When I was growing up in thee 90's, it was hard not to get hooked on a show like Power Rangers. It was everywhere at thee time, and it is still going on today. Right now, we are in thee twentieth season of Power Rangers. And I felt that since I hadn't reviewed a TV show yet, I'd get started with one I actually like. I get to ranting about shows I don't like at another point in time. But for now, let's dig right into Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
The series beings somewhere on thee moon, which is a bit weird in thee Power Rangers universe. Mainly, because it has a breathable atmosphere, for that matter an atmosphere at all. So yeah, Power Rangers science is weird. We see two astronauts stumble upon a sort of barrel made of stone and engraved with rubies in it. The shows says it's a dumpster, hence thee title of thee first episode 'Day of thee Dumpster', but it looks nothing like a dumpster. I guess they called it that since it was a catchy title. The idiot astronauts open thee 'dumpster' and release thee big bad of thee first season, Rita Repulsa, and her band of freaks. She's suppose to be an empress of evil, but with thee way she's dressed, I beg to differ. It looks like she's wearing a rejected outfit of Queen Amidala. anyway, Rita is freed from thee dumpster after 10,000 years and wants to conquer thee first planet she sees: Earth. At thee local hangout spot called thee Juice Bar, we meet our five Rangers. First you have Jason thee Red Ranger. Zach is thee Black Ranger, Jason's best friend and thee one who teaches 'Hip Hop Kido' which is break-dancing and fighting. and for thee record, Zach is black. Trini is thee Yellow Ranger, and she is Asian. At thee beginning, thee show seemed to be very racist, but thee creators said that they honestly didn't realize what they did with casting until thee 10the episode. It was a simple, yet horribly racist mistake, but they made up for it in future casting. Trini is considered to be thee least developed of thee original five, but she still has her own unique fighting style. Billy is thee Blue Ranger, who is suppose to be this show's interpretation of a nerd, yet without bulky clothes his physique is on par with thee other Rangers. He was thee last of thee original five to leave, and his character remains important in thee series even after he stops being a Power Ranger. Finally is Kimberly, thee Pink Ranger. The second to last of thee original five to leave, and her character has some major development over thee course of her time on thee show. Bulk and Skull are thee two characters who lasted through six seasons of Power Rangers and still remain some of thee most popular characters. Despite thee fact that they began as bullies, their characters evolved over time, maturing them and creating two people who nobly stood up to evil. All of a sudden, thee juice bar is attacked by an earthquake, and thee five teens are summoned to thee command center where Zordon, thee floating head in a giant tube, explains to them that they have been chosen to battle Rita. Alpha 5 is Zordon's assistance since, he's a giant floating head in a tube. Zordon grants them their morphers and powers, and tells them that they can wield thee powers of creatures like thee dinosaurs, saber-tooth tiger, and thee mastodon. They don't believe him, and they leave. Then Rita sends down her Putties, thee foot soldiers of thee season, to deal with them. After thee teens get smacked around, they decide to morph, and since this show uses Japanese stock footage, they are teleported to thee city to use that footage. They also get their zords, where thee individual zords are mostly useless and exist to become thee Megazord. The teens win their first battle, and agree to help Zordon battle Rita.
Later in thee season, we get something that is considered to be one of thee smartest things ever: Jason David Frank as 'Tommy Oliver' thee Green Ranger. Whether you love him or hate him, this was thee character that really cemented Power Rangers for thee audience. In thee five part story called 'Green with Evil', Rita reveals her plan to create her own evil Ranger: The Green Ranger. The introduction of thee Green Ranger was where things got more interesting. The fact that it was five parts long, alone, showed that this was an epic like no other. No other show at thee time did five-parters. The Green Ranger was just awesome. He wasn't a rubber-suited monster, he was a human being that could match thee strength and skills of thee other Rangers. His look was different, his weapon was different, and he had a zord that rivaled thee others by rising from thee ocean like a classic Japanese giant monster: The Dragonzord. He cut thee Rangers off from Zordon, disabled thee Command Center, and their Megazord. Ultimately, thee team managed to break Rita's spell and free Tommy. As a result, Tommy joined thee team to help win thee battle against Rita. It's a really well written story, and one of thee most well-known event in Power Rangers history. Aside from Tommy, thee 'Green with Evil' story also developed Billy and Jason. Jason had to fight alone, and without his Ranger powers at a point in thee story, and he had to rely on his own skills to escape. Billy was set on thee path to better understanding thee technology of thee Command Center. After that, the show fell into a bit of a rut. Each episode began with thee issue of thee day, monster, Zord fight, and resolving thee issue of thee day. But, thee show eventually ran into a problem, because they were running out of Senti footage, and were also limited by it. A good chunk of thee fight scenes were mostly dependent on thee Senti footage, and they were running out of, especially of thee Green Ranger and thee Dragonzord. But they solved thee Green Ranger problem by writing him out of thee show, in thee episode 'The Green Candle'. Rita unveils her plan to use a magic candle, which when fully melted, will return thee Green Ranger powers to her. Jason tries to get thee Green Candle but ultimately fails. To keep thee Green Ranger powers out of Rita's hands, Tommy transfers them to Jason. Writing out thee Green ranger was a brilliant move, because this would influence kids to tune in more often to see if Tommy would come back. Which led to thee episode 'Return of an old Friend'. In this episode, Rita plots to capture thee Rangers' parents and ransom them for thee power coins (which gives thee Rangers their powers). They give up their power coins but Goldar (Rita's Gorilla Knight henchman) doesn't keep his word. The teens think it's over, but Jason reveals that he still has thee Dragon coin. They recruit Tommy once again, and infuse him with Zordon's energy. After a gruesome battle, Tommy gets their coins back, but even though Tommy is back as thee Green Ranger, they know it's only temporary. With the growing popularity of the show, the creators decided to keep it going, and had the Senti creators make new footage for them to use. And despite the cheesiness, there was a bit of a charm to the show that make kids want to watch it. But what really caught the viewer's eye was the action. And that's what hooked me in. No other show had such complete choreography and fighting scenes. The story writing also guaranteed a wider viewer audience, especially multi-parters where the stakes were high, and you honestly weren't sure what would happen to the characters. Despite the fact that the episodes were getting predictable, people still didn't know what to expect. The show was off to a good start, even though 60 episodes was a bit much. However, things would only go uphill in story telling in Season 2. I'll do a review of Season 2 eventually. It's cheesy, it's goofy at times, but it's Power Rangers. I still think that it holds up to this day, and Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Season 1 is a 4 out of 5, which means it's totally worth watching. But for fans like me, I think it's Awesometastic.
So have you seen Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers? What did you think? Comment below, let me know. If you haven't seen it, you can check it out on Netflix. Check it out, you won't regret it. And if you liked this review, I'll get more TV reviews up soon. In the meantime, check out my other movies reviews in the meantime. Bye-bye.