The Real World? Whaaa...? It's a TRAP!!!: The Top 5 shows "Competing" against Power Rangers...

When I was a child...no, when we were children....there was a show...a glorious, wonderful, action-packed 1/2 hour show that keep my attention, Monday-Friday at 4:00pm EST (sometimes 4:30, depending on the year...)

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Zack (the black ranger), Trina (the yellow ranger), (Billy (the blue ranger), Kimberly (the pink ranger), Jason (the red ranger) and Tommy (as both the Green and White Ranger)...

(Go Go....Power.....Rangers....(you go...))

Man! that was a part of my CHILDHOOD!.....BUTTTTTTTTT......there were "others"....dozens.....of action shows during the 1990's....But did you ever wonder why? Well, there are a few reasons...

1) MMPR + the others were all shows that used stock footage from several Japanese television shows

(ex. MMPR footage comes from the Super Sentai television show) so they were easier to produce.

(It's soooo wild to hear it in Japanese instead of English!)

2) Because of the popularity of MMPR, several companies/networks decided to compete against the titan, with only a few actually having any significant "live action" market share...

3)The same people that produced MMPR produced the majority OF the competition...

So after doing a bit of research, and recollecting memories from my youth, here are my top 5

"Power Ranger Competitors"....(some may call them "knockoffs", but I call them "memories")...

5) Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation

You know them, you love them, everyone's favorite radioactive reptilians Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael ,are off to fight crime. This time, the turtles drop April and her yellow raincoat and pick up some XX Chromosome with help from a bald, sassy new turtle, aptly named "Venus De Milo". Splinter, Shredder, and new villains are along for the ride as the turtles travel about the city streeets and even into space....They earned the #5 spot in my heart, simply because they had a CROSSOVER WITH the POWER RANGERS!

(That.... was an epic hour....)

4) Masked Rider

Known as Kamen Rider Black RX in Japan, Masked Rider holds the #4 spot among my "Power Rangers Competitors" because he had a kick ass motorcycle! The basic plot for the this show follows Dex, a Prince from the planet Edoni, who is sent to earth to save the earth from his uncle Count Dregon. Using the power of the Masked Rider, Dex lives on earth, adopted into a "politically-corrected" family, and protects us from 'space debris' with his superhuman abilities.....he even had a ferbie-like pet named....FERBUS....(stretch?)
......and of course...he was on Power Rangers as well..

...(Being on MMPR is like chilling in the VIP section of the Action Club...)

3) Big Bad Beetleborgs

BBB ascends to the #3 spot in my "Power Rangers Competitors" because they were cool, they actually had decent powers, and they were children...(and seeing that I was a child at the time, the reality of this happening to me seemed all the more real). With clips and characters taken from the Japanese action show Juuko B-Fighter & B-Fighter Kabuto, Drew (blue/gold), Jo (red/purple) , Roland (green/silver), and towards the end of the series Josh (white) were children who wished to be comic book heroes, and with their wish, came endless battles with Vexor, Magnavore monsters, and others...

Oh, and it they were given their powers from the almighty Jay Leno aka Flabber...True Story.

2) Superhuman Samurai Cyber Squad

SUUPPPPERR HUMMANNN SAMUURAIII.....My #2 show in this countdown, SSSS incorporates footage from Japan's Denkou Choujin Gridman. The show follows Sam Collins and his high school band-mates/lackies, Tanker, Sydney, Amp, and Lucky, who battle the 'goth-nerd' Malcolm Frink, and the evil virus K.I.L.O.K.A.H.N. within the digital world. When Sam becomes Servo, he and his friends battle virtual monsters, while dealing with the issues of high school drama. I think the real reason why I enjoyed this show so much was because it WASN'T created by Saban Entertainment, who created the other FOUR "competitors" on this list...

(The show was originally going to be called "Powerboy" but that would have been tooooo close to The King, "Power Rangers" ....)

...And the #1 Competitor to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers....is......

1) V.R. Troopers

(Peep the EXPLOSION...you know it will be good if there is fire...)

1) VR Troopers

This show had it all....cool graphics...racial diversity....a talking dog....and it took footage from not one, but THREE Japanese action shows: Superhuman Machine Metalder, Dimensional Warrior Spielban, and Space Sheriff Shaider. Three martial artist named Ryan, J.B., and Kaitlin, train vigorously, while Ryan deals with abandoment issues. His curiousity about his father leads them to the desert, and a digital black man (named Professor "Horatio" Hart...lol...) who transforms them into warriors, fighting in the "Virtual Dimension" parallel to ours. The Troopers saved lives here on earth, while fighting the evil Grimlord, A monster disguised as a 'venture capitalist' and leader of a fortune 500 company....

There was a lot of stuff going on in this theme song.....

So that's my top 5 "Power Ranger Competitors"....Nothing can quite touch MMPR, but I'd say that VR Troopers came the closest to diverting my attention...of course, there are some BAD shows that came nowhere NEAR any of these five....my "honorable mention"...aka "Horrible Mention..."...aka "REAL KNOCKOFFS" below...not quite worth my time to write about....but hey, maybe you enjoyed them more than I did...

Honorable Mention...