Power Rangers

Mooselicker Says: This is another guest post not written by me although I could claim full credit because who would ever copyright something written for a blog? The following was written by Pete at Evolution of Insanity. I always imagine anything he writes in his English voice so you should do the same because I’m the boss.

I’ve read a lot of posts on this fine blog and when I think to myself what was my favourite show when I was a young sprog the first thing that pops into my mind is none other than Power Rangers.

Like most shows when you have something great the television studios try their best to milk it for everything that they can hence all the spin off’s. But before there was “Power Rangers Megaforce” and “Samuri” and “RPM” there were the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

When it first aired on our screens all the way back in 1993 (yeah that’s right, nearly 20 years ago!) I thought it was the greatest thing I had ever seen; everyone was so colour coordinated. I do love uniformed superheroes and not once did I see the hints of racism.

 (Asian girl as the yellow ranger? Black guy as the black ranger? I’m seeing a pattern… Why doesn’t the pink ranger ever tuck herself in? Scruffy cow)

 What I also didn’t get was the fact that when they weren’t in uniform they always dressed in the colours corresponding to who they were yet no one seemed to find this suspicious. Bulk and Skull the generic bullies/cowardly comedy duo did start eventually find this weird but nothing ever came of it. I think they caught them once or twice but promptly had their memories erased.

Back at the base they were led by the awesome floating head Zordon and a cowardly robot called Alpha 5, Zordon was this wise otherworldly being who gave people what they needed to carry on. Alpha 5 was some faulty panicky droid that served little purpose.

There were many inconsistencies with this show looking back such as why Rita kept sending Putties after the Rangers when 100 times out of 100 they’d always fail in their task, why did sparks fly off of the Rangers’ chests when they were hit by a sword, pretty sure it was just thin fabric so they should have died. Why did the generic bad guy of the week always grow to be 50 foot tall just to end up fighting an equally tall Megazord? All these questions were unanswered but I don’t suppose it matters all that much when you’re a kid.

I really thought business was about to pick up when Lord Zedd came to town and got rid of Rita who had been the main antagonist over the course of the show. Zedd was some no nonsense captain big bollocks and I remember actually being worried that the Rangers might actually be in trouble this time around. But just like Rita he turned out to be just another angry loser. Even with his upgraded Putties that could only die if you punched their chest (at which point their body parts would just fly away.)

(Always smiling)

My favourite episode arc of the series was the introduction of the Green Ranger, a Power Ranger created by the evil Rita and used to do her bidding, he even had his own Megazord which I remember was pretty epic; he eventually turned into a good guy though and joined up with the rest of them. Then when he couldn’t be Green Ranger any more they made him into the White Ranger who for some reason had a dagger with a wise-talking lion head on the end. So much nonsense!

Still it was entertaining enough to make me go and watch the film at the cinema’s, how I managed to convince my dad to take me to that one I’ll never know. Although it did gross over $66mil at the box office a testament to how popular it was back then.

After the third season things began to change, the Power Rangers became the Power Rangers Zeo and then later Turbo and then when Zordon was kidnapped and taken to a far away galaxy it became Power Rangers In Space. All the cast eventually changed and pretty soon after that I’d lost interest in it. But that could have always had something to do with the fact that I was now a teenager and Power Rangers wasn’t cool any more.

(The only time this show was funny was when these guys weren’t around)

Since Power Rangers In Space, every year the show decides to have a new cast and set the Rangers somewhere else that has nothing to do with the previous iterations and it’s gotten to the point where  it’s a spin-off of a spin-off of a spin-off etc, etc. Hence milking a franchise for all its worth.

But still, I have the memories of the original Power Rangers and how awesome it was back then; recording the episodes on video tapes (“what are video tapes?” I hear the kids asking.) and watching back to back episodes of Power Rangers and Sonic the Hedgehog when I was off school.

“What happened to Zordon when he was kidnapped” you might be asking yourselves. Spoiler: He died which then wiped out all the evil in the universe, except there was still a franchise to milk here so not all evil was wiped out. Meaning Zordon died in vain.

The girl who played the Yellow Ranger died in a car crash, the guy who played the Blue Ranger ended up in a mental home because he realized he was gay though I pretty much always knew. The Red Ranger ended up getting fat and becoming a fire fighter, the rest of them (bar the Pink Ranger who has had moderate success) barely have an acting career. Sad to see what your idols become as you grow older. I mean, look at Gary Coleman.

Mooselicker Says: Well done Pete! You seemed to know this show like I know the palm of my hand. It’s been a lonely month. Be sure to check out Pete’s blog at Evolution of Insanity for more greatness.