Power Rangers: Dans l'espace

Beginning with this Power Ranger series. Power Rangers moves more towards some serious story writing, although it does not show up at first.

Four of the five turbo rangers team up with a space power ranger named Andros who has witness the great evil that is about to come upon the whole universe. Andros is not crazy about his new partners at first but the eventually make a great team to fight this great evil headed by the Dark Spector. His number one servant is Astronema an evil young women who Andros discovers to be his long lost sister who was kidnapped by evil forces and groomed to take part in the universal scheme of the Spector.

Now the stakes have risen for the Space Rangers. Save the universe and save Astronema from the evil she has become.

Power Rangers In Space gets to a rocky start it does pick up the pace and leads to a great climax at the end. Future Power Ranger series will try to out due this one.

Best one to do it? The 2001 PR series "Time Force."

Power Rangers In Space has the most developed story line (in my opinion) of any PR series before or since. Although it was presumably intended for a younger audience as previous PR shows where, In Space was more appealing to an older audience as well. This is perhaps the insight of the writes that many of the children who had watched the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers had continued to watch the show and would now desire more developed plot lines. The characters are far more complex than in previous Power Rangers series. The villains, for the first time are shown as beings with real lives, complex thoughts, fears, and dreams instead of single-minded cliché's who live only to destroy the Power Rangers and take over the world. The rangers too show more feeling and are put in more situations that require such emotion than in previous PR series. Overall, Power Rangers in Space is insightful and thought provoking.

This season took a darker turn compared to previous seasons, especially the cringe-inducing Power Rangers Turbo. This was originally planned to be the final season of Power Rangers, as Turbo's ratings were extremely low. As a result of that, the producers put out all the stops to make In Space an grand finale. In my humble opinion, they succeeded. The villainess Astronoma can actually be taken seriously, and the Rangers actually have some really strong villains to fight, both physically and in character! The only negative things I have to say about this season is that it ended the classic "Zordon" era, (although Lost Galaxy and Time Force were very good,)and that Melody Perkins' acting wasn't very good (though she did get better over time.) There are only two bad episodes in the whole season: the laughable TMNT team-up, and the one where Andros had to protect a baby alien. Overall, PRIS is worthy of praise, and one of the few Power Ranger seasons that can actually be taken seriously with a straight face.

Overall Rating = 9/10 (Excellent)

For veteran Ranger fans, this series was the culmination of six years of an entire universe in itself. Following "Space", future seasons would be separate series in themselves, connected only to previous seasons by guest appearances of previous Rangers for one or two episodes.

"Space" was the final bow to the legacy of the early '90s. The powerless Turbo Rangers (minus Justin, gratefully) form the last continuous link to previous seasons by teaming up with Andros, who is by far one of the best written Red Rangers ever (aside from 'Whole Damn Show Tommy'). The brief appearance of a new Silver Ranger (a colour many fans had been waiting to see since Gold Zeo) added some new spice to the lineup.

But solid storywriting is what made this series come out on top. The writers were able to link the past with the present, give the villainess Astronema a deep connection to the Rangers instead of a paper cutout evil bitch role, and made viewers develop sympathy for both the good and evil sides. Spry and sweet Karone, once out of those ghastly coloured wigs, won the hearts of many fans as a villain of real substance who was worth turning good, akin only to Tommy. For a childrens' show it was an incredibly dark moment to see Karone manipulated into her cyborg form, no doubt a bow to the Borg of Star Trek, but still chilling.

The series also tied up all the loose ends of the past by reuniting all previous villains under a mastermind, Dark Specter, who not only desired to rule the universe but also bore vendetta against his own henchmen. The final episode arc saw the restoration of the universe and the elimination of all previous villains with one of the greatest sacrifices of the Ranger saga.

With the possible exception of "Time Force", no future Power Rangers series could ever rival "Space" in terms of depth or intrigue. With the Space Rangers left the legacy.

After the Turbo Rangers, T.J., Carlos, Justin, Ashley, and Cassie lose the Command Center and their powers, they must go off to space to find some new hope. Justin, the kiddy Blue Turbo Ranger, stays behind, leaving the other four rangers to go off into space. When they arrive on a spaceship, they meet the Red Space Ranger, Andros, who reluctantly gives them powers to help fight other evils. We find out some really cool stuff that's a little different from the other PR series, but in a good way! The new team is sure to be remembered for many years to come! Andros will always be one of my favorites, next to Tommy and Jason.

Score: *****/*****