Power Rangers: In Space: Encyclopedia II - Power Rangers: In Space - Production

Power Rangers: In Space - Production

If Power Rangers: Turbo had been a struggle regarding constant changing in the show's cast and adapting humor-driven sentai footage to match a more serious themed storyline, PRiS would be an even bigger nightmare. With a reduced budget (due to the failures of Turbo) and rumors that the show would be cancelled if the ratings did not improve, the writers decided to go all out in terms of providing PRiS a interstellar finale which would draw the various storylines from the previous seasons to a close. The decision to make the series space-centric, came after seeing preliminary character designs for the MegaRangers and their respective mecha/Zords. The preliminary sketches showed the MegaRangers riding surfboards in outer space and mecha/zords that went from spaceship to giant robot. But there was one small problem, due to the fact that Saban and Toei failed to communicate with each other regarding the plot for "MegaRanger". Saban assumed it would be an outer space-themed sentai series; in truth Toei had created a video-game/electronic gadget themed sentai series that never left earth.

Faced with an impossible task of reconciling the wants of the writers and the footage at hand, it was decided by Judd Lynn to go ahead with the "space war" storyline in spite of the problems with the "MegaRanger" footage. A great deal of the budget would be spent creating cheap green screen space footage for the Zords travelling in space as well as shooting new fight scenes with the "...In Space" Rangers which were tinted a different color for broadcast so as to create the appearance of the battles taking place on alien worlds.

Two team-up episodes were commissioned along the way bringing Blake Foster (Justin from "Power Rangers Turbo") and Johnny Yong Bosch (Adam, the Original Black Power Ranger and Green Zeo and Original Green Turbo Ranger) to the show to try and tie up loose ends. The Phantom Ranger, who's identity was never revealed in "Turbo", was also brought back for a multi-episode arc but plans to reveal his identity fell through due to budget problems forced Lynn to cut the episode where his identity was to be revealed.

Also, the show would be the first Power Rangers series to be completely serialized, in that the entire season one whole story with plots continuing from each epiosde. This series also featured plot devices and storylines never before seen in a Power Rangers series. It is also notable in that it is the first to feature a power-up for the Red Ranger (the Battlizer), which was also an original creation and not originally from Sentai. This would become standard practice in the following seasons, as every Red Ranger after Andros would get their own enhancement (in Power Rangers: Ninja Storm and beyond, the name 'Battlizer' would be used again). However, in Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue, the Blue and Green Rangers would receive enhancements as well, and in Power Rangers: Time Force, the Quantum Ranger, also considered to be a Red Ranger, would receive a power-up himself. The series is also highly regarded for being the first Power Rangers series to feature sympathetic and multi-dimensional villains in the form of Astronema and Ecliptor. Astronema was Red Space Ranger Andros' sister, Karone, who was kidnapped by the cruel Darkonda as a child and raised by the cyborg Ecliptor to be the evil Dark Spectre's harbringer of evil. When Astronema learns the truth about her identity, she is tortured and brainwashed into staying evil by Dark Spectre and Darkonda. Ecliptor, who sees himself as Astronema's father due to him raising her, gains a level of depth not seen by many villains on the show when he tries to defend his adopted daughter, only to be cruely tortured by the sadistic Darkonda, who forces a merger of the two into a singular entity that leaves Ecliptor broken both physically and mentally.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Production", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki