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The Sentai Zone INTRODUCTION Teenage heroes in pastel, colour-coded costumes; bizarre transforming vehicles that sometimes combine to create one gigantic fighting machine; the strangest monsters ever seen on television. It can only be the strange Japanese phenomenon of the sentai series. Taken from the Japanese word for taskforce, the sentai started on television (though soon graduated to theatrical shorts and, later, direct-to-video releases), made by Toei and screened by TV Asahi virtually every year since the first show, Himitsu sentai Gorenjâ, screened in 1975. Along with Ultraman, Kamen Rider and Metal Heroes, the sentai were the science fiction staples on Japanese television throughout the 70s, 80s and beyond and their appeal still shows little sign of waning. The format for the shows are simple and largely interchangeable: a group of young people, usually five, mostly male with a token female thrown in for good measure, somehow gain special powers (the manner of gaining these powers became more far-fetched as time went on) and those snazzy coloured suits. They build themselves or have given to them the component vehicles that will make up their giant robot / spaceship / fighting machine / whatever-it-is and set out to save the Earth from the latest alien invasion. The format rarely changed though there are enough surface differences - mostly in the costume and mechanical designs - to make each series distinct from the others. Although sentai had been available among fans and collectors in the West for some time, it wasn't until 1993 that most non-Japanese got their first real taste of sentai action when US company Saban - already famous for importing and dubbing many Japanese shows - snapped up the special effects sequences from the 1992 variant, Kyôryû sentai Juurenjâ / Dinosaur Task Force Zyuranger, added newly-shot footage with an American cast and unleashed on the world Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (1993 - 1996). The show was as popular in the West as the sentai were back home and
led to their own series of spin-off series (Power Rangers Zeo
(1996), Power Rangers Turbo (1997), Power
Rangers in Space (1998), Power Rangers Lost Galaxy
(1999), Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue (2000), Power
Rangers Time Force (2001), Power Rangers Wild Force
(2002), Power Rangers Ninja Storm (2003), Power
Rangers Dino Thunder (2004), Power Rangers: SPD
(2005)), a couple of big-screen outings (Mighty Morphin Power
Rangers: The Movie (1995), Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie
(1997)) and a handful of imitators (VR Troopers (1994),
Masked Rider (1995), Big Bad Beetleborgs
(1996)). FILMOGRAPHY * = television 1975 1977 1979 1980 - 1981 1981 Taiyou
sentai Sanbarukan: The Movie 1982 1983 - 1984 1984 - 1985 1985 1986 - 1987 1987 - 1988 1988 1989 - 1990 1990 1991 - 1992 1992 - 1993 1993 1994 - 1995 1995 - 1996 1995 1996 1997 - 1998 Gekisô sentai Carranger vs Ohranger 1998 - 1999 1998 1999 - 2000 Seijû sentai Gingaman vs Megaranger 2000 - 2001 2000 2001 - 2002 2001 Mirai sentai Timeranger vs Gô Gô Fainbu 2002 - 2003 2003 - 2004 2004 - 2005 2005 - 2006
Last Updated: 1 January, 2009
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