The thirtieth instalment of the Power Rangers Redverse written by Mad Red X 12, an adaptation of the actual Power Rangers Operation Overdrive. Legends speak of the Corona Aurora, also known as the Crown of the Gods - an ancient crown of immense power created by a powerful craftsman who made it for the people of Earth soon after their evolution from Neanderthals to advance their primitive civilisation to a level akin to that of other planets. However, the humans instead used the power of the Corona Aurora to fulfil their own simple desires, bringing the creator sadness, which soon turned into rage and finally evil when one selfish human tried to steal the Corona Aurora from its resting place and was mutated into an ice-based monster and sealed away for his troubles. The creator then tried to completely exterminate all life on Earth and then the rest of the universe, only to be defeated in battle by his own created servant, the Sentinel Knight, who sealed him away in the core of the Earth after draining him of much of his power. Deciding that the Corona Aurora was more harm than good, the Sentinel Knight dismantled it into four pieces of its crown and the fourteen jewels that stood atop it and scattered the pieces across the world, hiding them away where they would never be found. In case the godlike power of the crown was ever needed again, the Sentinel Knight left behind a series of clues and puzzles that when solved would eventually lead to the pieces needed to reunite the Crown of the Gods.
Thousands of years later, Adventurer Archaeologist and philanthropist Renaissance Man Andrew Hartford, who is also the head of the SCG ("Search, Collect and Guard"), a private organisation dedicated to the preservation of historical artifacts and treasures (especially dangerous ones), follows a series of puzzles to at last find one piece of the Corona Aurora - but in the process awakens the original thief, now known as Flurious, from his prison. Returning to the surface, Flurious begins rallying an army of other ice-based creatures to claim the Crown of the Gods by any means necessary, finding himself in direct competition with two other factions - the Jaryuu Clan, a clan of dragon-like creatures led by the nefarious Moltor, who has immense knowledge of long-lost human civilisations and intends to use the crown to bring them back and wipe out all "inferior" current societies; and Gajah, a tribe of rock-based creatures led by a mysterious leader of the same name, who seeks the Corona Aurora for a unknown purpose. After realising what his discovery has brought, Hartford begins using his wealth to locate four individuals who possess the qualities needed to properly hunt down the Corona Aurora's pieces and any other artifacts that could pose a danger to humanity.
His search bears fruit and the SCG locates and "acquires" the four desired individuals - Will Aston, a stealth expert and computer hacker who helps international companies test their security systems; Rose Ortiz, a Teen Genius college student-teacher with an interest in archelogy, sentient robots and creating new technology for the benefit of mankind; Ronny Robinson, an amnesiac woman who woke up under a boulder before being rescued by a SCG member and hired by Formula 1 as a race car driver and technician; and Dax Lo, a movie stuntman who feels neglected and mistreated at his job and dreams of making his own films. Brought to Hartford Manor, they meet Mack Hartford, Andrew's Ridiculously Human Robot son who was created as a Replacement Goldfish to the actual Mack Hartford, who died alongside his mother during an accident when he was just five years old, and Hartford's butler Spencer. After Andrew is able to convince the quartet to assist him in his cause (helped by the appearance of the now ghostly Sentinel Knight), he gives them the Overdrive Tracker morphers, allowing them to become the Black, Pink, Yellow and Blue Overdrive Rangers respectively. Mack also becomes the Red Overdrive Ranger, being given the original Overdrive Tracker, which has an energy output too high for an organic being to withstand.
Now equipped with various Adventurer Archaeologist tools and with genetic powers given by enhanced DNA, the Overdrive Rangers set out to solve the puzzles left by the Sentinel Knight (who due to The Fog of Ages had forgotten the solutions himself, preventing him from simply telling them the answers) while also fighting against the forces of Flurious, Moltor, Gajah, and later two more factions - the Dark Ninjas led by the murderous Kamdor, and the alien conquerors known as the Fearcats. Along the way, they regularly stop to deal with mysterious artifacts, gain new allies from the most unexpected places, including a trio of Human Aliens known as Mercurians, and discover all kinds of secrets, some of which were better left forgotten, and in the end piece together an Ancient Conspiracy that spans multiple civilisations, all tied back to the Corona Aurora - and in the end, only one side will be able to have access to its power to destroy all life ... or save it.
The Overdrive Rangers:
- Mack Hartford/Red Overdrive Ranger: The Hero, The Big Guy and The Leader, Andrew Hartford's Ridiculously Human Robot son who was built with the uploaded mind of the original Mack Hartford, who died at the age of five alongside his mother in a accident.
- Will Aston/Black Overdrive Ranger: The Lancer, a stealth expert and computer hacker who helps international companies test their security systems - the problem is that he's so good at it that they often need three or four upgrades before he can confirm it's secure.
- Dax Lo/Blue Overdrive Ranger: One half of The Heart, a movie stuntman who feels neglected and mistreated at his production company, which does not see him as a worthwhile asset, and dreams of making and directing his own films and entertaining people.
- Veronica "Ronny" Robinson/Yellow Overdrive Ranger: The other half of The Heart, a Formula 1 driver and technician who was found underneath a boulder by a SCG operative and has no memory of her past prior to her awakening, much to her concern.
- Rose Ortiz/Pink Overdrive Ranger: The Smart Guy, a Teen Genius college student-teacher who is fascinated by lost civilisations and archaeology, and has a great interest of creating new technology such as sentient machines to improve people's lives.
Recurring Power Rangers Redverse Tropes:
- Home Base: The Hartford Mansion and its underground facilities, with the SCG Museaum serving as a secondary headquarters for the Rangers. For the villains, there's Flurious's Ice Den, Moltor's Volcano, the Fearcat's Mothership, and the Dark Ninja's Shadow Dojo. Noticible, Gajah doesn't have a lair, instead freely travelling around the world.
- Humans Are Bastards: In addition to having the usual Monster of the Week routine, there are also many human villains in the series, the majority of them using relics to commit crimes.
- Weapon-Based Characterisation:
- Mack's Drive Lance
- Will's Drive Hammer
- Power Fist: Dax's Drive Vortex
- Wolverine Claws: Ronny's Drive Claws
- Hand Cannon: Rose's Drive Geyser
Tropes specific to Operation Overdrive:
- Adaptational Angst Downgrade: Mack is much more chipper and upbeat than originally, as well as more mature and handles issues much better than in canon. This is helped by the fact that he starts the series aware of that he's an android, as well as knowing that he was once a human who was transformed into an android after an accident.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
- Ronny has her Sentai counterpart Natsuki's amnesia and mysterious past, which causes her great distress over the series. And that's not even taking into account her reaction to learning her origins...
- Andrew Hartford lost his wife and son in a horrible accident three years ago, and while he was able to upload his son into a Ridiculously Human Robot body, his wife's body was so horribly destroyed there was no way to bring her back, leading to him quitting archeology and slumping into a deep depression that lasted until he was convinced to help solve the puzzle that lead to the discovery of the Crown of the Gods ... and awakening Flurious from his millenia-long imprisonment.
- Adaptational Personality Change:
- Dax lacks the often-perceived-as-annoying Cloudcuckoolander personality he originally had, aside from his Motor Mouth tendencies, instead being portrayed as The Everyman among the Rangers with some serious self-esteem issues.
- Adventure Archaeologist: The main cast.
- Artifact Collection Agency: The Rangers' secondary objective.
- Corrupted Character Copy:
- Inverted with the SCG Organisation - they're similar to the SCP Foundation, with similar A-Rank to D-Rank personnel, a focus on gathering and safeguarding various dangerous artifacts, and even a similar name and anacronym. However, while the SCP Foundation is a shadow organisation of Well-Intentioned Extremists who acquire convicts and murderers to serve as Cannon Fodder and have a lot of evil members and skeletons in the closet, the SCG Organisation are a publicly known private philanthropist organisation dedicated exclusively to locating and containing Artifacts of Doom, and prioritise the safety of even the lowest-ranked members above all else.
- The first villain of the Sword of Ryujin arc, Saru, is an odd example in that he was inspired in-universe by the character he's based off of - in his case, Monkey D. Luffy. A Loony Fan of One Piece, he was inspired by Luffy to use a relic that grants the user Rubber Man powers and strive to become "king of the pirates" note . Unfortunately, he got a massive Alternate Character Interpretation, looking up to Luffy as a merciless conqueror and undefeated treasure hoarder rather than the genuinely kind and virtuous hero he actually is, leading him to become the leader of a gang of Ruthless Modern Pirates (the membership of which includes a redhead with a slight resemblance to Nami) and terrorise shipping routes around Japan, killing wantonly and pillaging thousands of yen worth of shipping goods. Mack, who is also a fan of One Piece, even chews him out for it and points out that despite all his efforts to emulate the Straw Hat leader he's at the end of the day nothing but a common criminal and nothing like Luffy.
- Faction Calculus: Among the five main villain groups.
- Flurious's Forces are the Subversive faction, having Chillers and various abilities but few monsters of their own.
- The Jaryuu Clan are the Powerhouse faction, having both Lava Lizards and their own monsters but taking a lot more time and effort to make them and are unable to grow their monsters.
- Gajah is the Horde faction, having legions of Golems and the ability to grow monsters at their disposal but lacking monsters of their own.
- The Dark Ninjas are the Balanced faction, having both Ninja Trainees and moderately powerful monsters on their side which they can grow.
- The Fearcats are the Cannons faction, lacking Mooks or monsters but instead consisting of several very strong members who can also pilot their own Zords.
- The Lost Lenore: Andrew Hartford's unnamed wife and Mack's mother, who was killed in the same accident that originally killed Mack. Unlike Mack, her body was so badly destroyed that there was practically nothing left, explaining how Andrew couldn't create a robotic body for her like he did with his son.
- Milestone Celebration: Being the thirtieth series in the Redverse, it features this in the Once a Ranger movie, which features one Ranger from every series in the past note , plus the Genesis Rangers, coming to assist the Overdrive Rangers against Chronos and a future adult version of Thrax.
- Renaissance Man: Andrew Hartford. Billionaire, Adventure Archaeologist, scientist, robotics expert, emergency medic, owns one of the biggest movie studios on the planet...
- Shout-Out:
- One episode features a bespectacled redheaded Japanese office worker with a Draconic Humanoid as a butler. Sound familiar? note
- Unrelated in the Adaptation: Flurious and Moltor.
- Younger Than They Look: Mack is chronologically eight years old and died when he was five, but was rebuilt with an eighteen-year-old artificial body. According to Spencer, Andrew chose to this rather than build him a body appropriate for his age so that if anything were to happen to him, Mack would be able to live on his own without needing a foster parent or legal guardian.
