The Rice University Neologisms Database

A type of choreography in which martial arts is combined with wire stunts. Although the first few seasons of Power Rangers had very limited and static action sequences in the American footage, the American choreographed fight scenes have evolved over the years to include more dangerous and exciting martial arts and stunts. However, fight scenes in Power Rangers reached new heights in the Power Rangers Wild Force episode “Forever Red”, marking the tenth anniversary of Power Rangers. In this episode, a red ranger from each of the past ten seasons joins forces to battle the machine empire on the moon. With extra funding from Bandai to promote a new motorcycle toy at the end battle, the head choreographer Koichi Sakamoto crafted an epic fight between the ten red rangers and the five machine generals using a mix of high-flying and mid-air wire stunts, fast-forwarded and slow-motion shots, large explosions, and one very quick, but very cool, bullet-time shot. When Disney bought Saban, the company that produced Power Rangers, Disney moved production to New Zealand, which would allow for a larger action budget. As a result, Koichi had the opportunity to continue to experiment with wire stunts. The current season, Power Rangers S.P.D. (Space Patrol Delta), features wire stunts in almost every action sequence. Thus, in order to differentiate these scenes from the older series of Power Rangers, the word ‘wire-fu’ was coined. It incorporates the notion of wire stunts and kung-fu, i.e. martial arts, into one idea.