Does Power Rangers Cosmic Fury Fix The Franchise’s Biggest Timeline Issue?

This Power Rangers Cosmic Fury article contains spoilers through episode 9.

2025. A year that’s loomed over Power Rangers since 2005 when Power Rangers S.P.D., the 13th season of the franchise, aired. S.P.D.’s unusual jump forward in the timeline (previously each season had more or less matched it years of airing) was so the show could tell stories about an Earth that, to quote the shows first episode, “has become a haven for all alien races who come from the farthest reaches of the galaxy.” 

The world of S.P.D. was one where aliens lived freely amongst humans, just a regular part of everyday life, and the titular Space Patrol Delta protected Earth against the few aliens who refused to live in harmony. It set up the idea that, within twenty years of the season’s airing, Earth in the Power Rangers universe would soon be crawling with aliens. But as each subsequent season got closer to 2025 and aliens never showed up to Earth en masse? Fans began to worry that the show would never address it. It seemed more and more likely that a season would air and be set in 2025 and there would be no mention of aliens. This would shatter the (admittedly already battered) Power Rangers timeline.

While a few aliens had shown up on Earth in the interim between 2005 and 2025, restaurateur Piggy in Mystic Force (2006), Andresian Orion in Super Megaforce (2014), and some Rafkonians in Dino Fury (2022), they weren’t integrated into society the way S.P.D. portrayed. Fans would try and explain it away with theories such as the aliens only live in New Tech City (where much of S.P.D. takes place) but you think someone in at least the last five or ten years of the show would mention aliens living on Earth at some point. You could try and fudge the dates but S.P.D. was clear. Episode 32, “Wormhole” conclusively gave an onscreen date of 2025. The chances of Power Rangers addressing this impending massive gap in its continuity looked impossible.

Then, out of nowhere, Power Rangers Cosmic Fury, the 30th season of the franchise, addressed it in a single line.

In episode 9 of the season, the Rangers’ backs are against the wall. Lord Zedd has returned and the entire galaxy is in trouble. MMPR Blue Ranger Billy (David Yost) informs Cosmic Fury Red Ranger Amelia (Hunter Deno) that “alien civilians caught in the battle are losing their homes. Our forces are having to take them to New Tech City back on Earth.”

With two years to spare, Power Rangers finally managed to do it. The aliens in New Tech City are refugees from the battle with Zedd. It’s perfect! Power Rangers finally addressed the looming continuity disaster… But did it really?

The world of S.P.D. isn’t one that lines up with the idea that aliens came to Earth in large numbers only two years previously. The biggest piece of evidence was the S.P.D. episode “Sam Part 2” where Yellow Ranger Z remembers her time at school when she was 12 years old. In that flashback several aliens bully her. Z was an adult in 2025, so that doesn’t make sense with what Cosmic Fury just established, right? 

In truth, this was an impossible task from the start. Outside of the Power Rangers TV show world, it’s understandable that most of the team behind the shows in the years after S.P.D. aired didn’t want to bother with slowly introducing aliens into the population of Earth. It’s certainly not the first time Power Rangers has ignored its past continuity but also characters in Power Rangers traditionally should be relatable to their audience. The more you make their world different to ours the less it may appeal to a general audience. Plus, alien makeup costs money and Power Rangers is notoriously a very cheap show to produce.

It’s not dissimilar to how the revival of Doctor Who in 2005 slowly made aliens attacking Earth more and more common, to the point most people in London would evacuate on Christmas just because an attack happened there every year at that time. Later seasons under new production teams sidestepped this because having the people of Earth aware of aliens made it less relatable to the casual viewer. Much like Power Rangers, Doctor Who could have become far too burdened with its own continuity instead of simply telling fun and engaging stories. So it chose to sidestep it as much as it could.

Then why did Cosmic Fury even bother with giving an explanation for aliens on Earth at all? The simplest answer is that it knew it had a chance with the story it was telling and went for it. Cosmic Fury, and Dino Fury before it, have made a point to find engaging ways of back filling old continuity errors in the franchise. Dino Fury did a whole courtroom drama with it! The S.P.D. timeline issue is something that writers were aware of and took the opportunity to address.

Could Billy have gone more in-depth that actually there were some aliens on Earth already just to satisfy anyone who remembered “Sam Part 2”? Possibly, but Power Rangers Cosmic Fury wisely focuses on its own unique story and only adds little references and explanations in a way that organically makes sense. As much as hardcore fans would want the longer explanation, it would kill the pacing of the show for anyone else watching. 

There’s also a key difference with Cosmic Fury that most other seasons have not had. Cosmic Fury looks to be the last Power Rangers season for awhile. There’s a Netflix reboot in development and it’s extremely unlikely it’ll even address the TV shows continuity. There’s a solid chance that Cosmic Fury could be the end of 30 years of continuity. 

This means the people behind Cosmic Fury knew there probably wouldn’t be another season that would have to worry about aliens suddenly living on Earth. With no upcoming season they could finally shift the status quo of Power Rangers continuity to what S.P.D. had set up without alienating new audiences. This was the only chance and they took it. 

So yes, the smaller details don’t match up, but it mostly works. If you really want to make it work, perhaps a few more aliens came to Earth, lived with Piggy, and had a settlement of sorts that flew under the radar. Z did live most of her life on the streets, it’s not impossible she fell into a small alien community. 

And like previously stated, Power Rangers continuity has almost always had major issues. Lost Galaxy claimed it was set “sometime in the not too distant future” after the previous season of In Space and in that time Earth had constructed a giant space colony that was meant to cross the galaxy. Yet later seasons made it so there was only a gap of about a year between In Space and Lost Galaxy. It’s not impossible Earth was able to construct a giant space worthy colony in a year but it’s pretty unlikely.

Still, it can work and that’s what really matters in a franchise that lasts as long as Power Rangers.

Power Rangers Cosmic Fury is now streaming on Netflix.