Help is a rainbow away!
Rainbow Rangers is a Nick Jr. show produced by Genius Brands International. The show premiered on November 5, 2018, with a second season premiering in October 2019. A third season premiered on April 15, 2022, airing exclusively on Genius Brands' in-house Kartoon Channel, and featured an Art Shift to 2D animation.
The series follows seven magical girls who live in Kaleidoscopia, a fantastic land at the other end of the rainbow that is home to magical creatures. Whenever Kalia, the Spirit of the Rainbow, senses trouble, the Rangers go on missions to Earth to help protect it and its natural beauty. Usually their rescues involve animals, but sometimes they have to contend with Preston Praxton, his daughter Patty, and later his sister Priscilla, who have no respect for the environment and often make life difficult for the plants and animals of Earth.
This series contains examples of:
- All-CGI Cartoon: The first two seasons are completely CGI.
- Alliterative Name: Rosie Redd, Bonnie Blueberry, and Lavender LaViolette. The Praxtons too (Preston, Patty, and Priscilla).
- All Your Colors Combined: "Bunny-20" has the Rangers unable to escape from Preston's diamond-encrusted tubes until they combine all their color-coded powers together, which frees them.
- Ambiguously Human: The Rainbow Rangers themselves look human, but their species is usually never brought into question. Not to mention they have magical powers, fantastic hair colors, and embody the colors of the rainbow. One episode mentions they're Kaleidoscopians.
- Art Shift: Early promos were in 2D, but the series itself is CGI. Season 3 switched back to 2D art.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: "Rangers in Space" has the Rangers, and Floof, able to survive in space without helmets or equipment.
- Big Good: Kalia is the Spirit of the Rainbow who calls the Rangers to action when she sees trouble in the world. She acts as the girls' mentor.
- But Now I Must Go: When the Rangers' mission is solved, they declare "homeward bound" and head home.
- Calling Your Attacks: The Rangers normally call out the names of the powers they use when they manifest them.
- Cast Speciation: Every girl has a different power, color, and special gadget.
- Catchphrase: Many. Rosie and Kalia say "Ride, Rangers, ride," frequently (or some variation like "Dive, Rangers dive"), Lavender has "Splendiferous," Anna's "Unbe-squeeze-able," Indigo has "Betcha I'll beat ya!" and "Gotcha good, knew I would," and Preston Praxton always says "Booby trap!" when activating said traps.
- Central Theme: About environmental studies and how to protect the Earth.
- Christmas Episode: "Chimney Caper" takes place around Christmas and has the Rangers trying to help raccoons trapped in Preston's chimney.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The Rainbow Rangers are all themed after the seven colors of the rainbow.
- Combo Platter Powers: Kalia's powers are seemingly endless, and she can do all the Rangers can and more.
- Continuity Nod: In "Moo-ving Cows" the Rangers realize Preston broke his promise about not using pesticides, which he made in "Bee Like Lavender." It even takes place in the same orchard.
- Cool Bike: Spectra-Scooters are super-fast scooters that every Ranger has.
- Crossdressing Voice: The tomato plant in "GMO OMG" appears to be female, but her vocals are provided by a male.
- Curtains Match the Windows: All the Rangers have eyes that are similar hues to that of their hair.
- Daddy's Little Villain: Patty Praxton is Preston Praxton's spoiled daughter, and shares his love of money but isn't all bad.
- Defeated and Trophified: After capturing the Rangers with booby traps, Preston occasionally decides to make them part of whatever he's planning, like using them as part of a building foundation or as a Christmas tree.
- Dumb Blonde: Anna Banana is often the last to pick up on things and comically misinterprets things at times.
- Every Episode Ending: Every episode ends with the rangers declaring "homeward bound" and flying back through the portal to Kaleidoscopia.
- The Fashionista: Lavender LaViolette is a dramatic fashionista and loves to talk about the latest trends.
- Flight: Lavender LaViolette's Flitter Flower allows her to fly.
- Framing Device: Every episode starts with a situation in Kaleidoscopia that relates to the mission or lesson the girls learn on Earth, which they apply once they return.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When the rainbow representing a problem Kalia spies flies to the Crystal Command Center, many other
◊ places◊ in Kaleidoscopia can be seen, including a volcano, an icy mountain, a beach, and a forest. - Friend to All Living Things: Anna Banana is naive and sweet, and can talk to animals. The animals are affectionate and love her in return, and in the first episode she's the only one on the team who can convince a polar bear cub to trust them.
- The Ghost: Preston Praxton has offscreen assistants, Grace and Donny, who he frequently talks to but are never seen.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: After the main problem in "Preston Fest" is solved, Mandy, Bonnie, Lavender, and Floof attend the festival as performers while Preston dances.
- Gone Horribly Right: One episode has Preston create fast-growing plants in an attempt to make money. The plants grow so much they become sentient and turn against him, then wreak havoc on a city.
- Green Aesop: Every episode is about protecting the environment, animals, and preserving Earth's natural beauty, which is threatened by Preston Praxton's schemes as well as natural dangers.
- The Heart: Mandarin Orange is the cheerleader of the group and boosts morale with songs and speeches.
- How Do I Shot Web?: The Rangers are young and still mastering their powers, so they don't always work as expected at times.
- Human Alien: The Rainbow Rangers look human, but aren't from Earth.
- Incredible Shrinking Man: Lavender LaViolette can shrink to the size of a butterfly. As a pun on "shrinking violet", although her personality is the exact opposite from what that would indicate.
- Invisibility: Pepper Mintz's Shimmer Shawl can turn herself and things around her invisible.
- It Only Works Once: The Music Power of Mandy’s Hypno-Flute only works once per living thing.
- Kid-Appeal Character: Floof can only say his name and acts as a clumsy, cute Team Pet. Promotional material wanted him to be the next Baby Groot in appealing to children.
- The Klutz: Floof is very clumsy and usually has a comical way of exiting his pet door.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Indigo Allfruit tends to act first and think later, often rushing into danger.
- Magic Music: Mandarin Orange's hypno-flute plays magic music that can hypnotize anyone, but it only works once per creature.
- Meaningful Name: Each of the rangers has a name that references the color they represent.
- Merchandise-Driven: Mattel handles toy duties, which was emphasized at the end of the teaser trailer.
- Mind-Control Music: Mandarin Orange's hypno-flute can make others obey commands, but it only works once per creature.
- Mission Control: Kalia's role is to identify a mission and select the best Rangers for said mission.
- Multinational Team: Each of the Rangers was designed with different ethnicities in mind.
- Never Say "Die": An episode about cutting down trees dances around the word "death," calling the trees "gone," "broken," and "down forever."
- Never Split the Party: "Divided We Fall" has the Rangers separated when trying to stop a poacher, making the mission much more difficult.
- Next Tier Power-Up: The start of season 3 has the Rangers get stronger powers, as well as scents that smell like their signature colors.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: When the Rangers are sent to protect some bats who are flying much too close to some generators, they decide that the best course of action is to turn the generators off...except that cuts all the lights at a nearby ski resort, endangering all of the patrons; the Rangers end up having to rescue the skiers and think of another way to solve the problem.
- Older Hero Versus Younger Villain: Patty Praxton is 8, while the Rangers are 9.
- Once an Episode: Every episode has the Rainbow Rangers theme playing as the girls get ready to go to Earth, with a Theme Tune Roll Call of the members and their powers.
- The One Guy: Floof is the only male character on the side of good.
- Only Six Faces: Almost every Ranger has the same face, cheekbones, and nose.
- Personality Powers: Many of the Rangers' power correspond to their personalities, with the shy Pepper Mintz turning invisible, while no-nonsense Rosie has super strength.
- Inverted with Lavender Laviolette, who can shrink, but likes to be the center of attention. You know, "shrinking violet"?
- Pet Baby Wild Animal: "Monkey Business" has Lavender catch a baby dragonflice as a pet named Snowy, and Preston captures a marmoset as a pet for Patty, which she names Pickles. By the end, both girls realize their pets belong in the wild with their families and release them.
- Pet the Dog: When a bird crashes into Patty's beach house window, she's genuinely concerned about its well-being.
- Pokémon Speak: The only thing Floof can say is his own name.
- Punny Name: Pepper Mintz's name is a pun on peppermints.
- Rainbow Motif: The Rainbow Rangers are named and colored after the rainbow.
- Retool: The third season made an art shift to 2D animation and had more episodes take place in Kaleidoscopia, as Preston and his family sought to exploit the resources and creatures there as well.
- Recycled Soundtrack: On the official YouTube channel, several music videos reuse songs from Genius Brands' previous project SpacePOP.
- Required Secondary Powers: In an episode where the Rangers are trapped in a bathysphere, Bonnie notes that the water pressure would break apart ordinary humans as well as the sphere, but since they're Kaleidoscopians they can breathe underwater and adjust to water pressure without getting harmed. They can also withstand intense heat and the vacuum of space, and don't get sick from Earthly diseases.
- Reused Character Design:
- The park rangers seen on different continents and various locales all have the same character design, which is also reused for the poacher in "Divided We Fall."
- Animals seen in more than one episode have the same models, particularly polar bears.
- Rich Bitch: The Praxtons embody this trope and use their money to flaunt their success, as does Patty's friend Brooklyn.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Anna Banana's gadget is Mr. Stuffie Wuffie, a toy that's so cute anyone who hugs it can only sit and cuddle things.
- Ridiculously Fast Construction: Bonnie Blueberry's gadget is the Construct-O-Max, which lets her build things extremely quickly (for all intents and purposes, it's a portable replicator from Star Trek: The Next Generation). It's used frequently to create things that would take a long time to implement in real life, such as instantly constructing a new skate park or pipes that aren't contaminated by lead.
- Ridiculously Human Robot: Many of Preston's robots are astoundingly lifelike, including a robot clam that's ticklish and a robot Preston that develops free will.
- Ripped from the Headlines: When the COVID-19 Pandemic hit, a special 2-part episode, "Bunny-20," was released online that had the Rangers unable to save the day with their powers, but instead by following scientists' advice and waiting for a cure to be made.
- Robot Me: Big Gold Preston is a giant robot version of Preston Praxton which is so lifelike it responds to Mandy's hypno-flute.
- Rule of Three: Three Rangers are selected each episode to go on missions. An exception occurs in "Bunny-20", where all seven Rangers go around the world to help.
- Save the Villain: The Rangers have had to save Preston and Patty a few times, like when an alligator visited their swimming pool.
- Sentai: The team takes several cues from this genre.
- Shrinking Violet: Pepper Mintz is a shy, introverted bookworm who loves to read.
- Slice of Life: One episode doesn't involve any rescues and revolves around the Rangers going to Patty's costume party, only for Preston to hijack it.
- The Smart Guy: Bonnie Blueberry is analytical and smart, and Pepper Mintz is a shy bookworm who's also quite smart.
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Spiritual Successor: To Gisele and the Green Team, an earlier Genius Brands property with a similar premise that wasn't successful. - The Spock: Bonnie Blueberry is smart like a computer, and doesn't understand silliness or practical jokes. She even refers to things as being "logical".
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Rosie, Anna, and especially Bonnie go on the most missions by far, with Mandarin and Pepper going on far less missions.
- Standardized Leader: Rosie Redd's only trait in the preview is "The Leader," and she's generally no-nonsense and eager to get things done.
- Stock Footage: The Rangers' transformations and meeting up with Kalia are almost the exact same every episode.
- Story-Breaker Power: Kalia can do just about anything, but never goes on missions herself.
- Strictly Formula: Episodes begin with a problem occurring on Earth, the girls having a problem or argument on Kaleidoscopia, then a trip to Earth for the mission, which never goes well the first time they try to solve it, then using what they learned on the mission to resolve the initial dispute.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Patty's Aunt Priscilla looks, sounds, and acts almost exactly like Preston, just with a wig and beauty mark.
- Super-Senses: Bonnie Blueberry's power is super vision, and Mandarin Orange has super hearing.
- Super-Speed: Indigo Allfruit has super speed, and is a prankster.
- Super-Strength: Rosie Redd has super strength.
- Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Kalia's Mirror of Marvels lets her and other Rangers monitor missions on Earth and see areas in need of help.
- Tag Line: Several, including "Ride, Rangers, Ride!" and "Help is a rainbow away!"
- Team Pet: Floof the Prismacorn helps the team out on missions.
- Technicolor Eyes: Kalia's eyes are rainbow-colored.
- Too Dumb to Live: Preston Praxton's ignorance has endangered himself and his daughter several times, like going out on a raft in the middle of a storm, going out in the ocean when a tsunami is coming, or swimming in a pool where an alligator resides. In such cases, the Rangers have to save them before they're seriously hurt or worse.
- Transformation Sequence: While running through their individual tunnels to the Crystal Command Center, the girls' outfits become their Ranger uniforms.
- Tricked-Out Shoes: Indigo Allfruit's Super Sonic Rainbow Sneakers let her move incredibly fast.
- Unicorn: Floof is a rainbow unicorn, a Prismacorn, and even has a detachable horn.
- Visible Invisibility: Whenever Pepper turns herself or others invisible, she leaves a glowing green outline so viewers can see where she is.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Preston Praxton's traps are meant to keep the Rangers out of his way, not harm them.
- X-Ray Vision: Rosie Redd's Tiara-Visor lets her see through objects.
When troubles come, we're on the way! Rainbow Rangers save the day!
