PASADENA, Calif. -- It's morphin' time! -- again. "The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," who exploded on to the children's television programming scene 17 years ago and instantly became a ratings and merchandising monster, are making a comeback.

The program followed the exploits of a handful of teens who would morph into brightly dressed heroes to fight weird creatures.

An 18th season of the series is planned for Nickelodeon in 2011 and the original episodes will run on Nicktoons later this year.

Stewart St. John, who wrote 30 of the original episodes and was the story editor the first season, is certain another wave of "Morphin" mania is on the way.

"I think the show is going to be just as big as it was that first year. It's obvious there are still plenty of fans," St. John says after speaking at the "Power Morphicon 2" convention last weekend, where thousands of fans packed the Pasadena Convention Center.

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