Power Rangers: R.P.M.

Power Rangers: RPM is the title for the 2009 season of Power Rangers. It is based on Engine Sentai Go-Onger.

Synopsis
In the not-so-distant future, the mysterious and sinister Venjix Computer Network is attempting to conquer and lay ruin to the entire planet. Mankind has retreated into environmentally-shielded domed cities to protect against the pollution and machines unleashed by Venjix. In the shining city of Corinth, an elite force of Rangers must learn to drive and operate an arsenal of radically advanced biotech vehicles in order to battle the attacking machine army bent on world domination.

Production History
Power Rangers R.P.M was the first P.R season since 2005 to have a fresh lead producer, as Bruce Kalish departed in 2008 to work on Aaron Stone. Taking his place was Eddie Guzelian, former American Dragon: Jake Long executive producer and Kim Possible story editor. R.P.M. was his first live action series. With Guzelian came two writers he had been associated with on various Disney Channel projects, Matthew Negrete and Madellaine Paxson. The three of them, along with R.P.M story editor John Tellegen and producer Jackie Marchand made up the writing team for the 32-episode season.

A few months into production, Marchand left the show, seemingly fired given her message to the fans of "welcome from the peace conference", alluding to the situation in which Austin St. John, Thuy Trang and Walter Jones were written off the show. Not long after, Guzelian was fired mid-season by Disney executives, and replaced by returning writer and producer Judd Lynn in July. Reports have Paxson and Negrete leaving the show in solidarity with Guzelian. Lynn's return to the series that he has been involved with since day one was not an easy one, and there have been reports of difficulty with the transition between executive producers. Lynn left the series with Time Force, but is rumored to have contributed a scab script under a pseudonym for Jungle Fury during the Writer's Strike.

In February 2009, a rough four-minute promo trailer for RPM was leaked on to youtube.com but was quickly removed by a unknown source. The next day it was put back on and as of February 9, 2009 3:48pm the video is still on Youtube with a total of 4,861 views and counting..

End of Power Rangers
R.P.M. is at this time scheduled to be the final season of Power Rangers. Production of the series has ended in New Zealand, the stunt team has returned to Japan, executive producer and stunt coordinator Koichi Sakamoto has since taken on new work on an upcoming Ultraman movie, Ranger Productions is now producing original films for Disney XD rather than working on a new season of Power Rangers as has been the case for nearly a decade now. Former executive producer Eddie Guzelian has stated that he was told by Disney that RPM was to be the final season.

On October 1, 2009 it was revealed that Disney is planning to digitally remaster and reair Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in January 2010 on ABC Kids. A new toyline will accompany the re-airing series and will appear in stores by the end of 2009.

Reports from Bandai of an upcoming 18th season almost certainly refer to said remastered edition of the original MMPR season one rather than an adaptation of Samurai Sentai Shinkenger.

Ranger Operators


(Ranger numbers are given by Zord, but as the sixth zord has no pilot, there isn't a sixth Ranger in the numbering sequence.)

Allies

 * Dr. K - mentor (Olivia Tennet)
 * Colonel Mason Truman (James Gaylyn)

Supporting Cast

 * Benny (Murray Keane)
 * Mr. McAllistair (Jason Hoyte)
 * Hicks
 * Marcus Truman

Villains

 * The Venjix Computer Network
 * Venjix
 * General Crunch (Charlie McDermott)
 * General Shifter (Mark Mitchison)
 * Tenaya 7/15 (Adelaide Kane)
 * Kilobyte (Leighton Cardno)
 * Grinders
 * Venjix Drones
 * Attack Bots

Arsenal
The rangers have Engine Cells that insert into weapons, morphers and zords.


 * Engine Cell Chips


 * Morphers
 * Cell Shift Morpher
 * Rev Morpher
 * Sky Morpher


 * Ranger Prototype Series Covert Infantry Bio-suit


 * Rail Blaster
 * Nitro Blaster/Nitro Sword (blaster/sword modes)
 * Rail Saber


 * RPM Enforcer
 * Road Blaster
 * Street Saber
 * Turbo Cannon
 * Zip Charger
 * Turbo Plasma Launcher
 * Turbo Axe
 * Rocket Blaster


 * Wheel Blaster


 * SkyShift Blazer
 * Cloud Hatchet
 * Sky Morpher

Zord Attack Vehicles and Megazords

 * RPM Ultrazord - Engine Zords 1-12 Combined
 * SkyRev Megazord- Engine Zords 1-9 Combined
 * Zenith Megazord- Engine Zords 1-6 Combined
 * High Octane Megazord- Engine Zords 1-3 Combined
 * Eagle Racer (also known as Eagle Zord)
 * Lion Hauler
 * Bear Crawler
 * ValveMax Megazord- Engine Zords 4-6 Combined
 * Tail Spinner
 * Wolf Cruiser
 * Croc Carrier
 * Mach Megazord- Engine Zords 7-9 Combined
 * Falcon Zord
 * Tiger Jet
 * Whale Zord
 * PaleoMax Megazord- Engine Zords 10-12 Combined
 * Paleozord
 * Road Attack Zord

Trivia

 * Torque Megazord is a special Megazord created for the toyline. Its elements combine with the other zords. It will not be appearing in the actual series.
 * It is the first season in which a good character is directly responsible for the villians' rise to power (Dino Thunder may count as the first, but it is debatable wheather Dr. O's actions were directly responsible for Mesogog's rise)
 * It is the first to have a Scottish character, ranger or otherwise.
 * Prior to the release of information on the villians, there were many rumors that the Machine Empire was going to be returning as a villain.
 * This is the third season to have an African-American as the Red Ranger. TJ, the Red Turbo Ranger, was the first. And Jack Landors, the SPD Red Ranger, was the second, but the first season where an African-American red ranger retains his ranger powers for an entire series. TJ had his powers transferred from Tommy, and Jack retired, making Sky and later Bridge the new red ranger.
 * This is the first season to not show how the rangers initially received their powers.
 * This is the fourth season to have both a Green & Black Ranger. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was the first. Lost Galaxy was the second (if you count the Magna Defender as a ranger). And Jungle Fury was the third, with the Spirit Rangers, even though they are referred by animals instead of colours. Zeo doesn't count, as Gold Ranger is actually gold.
 * This is the second series to use the word 'Venjix', the first one being Power Rangers Wild Force, who had a General Venjix as part of a splinter of the Machine Empire.
 * This is the first season to have zords that are a hybrid between animal & vehicle.
 * The Shark zord is actually an Orca, as Orca's have flat tails while sharks have tails that are on it's sides. Likewise the Wolf Zord is actually a German Shepard, which is a wolf-like dog. The Falcon zord is also actually a chicken/rooster.
 * This is the sixth series not to feature a Pink Ranger, the first Alien Rangers, the second was Wild Force (though Alyssa Enrilé's white suit has pink accents), the third was Ninja Storm, the fourth was Dino Thunder, and the fifth was Jungle Fury.
 * This is the first Power Rangers series to have the ending credits during the episode. Though this is mainly due to the fact that the show now only airs on ABC Kids, which has always overlaid the credits with the episode contents.
 * This is the first Power Rangers team to include both Silver and Gold rangers, and fourth to have more than six rangers on a team. First season was SPD, second to be Mystic Force (if you count Solaris Knight and Wolf Warrior as rangers), and third to be Jungle Fury (if you include Jarrod and Camille
 * This the second series that a ranger has robotic parts. The first one is Operation Overdrive where Mack is an android (though he later became human). In Dillon's case, he is a human-cyborg hybrid.
 * This is the first Power Rangers series to have a Scottish member of the team.
 * This is the second Power Rangers series to have the setting in an artificial living environment, the first is Lost Galaxy.
 * This is the first season to appear only on ABC rather than Jetix.
 * The first Power Rangers series to use the word "Aye" (Aye is another word for Yes)
 * Olivia Tennet who plays Dr. K is 18 years old, so she is the youngest mentor throughout the PR season.
 * RPM is the third series to have featured deaths of characters that weren't villans on-screen. The first series, Power Rangers: In Space, had Zordon sacrificing himself to destroy the United Alliance of Evil; the second series, Lost Galaxy, had the first ever ranger to sacrifice their self, Kendrix Morgan (though she was later revived); and in this series Scott's brother, Marcus Truman, and Summer's butler, Andrews both sacrificed themselves to save each of their respective loved one.
 * First time a member of the team is sent to jail while serving as a ranger.
 * This is the third season to have a Gold Ranger. Jason, the Gold Zeo Ranger, was the first. Daggeron, the Solaris Knight was the second.
 * This is the sixth season to have a Silver Ranger. Zhane, the Silver Space Ranger, was the first. Ryan Mitchell, the Titanium Ranger, was the second. Merrick Baliton, the Lunar Wolf Ranger, was the third. Nova, the SPD Nova Ranger, was the fourth. And Tyzonn, the Mercury Ranger, was the fifth. This is also the second season to have a Silver Ranger actually referred to as a "Silver Ranger", and the second to have a female Silver Ranger.
 * So far the only season to directly mention their sentai counterpart, in this case, Go-Onger respectively, or use and state it as part of their arsenal. While in the episode 'Lost and Found in Translation' from Dino Thunder, the rangers are watching a dubbed episode from Abaranger, the
 * Second time since Wild Force to have the main villain seen in different bodies, rather than other main villains transforming into monstrous forms.
 * A "Jungle Karma Pizza" joint, the same restaurant where the Jungle Fury rangers worked in, was seen inside Corinth (though it was obviously not the same location). This was seen in "Ranger Green".
 * This is the first season in which there's an episode that tells about behind-the-scenes of Power Rangers, as opposed to a special such as the one Operation Overdrive had.
 * This is the second season that features a wheel based Zord, the first being Zeo with the Warrior Wheel, and the second being the Road Attack Zord from RPM.
 * At Alphabet Soup, Tenaya 7 found The Red Operation Overdrive Ranger's helmet wore by Mack Hartford in Ancient History.
 * This is the third season where a ranger is directly blood related to a villain, the first being In Space where Andros is the brother of Astronema, Ninja Storm where Cam is the nephew of Lothor, and Dillon being the brother of Tenaya 7.
 * This is the third season where the villains related to rangers have truly redeemed themselves. The first being In Space where Astronema gave up her evil ways after discovering Andros was her brother and later became the successor of Kendrix as the Pink Galaxy Ranger. The second being Ninja Storm, Marah and Kapri when they were betrayed by Lothor and later enrolled at the Wind Ninja Academy. This being the third season as Tenaya 7 assisted the rangers to find base codes.