Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescueis perhaps the most underratedPower Rangersseason and deserves more love 25 years after it premiered. Although the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers dominated most of the 1990s between the original show,Zeo, and the first half ofTurbo,Power Rangerschanged forever in 1998 with the end of the Zordon Era. Rather than direct sequels, each newPower Rangersshowwould now be a standalone story with very few connections to the previous series. The first season to be made under this model wasPower Rangers Lost Galaxyin 1999.
The success ofLost Galaxymeant thatPower Rangers’ new strategy was working, which is why the following season,Lightspeed Rescue, did something similar. Instead of Angel Grove and teenagers with attitude,Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescuetook place in Marine Bay and followed a group of athletic, skillful adultswhose day jobs made them the perfect candidates to become superheroes. Such a different approach toPower Rangerscould have gone wrong, butLightspeed Rescuemade it work. Darker and more mature than the usualPower Rangersseasons,Lightspeed Rescuewas a great start for the franchise in the 2000s.
Power Rangers Ended The 1990s On A High Note
Power Rangers in SpaceandPower Rangers Lost Galaxyare considered two of the show’s best seasons and changed the franchise forever. WhereasIn Spacewrapped up the story that had begun in 1993,Lost Galaxyshowed that there could be more toPower Rangersthan just Zordon and Angel Grove.Both seasons were slightly more serious than their predecessors and also included more mature stories, all of which contributed to them becoming fan favorites. Therefore, whenLightspeed Rescuecame out, it had big shoes to fill.
Lightspeed Rescuewas sort of similar toLost Galaxyin the sense that its Rangers were adults working for a powerful organization. However, whereasLost Galaxywas pure sci-fi and showed whatStar Trekwould look like in thePower Rangersuniverse,Lightspeed Rescuewas more grounded and saw the Rangers working as first responders. Carter Grayson, theRed Ranger fromLightspeed Rescue, was a firefighter before being selected for the team. The group also included a paramedic, a pilot, and two athletes. While they all became friends,being a Ranger was their job and not an adventure.
What Made Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue Such A Great Season
Lightspeed Rescue Was More Serious But Still A Lot Of Fun
The idea that the Rangers were not exactly superheroes but rather public servants who just happened to have to deal with demons and monsters madeLightspeed Rescuespecial from the start. In almost 10 years ofPower Rangers, we rarely got to see the heroes simply helping people. InLightspeed Rescue, on the other hand,the Rangers often participated in rescue missions and helped firefighters and paramedics.The lore ofLightspeed Rescuewas also very interesting, as it established that the governments of Earth had been developing their own Power Rangers technology.
Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescuewas based onKyukyu Sentai GoGoFive.
Lightspeed Rescuemight not have had thebestPower Rangersvillains, but Queen Bansheera and her followers were solid antagonists. The fact that the villains were fighting among themselves and betraying each other was also interesting, especially because none of them were written to be comic relives like Rita, Zedd, and their minions.The Lightspeed Rangers operated greatly as a team, with Carter Grayson showing what a Red Ranger and leader should be like. This season also had one of the best sixth Rangers of all time,the Titanium Ranger.
There Aren’t Many Seasons Like Lightspeed Rescue In Power Rangers
Lightspeed Rescue Is One Of The Most Unique Power Rangers Seasons
The reason whyLightspeed Rescuehas aged so well is that there are not manyPower Rangersseasons like it. Of the ones that came afterLightspeed Rescue, only three can be compared to it in terms of having a darker tone and focusing on “human-made Rangers” –Time Force,S.P.D., andR.P.M.Even so, those three shows were more on the futuristic sci-fi side of things, whereasLightspeed Rescuewas relatively grounded, despite the demons.Lightspeed Rescueinvited us to imagine what the Power Rangers would be like if they were an elite team of first responders with superpowers.
10 “Mature” Power Rangers Seasons That Adults Will Enjoy
While there isn’t such thing as a gritty Power Rangers show, some of the saga’s most mature seasons can be enjoyed by adults regardless of nostalgia.
Lightspeed Rescuealso had a great deal of character development for all its protagonists. Each Power Ranger had at least a couple of episodes dedicated to them, and whatever lesson they learned at the end of those episodes would inform their characters going forward. That is not to mention the amazing theme song and the fantastic costumes – both the Ranger suits and the Lightspeed jackets. While it may not have been as good asIn SpaceandLost Galaxy,Lightspeed Rescuedeserves to be considered one of the bestPower Rangersseasons.
