Power Rangers Wild Force,
known
as Power Force Rangers in South
Korea, is the ninth incarnation of
the Power
Rangers franchise, and the tenth season overall.
It utilized footage from Toei
Company, Ltd.’s 25th Super Sentai
series, Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger. It was the last
entry in the franchise to be produced by MMPR
Productions, Inc., and the first to begin what’s known as
the Disney-era
after Disney purchased the Saban
Entertainment library through their acquisition of Fox
Family Worldwide.
 |
| The floating island of Animarium. |
3,000
years ago, the land of Animaria was at war with the evil force known as Orgs,
led by Master Org. Master Org was created specifically for the series, but his
costume was recycled from the main villain of Gosei
Sentai Dairanger,
Gorma
XV.
Master Org destroyed Animus
(Charles Gideon
Davis), a god-like Megazord who protected the land, but was
eventually beaten back by the Power Rangers and Merick Baliton (Philip Andrew)
after he had donned the legendary wolf mask to achieve its powers. But the mask
corrupted Baliton into the Duke Org (a higher-ranking Org) Zen-Aku
(Dan Woren
& Lex
Lang)
and forced the Rangers to defeat him and imprison him in a tomb. To protect it
from the Orgs, Animaria was elevated above the Earth and became the floating
island Animarium.
It left a turtle-shaped lake back on the ground, which served as the
inspiration for the future city of Turtle Cove.
 |
| Richard, Elizabeth, baby Cole and Viktor before the expedition. |
In
the more recent past, scientists Richard
(Jack Maxwell)
and Elizabeth
Evans (Ana
Bianco) traveled to the Amazon to find the lost kingdom of
Animaria along with their colleague, Dr. Viktor Adler (Ilia Volok), and their
infant son, Cole. They came upon the remnants of the original Master Org and
Adler, jealous that Richard married Elizabeth, ate seeds found there to become
the new Master Org and exact his revenge against them. They left Cole and lured
Adler away, only to die by his hand. Cole was found and raised by a tribe of
natives who were, in fact, descendants of the people of Animaria.
 |
| Adler as Master Org. |
Master
Org, now revived, began to reassemble his army. Two of his Duke Orgs, Jindrax
(Danny Wayne Stallcup and initially voiced by Richard Cansino until it was
decided his voice didn’t match the appearance) and Toxica (Sin Wong, sometimes
Rei Saito in Sentai footage), had hidden in human form after Master Org’s
defeat centuries ago. Once they felt the Master had returned, they shed their
human guises and eagerly rejoined his ranks. They provided the seeds to make
the other Orgs grow to giant size. The majority of Master Org’s forces were the
Putrids,
which used clubs that fired energy blasts.
 |
| The Wild Force Rangers. |
With
the return of the Orgs and rampant human pollution, Princess Shayla (originally
Natasha Allas,
but replaced by Ann Marie Crouch after filming had started) was awoken from the
slumber she had been in on Animarium. She was tasked with recalling the Wild
Force Power Rangers back into action. Her first recruit was Air Force pilot
Taylor Earhardt (Alyson Kiperman), who had crashed near Shayla’s home after
seeing the Yellow
Eagle Wild Zord flying near her. With her training and
no-nonsense personality, she became the Yellow Eagle Ranger and leader of the
team; even going so far as to write a rule book. The next recruit was Alyssa
Enrile (Jessica Rey), a kind and nurturing university student, who became the
White Tiger Ranger. Next was Max Cooper (Phillip Jeanmarie), a training
professional bowler that became the Blue Shark Ranger after he helped rescue
two women from an Org attack. The last was Danny Delgado (Jack Guzman), a
gentle giant florist who became the Black Bison Ranger. Each gained an Animal
Crystal containing an image of their suit animal before
officially becoming Rangers. This was the first time the Rangers were shown to
be active without a Red Ranger.
 |
| Cole (center) acclimating to his new environment. |
When he reached the right age, Cole was given
items he was left with as a baby: a picture of his parents and the Red Lion
Crystal. He was sent to find his destiny, which took him to the city of Turtle Cove.
There, he was recruited by Princess Shayla and the Power Rangers to become the
Red Lion Ranger. Because being the Red Ranger meant Cole was automatically the
leader, this put him at odds with Taylor--especially when he tried to offer
different solution to dealing with Orgs, rather than merely fighting them.
 |
| Princess Shayla in the temple. |
The
Power Rangers operated out of a temple on Animarium where a magical pool
alerted the Rangers to trouble on Earth and sent them into action. The island
also served as the home of the Wild Zords,
where they were charged with watching over Shayla and who lent their powers to
the Power Rangers when needed. Along with the Yellow Eagle, there was the Red
Lion,
Blue
Shark, Black
Bison and White
Tiger. Other Wild Zords would also come to be utilized by
the Rangers, including the Elephant,
the Giraffe,
the Bear
Brothers Black Bear and Polar Bear, the Gorilla,
the Rhino,
the Armadillo,
the Deer
and the Falcon.
The Wild Zords could come together in different variations to create various
Megazords or weaponry for them. This was the highest number of Zords in the
franchise at 22, with each Ranger utilizing 3 (save Max, who only had 2). Even
more Wild Zords were designed in great detail by Toei and some were shown
at the end of the series, although they played no active
role. This was the first entry in the franchise where the Zords were shown in
full CGI prior to their combination into a Megazord. Props were still
occasionally used for close-ups.
 |
| Wild Force weaponry. |
Each
Ranger transformed through the Growl Phone,
which resembled cell phones and could be used for communication, and exhibited
attributes of their respective animals. They all also had a Crystal
Saber; a dagger with a slot in the hilt for their Animal
Crystals to be inserted and summon their Wild Zords. Independently, they had
their own signature weapons: Red had the Lion
Fang,
a stylized glove that could be separated and worn on both hands, and the Falconator,
which served as a crossbow; Yellow the Golden
Eagle Sword, which could be used as a blade or fire
feather-shaped dirks, and the Armadillo
Puck;
Blue had Shark
Fighting Fins, two daggers that were held along the
forearms, and the Sword
of Pardolis, which resembled a gladius; Black had the
Bison
Axe
and the Rhino
Shooter, which resembled a rifle; and White had the Tiger
Baton and the Deer
Clutcher, a grappler. The primary weapons could be combined to
form the Jungle
Sword, which delivered a devastating savage slash attack,
while the secondary combined to form the Jungle
Blaster which delivered the savage blast attack. Cole
eventually gained the Falcon
Summoner, which could serve as a blaster or bow and could summon
the Red
Falcon Wild Zord when docked with his Crystal Saber. The
Wild Zords also gave the Rangers access to the Savage
Cycles, and later Cole was given the Wild
Force Rider and Animarium
Armor.
 |
| Danny and Kendall at work. |
Power Rangers Wild Force debuted
on February 9, 2002 on FOX
as part of the Fox
Kids
programming block. It ran there for the first 26 episodes to fulfil a
contractual obligation. However, once that contract expired, Disney moved the
show over to Disney-owned ABC
to become part of the new ABC
Kids
programming block (which replaced Disney’s One Saturday Morning). Because FOX didn’t want Cole’s parents
to be killed on the show, the producers initially promised them that Jindrax
and Toxica would end up being his parents brainwashed into Master Org’s
service. However, after changing networks, those plans were quickly forgotten. The
recurring character of Kendall,
Mark’s love interest, was played by Sandra McCoy.
McCoy was originally cast as Alyssa, but was given the new role when fight
coordinator/director Koichi
Sakamoto demanded a role that his wife, Motoko
Nagino, could double for. McCoy’s voice as the White Ranger
was heard in an early
promo for Fox Kids. Wild
Force would be the last time the Yellow Ranger was gender-swapped from the
Sentai, as future Yellow Rangers in the Sentai series would be female.
 |
| Three of the Orgs: Mandilok, Toxica and Jindrax. |
Wild Force was
kept as close as possible to the original Sentai, going so far as to feature a
narrator (Dave
Mallow) for the first time in the franchise, using the
Sentai designation of “Orgs”, and retained the same monster names. Even the
transformation sequences were directly lifted from Gaoranger, with the American Rangers’ heads superimposed over their
counterparts. Producer Jonathan
Tzachor hired Japanese directors who worked on the Super
Sentai shows to work on this one, despite many of them barely speaking a word
of English. Writers on the series included William Winkler,
Derek Rydall,
Jill Donnellan,
Katherine Torpey,
Suzi Shimoyama,
Bergen Williams,
and Amit Bhaumik.
Bhaumik also served as the series’ story editor, and prior to the series ran
the website Power
Rangers Online Archives. Lior
Rosner, Paul
Gordon and Drew DeAscentis
were the composers.
 |
| The Lunar Wolf Ranger. |
During
the course of the series, Zen-Aku was freed from his prison to renew his attack
on the Rangers, complete with three Wild Zords of his own: the Alligator,
the Wolf
and the Hammerhead
Shark. Together, they combined to form the Predazord.
He also had the ability to freeze and steal the Animal Crystals, taking
possession of their Wild Zords and allowing them to merge with the Predazord.
After the Rangers managed to defeat the Predazord, the curse on Merrick was
removed and he was separated from Zen-Aku. In trying to make amends for his
time possessed, the Wild Zords came to Merrick’s aid, giving him the Lunar
Caller and turned him into the Lunar Wolf Ranger. As the Ranger, he had a Lunar
Cue
(basically a weaponized pool cue) which could serve as a saber, blaster or
could launch Animal Crystals at foes.
 |
| Animus. |
Another
return was the long-thought-dead Animus. Animus’ spirit form helped the Rangers
on several occasions, including in freeing Merrick from Zen-Aku. After Cole
destroyed Master Org the first time, Animus was returned to physical form in
the guise of a boy named Kite
(Ryan Goldstein),
who took his name after seeing a kite flying overhead. Once Kite regained a
sense of his true identity, he could shift between his human and Megazord form
at will, or even into his component
parts: Black Lion, Condor, Saw Shark, Buffalo and Jaguar.
 |
| Wild Force and Time Force casts together. |
For
the annual team-up episode, Wild Force was
joined by the Rangers from Time Force for a two-part
episode, “Reinforcements from the Future”. Mutant Orgs, called Mut-Orgs,
were created in the year 3000 in the mutant Ransik’s
(Vernon Wells)
earliest days before he set up his empire. Freeing the Orgs, they took on some
of his mutantcy to become even more powerful and turned his body into a living
weapon as payment, which was how Ransik was able to turn his bones into
weapons. They traveled back to the past where they encountered Wesley
Collins (Jason
Faunt) and Eric Myers
(Dan Southworth).
The two Rangers tracked the Mut-Orgs to Turtle Cove where they teamed-up with
the Wild Force Rangers, but were easily overpowered until the Time Force
Rangers, with Ransik and Nadira (Kate Sheldon)
in tow, came from the future to help. Originally, the plan was to use the Three
Org Brothers from Gaoranger:
The Fire Mountain Roars,
but
those costumes were destroyed in a fire. The Mut-Orgs were created by combining
pre-existing suit parts and were named after noted Power Ranger fans: Takach (David Lodge)
for Jason
Takach, Kired (Lodge) for Derik Sim, and Rofang (Kim Strauss)
for Joe Rovang.
 |
| Seeing red. |
Because
this series was the 10th season of the franchise, a special 10th
anniversary episode was commissioned called “Forever Red”. It reunited 10 of
the Red Rangers from all of the incarnations into one epic story. Included were
Jason
Lee Scott (Austin
St. John) from Mighty Morphin, Aurico
(Christopher Glenn
in voice only) from Alien, Tommy Oliver
(Jason David Frank) from Zeo, T.J. Johnson
(Selwyn Ward)
from Turbo,
Andros
(Christopher
Khayman Lee) from In Space, Leo Corbett
(Danny Slavin)
from Lost Galaxy, Carter
Grayson (Sean
Cw Johnson) from Lightspeed Rescue, Wes, Eric and Cole. The inclusion of Southworth’s Quantum
Ranger sparked debate amongst fans since even though his coloring was red, he
was considered a sixth Ranger and not a Red one. But, he was needed to round
out the team to ten as Steve
Cardenas, who played Jason’s replacement Rocky DeSantos,
had moved without notifying the producers and was unable to be contacted in
time for filming. His appearance as the Mighty Morphin Ranger was predicated on
St. John’s ability to appear in any event. The special also included the brief
return of Bulk
(Paul Schrier)
and Skull
(Jason Narvy)
to the franchise.
 |
| Jason kicks some Cogs (top) while the new Machine Empire (bottom) readies to destroy the Earth. |
The
special was centered on the remnants of the Machine
Empire from Zeo seeking
revenge on the Earth. They were led by General
Venjix (Archie
Kao,
the Blue
Galaxy Ranger), and included generals Tezzla
(Catherine
Sutherland, the Pink
Morphin-Turbo Ranger), Gerrok
(Walter Jones,
the original Black
Ranger), Steelon
(Scott Page-Pagter)
and Automon
(Dave Walsh),
as well as a legion of Cogs.
They retrieved the Zord created by Lord Zedd
in Mighty Morphin, Serpentera,
from the moon as part of their plans. Andros discovered this plot and led to
the assembly of the Red Rangers in order to combat them. With the aid of a
newly constructed Astro
Megaship II and Alpha 7
(Richard Steven Horvitz),
the Red Rangers took the battle to the moon in order to proactively send the
Machine Empire packing. The entire episode was filmed new, with the only Sentai
footage being on a monitor in a scene and the morphin sequences that used them
originally. The Machine Empire Generals’ costumes were all recycled and
modified from Big Bad Beetleborgs and
Beetleborgs Metallix, with only
Venjix’s having come from a villain in that series while the rest were heroic
characters.
 |
| Red Rangers ready to battle. |
“Forever
Red” was originally conceived as being an extra-sized special, but the decision
was made to make it a regular episode resulting in several scenes and lines of
dialogue either being cut or scrapped from filming at all. Episode writer
Bhaumik would go on to later reveal several concepts he had to abandon due to
the short running time, including a falling out between Tommy and Jason
following Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie that would be
resolved in “Forever Red”; a potential prequel episode that would have Jason
meeting and teaming-up with the Silver
Guardians from Time Force;
explanations on how some of the Rangers reacquired their powers after
having lost them or moved on to other powers (a move Bhaumik felt would keep
new viewers from being bombarded with continuity information, but which had led
to fan controversy for years to come); and cameos by either Sutherland or Amy Jo Johnson
as Kimberly
Hart
to establish one of them as Tommy’s wife. Bhaumik was
also attempting to set up Tommy as a new Zordon-like
character, mentoring the next group of
Rangers while also being active on the field as a 6th Ranger. But
Disney ultimately chose to go in another direction with Ninja Storm and Tommy was brought back much later as a main Ranger
in Dino Thunder.
 |
| The Wild Zords ride to battle. |
Unlike
Time Force, the cast of Wild Force didn’t gel as well. No one
was entirely disappointed that there would be no second season as Disney
decided to move production from Los Angeles to New Zealand as a cost-cutting
measure once the season finished. As a result, all of the crew and regular
voice actors were let go in favor of mostly local crews and actors. MMPR
Productions, the company Saban Entertainment had set up to exclusively handle Power Rangers, was dissolved and
replaced by Village Roadshow KP
Productions Limited. Saban itself was also renamed BVS
Entertainment during production.
 |
| The Predazord in Legacy Wars. |
As
with other entries in the Power Rangers franchise, Bandai produced a line
of toys and other merchandise based on the show. In 2002, THQ
released a game for the Game Boy Advance
developed by Natsume.
It was top-down action game where a player could choose between each Ranger,
and also assign additional Rangers to call for a powerful team-up attack. They
could even choose between the various Megazords for the boss battles, which
were quick time events. Cole and Merrick were playable characters in the
console version of the 2007 game Power Rangers: Super Legends by Disney Interactive Studios,
while Danny and Alyssa were playable in the Nintendo DS
version. The entire cast was viewable in the game’s Hall of Legends. Danny was also included along with the Predazord and a mission based on “Forever
Red” in nWay
Games’ 2017 mobile game Power
Rangers Legacy Wars, and he was a character
in nWay’s Power
Rangers Morphin Legends; a turn-based mobile game soft-launched in 2022
that was ultimately cancelled in 2023. Although they didn’t play a large
role, the Wild Force Rangers were featured in BOOM! Studios’
2018 crossover event “Shattered
Grid”.
 |
| The DVD cover. |
Walt Disney Home
Video released several VHS compilations: Lion Heart containing “Lionheart”,
“Darkness Awakening”, “Click, Click, Zoom” and “Never Give Up!”; Ancient Awakening with “Ancient
Awakening”, “Wishes on the Water”, “The Bear Necessities” and “Soul Searching”;
Curse of the Wolf featuring “Soul Bird
Salvation”, “Curse of the Wolf”, “Battle of the Zords”, “Predazord, Awaken”;
and Identity Crisis with “Revenge of
Zen-Aku”, “Identity Crisis”, “The Ancient Warrior” and “The Lone Wolf”. “Forever
Red” was included on the 2003 compilation DVD Power Rangers: The Ultimate Rangers. In 2012, Shout! Factory
released Power Rangers Legacy, which contained
seasons 1-20 in a collectible Red Ranger helmet package. They later released
the complete series in 2013 as part of the collection Power Rangers Seasons 8-12, and independently
in 2016.
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