Superhero Media: Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue

Well, I said I'd actually try some Power Rangers at some stage, and after watching some of Linkara's "History of Power Rangers" videos, the first one I settled on was Lightspeed Rescue. Longtime Lead Capes readers will know that one of my very first articles was about Lightspeed Rescue and the supers gaming potential of the team and setting. Just in case you don't want to wade through forty episodes of Power Rangers (don't blame you), the premise of this series revolves around the titular Lightspeed Rescue organisation, a quasi-governmental task force somewhere between International Rescue and SHIELD, complete with underwater "Aquabase" and plenty of support crew. When Queen Bansheera awakens from her slumber and begins a plan to raise the legions of the underworld and drag the city of Mariner Bay into a literal Hell, Captain Mitchell puts out the word to recruit five Power Rangers to battle the coming demonic forces. This time, every recruit is an adult, including a Pilot, an X-Games competitor, a Paramedic, an Oceanographer and a Fire Fighter.

What I like about Lightspeed Rescue is the more military approach to the problem posed by Bansheera, as the Power Rangers have an entire support staff behind them and do as much search and rescue as they do fighting. Also, as adults working for a legitimate task-force, there are no secret identities and brushing with celebrity can be a plot point at times. Boiled down to core concepts, a team of Emergency Services Workers supported to be superheroes to fight a demonic invasion is the kind of thing that would make for a great supers game or comic in its own right. Other elements of note are that many of the team's weapons are firearms, as befits a military outfit, and that new equipment is developed by Lightspeed Rescue, rather than gifted from a mentor figure or mystic force. The attitude of the Red Ranger is pretty different as well, as a Firefighter, Carter Grayson's natural instincts are to run into danger, his signature move being leaping through the air whilst firing two guns. In the final battle with Banseera, Cater defeats her by crash-tackling her down into the Underworld. 

There's a lot to enjoy in Lightspeed Rescue, even for someone, like myself, who isn't really a fan of Power Rangers generally, and I'll be carrying plenty of ideas forward into my own games and characters. That said, this is still a Power Rangers series, with all that entails still present. The programme is repetitive in the extreme, the acting is patchy and it can get tiresome very quickly; I only got through all forty episodes over a few months whilst painting and doing jobs around the house. The design and realisation of the monsters and Zords is really good if you're into Kaiju and Sentai, but otherwise are pretty silly. Again, checking out the Linkara videos may be the best way to go if you're unsure how much Power Rangers you can handle. I certainly don't regret the time I spent on Lightspeed Rescue, but it will be a while before I attempt any more Power Rangers, as I've had my fill for the moment.