TGIF! Here we are again with another Fangirl Friday! I know it’s been awhile since the last Fangirl Moments post. Every time I got ready to write one, something else would come up and before I knew it a few weeks had breezed by… I’ll do my best to keep this from happening again, but, hey, life happens… Also THANK YOU to everyone that voted for this topic in the Twitter poll I ran, you guys were a huge help!!
So this week I’m feeling a bit nostalgic, what with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers film reboot coming out next week and the Twitch MMPR marathon going on right now, I’m in full blown Power Rangers mode! Now, as much as I love the Power Rangers, I’m only going to cover the seasons based on the Super Sentai season Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger… because #notmyrangers!
Okay, I kid, I love all iterations of the Power Rangers, though I have the fondest memories of the original line-up of Rangers, even though I was barely out of diapers when the show originally aired. Heck, I can still sing the entire theme song from start to finish, with air guitar accompaniment and so what if I can still kind of do the hand movements for the morphing sequences… *cough*
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (MMPR) is the first entry in the American children’s live action Power Rangers franchise, adapted from Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, the 16th season of the Japanese Super Sentai series. While the series takes some liberties with the original source material, the costumes and fight sequences were taken directly from Zyuranger. The latter two seasons borrowed elements from 17th and 18th seasons of the Super Sentai series, Gosei Sentai Dairanger and Ninja Sentai Kakuranger.
The series follows five teenagers with attitude (their words not mine) from the fictional city of Angel Grove who are recruited by an alien being, Zordon and his robot assistant Alpha 5 to fight an evil sorceress, hellbent on terrorizing the Earth. Zordon imbues the group of teens with power coins and morphers that allow them to transform into the Power Rangers in order to take on Rita Repulsa and her various monster minions!
While the Rangers are skilled at hand to hand combat, their biggest assets are their huge fighting robots the Zords, which they use to take on the forces of evil. Most of the series follows a set formula, Rita sends a monster to terrorize Angel Grove, the rangers kick monster butt, only for Rita to revive her monster of the week as a 10 story high behemoth that can only be defeated with the combined efforts of the Rangers and their Zords. It’s kind of predictable when you think about it, but as a kid, I really just thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen… I mean the cool karate moves and the explosions, what’s not to love?!
MMPR ran from 1993-1995 for a total of three seasons (there are 24 seasons in the entire Power Rangers franchise), during which the team went through a number of cast changes, some more heart breaking than others. Not going to lie, I got weepy when Jason, Trini, and Zack left the show, but I’m getting ahead of myself… *ahem* The team was originally a five man group: Red Ranger Jason, Blue Ranger Billy, Yellow Ranger Trini, Black Ranger Zack, and Pink Ranger Kimberly.
Part way through the first season Rita kidnaps a local teen, Tommy and turns him into her evil Green Ranger only for him to break free from her evil influence and join the Rangers as their sixth member… And let me say that that whole five episode arc was by far the most epic thing to come out of the first season! I might have wanted to be the Yellow Ranger as a kid, but I was definitely in LOVE with Tommy *fans self* that man is gorgeous!
Nostalgia glasses off for a second, re-watching the show as an adult I see a lot more of its shortcomings… Like the fact that the Black Ranger was played by an African American actor and the Yellow Ranger was played by an Asian American actress, whether this was intentional or not, it’s still problematic as hell! Or the fact that some of the dialogue is cringe-worthy at best… the 90’s lingo *whimpers*… it’s not perfect. So, regardless of how silly MMPR may seem to folks who didn’t grow up with the series, I can honestly say I still love the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers! It was a huge part of my childhood and even though I’m well into my twenties, I still watch some of the newer seasons from time to time… Oh, and best believe I will be in the theater next week watching the Power Rangers movie, you know, just to make sure they do the series justice… 😉
Are you a fan of the Power Rangers? Which Ranger is your favorite? Are you going to see the movie next week? Do you have a favorite childhood television show that you want to share? Let me know what you think in the comments section. If you like what you see, like this post or follow Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! As always THANK YOU FOR READING!!