In the era before The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, one Super Sentai series was written with adults in mind. It was also the first Super Sentai to have a video game! (Chapter markers and more below...)

Episode Information
GTV 129 "Man, oh Jet-O-Man" Original Airdate: June 10, 2022
Produced May 26-31, 2022
Recorded at Butsudan Studios and edited on my all new 14” MacBook M1 Pro! Edited and produced with Photoshop and Final Cut Pro, which my job paid for!

0:00 Coming up next!!
0:28 Gai Cares!
0:34 GTV ID: With a heart like an egg!
0:41 Act: 1 Nostalgia and Nirvana
8:49 CM 1: Jetman Henshin Series (Japan, 1991)
9:22 Act 2: Who are Jetman?
14:04 CM 2: Jetman Sausage (Japan., 1991)
14:22 Act 3: The Best Five
21:54 CM 3: Jetman Corn Snack (Japan, 1991)
22:12 Act 4: Jetman the Video Game!
27:41 CM 4: Jet Icarus (Japan, 1991)
28:14 Act 5: A Completely Different Plane

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Partial Transcript

Ahh yes, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers! How could I have gone this long without mentioning them? The truth of it is, that as far as the Nostalgia Spectrum™ is concerned, The Power Rangers just miss the mark for me. I have very few memories of the show growing up. I did see it during the original run, back in 1993, but I was just too old. I can see the appeal for kids who watched it, the story of everyday high schoolers who become superheroes and save the day.

But the funny thing about a lot of TV of this type, the cast and the audience are always meant to be a generation apart. If I was in 4th grade, then these super heroes would be something to look up to. But why would I, as someone in high school, want to aspire to be someone else that was in high school too?

Watching the mishmash of everyday “Saved by the Bell” style teen drama, and fast paced action scenes was just so bewildering and perplexing. Why did the action scenes look they were filmed 100 years ago? Why don’t some voices sync with their mouths? Why is the Yellow Ranger clearly not built like she is when she’s not in uniform?!


But the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers isn’t really what I want to focus on. It’s just the set up, the MacGuffin, if you will. When I moved to Japan, I took an interest in seeing the Super Sentai Series in its original form.

This is of course in the pre-broadband, pre-YouTube days when you couldn’t just whip out the ol’ iPhone and see anything that has ever existed, in its entirety, instantly, for free! or worst case scenario, just forced to watch an ad for 6 seconds.

No, back then, it was a pretty special thing to watch TV from another country IN THAT COUNTRY! I was fortunate enough to blessed with crystal clear reception of a local channel that ran endless Anime, Tokusatsu and Jidai-Geki reruns from the 70s 80s and 90s. For a “curator of Japanese TV” like myself, it was nirvana!!

Eventually I saw most of the old Super Sentai shows, From the original all the way up to Zyu-Ranger. The incarnation that led to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. They all fit the same formula too. A group of 5 people combine powers to create a fighting force, unified under a symbol, animals, ninjas, mythological heroes, all kinds of stuff. The team is color coordinated, usually red blue yellow, black and pink, but that’s not a hard and fast rule. It’s like they say, “If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all!”

To get back on track, Jet-O Man was an unusual show for the time. The Super Sentai Series had been around for 15 years. The formula was pretty much laid down. To shake things up some unusual choices were made. If you ever compared Jet-O Man with Zyu-Ranger, which came immediately afterward, you’d be wondering if they were even the same show at all.

The characters are much older, they have jobs! But more than that, they drink, they smoke, they sleep around. There’s actual perma-death of some main characters! Is this still a kids show? More than that, there are a few episodes where the heroes fight the bad guys but as themselves! Not as Jet-O Man! There are episodes where the heroes don’t even suit up and fight! They just talk about their relationship problems, like a soap opera! On top of that some of the bad guys they came up with are really weird!