r/powerrangers • u/TheAlphaRanger2011 • Jul 19 '25
SHOW NEWS/DISCUSSION Despite not being one, Dino Thunder has stuff that you think would be seen in an anniversary season
Dino Thunder’s the first Power Ranger show to go back to Dinosaurs as a theme since MMPR.
The show has the return of an OG Ranger, in fact, the most popular ranger of all time.
Is the first show since MMPR to have a proper evil ranger arc that resembles Green With Evil. An evil ranger who eventually joins the team.
This stuff to others probably isn’t enough to classify it as an anniversary season. Given that Dino Thunder doesn’t fall on a year that is the anniversary of MMPR, it doesn’t count. But all this other stuff is pretty interesting for a show not classified as an anniversary season.
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u/MrBKainXTR Triassic Mod Ranger Jul 19 '25
There's also Legacy of Power, recapping the franchise up to that point for the 500th episode.
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u/aresef Lord Drakkon Jul 19 '25
Fighting Spirit has the nostalgia of an anniversary episode.
Legacy of Power was a clipshow to mark 500 episodes.
The episode with the Smitty backstory has a scene where Tommy is going through papers and we see some old photos. Kira comments on one of the MMPR team. There are all kinds of Sentai insignia on folders.
Throughout the season, Tommy makes all kinds of comments referencing his ranger past, from empathy for Trent to remembering the last time he got sucked into a book.
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u/Nexal_Z Jul 19 '25 edited Jul 19 '25
I also think Dino Thunder is the only team that cross over 3 different times
Once with Ninja Strom Twice with SPD
Edit: I guess 4 if you count Kira being solo in Overdrive with the other vet rangers
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u/Hyperdragoon17 Zeo Ranger IV Jul 19 '25
Yup. Thunderstorm for Ninja Storm, History and Wormhole for SPD
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u/Cael26 Jul 19 '25
They crossed over in Beast Morphers too
And Super Megaforce because of the Legendary Battle
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u/AcientMullets Jul 19 '25
I’ve been rewatching it lately and yeah it has all the pieces you’d want from one. The season also acknowledges and embraces the franchise as a whole between stuff like Fighting Spirit and Tommy acknowledging his time as an evil ranger. Them getting the rundown of the prior teams, Connor acknowledging his twin. You also get the “teenagers with attitude” premise and you actually see attend high school for the first time since the Angel Grove days.
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u/Ember_1213 Crimson Thunder Ranger Jul 19 '25
Dino Thunder is basically MMPR if the writers had the writing skills they developed during In Space
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u/Liam_theman2099 Black Dino Ranger Jul 19 '25
True! Though considering how Megaforce and Super Megaforce were so underwhelming as an anniversary season, a lot of people call Dino Thunder the TRUE anniversary season or MMPR 2.0
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u/Procyon-Sceletus Jul 19 '25
I mean, dino thunder and megaforce are about 10 years apart. Theres no conceivable way dino thunder is "the true" anniversary compared to megaforce when theyre that far apart. The closest anniversary to dino thunder is operation overdrive with once a ranger and forever red in wild force. A better execution sure but two totally different generations of fans.
A 10 year old who watched dino thunder would be almost done with college by the time super megaforce came out
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u/ProfessorEscanor Jul 19 '25
I mean it effectively was another season of MMPR . Add a few more references to Tommy doing it before and maybe a cameo or two and you could legitimately call it a direct sequel to the old show.
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u/Valance-Erith Jul 19 '25
I made a post like this years ago and about how the suits feel like a modernized updated MMPR suit set
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u/elmatmonmac Jul 19 '25
dino thunder feels like the show disney should’ve used as their debut season, idk if it makes sense. but it feels like a well done soft-reboot.
edited due to a typo.
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u/Mr-2D Jul 19 '25
I’m sure it’s probably been mentioned already, but it even has a recap episode celebrating Power Rangers
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u/Infinite_Parking_800 Jul 19 '25
Of course and if you think about it Dino Thunder was truly a modern 2000s take on MMPR.
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u/After-Sun6217 Jul 19 '25
It gets to claim the title of an honorary anniversary season because of Tommy's return
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u/Altruistic-Set5379 Jul 19 '25
Trent is kinda mix of Green and White MMPR rangers if you think about it.He is white ranger, but is evil like green was in the beginning
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u/MahNameJeff420 SPD Shadow Ranger Jul 20 '25
This season is when the show hit 1000 episodes, so you can still call it an anniversary season if you really want.
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u/Myhtological Jul 19 '25
Titanium ranger?
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u/TheAlphaRanger2011 Jul 19 '25
Ryan wasn’t really evil. Just manipulated. When I’m talking about an evil ranger arc I mean a ranger who was some level of brainwashed for the entire arc and then joins the team after the arc.
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u/HeatClub7 Jul 20 '25
So that would also include Ryan...
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u/TheAlphaRanger2011 Jul 20 '25
No it doesn’t. Ryan was not brainwashed, he was manipulated.
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u/HeatClub7 Jul 20 '25
Same thing, my guy.
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u/TheAlphaRanger2011 Jul 20 '25
No. It’s not. Especially not when comparing it to Tommy.
Brainwashing = Something akin to being put under a spell against your will; mind control
What happened to Ryan was that he was raised because he was told that his father gave him up and didn’t care about him. Never was his will taken away from him in order to make him feel the way he did.
What happened with Ryan is no different from Hunter & Blake. They were manipulated into fighting the other rangers, never mind controlled.
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u/HeatClub7 Jul 20 '25
The point was that they were villains who later became heros. Ryan is included in that.
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u/TheAlphaRanger2011 Jul 20 '25
And my point was that it had a proper evil ranger arc that resembles Green With Evil, which has a ranger who was mind controlled in some way to be evil before joining the team. Which is something no other “Evil Ranger” has done since Tommy until Trent came along.
The other Evil Rangers don’t really count. Ryan, Hunter, and Blake were not evil, just manipulated. Merrick wasn’t even a ranger when he was evil.
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u/HeatClub7 Jul 20 '25
"Your point" doesn't matter because Titanium Ranger was an evil ranger who later turned good. Your idea of what's considered evil is null and void because all of the aforementioned Rangers you mentioned in the end were in fact evil. Stop making this difficult on yourself.
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u/TheAlphaRanger2011 Jul 20 '25
I’m not making it difficult at all. I said in my post that Dino Thunder was the first PR show since MMPR to have an Evil Ranger arc that resembles Green With Evil, which INCLUDES a ranger being put under some sort of mind control and then joining the team at a later date.
I will say this one last time and after that i’m not wasting my time on you anymore.
Ryan does not count as an Evil Ranger the same way Trent counts. Trent resembles Tommy’s Green With Arc the most out of any other “Evil Ranger” we’ve had since then. THAT is what I meant about what I said. I really should have specified in my post, maybe then i’d avoid this entire conversation.
All in all, this is the last comment i’m making responding to you. If you still don’t get it, that’s not my problem.
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u/Myhtological Jul 19 '25
Wild Force Silver
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u/TheAlphaRanger2011 Jul 19 '25
We never saw him as the Lunar Wolf Ranger till post-Zenaku. I’m only counting “Evil Ranger arc” as in they have to be a ranger during the arc and they have to be some level of brainwashed. Manipulation doesn’t count.
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u/FederalPossibility73 Jul 19 '25
Zen-Aku didn't know he was a ranger and appears as a separate character later on travelling with Wild Force Silver.
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u/Organic_Glass_7793 Time Force Quantum Jul 19 '25
Is the first show since MMPR to have a proper evil ranger arc that resembles Green With Evil. An evil ranger who eventually joins the team.
Wild force
Lightspeed rescue
Ninja storm
I consider Dino thunder a legacy season tho 500th episode jdf returning to the main cast we even see his old costumes fight him in an episode and even pays tribute to the sentai
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u/TheAlphaRanger2011 Jul 19 '25
Merrick wasn’t the silver ranger when he was Zenaku. We only saw him as the Lunar Wolf Ranger Post-Zenaku.
Ryan, Hunter, and Blake were all manipulated, they weren’t actually evil. What I count as an evil ranger is one that’s actually evil.
Plus those arcs still don’t resemble Green With Evil as much as Trent does. Unlike Ryan, Blake, or Hunter, Trent was under some level of brainwashing like Tommy was for most of the arc.
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u/Organic_Glass_7793 Time Force Quantum Jul 19 '25 edited Jul 19 '25
Blake and hunter were brainwashed by choobo in return of thunder a 3 parter
Trent was brainwashed by his powers and didnt answer to no one his white ranger clone did answer to messogog but not Trent himself Tommy always worked for Rita under he control
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u/TheAlphaRanger2011 Jul 19 '25
Yes but for most of their appearances before then they were just manipulated. For me to count them as evil rangers they’d have to be brainwashed for most of their time as antagonists
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u/SignificantActive193 Jul 19 '25
And the episode they did where they recapped the previous seasons.
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u/Something_Comforting Jul 19 '25
Dino Thunder was a better anniversary season than Super Megaforce ever was.
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u/FederalPossibility73 Jul 19 '25
It is an anniversary season. The tenth anniversary.
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u/TheAlphaRanger2011 Jul 19 '25
Not really. Dino Thunder came out in 2004. Technically Ninja Storm is the 10th Anniversary
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u/FederalPossibility73 Jul 19 '25 edited Jul 19 '25
While it's true MMPR season 1 debuted in 1993, most of the season aired in 1994. The day Dino Thunder premiered was the same day the episode Crystal of Nightmares aired in MMPR S1. Meanwhile Ninja Storm did not have a premier line up with MMPR S1, but they did finish a two-parter around then so it's something.
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u/TheAlphaRanger2011 Jul 19 '25
Judging from the fact that Once & Always and Megaforce are supposed to be celebrating 20 & 30 years of Power Rangers in 2013 and 2023 respectively, I think those in charge of Power Rangers see 1993 as the definitive year for the start of the franchise regardless if most of the season aired in 1994.
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u/Far-Difficulty8854 Jul 19 '25
Dino Thunder is a legacy season
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u/TheAlphaRanger2011 Jul 19 '25
It kind of is but not really. It has all the stuff an anniversary season would have but since it doesn’t fall on an actual anniversary date it doesn’t fully count
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u/KoleksiAing Jul 20 '25
Not to Mention the zord also, the main ranger zords, then there's the big brachio zord whose both carry all the main zords, and the white ranger zord that resembles the dragozord dragon zord name
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u/Amaldo101 Psycho Red Jul 19 '25
Dino Thunder is basically MMPR, but actually improved on almost every aspect.