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What if Power Rangers started in the 80's?

Most of us Power Rangers fans know that the very first episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers originally aired on American TV in August 28th of 1993. Since then, Power Rangers has become a smash hit, and spawned countless sequels that kept the show and the franchise going on and on.. and had this not happened, your children may not be watching Power Rangers Samurai today.

BUT.. what if Power Rangers started way earlier than 1993? Specifically, what if Power Rangers started in the mid 1980's?

The 1980's huh? When we think of the 1980's, we would think stuff like Thundercats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ghostbusters, M.A.S.K, Transformers, Go-Bots, Care Bears, Wham, Madonna, Michael Jackson's Thriller, Voltron, Saber Rider, Rubic's Cubes...

..but Power Rangers? In the 80's? Nope? Didn't think so.

But I heard rumours that at the time Saban were interested in doing an English version of Choudenshi Bioman. For some reason I thought it was going to be just a basic English translation dub of the original Japanese Bioman.. but then I came across this post on Henshin Justice regarding a hidden easter egg in the American release DVD Box Set of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers..

And so I came to my own personal conclusion that it was going to be an American adaptation. Of course it never took off..

And this kinda inspired me to sorta have a little fun.

So, as the title asks, what if the Power Rangers started in the 1980's? Well, the first 3 question to ask would be "What year would Power Rangers start?", "What Sentai series would it adapt?" and "What would it actually be called?".

Now, as it's been said before, Saban was interested in adapting Choushinsei Bioman. The original Japanese version of Choushinsei Bioman was aired in 1984 in Japan. I would've thought that the American version of Bioman would've started in 1985, considering that Mighty Morphin Power Rangers season 1 started in 1993, which was 1 year after Kyoryuu Sentai ZyuRanger in 1992. But from what I learned Saban made the Bioman pilot 1986.

So, year: 1986 (I would've been 2 at the time). Sentai basis: Choudenshi Bioman.

But what's the show actually gonna be called? Do you think Saban could've come up with the name "Power Rangers" in 1986? Well in the real time events, the pilot was called "Bio Man". But why Bio Man? Surely they would have to change the name a bit? I mean, first of all there are 5 of them so they would normally be called "Bio Men", and secondly there are 2 girls and 3 of them are men.

Lets fast forward to 1992, when a test pilot for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was being made. Originally Power Rangers was going to be called "Galaxy Rangers". But it's pretty obvious why they had to change the name to the name we know and love..

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3EoBl5uBfU"]Advertures of the Galaxy Rangers - Opening Theme - YouTube[/ame]

Now back to 1986. Do you think Saban could've came up with the "Power Rangers" name then? If you look back at past Sentai series from 1986, the sole Sentai series to ever use "Ranger" was Go Ranger". Most Sentai series used "Man". I would guess that if Haim Saban could come up with some creativity, then maybe he might have thought of "Power Rangers", but I'm assuming Haim Saban's main goal was to create a franchise that would make him rich. Also this is 1986, the same year when Galaxy Rangers (the cartoon) was being aired. I guess the word "Ranger" would be out of the question.

So Saban created the Bio Man pilot, and sent as many copies of the pilot to as many TV stations as possible. In the real events, nobody was interested in airing Bio Man as a TV show on their channels (which I find quite ironic because judging from the Japanese Bioman it looks pretty awesome for an 80's series). But let's say that one TV network has replied to Saban saying that they're interested in airing the show on the condition that some changes are made. Specifically the name.

So Saban is in his offiice with some other people trying to think of a new name for Bioman.

Bio Squad?
Bio Team?
Bio Ranger...? NO!!! We can't use the word Ranger!!!
Bio Mutant Ninja Turtles? Don't be silly!!

How about... Bio Force? PERFECT!!!!

So now in our altered timeline, "Bio Force" is born!! Our older brothers and sisters are sitting on their sofa's on a Saturday morning watching "Bio Force" on Channel Whatever, while munching on their morning bowl of "Bi-O's" (with a free Bio Force sticker :p), and later playing with their "Bio Force" action figures.. and begging their parents to buy them the Bio Robot for Christmas, and arguing at school over "Bio Red is the best!! No Bio Green!! No I think Bio Pink and Yellow are HOT!! What about Bio Blue? No Silva kicks all their asses!!".

OK, now here's the part where we get a little bit fanfictiony. The Power Rangers we all know and love have Jason, Trini, Kimberly, Billy and Zach fighting Rita Repulsa and her monsters, Putty Patrollers,

etc..

So how will Bio Force differ fictionally?

Well, as the "Galaxy Rangers" pilot shown, we would have Victor (Bio Red), Zack (Bio Green), Billy (Bio Blue), Kimberly (Bio Pink) and Trini (Bio Yellow), 5 teenagers with Biomic particles, fighting completely different enemies. In Choudenshi Bioman we had Doctor Man, Farrah, Monster and Mason, the Mecha Gigans and Silva. So that's one big difference. I would imagine they would have to change the name of Doctor Man, because "Doctor Man" just sounds too weird for an American series.. maybe change the name of Monster, because DU'h!! We all know he's a monster (well not really, he's a bald Japanese guy in weird armour..)..

And who'll guide them? Well Zordon and Alpha won't be there so Peebo would be in place. Maybe they'll change Peebo's name too because Peebo.. just sounds un-American. Don't ask me why...

And they'll have the Bio Robot instead of the good old MegaZord we all know and love.

But what about Tommy? Well... he won't be there. Bioman was a five person team, and so it shall be with Bio Force. Then again, he could play a part as a civilian form for Silva (or Bio Silver?)..

How would the Bio Force theme tune go? What would the style of music be like?

Will Bulk and Skull be there? Dunno.. but there probably will be bully characters..

What would their transformation phrase be? I doubt it would be "IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!!". Maybe "LET'S GO BIOMIC!!".

Now lets move onto the success of Bio Force. After the show has finally aired on television, we get the viewer's reception. How well did Bio Force do in terms of ratings? Do enough kids want to keep watching Victor and his buddies kick some Mechagigan ass?!!

Well... in the actual reality, we don't know. As Kamen Rider Dragon Knight proved, a fantastic TV show doesn't nessesarily mean it'll be successful.

So Bio Force could be a smash hit, or it could be a one hit wonder, and Saban would move onto a different project.

But if it was a smash hit, what next?

First of all, what effect would Bio Force have on the future?

Power Rangers? Well, if it was a smash hit, then Bio Force could've totally deleted Power Rangers, because spiritually Bio Force IS Power Rangers. Otherwise.. Haim Saban would'nt have needed to create Power Rangers in 1993, looking back at Bio Force's short lifespan, Power Rangers would be like Bio Force all over again. BUT.. there could be a possibility that Bio Force could cause Haim Saban to delay Power Rangers to a later date, say.. 2000. By then, most people have forgotten about Bio Force.

But let's rewind back to 1987, and lets say that Bio Force was such a smash hit that more people in America wanted more episodes of Bio Force, and that it inspired Saban to export Bio Force to other countries.

So the public are demanding.. BIO FORCE!!! BIO FORCE!!! BIO FORCE!!! But.. SHOCK HORROR!!! Saban has ran out of Choudenshi Bioman footage!! What is he gonna do? Well, he could ask Toei to make what we could call "Bio 2" footage, or he could try and use footage from another Sentai series.

Now keep in mind, we're in 1987. Choushinsei Flashman has just finished and has been replaced by Hikari Sentai Maskman in Japan. Choudenshi Bioman was from 1984 but Bio Force never aired until 1986. This leaves Haim Saban with 2 choices. Use footage from Choushinsei Flashman or Dengeki Sentai Changeman. Well, the best way to go would be to splice the Bioman footage with footage from

Changeman. This chould Saban the opportunity to introduce new characters and more importantly new Mecha.

So.. back to fanfiction mode, let's say, that a new enemy called Gozma Empire were disgusted at Doctor Man's disability to defeat the Bio Force, and they destroyed his fortress and sent Doctor Man fleeing off.. His minions would also have to join the Gozma Empire.

And so Gozma fight with the Bio Force for the first time, and completely destroy the Bio Robot. The Bio Force now don't have a robot to fight Gozma's giant monsters. OH NO!! What are they gonna do!!

Well, luckily Peebo was eventually able to summon the Bio Robot Mark 2 (Change Robo).

So yeah.. Imagine Bioman fighting Gozma, using the Changeman's Mecha and Arsenal. It'll be something like that.

But, even with their new robot, the Bio Force are still not strong enough to fight Gozma as they are. Peebo decided the Bio Force needed 2 extra members with Biomic particles for their team. Those became Bio Black and Bio White (who are actually Change Mermaid and Change Griffin). Saban would have to try and edit out Change Dragon, Change Phoenix and Change Pegasus, unless they could buy the Change Griffin and Change Mermaid suits from Toei and film them in action by themselves.

Thus, more exciting episodes of Bio Force with new Mecha and new team members. YAAAAY!!!

Now lets move onto the exporting of Bio Force to other countries. If Bio Force season 1 was exported to the UK a year after it was aired in the US, I'd be 3 years old and probably watching it on TV:AM or whatever.. But what about France? Choudenshi Bioman was dubbed in French and aired in France, and became a smash hit to the level that French Pop star Bernard Minet sang a song dedicated to the show. What impact will Bio Force have on the French dub of Bioman? Will France just have 2 versions of Bioman/Bio Force? One Japanese, one American, both dubbed in French? Or will Bio Force's arrival in France emerge the French TV companies to stop airing Bioman in favour of Bio Force?

In the real time events, in France in the 80's and early 90's many Sentai series from Bioman to Jetman (apart from Changeman to my recollection) were aired. But there was no French dub of ZyuRanger.

Why is that? Were they making way for a French dub of MMPR? Probably yes.

A long time ago, someone contacted me via PM telling me that France was no longer allowed to dub Sentai because they were a SINV country. There were SINV and SISI countries, SINV countries were not allowed Sentai while SISI countries were. I don't know what SINV nor SISI stood for and neither did the person who contacted me.

But in our altered events, whether SINV and SISI is relevant to Bio Force, I really don't know.

What effect it will have in South Korea I am also unsure. In the real time events in Korea, they had the American versions of Power Rangers from MMPR to Wild Force. But they've also been dubbing the Japanese Super Sentai series in Korean under the Power Rangers name, starting with AbaRanger. But before Power Rangers, Korea also had shows like Bioman, Flashman, etc.. I don't know which year the Korean dub of Bioman first aired in Korea. Maybe a Korean knows?

But I'm sure that Bio Force will have a bad effect on the Dynaman Parody that aired on the USA network, considering that it was done by a different company and that it was done in 1987 in the real time events. The original Japanese version of Dynaman was originally aired in 1983. In the altered events, Haim Saban who now owns Bio Force would never let that happen. Or at least I don't think he would..

Lets move onto 1988. Hikari Sentai Maskman has finished and is replaced by Choujuu Sentai Liveman. Bio Force is now 2 years old now, and since it's debut in 1986, Bio Force has become a smash hit.

But the viewing audiance still wants more!! So Saban decides to do a 3rd season of Bio Force, but he's decided that the fans are ready for a complete overhaul for the show. So he's decided to adapt

Choushinsei Flashman. He'd decided the Bio Force are going to have new suits, new "Prism" powers, new Mecha, new villians.. But he also changes the name to "Bio Force FLASH!!"

Back to fanfiction mode now. Imagine Doctor Man wants his revenge on Gozma, and wants another chance to defeat the Bio Force. So he sells himself to the Empire MESS. MESS Oblitterate Gozma, totally PWNING their asses, and in return Doctor Man has got to prove to MESS that he can once and for all destroy the Bio Force with his new powers. Otherwise he'll be punished.

Which he successfully does. He destroys the Bio Robot Mark 2, he destroys the Bio Force suits making them completely powerless to stop them. HAAA HAHAHAHAA!!! Doctor Man starts to wreck havock on planet earth.

How can the Bio Force stop Doctor Man? Well, in a LONG 4 part episode, Peebo takes them to a hidden space ship, and they travel to a far away planet where they have to find Prisms, which will transform them into the new and improved Bio Force FLASH!! Bio Red will become Flash Red, Bio Green would become Flash Green, and so on.. They return to earth with their new Prism Robot, and eventually kick Doctor Man and the MESS Empire's asses.

But what about Bio Black and Bio White? Don't they get to evolve into Flash Black and Flash White? Well, no. They have to leave the team.

Either that or Flash Yellow and Flash Green would decide to pass their powers onto them. Then later on in the series Flash Red, Pink and Blue could pass their powers onto someone else who has Biomic particles.

Then in 1989, Saban could adapt Hikari Sentai Maskman for "Bio Force AURA", and in 1990, Choujuu Sentai Liveman could become "Bio Force ROAR" and in 1991 TurboRanger could become "Bio Force TURBO", and 1992 Fiveman could become "Bio Force SKY" and in 1993 Jetman could become "Bio Force BIRDS"... and so on and so on and so on.

So what if Power Rangers started in the 80's? Well it would've..

*Started in 1986..
*Be called "Bio Squad" or something like that.
*Start 2 years after the original Japanese version.
*Jason's name would be Victor.
*There would be no Zordon or Alpha, just Peebo (maybe with a different name instead).
*Not sure what would be for Tommy, whether he's just not there or he could be Silva.
*If there was a second season there would be 7 Ranger... oops I mean Bio Forces.. or something..
*The world Ranger couldn't be used.

But do you have a different view on that? Feel free to post your responses?
 
Member
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Apr 25, 2008
Messages
2,179
I'm not sure how these will fit if power rangers rewritten in the 80s.

- Himitsu Sentai Gorenger
- J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai
- Battle Fever J
- Denshi Sentai Denziman
- Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan
- Dai Sentai Goggle-V
- Kagaku Sentai Dynaman
- Choudenshi Bioman
- Dengeki Sentai Changeman
- Choushinsei Flashman
- Hikari Sentai Maskman
- Choujuu Sentai Liveman
- Kousoku Sentai Turboranger
- Chikyu Sentai Fiveman
- Chōjin Sentai Jetman

Let me make a poll out of one these if any of these will be made in the 80s if not the 90s.
 
New Member
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Feb 10, 2005
Messages
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If it was started in the 80's then odds are it would have been a syndicated program and back then those shows had no love in America so it would have been canceled after 1 season and never catch on as the Success it did.

Fox Kids is the only reason Power Rangers happened to become the Mega Hit it became.
 
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I think ZyuRanger timed coincidentally and perfectly with the dinosaur craze that hit due to the mega hit Jurrassic Park is why Power Ranger caught on so well.

Otherwise it would've went the ways of Photon. :D

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PIMquC33X0"]Photon TV Show - Intro & Outro - YouTube[/ame]
 
Bandito Shake Cometh
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Totally agree, the stars were perfectly aligned for MMPR to become the hit it was. Not to say it would have totally bombed earlier or with a different Sentai, but I doubt it would've worked as well.
 
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If Bio Force were to have existed, chances are they could have actually skipped or merged two to "catch up".

Bio Force Aura- Maskman/Liveman The four bio soldiers join up with a martial artist student and his master to fight evil, and when losing their power temporarily, ROAR comes fighting. Think of the Alien Rangers.

If they went the Galaxy Rangers route.... the rangers could have crossed over with Bioman-Flashman and perhaps the others as "alien teams". Maybe crossover with the Space Sheriffs, who knows? This brings an offshoot of the Galaxy Rangers called Space Cop Gavan and goes to Spielvan. Four seasons to cover the intergalactic mayhem cop drama, think of Jump Street but with Star Wars themes and an Iron Man like suit.

What if the Space Cops caught on instead of Sentai or maybe, both became so influential that Robocop is made as a tie-in to the series than as an "inspired from". Cries from ripping off Gavan could influence future films and of the Metal Hero series itself.


Funny thing is that Bioman aired in France in 1985, so if Bio Force did come on , it would nullify the usage of the name towards future installments of dubs.
 
"Let's DRIVING!!!!!"
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If it was started in the 80's then odds are it would have been a syndicated program and back then those shows had no love in America so it would have been canceled after 1 season and never catch on as the Success it did.

Fox Kids is the only reason Power Rangers happened to become the Mega Hit it became.

Yeah, I wouldn't argue with that.
 
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Yeah, I wouldn't argue with that.

There's only one way Power Rangers could have jumpstarted here: attached with another popular show like Transformers or associated with some other block with popular shows.

Rangers prior to MMPR would have to be as aggressively pushed ,without the force of a major platform. While that would be hard without Fox Kids, if we get a similar setup or if it began , let's say 1982/83 right when the bang of robot related series got a jump to the mainstream again. In Sentai, you have scifi and with the Metal Heroes, it was scifi and robotic until at least Shaider that Bioman shared the limelight.

However as with Power Rangers, the popular season whether its Denjiman ,Sun Vulcan or Goggle Five , they would need to extend that or lose their relevance like with the original. Depends on whether its adapted or not ,but you get my point. Perhaps we would get an original sequel to the first with American actors or would it be American as is? If it was , then that would have meant that Marvel got it picked up .... and with the Hulk and Spiderman.... who's to say that a similar style of adaptation (a continuation of the live action show at the same time) wasn't done with Spiderman and connecting those three? And what about the Uchuu Keiji amidst this fame?

Forget what if SABAN made the series , but let's consider the possibility of the Sentai being done by Marvel itself. Eventually , if it kept on going along and getting bigger and better, we might have gotten a film sooner and one that could have been better. Instead of Guyver, the crew would work on a rendition of the first Sentai into a blockbuster film alongside another doing its counterpart.

Disney could have bought it , but if Marvel had developed a bigger media base years ago, not only would it have changed Power Rangers, but the formation of Marvel Studios and its establishment as a media conglomerate could have happened instead of their buyout?
 
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