Erika Fong

Power Rangers Samurai is a television series and the seventeenth entry of the Power Rangers franchise', which is based on the Japanese Super Sentai Series. The season was the first to be produced by Saban Brands after it acquired the franchise from The Walt Disney Company. The season marks the franchise's debut on Nickelodeon, premiering on February 7, 2011. Samurai uses props, footage, script, an...

Power Rangers Samurai is a television series and the seventeenth entry of the Power Rangers franchise', which is based on the Japanese Super Sentai Series. The season was the first to be produced by Saban Brands after it acquired the franchise from The Walt Disney Company. The season marks the franchise's debut on Nickelodeon, premiering on February 7, 2011. Samurai uses props, footage, script, and characteristics from Samurai Sentai Shinkenger and, according to press material, had a "brighter tone and an infusion of fun and comedy that wasn't present in seasons 16 and 17." Samurai is also the first season to be shot and broadcast in 16:9 widescreen and in HD. Though 2006's Boukenger (which was adapted into Operation Overdrive) was the first Super Sentai series to be shot in widescreen using Super 35 and Super 16 mm film, preceding Power Rangers seasons were not. However, Shinkenger was also the first Sentai series to be filmed with an HD camera at 720p resolution through Go-Busters. Samurai also returns the series to a multi-seasonal format; the second season, titled Power Rangers Super Samurai, began on February 18, 2012 and is officially considered the nineteenth season overall. Synopsis Centuries ago in Japan, a race of monsters known as the Nighloks invaded the Earth, but were defeated by a team of five samurai warriors who utilised supernatural kanji symbols to counter the Nighlok invasion. These warriors were the first Samurai Power Rangers, and they later passed down the knowledge of their symbol power to their children who continued the fight against the Nighloks. For hundreds of years, successive generations of the Samurai Rangers have defended the Earth from the Nighlok threat. When the ruler of the Nighloks, the evil Master Xandred, returns once more, the eighteenth generation of Samurai Power Rangers must assemble to prevent Xandred and his army from flooding the planet with the waters of the Sanzu River to bring about the end of civilization. The team is made up of Red Ranger Jayden Shiba, a skilled and stoic leader; Blue Ranger Kevin, a devoted second-in-command who values tradition and organisation; Pink Ranger Mia Watanabe, the compasionate "big sister" of the group; Green Ranger Mike, a rebel jokester with a creative mind; and Yellow Ranger Emily, the youngest and most innocent of the group. They are later joined by Gold Ranger Antonio Garcia, an excitable fisherman and tech genius who was not born into the Samurai life like the rest of the team but instead created his own Ranger powers with technology. Promotion Saban announced they would be enacting an "aggressive" multimedia focus, with planned apps, games, streaming content, and social media content in addition to live shows and a feature film. The run-up to the new series was promoted by 145 Days of Power Rangers, a daily airing of every Mighty Morphin episode in order. An official Power Rangers Facebook page was also created. On November 24, 2010, the Power Rangers website placed a trailer for the show online, hosted on Yahoo! Kids. The new Samurai Rangers also appeared at the 2010 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Paul Schrier has a recurring role in the season, reprising his role as Bulk originating from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Jason Narvy subsequently reprised his role as Skull in the final episode. For the second batch of episodes airing in 2012, Saban began promoting the season with the title of "Super Samurai" to reflect the upgrades to the Rangers powers (glimpsed already in "Clash of the Red Rangers The Movie"). Actor Hector David, Jr., released an official teaser poster for "Super Samurai" on his Facebook profile. Cast and characters Rangers Alex Heartman as Jayden Shiba, the first Red Samurai Ranger Erika Fong as Mia Watanabe, the Pink Samurai Ranger Hector David Jr. as Mike, the Green Samurai Ranger Najee De-Tiege as Kevin, the Blue Samurai Ranger Brittany Anne Pirtle as Emily, the Yellow Samurai Ranger Steven Skyler as Antonio Garcia, the Gold Samurai Ranger Kimberley Crossman as Lauren Shiba, the second Red Samurai Ranger Supporting characters Rene Naufahu as Mentor Ji Felix Ryan as Spike Skullovitch Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier Villains Rick Medina as Deker Jeff Szusterman as the voices of Master Xandred and Octoroo Kate Elliott as the voice of Dayu Derek Judge as the voice of Serrator Cameron Rhodes as the voice of Professor Cog Geoff Dolan as the voice of Sergeant Tread John Dybvig as the voice of General Gut Guest stars Eka Darville as Scott Truman, RPM Ranger Operator Series Red (voice only, uncredited) Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch Episodes Season 1: Power Rangers Samurai (2011) Season 2: Power Rangers Super Samurai (2012) Reception By 2012, Power Rangers had an average of 2 million viewers. The highest rated episode was the May 15, 2011 broadcast of "The Blue and the Gold", with 3.7 million viewers. Comic book Papercutz produced two issues of a comic book based on Power Rangers Super Samurai. The Samurai Rangers also played a role in the 2018 comic Book Event "Shattered Grid", celebrating 25 years of the Power Rangers franchise. Awards and nominations Home media The complete season of Super Samurai was released on Blu-ray on December 4, 2012 and DVD on January 7, 2014 by Lionsgate Home Entertainment. References External links Official Power Rangers Website Power Rangers Samurai at Power Rangers Official Website Power Rangers Super Samurai at Power Rangers Official Website Power Rangers Samurai at Nickelodeon Power Rangers Samurai at IMDb