Dinosaur Squadron Zyuranger

A witch named Bandora has escape from her prison after two astronauts open the seal while exploring on a planet that enters our solar system every some thousands of years. Banza a mystical sage who sealed Bandora must awake the mystic Zyurangers who have been put to sleep for millions of years. With their dinosaur/prehistoric animal mechas, they'll have what it takes to take down Bandora's monsters.

For a long time, I've been curious to see how different this was compared to Power Rangers. And after seeing the whole thing, there's no comparison other than sharing the same themes. Not to mention the story is 60% different from that of Power Rangers. And there is an actual conclusion to it while Power Ranger continued longer than 50 episodes.

I can only remember a little of Power Rangers, so I did recognize some of the footage that was used for that series. Except it was a different experience seeing how it was originally released in Japan.

I don't want to say it's better than Power Rangers. I just find the story to be better and more interesting. Those who disliked Power Rangers being too long will be glad that this one is shorter than power rangers.

As we all know, Power Rangers was created from a Japanese TV show entitled Zyuuranger (Beastranger). Well, the majority. The plot has 5 ancient warriors from dinosaur tribes resurrected to do battle with a sorceress, Bandora, and her henchmen. Bandora hates dinosaurs because of personal reasons dealing with her past and origin of her evil. Anyways, the five warriors are equipped with powers that enable them to become a color coded force known as Zyuuranger. They combat Bandora's wicked Doramonsters with magical weaponry and machines. The series is my fave out of all the sentai I have seen. It's cheesy, but oh wah! Camp is fun. Heh. And let me say that Zyuuranger was very popular in Japan.

Looking at power rangers now it just is so goofy this comes across way more serious and it has everything that made mmpr good and then some.

The title says it all.

For those of you who don't know--I didn't, until about a year ago--the footage for the first season of the show "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers," a show that I and many others adored as kids, was only about half original. All footage of the Rangers unmasked or in the Command Center is original stuff, but their fights while in costume is actually footage from this show: "Kyôryû sentai Juurenjâ." Thank God for sites like YouTube, otherwise I might have never been able to see this show. Think Power Rangers, but much darker. Don't get me wrong, it's still a kids show, but an INCREDIBLY DARK kids show. The storyline is much more epic in scope than Power Rangers, and the characters are pretty lovable.

The basic plot is that a couple hundred million years ago, there were five kingdoms (Sharma, Etof, Daim, Risha, and the most prominent one, Yamato), who lived in peace and harmony with each other, watched over by a race of guardian dinosaurs for each tribe. For Sharma, the Mastadons, for Etof, the Triceratops', for Daim, the Sabre Tooth Tigers, for Risha, the Pteranadons, and for Yamato, the Tyrannosauruses. Even the kingdoms lived in harmony with each other, watched over by their God, Ultimate Daizuzyin. All seemed peachy...

Until a witch named Bandora (otherwise known as Rita Repulsa to us Americans) sold her soul to Great Satan--yes, THE Satan--and declared war on the dinosaurs and anyone who aided them. The war was a brutal one that almost wiped out the entire human race and pretty much DID wipe out the dinosaur population. Bandora almost won the war entirely, but each of the kingdom's best warriors were given a sacred medallion of their guardian dinosaur that allowed them to harness Gaiatron energy, the sacred power of the dinosaurs, and become Zyurangers for their respective dinosaurs. Goushi of Sharma became the Mammouth Ranger, Dan of Etof became the Triceratops Ranger, Boi of Daim became the Sabre Tooth Tiger Ranger, Princess Mei of the Risha kingdom became the pteranadon...and the mightiest warrior of the mightiest kingdom, Prince Geki of Yamato, became the Tyrannosaurus Ranger and leader of the Kyôryû sentai Juurenjâ.

When it became time for the final battle, Ultimate Daizuzyin appeared before the kingdoms, sending down a giant robot inhabited by his spirit. The Kyôryû sentai Juurenjâ, together with Ultimate Daizuzyin, banished Great Satan forever and defeated Bandora and her comrades. In the process, though, Ultimate Daizuzyin was split into three different forms--King Brachion, Dragon Ceasar, and Daizuzyin (who himself was the five combined sacred robot avatars of the gods).

Having pity upon Bandora, the kingdoms sealed her away on the moving planet, Nemesis, never to be opened again. As most stories like this go, however, a few idiots end up letting her out in modern times. And also as most stories go, the royalty of the ancient kingdoms predicted this. Therefore, the Kyôryû sentai Juurenjâ volunteered to have themselves put in suspended animation, to be awakened in the event that Bandora ever returned. Baarza the White Wizard, an influential force in the ancient war and a rival of Bandora, volunteered to watch over their bodies over the years to ensure that no harm came to them. It is he who awakens them and then serves as their mentor.

Things later get complicated when it is revealed that a Zyuranger possessing the medallion of the Dragon also exists--Burai, the Dragon Ranger. He too existed in ancient times and he too put himself into suspended animation...but not under Baarza's watch. Because unlike the others, he wanted to survive into the future so he could destroy the Zyurangers and get revenge on them, Geki in particular. Why? Well, it turns out, Geki is not the biological son of the Yamato king. He was actually taken away from his real biological father, the Black Knight (a prominent non-Zyuranger warrior of the ancient war), as punishment for rebelling against the Yamato government. The King of Yamato later killed the Black Knight in person when he tried to get Geki back. The Black Knight swore his firstborn son who he still had, Burai, to get revenge for his death and to become the new King of Yamato. The ancient war ended before he got the chance to prove himself from his training, however.

But wait, notice something? Yep. Burai is Geki's older brother. Doesn't it make sense now why Jason and Tommy always fought in Power Rangers? Or why they later worked together so closely? Yep, that's why.

Okay, now TELL ME you are not AT LEAST A LITTLE curious about this series after reading that plot outline and comparing it to Power Rangers. My suggestion? Get to YouTube right now.

I'm old enough to remember when Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was on TV, and man that was 20 years ago. I went from being obsessed with the Power Rangers to no longer watching or caring about them after Season 2 around the time the movie came out in 1995. It seemed that way for a lot of my friends. I mean I remember how in the Halloween of 1994, so many kids including myself at school were dressed as Power Rangers, but the Halloween the year after I only noticed one kid dressed as a Power Ranger. I believe Power Rangers was at it's peak in popularity after the Green With Evil episodes to the second half of Season 2. When that show aired, I did not realize the show was using footage from a Japanese TV show. I did not hear about that until years later. But, I did notice at times even as a kid and more as an adult how the show wasn't always well done. Part of the reason is because the show changes from American footage to Japanese footage, and frequently there were the Zyurangers in scenes not morphed fighting alongside morphed characters, or lots of times there'd be people in the backgrounds of the fights, including kids that they tried to edit out in the American version, but weren't always successful.

I've seen all 50 episodes of Zyuranger, and I can't help but think about reasons why I'd say this show is better than the Power Rangers, and definitely better done. I believe part of the reason I lost interest in the Power Rangers was because the show wasn't well done, and it was predictable, as watching it years later I notice how the show doesn't have much of a plot to it. Zyuranger has more of a plot to the show. There also is more depth to the characters including the Zyurangers, even though we might prefer the characters from the American show over them. There is also more of a story behind the villains and even the monsters that strike. It also is fun watching this TV show as we get to see Japan. You can buy the DVDs subtitled, and if you're studying Japanese it would probably be a fun way to get to learn Japanese watching Zyuranger episodes.

So, while this show is a kids show and it seems like it would be PG-rated, it has a darker atmosphere than the Power Rangers. They edit some of the darkness from this show as lots of things from Japanese franchise gets edited for American audiences such as scenes from another Japanese TV show I really like called Dragon Ball Z, and one of my favorite video games Super Mario Kart where Bowser and Peach would drink champagne after winning the cup in the Japanese version, but not the American version. This show should entertain you more for the darker atmosphere and watching 50 episodes of Zyuranger feels more productive than watching 50 episodes of Power Rangers.

This show is also a little, but not much older than the Power Rangers. It's hard to believe that it's over 20 years old, it doesn't seem that old and it even looks less dated than Power Rangers. Though, if it were done today it would have had better effects.

So, while I as a lot of you think this show is better I wish they said more often at the time, how Power Rangers was from a Japanese TV show. Also, we can wonder what if this show came over to America instead of just using the Japanese footage and if it was dubbed, or even subtitled back then? Would it have done better than the Power Rangers? Oh Well, I guess we will never know.

If you're like me, you'll think of this show as better than the Power Rangers and will be sad when it ends after the last episode. I'm glad to see years later, what my childhood show was based off of.