Power Rangers Dino Thunder


Power Rangers Dino Thunder is a television series and the eleventh entry of the Power Rangers franchise. This incarnation of Power Rangers was based on Bakuryū Sentai Abaranger, the 27th entry of Toei Company's long-running Super Sentai franchise. Dino Thunder was also the subtitle of the Korean dub of Abaranger in South Korea and had a similar/identical logo to the American version as well.
The series is notable as it features the return of Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver as a main character and a dinosaur theme for the powers, abilities and assets from most of the series' protagonists and antagonists. It was the first series to be aired on ABC Family part of ABC as well as part of Jetix on Toon Disney.

Plot

, from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to Power Rangers Turbo fame, returns as a paleontology professor in Reefside, California, following an incident several years prior on an island where he is pursued by Mesogog, an evil dinosauric who wishes to eradicate all human life and return Earth to the age of the dinosaurs, along with his henchmen Elsa, Zeltrax, and an army of Tyrannodrones and Tiptoids, as well as their mutation monsters. When Tommy is assigned three detention students by Principal Randall ; athlete Conner McKnight, computer expert Ethan James and singer Kira Ford, they end up finding three Dino Gems - one for each teen, paving the way for their destiny as the Dino Thunder Power Rangers. Conner gains the powers of both the Tyrannozord and super running speed, Ethan gains the powers of both the Tricerazord and energy-formed skin-shield defense and Kira gains the powers of both the Pterazord and sonic screams.
Five episodes into the series, Tommy once again becomes a Ranger by bonding with the Black Dino Gem and receives its power of invisibility as the Black Dino Ranger. They are also later joined by Anton Mercer's adopted son Trent, who must deal with the inner struggle of good and evil when he discovers a White Dino Gem in Mesogog's lab that morphs him into an Evil White Ranger, as the powers were originally intended to be Mesogog's. Mesogog is later revealed to be Anton Mercer, who - in a faulty lab experiment - began to mutate into Mesogog. Trent later sides with good as the White Dino Ranger, whose gem grants him the power of camouflage, and saves his father from the mutation.
Near the end of the series, Anton Mercer mutates in front of the Rangers, causing them to distrust Trent for not telling them about Anton's mutation in the first place. When Mesogog tricks Trent into handing over the Dino Gems in exchange for his father's freedom, the Rangers sacrifice their zords and use their raw Dino Gem Powers combined into a single last-resort attack to destroy Mesogog, which burns out the gems in the process.

Cast and characters

Dino Thunder Rangers
Supporting characters
Villains
Guest stars

Production

Conversations of the season's name started as early as a year before the show's premiere. On March 4, 2003, an annual kick-off presentation was given to Disney and Bandai representatives to discuss the next year of business with topics such as forecasts of toy sales and development timelines. While "Dino Thunder" was not being presented at this time, the following titles were given as recommendations:
  • Dino Strike
  • Dino Might
  • Dino Damage
  • Dino Defenders
  • Dragon Hunt
This series sees legacy cast member Jason David Frank return as a series regular, now in the role as mentor and later additional Ranger. At a Ikkicon Q&A in 2010, Frank discussed how his return started with a call he received from co-executive producers Ann Austen and Douglas Sloan, the former being Frank's first acting coach, in an effort to boost the show's ratings.
With his family and life in the United States, it's rumored that Frank negotiated time off during the season's shooting in New Zealand to be able to return home. Relying on stunt performers and additional ADR, writers created a plot that has Tommy collectively encased in amber, unable to de-morph, and unable to control his invisible powers for episodes 13 - 26.
The season's fourth episode, "Legacy of Power," features a retelling of the show's in-universe history for the show's 500th episode celebration. "Fighting Spirit," the season's 27th episode, sees Tommy encounter his previous Ranger forms in a dream and aired on the eleventh anniversary of Power Rangers.
Dino Thunder was the first Power Rangers season to overtly acknowledge its Super Sentai roots with an episode entitled "Lost and Found in Translation," which featured a Japanese show based on the Power Rangers dubbed in English. In actuality, the footage used in that episode was from episode 10 of Dino Thunder's source series, Bakuryū Sentai Abaranger, dubbed in a manner similar to the comedic parody dub of Kagaku Sentai Dynaman in the late 1980s.

Video games

Video game publisher THQ released two video games for Dino Thunder, one version for both Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube while the other was exclusively released on Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. Developed by Natsume, the GBA version was a side-scrolling fighting game with 13 missions and allowed players to control both the rangers and Megazord at different parts of the levels. The Home [video game console|home console] version, developed by Pacific Coast Power & Light, let players pilot the team's Zords as they work to free their auxiliary machines and destroy enemy facilities. This version included unlockable Zords from the two previous seasons, Wild Force and Ninja Storm, and was the first Power Rangers game to be produced on a sixth generation console.

Home media

In the United States, the series was released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment on five volumes, consisting of the first twenty-four episodes, except for Episode 10:
  • Day of the Dino
  • Legacy of Power
  • White Thunder
  • Collision Course
  • Triassic Triumph
These volume sets were also released in regions where BVHE held distribution rights, however, Volume 1 does not include the bonus Ninja Storm episodes. In countries where licensing was held by Jetix Europe, releases depended on the region or distributor.
BVHE released the complete series in the United Kingdom on July 14, 2008, on a seven-disc boxset. In the United States, Shout! Factory released the complete series on a five-disc set on October 18, 2016.