Yes, you are right. It’s been over 25 years since the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers first appeared on television. Are we envious of those who were able to experience it as a child? Without a doubt! All of those motions, those jazzy clothing in bright colors, clever devices, and above all – the battling spirit against evil; it all combined up to a show that drew in the audience.
The way the Power Rangers have become ingrained in our culture is flawless. Some of us may even be able to chant everything, from the names of the Rangers to the names of the villains, from their devices to episode details and new realizations that we have while discussing the show with others. We’ll try to do justice to the historic show with this film, which spawned a slew of subsequent Rangers.
Space Patrol Delta (SPD), Dino Thunder, and Ninja Storm were among the newer ones, while Zeo, Turbo, and In Space were among the older ones that directly followed the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Each of the seventeen other Power Rangers recreations had its own unique charms. Who do you think paved the road for you?! Only the Mighty Morphin’ are allowed. Lessons were learned, storylines were advanced, and stories just as wonderful – if not better – continued to be produced for another 30 years.
But things weren’t always rosy behind the scenes, or even on the show! And learning everything there is to know about your favorite Power Rangers’ beginnings in 1993 may be both exhilarating and eye-opening. Are you interested in learning what we’re talking about? Here they are, and let us know how many of these you knew about when they were brand new facts!
DISNEY’S OWNERSHIP AND MARVEL HOVERING AROUND
In the first year of the 2000s era with the Power Rangers Time Force series coming around, Disney took over ownership of the series. A new generation of Power Rangers fans was catered to. These ownership rights came to a close in 2010 with Power Rangers RPM. Prior to that at some point, Marvel and Stan Lee himself had tried to make a show with the plotlines of a popular Japanese TV show, ‘Super Sentai’.
ADAPTATION AND FINAL BROADCAST TO AMERICA
The first American variant as we know it, ‘Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers’ was an adaptation to such an extent that clips from the original Japanese show were used for the action sequences in the American version on the small screen. It was so central to the plot that the whole storyline of Mighty Morphin’ was made after the writers of the show in America received the said footage of action scenes way in advance. Sometimes though, the actors had to do life-threatening stunts all on their own, and the risk factor kept multiplying, worrying the actors themselves.
THERE WAS BUDGET MANAGEMENT AT THE COST OF ACTOR’S PAYMENTS
Word went around that the show wasn’t paying its cast well. In fact, actor Austin St. John has said on record that he had reached homelessness after the show came to a close. He had to resort to living in his car at some point.
Another instance is heard of, which reportedly happened at the start of the show. As early as after the airing of the pilot episode, actress Audri Dubois who played the Yellow Ranger’s role was replaced by Trini. Trini remained the face of the role for the longest time and thus became who we know today as Yellow Ranger. Dubois had demanded more pay and was the first of many to do so. The show’s way of dealing with those who demanded more pay was to simply replace them with another person in the same capacity.
Going ahead, we have some stories for you from the casting of the show, overall. We have quite a mixed bag of findings to put under here. Some of them might make your eyes go wide for the right reasons, and some of them for the wrong ones. Let’s start with the worse and feel better by the end of it all, eh? We’ll sprinkle some happy instances here and there, don’t worry!
THE “AGE THING”
The cast was to be represented as students, but they surprisingly hired actors a few years too old. The actors certainly did not look their age and on-screen, it just looked odd and felt unrelatable to a great extent. There was also a clash with the cast’s reputation outside of work – they were all the partying kind of people, creating loud chaos and getting into legal trouble more often than not. That was a bad place to be for anyone who was quite literally a hero to young minds of a generation.
BLUE RANGER HAD WOES…AND SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS TO MAKE
David Yost, who played the role of the mighty Blue Ranger had to battle homophobia, he said. While the show was on, he would be yelled at or abused. It got to a point where he came to think that he was made to leave the show because of the fact that he was homosexual. He was the only one with perfect attendance though, being a part of one hundred and fifty-five episodes. Since the initial run had begun, no other cast member had appeared in every single episode of the original series Mighty Morphin’, except Yost.
GREEN RANGER SET RECORDS
Up next with our Green Ranger, embodied by actor Jason David Frank. Overall, this man holds two records. The first one is with his appearance in a massive two hundred and seventeen episodes of the Power Rangers series. He also became the White Ranger, then the Red Zeo, the Red Turbo after, and was also seen as the Black Dino Thunder Ranger. The color palette and changing scheme that you see here is the most for any Ranger ever, which gave him his second record. It started with Mighty Morphin’, though!
MULTIPLE APPEARANCE ALERT
Also in the Mighty Morphin’ series, was actor Bryan Cranston, who lent his voice to fiends Snizzard and Twin Man. He came to play a role in the Power Rangers film as Zordon in 2017.
THE MIGHTY MORPHIN’ CAUSED TRAFFIC TO MALFUNCTION FOR HOURS…WHAT?
Fun fact…the Rangers once caused a dreadful traffic jam though it was not exactly their fault. It really was their popularity that played a part. The entire cast turned up at the Universal Studios to take part in an event, and the park made a record by itself for attendance. With thirty-five thousand individuals lining up there, a thirty-year-old turnout record lay in smithereens. In both directions of the motorway, traffic to the park was backed up for about five miles!
The social impact of the Power Rangers series was, as mentioned before, undeniable. In that light, several things seem to have been ignored easily in those times, but probably wouldn’t be missed by the sharper, more aware brains of our days.
PARENTS OF UNDERAGE VIEWERS HAD CONCERNS ON VARYING LEVELS
As far as sensitization to violence was concerned, it seemed to be limited to the initial years of the first release. Parents were put off by the amount of gore and grime being depicted on the show and pushed for the show to be taken off-air.
A common worry for both generations of parents – which means, including parents these days – would perhaps be the Megazord. The Rangers had a Megazord and so did the character of Tommy on the show. When combined, the Megazords left a piece sticking out almost like a sore thumb. To most eyes, it was shaped like a phallus and not considered appropriate for children to view. For all we know, it could just be bad placement. However, for a show in the 90s, it was a matter that warranted alarm bells. For parents of today, the thought of children seeing something like that remains scandalizing.
HOMOPHOBIA WASN’T THE ONLY SOCIALLY RELEVANT ISSUE WITHIN THE SHOW
On another surprising note, instances of racism on the show have been noticed. Maybe not directly, but racial implications seem to be quite apparent in the old show when seen in the clearer light that today’s society shines on it. The Yellow Ranger being Asian, the White Ranger being played by literally, a white man, and a black man having the role of Black Ranger wasn’t issues quite highlighted back then.
Typecasting with racial undertones is why this is being called out, when such issues are discussed by and large. Since the upcoming milestone of completion of thirty years is being heavily talked about by the media these days, such slip-ups continue to be scrutinized even more and by all means.
SPECIAL TREATS FOR THE SHARP-EYED
Black Ranger, played by Walter Jones was in real life, missing a finger. Turns out, that was never really mentioned on the show except in passing when it was revealed that he had an accident at four years of age.
The Yellow Ranger was supposed to be played by a man. In the Mighty Morphin’ series though, as we have seen, the role was essayed by a woman (or two, for that matter). That’s why an overskirt was not made a part of the Yellow Ranger’s final outfit, making it slightly different from the Pink Ranger’s. If given a skirt, there would occur continuity errors with the action scenes being borrowed from the older Japanese show.
Last but definitely not least, in an episode titled “Shell Shocked” – I mean, heck yeah we were – the Teenage Mutant Ninjas Turtles made an appearance and lent some much-needed help to our Rangers. It was like adding a cherry on top of a well-baked cake, really, and the audience welcomes that interaction.
CLOSING IN
Speaking specifically of the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers – the beginning of it all – there are reports of Jonathan Entwistle planning a reboot of the series on Netflix. Not much has been heard of yet, but we await some good news on that front.
Via a tweet in November 2021, Entwistle had confirmed that the Power Rangers universe would grace Netflix, after which we next heard from him in an almost-cryptic Instagram comment on a Power Rangers fan page of all places, where he hinted at a brand-new spectrum of the widely-loved heroes being cast. All that exists is speculation and impending decisions, it seems, apart from unreliable leaks on Twitter. But we trust the creator and the creator only, so we wait. Because it seems there’s a lot to make up for, and a lot to live up to.
We wait some more. But while we wait, there are some things to note. 2022 is about halfway through and it so seems that Power Rangers fans have a reason to celebrate. 2023 will bring us to the completion of the 30th year since the Power Rangers series was the first broadcast.
The series has given several Ranger variants to the audience over all these years, and it goes without saying that a reunion is reasonable. In a variety of episodes from different seasons, cast members of previous seasons have made appearances as guests. It would be interesting to see if some sort of character development, back story, and/or more screen time could be given to these stars, as involving them would mean a lot to fans from over the years.
Whoever is apparently responsible for and in charge of these “celebrations”….shh…hello…are you listening? Might we suggest individual reunion episodes, maybe one dedicated to a few sets of Rangers? Because in our humble opinion, the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers have not been heard from for a long time and we wonder what they have been up to, much like the others? Be it the initial Saban era or the relatively new Disney one, the glorification of Power Rangers is deserved, albeit with a few changes to suit the current audience’s views and demands from a show of that stature. It is a series many call home, many have grown up with, and many see as pure nostalgia.
We hope all the hype will be catered to!