It has been over month since the reveal of Power Rangers season 18, Power Rangers Samurai, a season that wants to get back to basics on a brand new network. And we are just twenty-four hours from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in which the Power Rangers Samurai will be revealing themselves to the world.  Late this evening, this promo appeared on the Power Rangers Official Website.  Its just a little taste what’s to come in less than 75 days on the networks of Nickelodeon.  What do you guys think?

I know haven’t blogged here in a while, but I do want to hear your responses.  When installing this new theme that over the past couple days, I kept finding massive number of spam comments that my spam blocker plugin was suppose to block.  So I installed Disqus to moderate my comments from now on.

So what questions will be answered tomorrow on Thanksgiving Day?  Will Power Rangers Samurai go on for two years as Uncle Eli said it would?  Are the rumors of Paul Schrier and Ricardo Medina’s involvement true.  What are the extra three episodes for Power Rangers Samurai for?  And will Bandai please revise those butt ugly Power Rangers Saumrai toys.

Find out next time on Valencia Road!!

Last Wednesday, a new version of PowerRangers.com bowed on the web, now ran by Saban and I got to say, it is miles better than the flash site created by Disney a couple years. Not to mention, they have updated it to RPM now.  There are still a couple of mistakes that many fans have pointed out, like some of the Rangers are not mentioned, episode descriptions are awkwardly worded and most of the online games are imported from the old Disney sites. But, this is a step in the right direction to establish a web home for PR in the time of social networking, with an iTunes store and Twitter and Facebook links in the works. The site also teases Season 18.

Also, the new site is showing all 145 episodes of the original broadcast versions of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers one by one until February 1st, with the newest episode as of this writing “A Different Drum”, featuring the battle with Gnarly Gnome with some temporarily renamed Power Weapons.

Also, there is some casting news as filming for season 18 got underway on Tuesday with the return of an old enemy as a new friend.  Rene Naufahu, who played the power-hungry Emperor Gruumm in Power Rangers S.P.D., is back in a mentor role playing a character named Takeru.  Its great to see Rene back in the saddle after a while, especially since did a great job as Gruumm in S.P.D.  Nafuahu, born in 1970, is known for his work in his native New Zealand in Shortland Street with appearances in The Matrix, The Beastmaster and Hercules: the Incredible Journeys.  This little piece of news came from the Facebook page of Ludus Magnus, a gym owned by Joe Nafuahu.

Hello everyone. I hope everybody who is at Power Morphicon is having a good time. Obviously, I’m among the fans that couldn’t go. However, when there is a third PMC held in in California, I WILL be there. And also, the convention is not the only thing that falls on the weekend.

In fact, this is a very special day. A special day that would that probably would have been more tragic if not for the Saban purchase earlier this year. Of all the days that the Reversioned Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, with all its superfluous bell whistles and incorrect captions, chose to come to an end, it chose August 28th, 2010.

Seventeen years to the day (and for some lucky ABC affiliates, the time) that “Day of the Dumpster” aired on Fox Kids.

If it wasn’t for the sale, this day would have been the bookend for the Power Rangers.  It would have been our childhood’s end, the last vestiges of both Fox Kids and the pre-E/I Saturday morning lineup gone.  There would be no question that the celebration going down in Pasadena would be muted.  It would have been a wake for the 90′s icon, a funeral for franchise that was once the best-selling toy brand in North America.  The Power would be gone.

Instead, we celebrate only the end of a era and turn the page to a new chapter in Power Rangers history.  The Disney Era of Power Rangers for all it hits and four-letter word-inciting misses is now over.  In a little under a month, the classic episodes we love and cherish, along which Disney’s contributions will air in October in Nicktoons.  The cast for the 18th season are now in New Zealand, training for their addition which will air on Nickelodeon in February.

Instead of mourning the end, we look to a new beginning.  And with that, I say Happy Birthday, you (Mighty Morphin) Power Rangers.

Cue the Zeo ending guitar riff.

Bandai has posted a short blog post answering some questions about the current Mighty Morphin Reversioned toyline as well as when the theme and name of the new toyline will be revealed.  The fall line of the MMPR 2010 toys have been released to Walmart, Meijer and Toys ‘R’ Us locations across the US.  The post also goes into detail describing how the toyline gets planned, designed and produced.

The “bonus” question about the theme of the new season and toyline gives the date as “late 2010″ with the toys on shelves in conjunction with the new season’s premiere on Nickelodeon in 2011.

And now, the waiting game begins.  Bandai also announced itself as the main sponsor for Power Morphicon next weekend in Pasadena, CA.  Possible reveal on August 27?  August is a late 2010.

Another recent bit of production news involves where in Auckland will season 18 be filmed.  Correspondence from Rangerboard member RangerWisdom has revealed that this season will be filmed at Studio West, twenty minutes from downtown Auckland.  The studio was also the previous home for Disney-owned Ranger Productions from Power Rangers Ninja Storm until Operation Overdrive.

News concerning the production of season 18 has been revealed through Twitter messaging and contacts to New Zealand.  First, the Stunt Guild of New Zealand revealed through email to Rangerboard member RangerWisdom that filming will start next month.  Mark Harris Stunt Productions LTD will be doing the stunts for this season.

A second bit of production news has bigger effects on this season and others to come.  One of the cameramen in New Zealand has revealed that this season of Power Rangers will be shot with the famous RED digital cameras used for such TV shows and as TNT’s The Cleaner, Southland and Leverage, the later seasons NBC’s ER and movies such as Gamer, Angels and Demons, and the Academy Award nominated District 9.  This is important to know for two reasons.

1. The RED series of cameras are known capturing footage at resolutions of 4,096 x 2,304 pixels, four times the resolution of 1080p HDTV (1920 x 1080).   The raw footage produced by the cameras would then be scaled down to HD.   That’s right, you heard me correctly.  Power Rangers in HD. The Blu-ray disc buzz words used by Saban and Marvista in the past couple of months will soon be come reality.   After three years of the horrid cropping, squashing and other general neglect during the Disney years, Power Rangers will air on Nickelodeon’s HD feed in widescreen format.  And…

2. Super Sentai has also started using RED cameras, starting last year with Shinkenger.  For the first time, PR and Sentai will be using the same equipment to film.  The footage switch, barring directorial and special effects differences, will be a little bit more seamless thanks to the new technology.  Not to mention each of the RED cameras alone (without viewfinders, mounts or lenses) cost $17,500.  Kinda makes you shudder wondering what would have happened if Disney had continued with the SD video tape used for Dino Thunder through R.P.M.  And the old days back when Saban had to use retail VHS copies of Zyuranger for Mighty Morphin.

Next years’ PR is set to be a groundbreaking one with a new cast, a new network, a new resources and  a whole new look.  Now if we only had a name.

Small update about the trademarks to PR since they are now owned by SCG Power Rangers, the new division of Saban Brands overseeing PR.

Also the grapevine’s telling us that casting may be soon in its final stages.

Originally Posted by RangerWisdom

To confirm even more what they said, here is what my source gave me yesterday:

A producer from New Zealand (I assume it might be the Executive Producer, Jonathon Tzachor) is in LA, and will be there for the next set of callbacks (which is confirmed to be final callbacks). After they decide who may go further, they’ll do screen tests and what not, and see which people look and work good together. It is said that Iris has a wall full of possible cast members (which is totally natural for most cast directors to do).

As for right now, it looks like only a few of the Power Rangers are being called in so far, so girls (including Princess Megan) and other cast members will probably be the following week. In other words, we’re coming to an end.

I was also contacted by an auditioner, and he was called back for final callbacks for Red, and another was called back for Green. And finally, someone I kind of know said that they know a couple of girls who got called back for Princess Megan and Pink, and one of them apparently showed sword presentation for the Megan role, and was blown away! So, that’s where things are as of right now.

Things have gotten interesting on the casting of the upcoming PR Season 18.  Two casting sides have appeared for two roles named Skinny Mack and Big Jack.  PR Historian Joe Rovang grabbed for all to see on Henshin Justice Unlimited.  Here are the sides as printed.  (more…)

While the cast is still in the process of put together, some indirect news came from a report talking about the delays of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit”.  Many workers in New Zealand are leaving Wellington for Auckland with PR being one reason.

Movie production workers, such as costume designers and set painters, had headed to Auckland where there was more work, Baldock said. “They’re being offered three-year contracts on [TV show] Power Rangers. It is a lower rate than The Hobbit would offer, but they’re looking for that continuity. Our movie reputation is drifting north.”

The three-year contracts show that Saban has a long term plan regarding Power Rangers and I am glad for this as well as a lot of workers getting jobs.

Obviously, a lot has happened since my last post and my first brief chronicle with the reversioned Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. For one thing, Dan Evans turned a fun, cheesy, awesome show into a less fun, cheesier, not-so-awesome show with the added special effects, labels and transitions. Secondly, like Power Rangers RPM, half the country was unable to see it, due the E/I requirement which left the non-E/I PR out to dry. After finding the reversioning would end on Labor Day weekend, the Power Rangers fanbase was in mourning.

And then, a second wind came. From the company that started it all.

Haim Saban’s repurchase of the Power Rangers franchise was a shock to everyone. And with the new deals made with Nickelodeon to air the new 40 episode season based on Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, the (unedited) re-airings of seasons 1-17 on Nicktoons, as well the intentions of DVD releases, online content and a third movie, Power Rangers may be in for a  second coming, following the footsteps of Transformers and the Marvel Universe in the past couple of years.

Personally,  I’m looking forward to what will be going down later this year starting from the reruns premiering in the fall to the new season coming in 2011.  Already we gotten the casting sides for this year with one thread on Rangerboard featuring what could be our new Rangers.   Who will don the spandex as Reese, Ava, Perry,  Baron, Sadie and Wesley?   What other plans do the people at Saban Brands and SCG Power Rangers LLC. have planned for the future of the Power? Will we finally see that third movie?  Will your blogger here finally have a site that lasts more than to two weeks?   Find out in the coming months as Valencia Road covers everything about Power Rangers season 18!