Inspired Sources, Changing Forces: Fireball Newcomer/Robo Impact to Beginnings Pt. 1 and 2

Hello there, everyone! Inspired Sources, Changing Forces is a series where I’ll be analyzing changes in localization and adaptation in media! 

Today, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Power Rangers S.P.D, I’ll be starting with my current obsession— How Super Sentai, in this case Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger, is adapted into Power Rangers. 

In case you don’t know, Power Rangers is a unique show because a lot of the fight footage comes straight from the Japanese show Super Sentai— It’s not shot by western actors. This means that Power Rangers can be very limited in what they do, as most of the show happens on a shoestring budget. In most episodes, almost all of the in-suit footage is taken from Super Sentai. 

So to start, I’m going to do an analysis on the differences between Dekaranger’s “Fireball Newcomer” and “Robo Impact” and how they became “Beginnings Part 1 and 2” in S.P.D.

“Fireball Newcomer”/”Robo Impact” and “Beginnings” serve the same basic purpose in both stories— To introduce us to the world and characters this season will involve. However, the plots vary considerably between them. 

“Fireball Newcomer” and “Robo Impact” begin off with Banban “Ban” Akaza, a rookie from the space police, taking down a criminal and being assigned to the Earth branch as their DekaRed— or Red Ranger in Power Rangers terms. There, he meets DekaBlue Houji “Hoji” Tomasu, DekaGreen Senichi “Sen-chan” Enari, DekaYellow Marika “Jasmine” Reimon, and DekaPink Koume “Umeko” Kodou, the current officers of the Earth branch who have just taken down a busjacker and found a mysterious object he was carrying. 

Meanwhile, “Beginnings” starts with Schuyler “Sky” Tate, Sydney “Syd” Drew, and Bridge Carson, current S.P.D. B-Squad Cadets in training, trying to become Power Rangers. We then cut to Jack Landors and Elizabeth “Z” Delgado, a pair of homeless Robin Hood-esque thieves who get arrested by Sky, Syd, and Bridge and are put on a work-release program— They’ll be freed from prison as long as they join the B-Squad cadets in becoming planetary defenders while the A-Squad is sent off on a mission. 

The adaptation in this case is not simply translation, and it’s obvious. So, let’s break down exactly what changed. 

Now, the biggest difference here is that the Dekarangers are significantly more established than the B-Squad— They have their powers and can morph already while the B-Squad are the backups for the A-Squad. 

Overall, the episodes’ structure is severely different as well— the footage from the end of “Fireball Newcomer” is used at the end of “Beginnings Part 2.” “Robo Impact” is the only fallout from “Fireball Newcomer,” while the fallout from “Beginnings” has repercussions across the whole series. Ban makes a mistake in destroying an android, while the S.P.D. rangers lose a piece of technology to an intergalactic conqueror that allows him to enter their planet. 

The characters are also completely different between the adaptations, despite wearing the same colors and using the same fight footage. 

To start with, the S.P.D. Rangers have civilian powers, or powers that the rangers have when out of suit, that the Dekarangers do not. Jack can walk through walls, Sky can make force fields, Z can duplicate herself, and Syd can change parts of her body into elements that she touches. The only Dekaranger that has strange powers like this is Jasmine, who is an ESPer— A psychic, in western media terms. She can pick up impressions left by other people by touching objects they have touched, and she wears gloves when not actively using her powers to control them. 

Despite being DekaYellow, her powers were not given to Z, who becomes the S.P.D. Yellow Ranger. In fact, her powers were switched over to Bridge, who becomes the Green Ranger in S.P.D. He can see energy fields and later in the series develops the ability to read minds, and like Jasmine wears gloves to control his powers. 

Jack, who ends up becoming the Red Ranger, is a completely different character from Ban— and it’s seen straight from their introductions. Jack is a thief, and Ban is a police officer. Ban is extremely excited to be transferred to the Earth branch, Jack is practically forced into it. In fact, Jack was quite literally about to break out of jail when he passes by at the right time and notices that Z is in trouble— It’s the only reason he accepted the Morpher. He wanted to go and save her. However, Ban’s inspirations are different. He’s trying to be the best officer he can be because there was a child who wanted to grow up and become space police, but he was killed by a criminal. Ban is kickstarted by a child’s death— He was already an officer before that, but he grows stronger after he wants to avenge the boy. 

Meanwhile Sky, who ends up being the Blue Ranger, has significantly more focus in “Beginnings Pt. 1 and 2” than Hoji does in “Fireball Newcomer” and “Robo Impact”— It’s more his episode than Jack’s. While Sky and Hoji are similar in that they’re straight-laced hard workers that have a rude streak, there’s one major difference between them: Sky hates being the Blue Ranger. He mentions in “Beginnings Pt. 1” that all his life, he’s aspired to be a Red Ranger like his father was. He’s top of the class in everything he does, and he seems like the perfect choice to be the Red Ranger on paper. However, in a conversation that he has with his commander, it’s revealed that he has some internal biases that need to be worked on before he’s ready to lead— such as saying that he wouldn’t follow Syd or Bridge if the commander were to choose them as the Red Ranger. Meanwhile, Hoji is a different person entirely. He’s completely satisfied with his position as DekaBlue— even with his character theme music proclaiming “Sky blue is my blue!” 

Following up on that, in the first two episodes, the dynamics that are established are wildly different. Ban and Hoji are established as a strange duo, with Hoji quite literally ending off their first meeting by punching Ban in the face and then Ban unilaterally declaring Hoji his partner in “Robo Impact.” Meanwhile, Jack and Sky barely interact in the first episodes— it’s more focused on Jack’s relationship with Z and Sky’s relationships with Bridge and Syd. That doesn’t mean Jack and Sky don’t interact at all in this episode, though…

S.P.D. did something pretty unique in Power Rangers where it created a few completely original costumes. Power Rangers usually takes most or all of their costumes wholesale from Super Sentai, but they got an experienced modeler to produce the show this time around— and he decided to take things to the next level. Greg Aronowitz has posted a lot on his Instagram about his experience making Power Rangers S.P.D, and a lot of photos of how he made certain new costumes and masks.

To start with, one of the most significant changes is the fact that he created a completely new costume for a character. In both S.P.D. and Dekaranger, their boss is a big blue dog man. Anubis “Doggie” Cruger in S.P.D. and Doggie “Boss” Kruger in Dekaranger. However, in a making-of documentary, Aronowitz mentioned how he wanted to “Put that filter on it. If theirs was the cartoon Doggie Cruger, I wanted to do the real Doggie Cruger.” He took a lot of inspiration from the Dekaranger suit and loved what they did with it, but he “…didn’t feel like when you’re watching it, you’re like ‘This is a living, breathing thing.‘“

But that’s not all! Another major change was in the main mechanic and doctor character (Talk about a double major!). In Dekaranger, we have Swan “Swan-san” Shiratori, while in S.P.D, we have Dr. Katherine “Kat” Manx. In case you can’t tell from their names, Swan-san is a swan and Kat is a cat! Kat also has an assistant in S.P.D. that doesn’t have an equivalent in Dekaranger, her eager gadget tester Boom! He’s played by Kelson Henderson, who has played a truly obscene amount of Power Rangers side characters over the years!

Another major change is in the villains and other rangers— The main villain of S.P.D. didn’t even exist in Dekaranger! The main villain of Dekaranger, Agent Abrella, was retooled into Broodwing in S.P.D, but in the intro credits of S.P.D. all you see is Emperor Gruumm. And A-Squad also didn’t exist in Dekaranger, so entirely new suits had to be made for them right from the start. Keen-eyed fans may notice that the helmets are repainted versions of the helmets from Power Rangers In Space!

And of course, we can’t forget all the background aliens Aronowitz made. There are a lot of them. S.P.D. is meant to feel like a futuristic society where aliens and humans live in harmony, and all the aliens that we see around the rangers help make that feel real. “Part of my vision for SPD was to have NewTech City populated with extra-terrestrials. I wanted every scene to have a mix of humans and aliens, even in the background. Of course this was way out of reach for our budget. But I was determined,” Said Aronowitz on his Instagram.

It’s always really interesting to see how Power Rangers and Super Sentai can share a common origin and almost all of their fight footage and yet can be completely different, and to see how much effort went into every change that was made. 

An adaptation is a balancing act, especially when you’re trying to do something completely new with a source material. And what sets Power Rangers, especially in the era where they were owned by Disney, apart is not how they keep their story the same— it’s how they change it.