As we adjust to the year that is 2025, join Sean for a look into the past towards the world that the Power Rangers franchise envisioned for us in Power Rangers SPD.
Hey everyone, Sean here again, and I know it’s a few days late, but happy new year to you all! This year sees many tokusatsu anniversaries, but the most prominent and special of them this year is the 20th anniversary of the 2005 instalment of the Power Rangers series, Power Rangers SPD!
Set in the year 2025 (or at least, what people in 2005 thought 2025 was going to be like), Power Rangers SPD followed the B-Squad, a team of rangers stationed at the Earth Branch of Space Patrol Delta (or SPD for short), who are locked in battle with various alien criminals, chief among them being the arms dealer Broodwing, the corrupt A-Squad Rangers and Emperor Gruumm, leader of the Troobian Empire. Under the command of Commander Anubis Cruger, SPD cadets Sky, Bridge and Syd became the Blue, Green and Pink rangers respectively, while the Robin hood-like duo Jack and Z became the Red and Yellow Rangers. The team would later be joined properly by Commander Cruger as the Shadow Ranger and the Omega Ranger, the future self of Sam, a child that Z had previously helped.
SPD set a lot of expectations for how 2025 would look, with aliens and humans coexisting, futuristic technology and much more. While, in the reality of 2025, we may not be there yet, technology has still come a long way in the 20 years since SPD has aired.
Adding to this, Power Rangers as a franchise itself was aware that the year of SPD was incoming, as the 2023 instalment, Power Rangers Cosmic Fury had Billy state that many Alien refugees of a revived Lord Zedd’s conquest of the universe had arrived in Newtech City, which is where SPD takes place.
Alien civilians are losing their homes, our forces are having to take them to Newtech City on Earth.
Billy Cranston, Power Rangers Cosmic Fury episode 9 “Master Plan”
All in all, this is certainly a milestone year for Power Rangers, that even the cast and crew of SPD are sure to celebrate, and with Dekaranger 20th: Fireball Booster having released last year, who knows if SPD will get the “Once and Always” treatment.
What is your favourite memory of Power Rangers SPD? Let us know in the comments. Until next time, I’m Sean, future SPD cadet signing off.
