Power Rangers: Film Retrospective

This weekend sees the release of Power Rangers, the new film reboot of the popular TV franchise of the same name. For many kids of the 90’s, Power Rangers was one of the definitive facets of their childhoods. Developed by TV producer Haim Saban, who was initially known for providing soundtracks for shows like He-Man and Inspector Gadget, the franchise first got started in 1993 with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. A superhero-esque series in which a group of teenagers becomes a team of warriors known as the ‘Power Rangers’ to fight the evil forces of sorceress Rita Repulsa with the help of giant animal ‘robots’ known as ‘Zords’, the show heavily utilized stock footage from Toei’s Super Sentai franchise, repurposing it around an American cast. Since 1993 (And yes, this franchise has been around for almost 2.5 decades now; feel old, yet?), the show has been on for 24 seasons, with a new themed iteration occurring each year. Examples of these later seasons include Power Rangers Zeo, Power Rangers: Dino Thunder, and Power Rangers: Mystic Force. The series originally aired on Fox Kids, where it became one of the programming block’s most popular shows. But, for most of the 2000’s, the franchise was owned by Disney, who aired it on their owned networks like ABC Family and Toon Disney. Saban would later go on to reclaim ownership rights in 2010, and the series now primarily airs on Nickelodeon. But now, let’s go back to the new Power Rangers film for a moment. This is the third Power Rangers film to date, as the previous two films were released in the late 90’s back in the franchise’s heyday. The first was based on the original series, Mighty Morphin, while the second film is based on the franchise’s third TV iteration, Power Rangers Turbo. And today, we’ll be looking at both these films.

But, before we get into the films, I should probably mention something. You see, I didn’t really grow up with Power Rangers as a kid. For one thing, the original Mighty Morphin series, which still stands as the most iconic iteration of the franchise, concluded in November 1995, before I was even a year old. The most that I ever saw of that version of the show was a single episode that I watched at, of all places, the University of Rhode Island during a Special Olympics trip that I was on with my family (who frequently volunteers for the Special Olympics) all the way back in 2002 or so (I’ll admit that I don’t know the exact year), many years before I ended up going there for college. I do remember seeing commercials for the series on TV (this was back during the Disney run when it aired on Toon Disney’s programming block, Jetix) but I never watched it. I guess you could say that it just wasn’t my thing. So, with that said, if I’m not too familiar with the franchise, why then am I looking at these two films? Well, that’s because I’m genuinely interested in the new Power Rangers film. Sure, I may not have grown up with the original show, but as a 90’s kid (and yes, I do consider myself a 90’s kid even though I was only around for half the decade), it is one of the definitive shows of my generation. Regardless of how the new film turns out, I’m genuinely curious as to how it will serve as a new adaptation of the series, specifically as a reboot of its most popular iteration. So, without further ado, it’s time to activate your Ranger powers and get into your giant Zord robots as today, we’ll be looking at the original two Power Rangers films. But first, I should probably get more acquainted with this franchise.

THOUGHTS ON THE SHOW

To prepare for this post, I watched a few episodes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers before watching the films. I didn’t watch the entire series because, well, there’s no way that I would’ve been able to get through all 145 episodes (!) of the original series in just a week. So, instead, I just watched some of the first few episodes and then the ones that had the biggest arcs (e.g. ‘Green with Evil’, which introduced Tommy Oliver the Green Ranger (later the White Ranger), and ‘The Power Transfer’, which revealed the new Red, Yellow, and Black Rangers who would go on to appear in the first film; Rocky DeSantos, Aisha Campbell, and Adam Park, respectively). And I was surprised to find that, as someone who didn’t grow up with this show and watched it for the first time as an adult… I kind of enjoyed it. Now, for the record, I do concur with the common points that everyone brings up about this show, namely the fact that it is very, very cheesy; goofy one-liners, strange plot-points, wacky sound effects, you name it, this show probably has it. Obviously, this show is for kids but, with that said, adults may not find much for them here unless they were part of the generation that grew up with it. Not surprisingly, in the show’s early years, it was highly scrutinized by parents for being too violent, even though it’s obviously quite tame by today’s standards. It’s also quite repetitive. Almost every episode plays out the exact same way. There’s a minor issue of the week followed by the appearance of one of Rita’s monsters that the Rangers eventually defeat in their giant Zord robots before concluding with closure for that episode’s subplot. I’m kind of amazed that this show managed to last for over 140 episodes despite almost all of them having similar plot structures.   

Still, I have to admit that the kid in me found this show to be quite enjoyable. The use of Super Sentai footage results in some enjoyably cheesy fight scenes that are reminiscent of old Japanese monster films (e.g. Godzilla), and even though the instances in which the show switches between Japanese footage and American footage are obvious, it’s still an interesting hybrid of ideas. And even though the show is undeniably cheesy and often repetitive (e.g. the same stock footage of the Zords going into battle appears in multiple episodes), there’s kind of a charm to it all. As for the main characters, they often tend to be rather generic with simple character development, which is probably due in part to the repetitive nature of the show and its ‘morals’. However, they are still all-around likable and each of the main leads are fine in their respective roles. Plus, I think we can all agree that Tommy Oliver AKA the Green Ranger… is arguably the best character in the entire show, thanks in part to the epic 5-parter that he debuted in, ‘Green with Evil’. Yes, they did a 5-part story arc, something that you clearly don’t see too often on a TV show. And, ultimately, it’s a prime example of how this show sometimes managed to raise the stakes despite being a light-hearted show for kids. So, in conclusion, while I didn’t grow up with this show, I probably would’ve loved it if I did. Would it have led to me sticking with it throughout its numerous iterations? Eh, probably not but, still, it’s clear to see why the original series was such a big hit with its target demographic.

And now, onto the films…

MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS: THE MOVIE (1995)

In between Seasons 2 and 3 of the show, the Power Rangers appeared in their first feature film, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie. However, in this instance, the film does not tie into the series’ canon; it’s its own separate entity. The only real effect that it had on the show was that some episodes of the second season ended up getting filmed in Australia, where the film was being made. Still, this film is exactly what’d you expect from Power Rangers. It’s cheesy and has a minimal plot with little to no character development but it’s also light-hearted with some enjoyably over-the-top fight sequences. As such, the main villain Ivan Ooze (played by Paul Freeman AKA Belloq from Raiders of the Lost Ark) is more of a campy villain than a threatening one. Really, the only ‘evil’ thing that he ever did was screw over X-Men: Apocalypse (click here if you don’t know what I’m referring to). One of the film’s primary advantages, though, is that because it has a bigger budget compared to the show, it does feel more high-quality in terms of its production design. Granted, the same can’t be said for a lot of the visual effects. Unlike the show, which utilized practical effects (namely, the Godzilla technique of rubber-suit fight scenes), the film uses CG… and simply put, this CG has aged quite horribly. Still, at the very least, the bigger budget does allow the film to have a grander scale to it compared to the show. Thus, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie proves to be a harmless affair. Fans of the show will probably like this just fine, as it has just enough Ranger action in it to satisfy them. But for the uninitiated, like the show, you won’t get much out of this.

Rating: 3/5

TURBO: A POWER RANGERS MOVIE (1997)

Two years after the first film, we got the second Power Rangers film; Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie. This time, the film WAS directly tied to the series’ canon. Specifically, it serves as a bridge between Power Rangers Zeo, the second iteration of the franchise, and the third ‘series’, Power Rangers Turbo. However, despite this advantage over the first film, and a return to the practical ‘Zord’ effects… that’s all that this film has, really. It’s a slow-moving film with minimal action. In fact, for a film that’s part of the Power Rangers franchise, there isn’t even a lot of ‘Power Ranger’ action in this film. Aside from a brief few seconds in which Pink Ranger Katherine dons her Zeo outfit (and then almost immediately morphs out of it once she falls into water because apparently, those suits aren’t waterproof), the full team doesn’t morph into their new ‘Turbo’ Ranger suits until around more than half an hour in, and they don’t even fight in them until the final third. Thus, most of the fight scenes in this film (which are quite underwhelming, for the record) see them in their civilian attire. Not even the return of original series stars Amy Jo Johnson and Austin St. John (Kimberly and Jason, respectively) can save this film. Thus, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, unfortunately, ends up being a very mediocre affair. It kind of reminds me of the 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated film that was released in theaters in that it feels more like a made-for-TV film. It just doesn’t have the same ‘filmic’ quality of the first film. And despite what I said before about fans of the show enjoying the first film despite its faults, I can’t say the same for this because of its severe lack of ‘Power Ranger’ action. Maybe this goes to show why, based on what I’ve gathered from the review of the subsequent Turbo season by online comic book reviewer (and Power Rangers fan) Linkara, it seems like Power Rangers Turbo wasn’t very popular amongst fans of the franchise. And this film probably had something to do with it.

Rating: 1/5

And those are my thoughts on the Power Rangers films, as well as my first real reaction to the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series. Like I said, I didn’t grow up with this show but looking at it now, I bet I would’ve if I was around when it was on. Obviously, I know that some of you did grow up with it so if you did, be sure to sound off in the comments below with your favorite memories of Power Rangers. You can also expect a review of the new Power Rangers film sometime this weekend. Until then, it’s morphin’ time!