After nearly a decade of mediocrity, we consider if Power Rangers is still worth its audience’s time.

With the finale ofDino Super Chargebehind us, I can confidently sayPower Rangershas run out of excuses.

Its a kids show.

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These excuses carried fans through four years of Bruce Kalish runPower Rangers.

Every year we thought it couldnt get worse, it did.

Everything seemed to turn a corner, however, with the post-apocalypticPower Rangers RPM.

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Power Rangers was good again!

A season likeRPMcan never happen again.

All hope really did seem lost.

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Then the sky opened up and the franchises messiah returned.

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Chip Lynn, one ofPower Rangersmost celebrated writers and producers!

With him in charge, we thought everything would be fine.

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We wouldnt need the excuses any more.

Wed be lead back to the Promised Land.

They came back in full force.

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Rushed Production

The excuse that became synonymous withSamurai.

That hed find his footing after being away for so long.

This excuse holds no merit, since the show started out so strong.

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What happened in the middle of the season?

Was it some kind of decree from Saban Brands to change direction?

They couldnt make any long term plans for fear it wouldnt match what the Sentai gave them.

This excuse disappeared duringSamuraiwhen they had all of the footage from the get-go and did nothing with that opportunity.

With the return of Chip, fans thought theyd finally see him in his element.

He wouldnt get screwed over like he had in the past with Sentai.

At first it seemed fine.

They shot so much original footage!

It seemed like they were confident where the show was heading.

With his return toDino Charge, its fair to say he was given that creative freedom.

It was going to be great!

Chip wouldnt be under Jonathan Tzachor anymore.

He had more or less free reign!

As we went into great detail here,the finale was an utter mess.

Chip, whose finales are still legendary amongstPower Rangersfans, couldnt even get this right?

Theres two possibilites here.

One, maybe Chip just wasnt as good of a head writer as we thought he was.

Maybe other people in the past had helped him, like longtimePower Rangerswriter Jackie Marchand.

Perhaps his longtime disagreements with Tzachor had lead to better stories.

Both of these are worrying.

If the fan-proclaimed savior cant improve the quality of the franchise, who can?

Its a Kids Show

Ah yes, this old chestnut.

Sometimes that excuse is valid.

Other times its just a lazy way to give the show a pass for not stepping up its game.

Twenty years ago, its a kid show was a valid excuse forPower Rangerss lack of quality at times.

This is no longer the case.

In the past twenty years childrens television has evolved.

Theyve helped raise that bar.

Avatar: The Last Airbenderproved you might tell a serialized story where the characters grow and change.

Gravity Fallsproved you might tell a lot of zany one-off stories that are still entertaining and thought provoking.

Power Rangers isnt trying to do any of those things.

It wasMighty Morphin Power Rangers2.0.

It was still high school kids fighting evil, but they had deeper characterization.

They had emotional arcs.

Its a small moment, but it displays the kind of emotional depth the franchise is capable of.

Its an epsiode straight out of the 90s.

If the show is supposed to be a weekly morality play for kids, its utterly failing.

No matter how you slice it,Power Rangersisnt really working on any level anymore.

At its bestDino Chargewas okay.

But is that enough to keep us watching?

Is this enough to thrive on?

Its not the Promised Land we wanted.

Are we willing to live with this for the foreseeable future?

The show can be better.

It has been better.

Ive waited ten years forPower Rangersto step up.

For the excuses to stop.

I waited in vain.

There are shows for kids that actively court an adult fanbase and the writing treats it as such.

There are so many better shows out there.

Why bother withPower Rangers?

The show hasnt done anything to answer that question and perhaps it never will.

Its perfectly content with being good enough.

And that is the death knell for my love of this franchise on television going forward.

Maybe the movie will be good.

But Im not going to wait for that.

Im not going to get my hopes up.

Im done making excuses forPower Rangers.