The Power Trip: A Journey Through the Power Rangers Franchise

In this excerpt from a Patreon-exclusive livestream for his other podcast, The Monster Island Film Vault, Nathan interviews James Santana, a comic nerd and tokusatsu fan who combined his passions by starting his own comic book label, TokUSA Studios. His goal is to bridge the gap between tokusatsu/manga fans and comic readers by offering them books inspired by the likes of Super Sentai and Ultraman, among others. He's currently spea...

All good things must come to an end…including The Power Trip. After recording nearly one week of audio over almost 60 uploads, Michael and Nathan complete their journey through the Power Ranger franchise in this finale livestream recorded before the members of the show’s official Facebook group, Power Ranger Legacy. They reflect on the franchise, what the podcast has meant to them, their 30 favorite PR characters, and what the futu...

Well, we’ve made it, Listeners with Attitude. The 30th season of Power Rangers has come and gone, but did it go out with a bang or end with a whimper? Michael and Nathan discuss the 10-episode season and try to determine if Power Rangers: Cosmic Fury is a fitting end to the franchise’s epic 30-year run, or if it will be remembered more for its unrealized potential. Prepare yourself for a lively discussion full of laughs and an abun...

The Queen of the Fabulous Empire, YouTuber extraordinaire, Kaiju Kim, returns to help the boys discuss the Sentai that became her favorite Power Rangers season: Denji Sentai Megaranger. What’s ironic is this Sentai feels more like a classic PR season while its counterpart, Power Rangers in Space, feels more like a Sentai. But is it fair to compare these shows when PRIS has the advantages of legacy and finality while Megaranger is j...

Today’s episode is a weird one. It’s The Power Trip’s first solo episode, with Nathan doing more comic book coverage…except it’s a manga…about the first Super Sentai…so it’s only peripherally related to Power Rangers. Anyway, thanks to Seven Seas Entertainment (who also translated and published the original Kamen Rider manga), Americans can now experience Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, which was created in 1975 by the Jack Kirby of manga...

Save the “Earsh”! Michael and Nathan risk their friendship returning to a controversial subject—Power Rangers Turbo—which is why they brought on Drew Dodgen of The Cel Cast to moderate. Today they discuss Turbo’s source material, Gekisou Sentai Carranger, a parody Sentai that lovingly mocks the franchise. To say most of the humor was lost in translation would be an understatement. Not that American kids would understand most of it,...

Happy (belated) Power Ranger Day, Listeners with Attitude! To celebrate, Nathan held a colossal crossover of content creators for an equally colossal comic crossover: IDW/BOOM Studios’ Godzilla vs. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers! He’s joined by Daniel DiManna (Godzilla Novelization Project), Rob Buck (The Power Chamber podcast), Ryan “The Omni Viewer” Collins (and his sidekick, Snazzy Chapeau), Elijah Thomas of Kaiju Conversation (w...

In this episode, Michael and Nate discuss arguably one of the weirdest entries in Ranger history—a crossover of Divatoxic proportions—Power Rangers Turbo vs. Beetleborgs Metallix, a comic published in 1997 by Acclaim (now Valiant) Comics. It was one of three Turbo stories published in the short-lived Saban Powerhouse magazine. After Nathan gives Michael a crash course in the history of Big Bad Beetleborgs and Valiant Comics, your h...

We’re back, baby! After a brief hiatus thanks to Once & Always,Michael and Nathan resume their Super Sentai coverage with Chouriki Sentai Ohranger. This was the basis for Power Rangers Zeo, but it’s quite different. It even has shades of Ultraman with its military team battling evil robots. Speaking of which, the “Machine Empire” in this is like watching Game of Thrones except it’s tokusatsu. It’s just too bad the show ends up bein...

Nathan Marchand gives you a crash course on the tokusatsu medium! This was recorded at JAFAX (Japanese Animation, Film, and Art Expo) June 9-11, 2023. This is also premiering on The Monster Island Film Vault YouTube channel, and the audio will be shared on the MIFV podcast feed.

Watch the video version here: https://youtu.be/zvh09FrXqLM.

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EMAIL FEEDBACK TO THE SHOW:

powertrippod@gmail...

And there came a day unlike any other…oops, wrong superhero franchise. Anyway, it’s finally here! Power Rangers celebrates its 30th anniversary with its best anniversary special (although, that bar isn’t set too high). Michael and Nathan dive deep (3 ½ hours on a one-hour special?!) into this MMPR reunion. Is this the mature take on the franchise we’ve been wanting? They sure think so! That’s especially true with its theme of grief...

For this live recording, Michael and Nathan discuss BOOM! Studios’ follow-up to the polarizing Saban's Power Rangers (2017): Power Rangers: Aftershock. While this comic unfortunately exists within a vacuum, the guys discuss whether it's a worthy, or at least satisfying, successor to the controversial film. In some ways, it feels more like classic Power Rangers (more time morphed, witty banter) but in other ways, it doesn’t (the vil...

Michael and Nathan come to the strangest and most meme-tastic Super Sentai series yet with Ninja Sentai Kakuranger (not to be confused with the Dairangers’ mentor, Master Kaku). After several seasons based on foreign literature and mythology, Kakuranger goes full-tilt Japanese with ninjas fighting Yokai. The fact that any of this was adapted into Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers season three is a small miracle (a flasher monster?!), b...

With the 30th anniversary of Power Rangers around the corner, Nathan and Michael dive into their longboxes (well, a shortbox for Michael) to discuss Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 25th Anniversary Special #1. This was an extra-large anthology comic with several short stories that span the franchise. It naturally includes two (-and-a-half) MMPR stories, but it also inexplicably has a Mystic Force tale and a Ninja Steel crossover. The ...

You spoke it into existence, Listeners with Attitude! Our first five-hour episode! We’re joined by our two friends, Daniel DiManna (Godzilla Novelization Project) and Travis Alexander (Kaiju Ramen Magazine) to discuss Gosei Sentai Dairanger. This Sentai is in a weird place because it was only sorta adapted by Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers—as in they used mecha footage and some monster footage. The awesome costumes in this series we...

Nathan is in his element while Michael tags along when The Power Trip finally covers its first BOOM! Studios Power Ranger comic…that was a co-production with DC Comics. So…does it count? Regardless, in Justice League/Power Rangers, the most iconic superheroes in the world join forces with the Teenagers with Attitude—and it’s a match made in comic book heaven. Nathan schools Michael on characters like the villainous A.I. Brainiac, b...

The Power Trip begins its Super Sentai coverage! Michael and Nathan make a U-turn and go back to Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers—sorta—with Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, which became MMPR season one. How does it compare? These shows are the same and yet quite different, if that makes sense. It was hard for your hosts to choose one over the other. Contrary to popular belief, Super Sentai isn’t “perfect.” Regardless, this show does hit both...