Everyone knows the story; it’s 1993 and Saban Entertainment brings the Japanese series Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger over to America as the fossil fueled Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It’s a smash hit over night, a cultural phenomenon. However, few know that Saban was trying to pull this off for years. Throughout the 1980s attempts were made to adapt Sentai in the States. And while Zyuranger ultimately proved marketable overseas, the Sentai that came before it was at one point tapped to be our first look at spandex superheroes. And I, like many, would’ve loved to have seen that. But what would’ve actually happened if Jetman was adapted first?
It would’ve flopped. That’s the blunt, honest truth. Power Rangers was a big example of “time and place” and would’t have worked if it came out too soon or too late. There are many, many reasons why MMPR was successful and they all mostly stem toward Zyuranger’s unique source footage. The dinosaur thing was big in ’93, with the Land Before Time and Jurassic Park. The synergy was perfect. Saturday morning cartoons were moving away from herculean barbarians and anthropamorphic animal and moving towards comic book style superheroes. Zyuranger had some top notch art direction. One has to admit that the dinosaur gimmick makes a not only iconic Megazod, but Zyuranger had also the first truly distinctive giant robo, as most of the 80s Sentai had mechs that all blended together and weren’t very interesting to look at. Lastly, for better or worse, the introduction of a sixth, evil Ranger threw a monkey wrench in our expectations as audiences. Tommy was nothing we could’ve imagined. A bad boy with long hair and a cool dragon. While he wasn’t the entire source of MMPR’s popularity, he was certainly a big help.
Jetman on the other hand? While it is one of the most popular Sentai in Japan and in the west, that is mostly due to the soap opera nature of the story that appeals to older fans and not its bells and whistles. There are only five Rangers, with no individual weapons, and their arsenal of mechs is a bit small. And, quite frankly, kids like dinosaurs a lot more than birds and they certainly prefer badass evil Rangers with long hair to a love triangle. Sure, Yuki Gai is a pretty tough badass, but I doubt the smoking and borderline sexual assaulty stuff would’ve been adapted. Obviously some adaptation would’ve been done in the writer’s room to make Jetman’s footage more susceptible to kids, but the early writing team on MMPR was basically moving between the big plot points (i.e. plot points related to Tommy) and Jetman’s story was more about the characters than the toys. The plot to a Jetman adaptation would go like this: They fight monsters for half a season, get a new giant robot, fight more monsters, get a new giant robot, and then fight more monster and it’s over.
So, that’s why Jetman wasn’t adapted and wouldn’t have been successful. But let’s say it was moderately successful. Not change the world and have a movie, but at least be profitable enough to justify a second season, like VR Troopers or Beetleborgs. What would’ve happened then? What if Jetman was the first, but Zyuranger still came in ’93? How would the series have progressed differently? What would the state of the show and the fandom be today? Honestly, things probably wouldn’t be all that different.
Saban would’ve probably adapted Sentai’s tradition of having a different cast and universe every season. So we get a mediocre season about birds and inter-dimensional Dragon Ball Z looking villains and then a season about dinosaurs fighting an alien witch. Guess which one sells better? The popularity of MMPR would most likely have been the same, resulting in subsequent seasons mixing original footage with monsters and zords from Dairanger and Kakkuranger. Then shapes, cars, space, space again, so on and so forth.
Now, as for the state of the franchise and the fandom; MMPR would still be the most loved and most over-rated because it was awesome and kicked off the Zordon Era, potentially saving the show after Jetman’s near failure. MMPR would still have Rita and Tommy and Lord Zedd, but let’s face it; most of the reason why people worship MMPR is because it was first. Would Jetman get the same treatment? Would Jetman even be considered part of the universe? They didn’t call Beetleborgs “Beetle Troopers” even though it was based on Metal Hero just like VR Troopers. This hypothetical question is obviously impossible to fully explore, so consider the rest of this just real life fan fiction, as most of this can go either way.
A big issue here is where would Jetman come back into the franchise? There are no movies connecting Zyuranger to Jetman except Super Sentai World, which is like ten minutes and also features Fiveman. I can’t see early Saban fronting the money for a cross over. So, let’s talk Zyu2. If Jetman wasn’t a blockbuster, they probably would only have done thirteen to twenty-six episodes. So, with MMPR doing gangbusters instead of calling for new dino footage they may have taken advantage of old, unused Jetman episodes.
So Rita summons Lokar or makes new candles or whatever. MMPR dudes are powerless, so the Jetman team shows up Aquitar style. But, let’s say after a two parter they just give their powers to the MMPR people for a while. So we get a weird Zeo situation here, where iconic costumes are cast off in order to adapt a PREVIOUS Sentai. Perhaps the Vyram are the ones who attacked the MMPR gang and they need the Jetman powers to stop them? This arc would close out the season and result in the MMPR guys going on a quest to rebuild their old Dino Zords using the power of thunder. New Zyuranger footage with Dairanger mecha and monsters. The rest of the series would follow.
Maybe a Jetman becomes Zeo Gold, another appears to give Carlos a pep talk during In Space. Forever Red would be slightly different, and probably take place during Time Force… That would’ve been awesome and really nice synergy, depending on how much of the military stuff is kept in Jetman. Other than Super Megaforce, we probably wouldn’t hear much more of our Birdonic Warriors. And we all know how that went. Keep in mind that while Jetman was first, MMPR still had Tommy. There would be people who overrate Jetman because it was first, but MMPR would still be overpraised because it had Tommy and was overall a more successful sequel.
The fandom is already split between people who love the first season because it was first, and people who love a later season because it was actually good. So ultimately there wouldn’t be much of a difference here. There may have been a demand for bird shit in the Legacy line, the retro look might have inspired fan art that wasn’t just beefy Zyurangers with those hideous coins on their chests.
I love the story of Jetman, I like the suits, the soap opera, the weird inter-dimensional stuff. While MMPR is responsible for making tokusatsu relevant in the States, Jetman was a gamble that I would’ve liked to have seen taken. Jetman probably would’ve have worked, but it still would’ve been cool.