Power Rangers RPM


Power Rangers RPM is the seventeenth season of the American children's television series Power Rangers, which uses footage, costumes, and other props from the Super Sentai series. In the case of RPM, the season was an adaptation of Engine Sentai Go-onger, the thirty-second installment of the series.
The season was the third and final to air on ABC stations, premiering March 7, 2009 on ABC Kids. Due to the low ratings of the preceding season, Jungle Fury, RPM was also the final season to be produced and distributed by Disney and Renaissance-Atlantic Entertainment, putting the series on a two-year hiatus until the premiere of Power Rangers Samurai in 2011. The 2019 - 2020 series, Power Rangers Beast Morphers is its direct sequel.

Story

An AI computer virus named Venjix takes over all of the Earth's computers, creates an army of robot "Grinder" droids and destroys or enslaves almost all of humanity. Only the city of Corinth remains, protected by an almost impenetrable force field from the toxic atmosphere of the wasteland outside. Venjix tries various plans to destroy Corinth and Doctor K's RPM Power Rangers fight to protect it.

Production

Australian actor Eka Darville, who previously starred in series three of Blue Water High, was reported to have a role in September 2008 in what was then unknown as RPM or Racing Performance Machines which began production in September 2008 in New Zealand. Heidi Kathy Bradhurt had been cast as an extra, but her profile initially listed her as the Yellow Ranger, named "Kayla," whose name and actress had since been changed to "Summer" played by Rose McIver. Daniel Ewing had been reported in November 2008 to be playing a major character named "Dillon," revealed to be the Black Ranger. Other cast members include Murray Keane in the role of "Benny", Charlie McDermott voicing "General Crunch", and Jason Hoyte as a guest role named "Mr. McAllistair".
An article of The New Zealand Herald reported that Power Rangers RPM was to be the final season of the Power Rangers series. Production manager Sally Campbell stated in an interview "...at this stage we will not be shooting another season". A September 1, 2009, revision to by Disney's head archivist Dave Smith states that production of new episodes of Power Rangers ceased in 2009. A re-version of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers began broadcasting in early 2010 instead. However, in mid-2010, Haim Saban bought the Power Rangers franchise back from Disney and production was restarted during that year for a 2011 series.
Jungle Fury was originally set to be the final season, but obligations with Bandai forced Disney to produce one more season.

Reception

RPM is commonly considered to be one of the darkest, best, and most adult-oriented seasons in all of Power Rangers history. Flixist ranked it second-best out of twenty seasons, remarking "showrunners decided to go for broke and throw everything they had into creating a post-apocalyptic film for kids. Lifting creative elements from films like Mad Max and Terminator, then adding a Power Rangers layer helped give this season a vibe no other season had before. It was more creatively cemented than years past, and actually had good cinematography". Geeky Brummie ranked it third, saying "Dillon and Ziggy are two of the best rangers and work fantastically together. The season also has some of the most surprising revelations in the franchise’s history". Comic Art Community ranked it fourth, saying "The childlike elements of the base material were generally ignored for a very dark, adult season of the show that involved the attempted genocide of mankind which included various character deaths in the show". Eric Francisco, writing for Inverse, called it the darkest, the best, and "smart, clever, and so hysterically funny that it should stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best cult science-fiction series", and echoed the connections to Mad Max and The Terminator.

Cast and characters

RPM Rangers
Allies
Villains