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Power Rangers: Turbo - Production History
on numerous levels and is generally considered to be the jump the shark moment for the series. The series was launched with a theatrical movie "Turbo: A Power Ranger Movie", which was given a limited theatrical release and failed miserably to transition the Power Rangers from the "Zeo" season to "Turbo" as the film offered no explaination for the sudden change in costumes or powers. The film also saw the departure of Steve Cardenas from the Power Rangers franchise. Cardenas was injured while performing a stunt towards the end of Power Rangers Zeo and as a result, had to leave the series.
The departure of Cardenas led to what is considered the most controversial moment of the history of the Power Rangers franchise; as Fox executives forced Saban to add a child actor to the cast as Cardenas's replacement. Blake Foster was cast as Justin Stewart, the new Blue Turbo Power Ranger as a ploy to bring new young viewers to the show, since the core of the show's young viewership were now in their teens. The move backfired horribly, as the character failed to bring in new viewers and alienated a large portion of the existing older audience of the show.
Also there were the problems with the cast: two of the main actors on the show, Jason David Frank and Catherine Sutherland wanted to leave the show and pursue other projects. Both agreed to short-term contracts for 18 episodes, which would give the show's producers enough time to cast and introduce replacements for their characters. Another problem was the pregnancy of Hilary Shepard Turner, who played head "Power Ranger: Turbo" villain Divatox in "Turbo: A Power Ranger Movie". For the bulk of the season, Carol Hoyt would play Divatox until Turner could resume the role towards the end of the series.
Finally there was the problem of how to handle the source material for the show's fight and Zord footage. The 20th incarnation of the Super Sentai series, Carranger spoofed the long-running sentai formula and featured a lot of physical comedy and slapstick humor as the series progressed. This created problems for the writing team at Saban, who were divided between those who wanted gut Carranger down to the bare essentials so they could go with a more serious apocalypse storyline and those who felt that they should embrace the over-the-top campiness of the source material. This chaos was increased when longtime Power Ranger writer, Doug Sloan, left the series early in the show's run. The series progressed for 18 episodes before longtime Power Rangers writer, Judd Lynn (who was the main supporter of going the direction of making "Turbo" a comedy-centric series), was given the job as head writer.
When it came time to phase out Jason David Frank and Catherine Sutherland, it was decided to phase the entire original cast out sans Blake Foster, resulting in Johnny Yong Bosch and Nakia Burrise leaving the series as well. Zordon and Alpha-5 were also phased out and replaced with Dimitria (played by Carol Hoyt, upon the return of Hilary Shepard Turner) and the jive-talking robot Alpha-6 (both characters were also unpopular with viewers). New cast members were hired to take over the now open Ranger slots and a one-shot character from Carranger was made into a reoccuring sixth Ranger called the Phantom Ranger.
Ultimately by the end of the series' run, the ratings were down as the series began to prepare for yet another relaunching since the Carranger footage had run out. Blake Foster was let go and the series ended with the four rookie Power Rangers, now powerless, zordless, and with only Alpha-6 to guide them, borrowing a NASADA space shuttle and heading off into space to continue their fight against Divatox.
The series would have likely been cancelled had it not been for the following season, Power Rangers: In Space, which proved very popular with fans and introduced several plot devices and storylines never before seen in a Power Rangers series.
Other related archivesA-Squad, Adam, Adam Park, African American, Alpha 5, Alpha 6, Archerina, Ashley, Ashley Hammond, Astronema, Billy Cranston, Blue Senturion, Carlos, Carlos Vallertes, Cassie, Cassie Chan, Catherine Sutherland, Derek Stephen Prince, Dimitria, Divatox, Elsa, Eltar, Gekisou Sentai CarRanger, General Havoc, Japanese, Jason David Frank, Johnny Yong Bosch, Justin, Justin Stewart, Kat, Katherine "Kat" Hillard, Lex Lang, Maligore, Marah and Kapri, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Morgana, Nadira, Nakia Burrise, Phantom Ranger, Power Rangers, Power Rangers: In Space, Power Rangers: Ninja Storm, Power Rangers: SPD, Power Rangers: Time Force, Power Rangers: Wild Force, Power Rangers: Zeo, Rescue Zords, Rocky, Scorpina, Scott-Page Pagter, Selwyn Ward, Steve Cardenas, Super Sentai, T.J., T.J. Johnson, Tanya, Tanya Sloan, Thomas "Tommy" Oliver, Tommy, Toxica, Tracy Lynn Cruz, Trakeena, Turbo Megazord, Turbo Zords, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, Villains in Power Rangers: Turbo, Vypra, Zordon, Zords, Zords in Power Rangers: Turbo, jump the shark, police, robot, television series, television show
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Production History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
