Power Rangers Zeo is an American superhero drama serving as an adaptation of the 19th Super Sentai series Chouriki Sentai Ohranger, and is the fourth installment of the Power Rangers franchise. Set directly following the finale of Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers which saw the destruction of the Rangers’ Command Center, the Rangers scramble to recover by discovering the Zeo Crystal, which grants them new powers needed to fight the impending Machine Empire.
Prior to the series premiere, 32 non-canonical Zeo Serial shorts were each shown in place of the “Today on Power Rangers” segments during the last run of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 3 and Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers.Following the release of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, Saban had to deal with a general decline in the brand’s popularity. While ratings for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers were still solid during the show’s third season, consistently ranking #1 in its weekday time slot, they nevertheless fell from the show’s first two seasons. Combined with declining merchandise sales, Saban was faced with the threat of Power Rangers losing its phenomenon status.
With the fear of a continued decline, it was eventually decided that a major shakeup in the status quo was necessary. According to then-president of Saban’s children entertainment division, Peter Dang, a wide number of options were considered, including the possibility of killing off major characters. Producers eventually settled on cosmetic changes (and a few casting changes), to match the source footage of Chōriki Sentai Ohranger. This allowed a completely new range of merchandise to be released while cutting costs. Sentai footage could be heavily used again as it had early in the series’ run. [1][2][3][4][5]
Lead writer and co-producer Tony Oliver would elaborate further in 2007. “It seemed natural as the Sentai footage continued to evolve. It was also a bit more cost effective because the budget kept growing due to the increase in original footage we had to shoot with the Mighty Morphin Ranger suits. It also allowed us the stretch the storytelling out a bit, and get away from the norm established by the first three seasons.”
While early ratings for the show were high, maintaining the #1 ranking, they eventually faltered and the show struggled to beat out fellow Fox Kids shows Goosebumps and even sister-series Big Bad Beetleborgs. Saban then brought back Austin St. John in the role of Jason, hoping that the return of one of the original five Rangers would bring back older viewers.
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