20 Years of Power Rangers - A Tribute to Power Rangers Lost Galaxy
 

This year the world celebrates 20 years of Power Rangers! To take part in the celebration, TokuNation.com is dedicating each month in the year to a different Power Rangers series, and for the month of January we've picked Power Rangers Lost Galaxy!

Featuring the first cast and crew in what is considered the "post-Zordon" era (Zordon met his fate at the end of Power Rangers In Space), Power Rangers Lost Galaxy is when Power Rangers as a whole slowly but surely began to cut ties with Angel Grove, teenagers with attitude, and villains that we loved. It is the last series (prior to Power Rangers Samurai) to feature Bulk and Skull, with the latter appearing only briefly in the first episode. There is no Juice Bar (well, there's a bar...), there are no school activities or Angel Grove High, this is when Power Rangers decides to think outside the box.

And someone dies. Well, technically, two somebodies die.

Join us in this brief but memorable look back at Power Rangers Lost Galaxy with 18 images from the show and the merchandise (taken by fans from around the Internets)! Don't forget to check out our GingaMan galleries - GigaRhinos (Centaurus Megazord) and GigaPhoenix (Stratoforce Megazord)!

SERIES: Saban's Power Rangers Lost Galaxy
SENTAI: Seijuu Sentai Gingaman

MAIN CAST
Leo Corbett (Red Ranger): Danny Slavin
Kai Chen (Blue Ranger): Archie Kao
Damon Hendersen (Green Ranger): Reggie Rolle
Maya (Yellow Ranger): Cerina Vincent
Kendrix Morgan (Pink Ranger #1): Valerie Vernon
Karone (Pink Ranger #2): Melody Perkins
Mike Corbett (Magna Defender): Russell Lawrence
Trakeena: Amy Miller

SUPPORTING CAST
Commander Stanton: Tom Whyte
Bulk: Paul Schrier
Professor Phenomenous: Jack Banning

SPECIAL GUEST STARS
Skull: Jason Narvy
Andros: Christopher Khaymen Lee
TJ: Selwyn Ward
Carlos: Roger Velasco
Ashley: Tracy Lynn Cruz
Cassie: Patricia Ja Lee

VOICE CAST
Scorpius - Kim Strauss
Deviot - Ed Neil
Magna Defender #1 voice - Kerrigan Mahan
Villamax - David Lodge

Zords
Lion Galactabeast
Gorilla Galactabeast
Condor Galactabeast
Wolf Galactabeast
Wildcat Galactabeast

The above five combine together to form THE GALAXY MEGAZORD!

Torozord - combines with Magna Defender to become the The Defender Torozord!

The Phoenix Galactabeast becomes the Stratoforce Megazord!

The Rhino Galactabeast becomes the Centaurus Megazord!

The Shark Galactabeast becomes the Zenith Carrier Zord, which carries the Centaurus Megazord as well as the Stratoforce Megazord!

BRIEF STORY RECAP:
Through the joys of being a rebellious youth, Leo Corbett is able to get aboard Terra Venture, a traveling space station set out to explore the vast reaches of the galaxy and maybe, just maybe, find a new place for humanity to live. Because being a rebellious youth always leads you to random adventures, Leo finds himself on a distant planet in a distant galaxy ... the planet Miranoi, to assist alien-that-looks-human Maya against the invasion of Scorpius ... along with his brother Mike and the member of the science team, Kendrix.

Kai and Damon arrive later ... in the Astro Megaship, which had been serving as a museum on Earth.

Through fate - Mike, Kendrix, Kai, Maya, and Damon pull the mysterious Quasar Sabers, which grant whomever pulls them immense power to defeat evil. If you can pull the sword it is because you were destined to - until Mike shatters that thought by falling in to a crevasse, giving his Quasar Saber to Leo, who then, along with the others, use them to morph in to the Power Rangers of the Lost Galaxy!

Later, Scorpius is looking for the Lights of Orion, an object(s) that can grant immense power. The only thing between him and the power? The mysterious Magna Defender ... and the Power Rangers too, but they seem to arrive late to the show. But who is the Magna Defender? What is his big deal and why is he both an ally and an enemy to the Power Rangers? You'll have to watch the show for that spoiler!

The biggest and most talked-about point of the series is the return of the Psycho Rangers, the villains who tormented the Power Rangers In Space in the previous season. Trakeena manages to unleash the Psycho Rangers once again and the Lost Galaxy Rangers are no match. They fall, one by one, until Leo is saved ... by the Red Space Ranger?! Andros returns to lend Leo and the Magna Defender a helping hand in saving their friends. When the going gets rough, the rough have friends who break in to a flying museum and steal their morphers, as TJ, Cassie, Carlos, and Ashley return to help the Galaxy Rangers!

The Power Rangers are victorious ... except Psycho Pink has managed to survive, and attacks the two Pink Rangers with a fury. In the ultimate sacrifice, Kendrix, the Pink Galaxy Ranger, sacrifices her life to save the Pink Space Ranger Cassie, and the Galaxy Rangers are down to four (plus the Magna Defender). To top it off, the Quasar Saber took off when Kendrix died, so like good friends, the Space Rangers take this time to leave (!??!). The Quasar Saber shows up at an auction ... and is purchased by ASTRONEMA?!?!

Except it's really Karone, the good girl version of Astronema, and the sister of the Red Space Ranger Andros! Because she's awesome, she saves the day and is given the power of the Pink Galaxy Ranger.

There's even more adventures after that, including an actual adventure IN TO the Lost Galaxy where the Power Rangers face Captain Mutiny! The Red Galaxy Ranger receives his Battleizer, and the final battle with Trakeena takes place!

You can catch Power Rangers Lost Galaxy airing on The Vortexx, as an entire series on Netflix Streaming, or you can be a good patron and purchase From MMPR to Lost Galaxy via TimeLife.com!

FUN FACTS:
- Hoping to capture the same magic that was captured with Power Rangers In Space, Saban chose to make Lost Galaxy a space-themed show as well.
- The Magna Defender morpher is actually a retooled Diaranger Aurachanger (which is from Dairanger, the series that brought us the White Mighty Morphin Power Ranger but none of the other Ranger suits)
- Valerine Vernon had to cease production after it was discovered she had leukemia
- Patricia Ja Lee was reportedly to become the new Pink Galaxy Ranger, but due to contractual disputes, Melody Perkins returned to fill that role. There are rumors that there is an actual episode that was filmed of Patricia Ja Lee as the Pink Galaxy Ranger, but no evidence (other than testimonials) have ever surfaced
- Lost Galaxy was one of the most expensive Power Rangers series ever produced
- Reggie Rolle and Amy Miller went on to get married off-screen, becoming the first (and only) married Power Rangers couple (the Green Ranger married a bug, yikes!)
- Kickback hated the "orchestrated" music that this series played, and missed the more "rock" melodies of previous series

wasnt mikes morpher an aura changer from gosei sentai dairanger?

I could have sworn it was a retooled Gold Zeo Ranger morpher. At least in the show.

Nope it is definitely a retooled Diaranger Aurachanger. The Gold Zeonizer was never used in any show. Althought a DX toy of it was released in the US.

Well, learn something new everyday! Changed. I blame the flu.

I thought Lost Galaxy was made a space series to ride off of In Space's success, not because they jumped the gun like with Megaranger.

You're right.

This is what I get for being doped up on medicine. It was In Space that they jumped the gun with.

Ugh. haha. WE HAVE 11 MORE OF THESE TO GET THEM RIGHT!

Best line from this series...

Karone: "Galactabeasts, over here!"

:lol :lol :lol

Also, fans of Maya take note -- Cerina Vincent went on to star in films such as Eli Roth's Cabin Fever, as well as the spoof Not Another Teen Movie, where you can see all of her sizable... assets on display quite prominently, as she plays the always-nude Foreign Exchange Student.

It's hard to pick a favorite series, but lost galaxy is definitely a contender for me. And to this day the Magna Defender suit is my favorite from sentai/power rangers.

Who was the idiot that thought it would be a great idea to place a gorilla face on the pelvic region of the Megazord?

I have a huge love for this series, and I think most of it comes from the Team-up/hand-off. To the Tenth Power/Power of Pink is still my favorite PR Team-up by far. I was impressed that they were able to actually, IMO, top Zordon's death by actually offing a ranger. Sure, she came back at the end, but it was surprisingly mature stuff for PR. We wouldn't see that sort of thing again until Time Force, and even then, Lost Galaxy did it better. I also really like that Karone got the opportunity to become a ranger and truly redeem herself. I think it ended up being a happy accident that Patricia Ja Lee didn't end up replacing Valerie Vernon (though it was because, as usual, Saban didn't wanna pay her as much money).

We also got one of the coolest final battles in the series, with Leo making a badass suicide attack before Carter made it his thing.

I actually knew that :lol

Anyway, rumor has it Danny Slavin only used the series to get through college. What's he up to nowadays, since he apparently really wants to distance himself from the show.

The prevailing memory I have about Lost Galaxy is Magna Defender. If I'm remembering right, he was the first character with a mature backstory. His son and wife dying, being hellbent on revenge. He was Gosei Knight before Gosei Knight was Gosei Knight. All badass and awesome. I even liked the character when Magna became Mike's brother. The suit, the Zord, the whole thing just works for me.

And he had a badass henshin. Throwing his sword skyward like a boss and catching like it a bigger boss after he changes.

I always enjoyed Lost Galaxy. Its an underrated series with some great action and a mostly competent cast.

The story is somewhat weak though; especially during the whole Lights of Orion thing. I remember hearing various tales of production woes about it; including one horror story of an episode that was still being filmed hours before the airdate.

Lost Galaxy was a great series, I thought. Both the adapted stuff and the original stuff worked very well, I thought. Plus they managed to work in one of my favorite Super Sentai baddies in Captain Mutiny/Captain Zahab. Great costumes and meka, plus one of the best allied characters ever in Magna Defender. And of course, To The Tenth Power is one of the best episodes of the entire franchise.

Thanks for the Gallery!

This series is bittersweet for me.

For starters, I loved that Power Rangers left Earth and left Angel Grove to discover what else is out there. The series got away from its roots and really opened itself up and expanded itself. On Earth we got just a few tidbits of other things ... Aquatar, Triforia, aliens from far distant galaxies that came to Earth to conquer it ... and in this series, the Power Rangers went to them after defeating the leader of the last group of villains during In Space.

Magna Defender, and his entire storyline, remains one of my favorites. Here's a hero who was consumed by rage after his son died, so much that with his dying breath, took the body and spirit of another to enact his revenge, and only in his end did he realize that being a hero isn't about revenge, but about saving others ... and while he couldn't save his son, he could save Terra Venture and all the people, and freed Mike while doing so.

Mike was a wasted character on the other hand - literally the "backup Ranger" and was written and treated as such until the Lost Galaxy and Captain Mutiny bits where he lost his powers. Karone was also wasted ... it's like the writers didn't know what to do with her, so they just stuck her with Leo and then never really expanded on her life more than the Astronema bits from the past when Leo got his battleizer.

It does feature one of the best finales in terms of "Red Ranger vs Main Bad Guy" though. And hey, it's really the first series to feature a Power Ranger ripping his shirt off just because.

It was our farewell to Bulk and Skull ... Skull, who is left asleep in their apartment and Bulk who becomes nothing more than a spotty guest character (almost as bad as Samurai). They won't return, obviously, until Forever Red ... and then not again until Samurai.

Overall, a good series (the greatest theme), and a nice change from the norm. But Power Rangers was never the same after it, and it lost a lot of magic for me when it transitioned in to Lightspeed Rescue.

correct. i believe hes an attorney

The magic wasn't lost, Lightspeed Rescue killed. It was the end of the old era for me. Lost Galaxy was a great show that still linked itself back to the old days. Lightspeed Rescue was so disconnected, generic, and cookie cutter that it was painful to watch. Even as a kid. Time Force redeemed things quite a bit for me but Lightspeed is where the franchise began to die.

I rewatched a few episodes this month and ended up liking it more than I previously remember. I think some episodes need a bit more time in the editing room though, such as the one where they only call for the Stratoforce megazord but the Centaurus shows up in it's place.

At it's time though, Lost Galaxy was the most expensive PR season ever. Saban reportedly canceled season 2 of Mystics Knights of Tir Na Nog to put that money in LG's budget. Don't know about all of you, but I think I would have rather had a second.season of Mystic Knights.

Here's how I look at the timeline of Power Rangers.

MMPR S1 = Grew, became popular
MMPR S2 = Mega-hit
MMPR S3 = Began to lose what made it the mega-hit
Zeo = Recaptured a lot of what it lost, but the suit transition lost a lot of people
Turbo = Nearly buried the franchise
In Space = The SciFi aspect of being in space brought the show back to MMPR S3/Zeo levels
Lost Galaxy = Magic began to wear off, show began to get lost as most "popular" shows do when they begin to "run too long"
Lightspeed Rescue = The beginning of copy/paste of Sentai, the series lost me at this point
Time Force = Recaptured those who weren't that far gone, but for the old-timers, we never noticed it until the last couple of years
Wild Force = The show goes to prove that an egotistical actor (Rick Medina) can almost single-handedly destroy a show
Ninja Storm = A successful reboot under Disney
Dino Thunder = Recaptured the magic of previous years, Tommy being back helped
SPD = Like "In Space", the SciFi element helped. Too bad the producer blew the budget ruining a true "6th" Ranger with Omega
Mystic Force = BEAUTIFUL series (seriously, I love Briarwood), a different twist, captured the "Harry Potter" popularity
Operation Overdrive = ...again, proof that copy/cutting Sentai doesn't work, especially when you have a cast who can't act (or that you at least can't stand to watch on screen)
Jungle Fury = ...different. Kalish's big exit. I won't compain, we had 3 original Rangers
RPM = If I could have sex with a series I would have sex with this one. Nothing about this season do I hate. Nothing. Well, except maybe that Eddie G's finale will never be shown or 100% confirmed (Dylon being Venjix's final body, zomg!)
Samurai = Recaptured the magic with a successful reboot, as Jason David Frank would say, "Kids love cheese, so give them cheese"

I won't get into it because this is the Lost Galaxy thread but I wll tolerate no bashing of Lightspeed Rescue.

I agree 99% with kickbacks list above, With the exception that I didn't watch Mystic Force and I turned Jungle Fury off the second the new Zealand actors walked into the Rin Juken set......

part of that was when Tir Na Nog didn't get picked up for a second season it's allotted budget got added to 'Lost Galaxy'

I thought To The Tenth Power was pretty good, but I think the title of "best episode" goes to The Power of Pink... unless that counts as part of To The Tenth Power.

While popularity doesn't necessarily equate quality and vice versa, I think the general disdain towards some series (Lightspeed, Wild Force, and Ninja Storm, most especially) blocks the light out for these diamonds in the rough.

I don't get the hate for Ninja Storm, oh sure it was dumb and goofy.... but I loved it, and so many of the fights, and It got me back into PR.

Wild Force, One of these days I should go back, but I've just never had the urge too.

Lightspeed......You invested billions in technology to fight these monsters, but couldn't invest $10 in a padlock? That killed ep. 1 for me.....

I don't but it certainly is up there as well. It depends on what you are looking for in an episode. For just a straight 30 minute action episode To The Tenth Power is hard to beat.

I dunno. Operation Overdrive is awful but its pretty different to Boukenger.

As for Lost Galaxy - I enjoyed Deviot, Mutiny, To the Tenth Power and the finale. That's about it.

So is Lightspeed Rescue when you get down to it. But usually everyone is too wrapped up in "Lightspeed Sucks RAR!" to pay much attention.

Lost Galaxy is also one of the best examples of the adaptive nature of Power Rangers. It took a show like Gingaman, where they rode HORSES, and turned it into a science fiction show on a space station. In this era of fansubs, I don't need PR to directly adapt storybeat by storybeat the super sentai it is adapted from. So be creative with it!

You should check out Wild Force. I still don't see the hate it gets. The hammy acting was in series before and after, the acting in general wasn't terrible, the environmental message doesn't come up as often as everyone bitches about it, and it's just a fine show.

And the small things are overlooked all the time, even in the real world.

I think we may have found something we can actually agree on.

I like Wild Force quite a bit. At the time it's hemming very closely to Gaoranger didn't bother me at all; this was before fansbs were common and the best you could hope for were raws and then reading Jill's Sentai Site to figure out the story.

Man I tell you Wild Force was just painful for me to watch. That show was so hard for me to sit through that when I finally popped my sentai cherry I just couldn't check out Gaoranger. I loved all the designs for the mecha and ranger suits but Wild Force had just soured me on it. Thankfully I did eventually get to it and loved it. Ninja Storm was much the same way, the show was just so silly that it made it hard to appreciate the designs of the costumes and mecha for a long time.

i dunno i enjoyed lost galaxys but i did not like the captain mutaniy arc due to the poorly spliced in sentai footage on the DVD set you can clearly see them in a rocky area with know tree to sentai footage wwith trees in a instante. i enjoued Gaoranger more then whild force but for me in Power ranger terms i will say i liked lightspeed its was the first serise that i nearly owned all the megazords in it.

Deviot, until Zeltrax and later Tenaya 7 and Killabyte, was the last GREAT general.

It seems strange that its Lost Galaxy month but we're only discussing it near the end of January

We had some obstacles that were unforeseen take place, namely me, so I apologize. Next month's will be MUCH earlier.

Another fun fact: The armor used by the Terra Venture soldiers is the same armor used by the Mobile Infantry soldiers in the Starship Troopers series.

See now I'd always thought they looked similar. I had no idea they were actually the same :lol