[TokuChris]

Here's the history taken from a variety of sources.

During pre-production of Power Rangers Wild Force, Disney purchased the "Fox Family" entertainment block of programming from Saban Entertainment, who had purchased it from Fox Entertainment Group back in the late 1990's. Everything in Saban Entertainment's library was now in ownership of Disney - including Power Rangers, Big Bad Beetleborgs, Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, Digimon, and Transformers: Robots in Disguise. The only thing NOT included in it was the "sound and music library", which was a calculated ruse from Haim Saban to ensure royalties especially with Power Rangers.

Disney had no real intention of continuing the Power Rangers franchise - Doug Sloan is on record saying that he helped save the show by convincing the powers that be at Disney that the show could remain profitable at a fraction of the cost if they moved production to New Zealand, which they learned of back during the days of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie filming.

So why purchase the Fox Family block if you weren't planning on using the main programming on it - Power Rangers? Rumor says that Disney was frustrated that they were unable to get in to the market of boys entertainment and that their stigma was that of "girls and kids" entertainment. The idea of Power Rangers now being under their control at a fraction of the cost by being in New Zealand gave them hope that they might have their ace in the sleeve on breaking in to boys entertainment.

Power Rangers Ninja Storm was popular at its time and Power Rangers Dino Thunder saw the series get to levels of popularity and profitability not seen since the days of Power Rangers In Space and Power Rangers Lost Galaxy. Doug Sloan left the show (I am not sure if his contract was up or if he chose to leave) so Disney brought in THEIR GUY - Bruce Kalish - to continue the franchise and, in many ways, prepare him to develop their own live-action series (which he would eventually do and leave the series after Jungle Fury).

With Bruce Kalish leaving the show, Disney prepared to cancel Power Rangers at the post of Power Rangers Jungle Fury. However, Disney chose not to once they saw the cost of penalty for breaking contract with New Zealand who still had one year left on the original contract set up after Power Rangers Dino Thunder. In came Eddie G, the executive producer of Power Rangers RPM. On Rangerboard, he said quite forwardly - "I was told that this would be the final year of Power Rangers and to just go crazy. Short of becoming the #1 kids show in all of television, nothing will save the series". So rather than do a carbon copy/paste of the Sentai, he chose to make the series we have all come to know and love (most of us at least) as one of the most unique, creative, and well-written Power Rangers series of all time.

But Eddie G eventually did garner the attention of the suits at Disney, both for some questionable choices (the prison fight scene in RPM as "human vs human" fighting was forbidden), as well as constantly being behind on turning in his scripts. He was removed - fired if you will - and replaced with veteran producer Judd "Chip" Lynn.

Unfortunately, when Eddie was fired a number of his writers and staff left the show with him on their own accord. Chip essentially took over a series with no notes on what was supposed to happen next. In what many fans call "Chipisms", Chip recycled a story line from Power Rangers In Space and worked it as the final story arch of Power Rangers RPM.

The MMPR 2.0 series that followed is a bit of a conundrum - some say it was Bandai America who pushed for the show to be created to recapture the original series magic, and others say it was due to Bandai America still having another year left on their contract to make Power Rangers toys. Either way, the series aired, failed, and was followed with Saban Brands purchasing back the Power Rangers franchise (along with Digimon).