'Power Rangers' is arguably one of the longest-running children's franchises in television history. 2018 will mark the 25th anniversary of the show, which shows no signs of stopping. First airing in 1993, "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" ran for three seasons and featured five teenagers with attitude from Angel Grove who transformed (morphed) into a superhero team called the "Power Rangers" in order to defeat Rita Repulsa and her monsters. The show was a monumental success and would see three theatrical releases. The most recent of which came out in 2017 and served as a reboot of the franchise for older and newer viewers alike.

In preparation for the upcoming 25th anniversary, here are five facts you may not have known about the "Power Rangers."

And the Emmy goes to

Well almost. Both "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" and "Power Rangers Time Force" were nominated for a Daytime Emmy. "Mighty Morphin" was nominated in 1995 for Outstanding Single Camera Photography and "Time Force" was nominated in 2002 for Outstanding Sound Mixing.

Haim Saban spent seven years trying to sell the show

The show is based off a popular Japanese show called "Super Sentai." When Haim Saban traveled to Japan to meet with animation studios, he discovered "Super Sentai" and wanted to bring it to the rest of the world. He and Shuki Levy came up with the idea for "Power Rangers" shortly after.

However, American TV networks weren't interested. Haim Saban stated in 1993, according to Mental Floss, "For seven years I've schlepped this thing, and everyone says 'Go take a pill or something,' because this is too weird - guys in spandex suits and dinosaurs." Finally, he met with Fox Children's Network president Margaret Loesch, who was immediately interested in the property.

The fight scenes were mostly improvised

The original actors cast for the show were all picked for their specific talents. David Yost (Billy/Blue Ranger) and Amy Jo Johnson (Kimberley/Pink Ranger) were gymnasts. While Walter Jones (Zack/Black Ranger), Thuy Trang (Trini/Yellow Ranger), Austin St. John (Jason/Red Ranger) and Jason David Frank (Tommy/Green Ranger) were all martial artists.

Walter Jones was tasked with creating what would become known as "hip-hop kido" for the show and often had less than 30 minutes to choreograph his fight scenes. The other actors also performed their own stunts with little prep time to properly choreograph the sequence. According to Jones in an interview with The Huffington Post, "It was all really improvised and choreographed spontaneously."

The 'Power Rangers' franchise was once owned by Disney

In 2001 Disney purchased the franchise from Haim Saban and Fox for a cool $3.2 billion. However, after it became apparent that the franchise did not mesh well with Disney's other brands, due to the violence, the mogul company put the show on the back burner and lost interest.

Nine years later Haim Saban would buy his franchise back from Disney for only about $100 million. He then struck a deal with Nickelodeon to air the show. Since then the show has become more popular than its days with Disney and spawned the live-action Lionsgate film released in 2017.

Many actors have returned to the show over the years

After the original story arc "Mighty Morphin" through "In Space" the show found a formula it followed religiously. Every new season would feature a whole new cast, with new suits, powers, and villains to vanquish. The current season would also feature an episode that teamed up the current rangers with the rangers from the previous season. But, beyond all that, there have been anniversary episodes which feature rangers from various seasons.

Most recently "Power Rangers Super Mega Force" episode "Legendary Battle" featured the most cameos to date.

Joining the then current cast of rangers were; Jason David Frank (Mighty Morphin/Green Ranger), Selwyn Ward (In Space/Blue Ranger), Patricia Ja Lee (In Space/Pink Ranger), Danny Slavin (Lost Galaxy/Red Ranger), Reggie Rolle (Lost Galaxy/Green Ranger), Melody Perkins (Lost Galaxy/Pink Ranger), Sean CW Johnson (Lightspeed Rescue/Red Ranger), Alison MacInnis (Lightspeed Rescue/Pink Ranger), Jason Faunt (Time Force/Red Ranger), Hector David Jr. (Samurai/Green Ranger), and Brittany Pirtle (Samurai/Yellow Ranger).

Many actors have also been known to travel the convention circuit where they sign autographs, conduct photo ops with fans of the franchise, and sit on "Power Rangers" panels. Despite the years, it seems the actors, like their fans, aren't willing to give up the legacy of the "Power Rangers" just yet.
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