6. Power Rangers (1993-present)
Go, go, Power Rangers! You Mighty Morphin Power Rip-offs! Yes, I was surprised myself when I found out Power Rangers is an American adaptation of a long-running Japanese action show series called Super Sentai (1975-present). In fact, Power Rangers could be seen as a deliberate rip-off because it utilizes the fighting footage from the original Japanese source itself. Power Rangers has been airing for twenty years, but I will focus mainly on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It is based on the 1992 Super Sentai season, Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger (which is Japanese for Dinosaur Squad Ranger). As in Power Rangers, the season opens with the escape of the main villain, the evil witch Bandora (who would be renamed Rita Repulsa for Power Rangers). News of her escape reaches an old man named Barza who awakens five young warriors Geki, Goushi, Dan, Boi, and Mei from their 170 million-year long slumber. They are called the Tyranno Ranger (Red), Mammoth Ranger (Black), Tricera Ranger (Blue), Tiger Ranger (Yellow) and Ptera Ranger (Pink). In fact, the reason the Ranger costumes are prehistoric themed is because each dinosaur and prehistoric beast is actually a symbol of the individual warriors' tribe. (Have you ever wondered why the Yellow Ranger does not have a skirt like the Pink ranger? That is because the Yellow Zyuranger, Boi, is a guy, hence no skirt.)
From there, the Kyoryu episodes follow a similar pattern to the Power Rangers: Bandora sends down a monster to terrorize earth's children, and the Zyurangers fight them off with their special weapons and Guardian Beasts. When the Kyoryu footage was edited into the Mighty Morphin episodes, there were a lot of name changes. Bandora was renamed Rita Repulsa, which explains her out-of-sync dialogue due to poor English dubbing. Her cronies and monsters got renamed as well, from Grifforzar, Totpat, Bukbak, Puripurikan, and the clay Golems to Goldar, Baboo, Squatt, Finster, and the Putties, respectfully. The Zyuranger's Guardian Beasts become the Power Rangers' Zords and their combined form's original name, Daizyuzin, becomes the Megazord. Between watching both Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers simultaneously, I find the former has a better sense of story pacing, but the latter is just as much fun to watch.