Power Rangers Reviews Part 1: Galaxy Rangers Pitch (1992)

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well for a Tuesday afternoon. Today I'm gonna be talking about the very first piece of media to ever be produced for Power Rangers. The 1992 pitch that Haim Saban produced and sent to Bandai America to get them onboard for what would become Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It's only 2 minutes long and there isn't and actual story or characters to talk about, but watching it, there are a few things that I'd like to talk about because I find them interesting. So let's get into it.

This pitch, called Galaxy Rangers, is actually a revised version of the original pitch that Haim Saban made in the mid-'80s when he originally came up for the idea of Power Rangers after a trip to Japan where he caught an episode of season 8 of Super Sentai, Choudenshi Bioman (1984-1985) on TV. The original pitch, called Bio-Man (1986), was the exact same as Galaxy Rangers, except it had Bioman footage instead of Zyuranger footage and the narration was slightly different.

One of the things that interest me about this pitch is that the Rangers aren't teenagers. Victor Lee (played by Mark Dacascos) is a martial artist, Zack Taylor (played by Miguel Nunez) is a detective, Billy Cranston (played by Tom Silardi) is an athlete, Trini Crystal (played by Tricia Fisher) is a novelist, and Kimberly Harte (played by Rebecca Staples) is an aerobics instructor. They feel much more like the cast of many seasons of Power Rangers, where the Rangers aren't teenagers in high school. Which is pretty interesting given that by the time they filmed the actual pilot for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Saban had changed it so that the Rangers were teenagers in high school. Of course that comes from the fact that Saved by the Bell was a popular show at the time. But when Bio-Man was produced in 1986, that wasn't the case. And even though Galaxy Rangers was produced in 1992, it was made as a proof of concept for Bandai of America so they'd know what they were doing for the toyline that would accompany the series. 

Something else about this that interests me is the fact that some of the Sentai footage of the Rangers out of costume is included in this pitch, which makes it feel pretty disconnected from the brief shots of the American actors that we get in it. But in a way that's okay because this pitch was only meant to get Bandai onboard to do the toys for the series, since they do the toys for Super Sentai. 

This pitch was the first true step into making Mighty Morphin Power Rangers a reality. This and the original Bio-Man pilot that Saban made to shop the concept around to the various networks, which all turned him down. Next time we'll be talking about the first version of the pilot episode of MMPR, "Day of the Dumpster" and then I'll be getting into the series itself, beginning with season 1.

That's gonna be it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow sometime for this week's segment of my look at DC Comics's Star Trek comic book line, where I'll be looking at the various adaptations of various media that DC did for the franchise. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.