RIP Power Rangers

17 years after countless episodes of the Power Rangers started to be churned out, the children's show featuring five color-coded teenage superheroes fighting all sorts of overgrown, shabbily costumed baddies, the series is being laid to rest.

The show, which originally began as The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, based on a similar Japanese series, was a huge hit with the children of America when it debuted in 1993. There was a time soon after when you couldn't walk through a mall or eat a six pack of Chicken McNuggets without being attacked by a six year old with a red or green action figure, both poised mid-karate chop.

Still, it wasn't only the younger set that found the Power Rangers to be a worthy Saturday morning television event. Legions of gays began tuning in based on the show's campy production values -- including purposely poorly dubbed villain voices and skin tight costumes -- and hunky heartthrob heroes.

Disney hasn't officially announced the end of the television series, but according to local New Zealand papers -- the show has been shot there since 2003 -- the cast and crew have been notified that the Power Rangers' power has been shut off.

In honor of the ridiculousness that once was (and will surely continue to live on in reruns for eternity), let's have one last look:

Previously > The three faces of Tokyo!