I'm thinking of teaching my classmates about Power Rangers/Super Sentai.
 

In my class we have to do a 30 minute lesson on anything of our choosing. I'm thinking of doing it on Super Sentai/Power Rangers.

How could I do this and make it interactive?

What could I talk about?
I was thinking about talking about the different motifs of some of the seasons and the inspiration for some of the mecha.

Could I bring in a mecha?

I assume your in middle/high school?

I'd say choose a different topic. It is something you love and you will have fun doing it, no question, but ask yourself if you really want to talk about this in front of your class. I wouldn't have wanted to do that and I loved my class back in the day. But there's bound to be some asshole who makes fun of you and the rest will join in because that's what humans do. Which sucks for you and your presentation.

If you think your class is different, okay. But remember, something like Sentai can be hard to evaluate for a teacher. The presentation itself matters a lot, true, but the topic plays a role too. And using an entertainment show could also tick the teacher into giving you a bad grade because he thinks the topic is useless. Not that it is, but the teacher could think that.

I would advise you to come up with a better topic. Sorry.

I agree with Kiwami, but I would recommend giving a lesson on tokusatsu in general and the history of the genre. Give examples of Godzilla, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, Ultraman. Then you could mention how it's influenced America with the creation of Power Rangers and other Saban creations.

I like this idea. It would probably be easier to write, more interesting for the class, and more informative in general.

Yeah Tokusatsu in general, as an art of filmmaking, would be a good topic. Don’t start too cheesy with things like modern Sentai or how Power Rangers was made out of it, focus on early examples of the genre like Ultra Q, Godzilla and Ultraman.

Don’t explain the movies (most people know Godzilla anyways) explain the techniques of the genre. There’s some great literature to read up on that topic and behind the scenes shots with dudes in suits or people making miniature cities and props could be really interesting. If you have access to a beamer or if your school has a whiteboard (which I’m assuming is part of a presentation in modern schools) you could even show short clips of people assembling the suits or how they make the effects. That should interest your class and the teacher.

And of course, as an "outlook" to where the genre was headed and is today you can give a short lesson on today’s Rider, Sentai and stuff. But I would keep that short and at the end.

But as I said, don’t make it too cheesy, I would leave toys and stuff out of this.

I'll echo the comments of the others here. I think a presentation on Super Sentai alone is awfully narrow and might invite ridicule. A presentation on Tokusatsu that goes into its history and techniques along with brief descriptions of multiple Toku shows (including how the Saban stuff happened) could be pretty cool. Everyone knows what Power Rangers and Godzilla are, and connecting them to filmmaking techniques that are over 60 years old could make for a cool presentation. And if you want to fanboy a little, you could go into specifics for recommended shows at the very end, heh.

I'm a huge Tokusatsu fan. But I would never narrow down what kind of topic I would give an essay on for the above reasons given. So yeah, go with Tokusatsu in general, starting with some of the waaaaay back stuff and work up to modern Tokusatsu.

I agree with the others before me on this, but would like to stress a few possibilities as I have pondered how I would've done something similar:

A): If you want to give attention to Sentai, then you'll probably have to focus more on Power Rangers because that is what casual people will recognize. Sentai can easily get in there thanks to Shout's DVD releases, but don't make it too highbrow. Reference the differences between the two, like what PR kept and what PR cut (i.e.: King Sphinx and Dora Sphinx from Zyuranger).

B): Don't hesitate to give focus to Tokusatsu in general. Think of it this way, when Godzilla was ported-over, didn't they do new scenes with Raymond Burr to make it acceptable to American audiences of the time? Much of the same techniques: dubbing, cutting, and adding new scenes have been used by Saban and Disney with Power Rangers for years.

C): If intending to quote some of the Tokusatsu info from other sources to outline what you are trying to say, the August Ragone Sentai Trivia Videos on Shout's Youtube Channel would be a good start.

D): Consider the ages and maturity of the audience. Sentai can include more adult themes and might be too over-the-top for some people. Power Rangers is not championed by every single parent because of its subject matter and Sentai goes even further at times.

E): As what the others have said here, be mindful about the potential for ridicule. Most have no respect for Power Rangers, and Sentai would likely find itself subject to initial criticism because others will not see anything but Power Rangers to begin with.

F): If I were doing this, I would personally consider using a Powerpoint approach and taking the time to do each important detail. However, that is one of the most important aspects here: time! May have to consider what is more important in order to get the point across.

G): Images of toys, especially imaginative poses of your own if you have any figures might suffice better than bringing in a sample.

H): References to the real-world, including the various pop-culture allusions that writing and dialogue have made to other things might help ease people. For example, during the Wedding three-parter of Season 2, Eye Guy popped-out one of his eyes and said "Here's looking at you kid!" to Rita. This line was popularized by the classic film Casablanca.

This is my take on how to handle some of this. Don't listen to me in entirety as there are others with better ideas. If you are serious about this, then you'll have to consider how far you want to go with this.

I feel like that you should do a topic on Toku in general, not just Power Rangers/Sentai. Toku is also more than just Kamen Rider and Sentai. You also have Moonlight Mask, Super Giant, Android Kikaider and the Metal Heroes shows too.

Despite what some of the others are saying, I don't think you should be worried about ridicule if you're talking about something you love. Like... I don't see it becoming a problem if you give a solid/interesting presentation, especially so if you're on good terms with many of your classmates as is. But hey, that might just be me. *shrug*

I agree with this. If you're passionate about it and give an interesting presentation, I don't think you'll be ridiculed. It definitely depends on your age ranger though.

I think that you should also do a report on tokusatsu in general or at least mention its origins.

Thing that you should mention is how Toho, Bandai, Tsuburaya, Ishinomori, and Saban influenced tokusatsu. Talk about how toys started to influence these shows and how writers work around them. Mention the budget of these shows and how the people behind them work around with them. The evolution of suits and how the designs are often influenced on Japanese culture and what not.

Don't listen to anyone here.
Do what you want.
Ultraman is boring as fuck, everyone already knows the history of Godzilla, there's a very distinct reason why Kamen Rider died for a full decade, and why Metal Heroes aren't a thing anymore.

You do you, and if you want to do Sentai, and not a wide, sweeping history of Tokusatsu, then do Sentai.

I sincerely doubt that anybody here is suggesting turning it into a general tokusatsu thing because they want they want to see their favorites discussed or whatever you think their motives are. It's mainly because instructors are looking for something that at least appears to be educational in some manner.

I actually did a presentation on tokusatsu in high school. I was originally going to do it on a specific series (I cannot remember which) which my teacher shot down pretty quickly.

Also, you'd be surprised at how much the general public doesn't know about Godzilla. At least not at the time I did my presentation.

If OP wants to do Sentai, then OP will do Sentai. However, most of the posters seem to agree that Toku history would make for a more engaging and educational presentation than Sentai alone. Also, I love Ultraman, but that's not important - what is important is that it played a CRITICAL role in the development of Tokusatsu. Same with the Showa Riders. But like I said, if OP only wants to do Sentai/Power Rangers, then do it.

For a Sentai-focused series, I'd start off by mentioning Power Rangers as a framing device. Then mention that it was based on a show called Super Sentai. Then say "but to understand its history, we have to go all the way back to 1975" or whatever. From there summarize Goranger - Jetman, and make sure you include Spider-man as well. At that point, talk about Zyuranger and how it was adapted to Power Rangers, and then where the series went from there. Of course, you don't have to stick to that format at all - that's just how I would do it. For a Toku-focused one, I guess you could start off similarly, by mentioning Power Rangers, but instead of going back to 1975, you'll go back to 1954.

I think a general history of tokustatsu would be better. I trust you fellow students are mature enough to listen to a talk on Sentai/Power Rangers and not give you shit about it, but I think focusing only on those two for people who don't know anything about the medium would not give a full context as to where each is coming from.

Better to do a cultural influence of Tokusatsu type of deal as opposed to a Sentai otaku presentation. More depth and will be engaging.

Even for a Power Rangers history lesson, this second paragraph is ideal. Start with a reference, then take a step back to fully explore the details. Spiderman can get it on two fronts because Leopardon helped give rise to Battle Fever Robo which would radiate outward into the inevitable concept of "Megazords", and because Stan Lee considered doing what Saban ultimately would.

^This.

I would recommend to at least start with a general introduction of the tokusatsu genre as such though, because it makes the Sentai part easier to understand, like why they film certain things the way they do, what's behind the effects and stunts and so on. It can still be just Sentai though, but giving an idea about what tokusatsu is is pretty essential imho.