 2009 iteration, Power Rangers RPM. Though hyped up by many as being good because of its darker, post-apocalyptic setting (somewhere between Terminator and Mad Max), what really sets the series apart, especially from many more recent ones, is the level of detail put into the actors' performances and the writing, which is up there with Avatar: The Last Airbender in how it juggles themes like genocide, war, and survivor's guilt, while refusing to let go entirely of the energetic superheroics that many people associate with the franchise. If you haven't watched the series in some time and want to see a post-Mighty Morphin Power Rangers team, give RPM a shot. One of the reasons I still keep watching is out of faith that the franchise will continue to create fun and entertaining stories like it (and on the non-television side of things, the comics are a lot of fun, too!).