"Power Rangers Ninja Storm" (2003) TV series 2003-2004

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Directors:

Mark Beesley
Britta Johnstone

Writers:

Art Edler Brown (writer)
Mark Hoffmeier (writer)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

15 February 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

A new kind of power is coming this February

Plot:

Three rebellious students are the last ones remaining at their ninja academy after evil aliens attack the Earth...

Plot Keywords:

Ninja | Ninjitsu | Martial Arts | Kids And Family

Cast

Jason Chan	...	Cameron 'Cam' Watanabe / ... (38 episodes, 2003)
Adam Tuominen	...	Hunter Bradley (34 episodes, 2003)

Runtime:

30 min (38 episodes)

Country:

USA | New Zealand

Certification:

Netherlands:MG6 | USA:TV-Y7 | Australia:PG (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Sacred Heart College, Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand

Company:

BVS International N.V.

Trivia:

The first Power Rangers season since Turbo to not feature rangers returning from the previous season (Adam and Justin from Power Rangers Turbo returned during in Space, and Power Rangers Lost Galaxy started the team-up tradition).

Quotes:

Lothor: I don't care much for schedules. You see, I'm a results oriented evil genius.

Movie Connections:

Followed by "Power Rangers R.P.M." (2009)

A tossup between good and bad

This season was Disney's new experiment and it was an attempt to unite many aspects that people were looking for in a Power Rangers show. Some wanted it to be like the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, other wanted it to have a very deep storyline to continue the shows gradual change to an adult audience over the years ever since the shows became standalone stories, and yet others wanted an entirely new take on what they though Power Rangers should be....

What Disney ultimately produced was a show (1)that had a lot of MMPR like jokes and puns (which I personally found extremely annoying and was glad that the direction of the series from Space to Wild Force did not use them)which was both great for fans of the old shows and horrid for fans of the new shows, (2) a show that gave depth only when a multipart cycle was started, but hardly any for individual episodes, and (3) tried to appeal to as many different people as possible.

My thoughts are: The premise for the show was corny since it tried to combine crouching tiger: hidden dragon with aliens from space. Once the show was started, however, it did have interesting cycles like the Thunder Strangers, Return of Thunder, and the Samuria's Journey. The problem is that not much attention was given to individual episodes. I personally liked Lost Galaxy for its talent to have episodes not part of a story cycle that spoke an important message and Wild Force's almost continuous cycle throughout the show.

Another thing that I disliked was that Lothor turned from a villain to be respected to one that could not be taken seriously at all. This combined with the fact that Ninja Storm had no overall message made me generally rank this show low on the Power Rangers scale. Time Force's message of "I make my own destiny" was great and so was Wild Forces message about poluting the earth and the heart. Ninja Storm did not even stress the message of discipline, honor, and all that other ninja stuff.

Nuff Said.