Mighty Morphin is not my favorite Power Rangers season, but it is the one that got me into the show thanks to reruns and a VHS of the 1995 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie. From the theme song to the morphing call, every aspect of MMPR is iconic. It is no surprise that the franchise still relies on its original show in many ways, including in the comics. Although not everything about Mighty Morphin aged well, Power Rangers’ first season surprisingly holds up three decades later.

8 Power Rangers Was A Risky Idea (& It Somehow Worked)

Power Rangers shouldn't have worked, but it did

When Stan Lee tried to make Sun Vulcan into an American TV show in the 1970s, the only reference to what a collaboration between Toei and a major American studio looked like was the Japanese Spider-Man series. Stan Lee’s idea did not work, and it was only a few years later that someone would try it again. This time, Haim Saban produced a pilot based on Choudenshi Bioman, hoping to recreate the concept of five colorful heroes fighting monsters on a serialized American show. Saban’s project did not work either, but a similar version of it would be picked in 1992.

Fox Kids decided to move forward with Saban’s Super Sentai adaptation project, except that they were now looking at adapting the most recent Sentai as of 1992, Zyuranger. Although Fox Kids was willing to bet on Saban’s show, the entire thing was incredibly risky. The idea of creating an American series based on the localization of a Japanese one could have gone wrong in countless ways, yet it surprisingly worked. Not only did Mighty Morphin Power Rangers become a hit of its own, but it also showed franchise potential and kickstarted a saga that would continue for decades.

7 Most Power Rangers Episodes Were The Same

Mighty Morphin sticks to its formula

Having watched all 30 seasons of Power Rangers, most of which more than once, I was aware that Mighty Morphin followed a very strict formula. Power Rangers has used the same tropes and story beats since its inception, and while most of it comes from Super Sentai, the franchise created a tone of its own. Still, I was surprised to see how formulaic and episodic Mighty Morphin was compared to other Power Rangers series – especially in the first season. The stakes were very low, and everything was solved in 20 minutes.

The first season of Power Rangers established a series of tropes that would set the tone of the franchise for 30 years. This includes having the episode start with the Rangers hanging out in their civilian clothes, followed by Rita Repulsa creating a new monster and sending them to attack the heroes. The monsters were always accompanied by the Putty Patrollers, Power Rangers’ first foot soldiers. The Rangers would morph, defeat the monster, and then summon their Zords as soon as Rita would make her monster grow. The episodes would then end with a funny scene involving Bulk and Skull.

6 Tommy Oliver Steals The Spotlight As Soon As He Arrives

The original Green Ranger (deservedly) steals the show

The first few episodes of Power Rangers may all have been the same, but the series took a turn once Tommy Oliver was introduced. The original Green Ranger steals the show, and it’s interesting to see how much time in the spotlight Tommy spends upon his introduction. Although the initial plan was for Tommy to only appear in a handful of episodes, the character became a fan favorite and would continue to be part of the franchise for decades to come. Everything about Tommy Oliver’s Green Ranger arc is very nostalgic, from his first scene to his first morphing sequence.

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The Green Ranger is not my favorite of Tommy’s Power Rangers forms, but I cannot deny how iconic the first evil Power Ranger was. A relatively common Sentai trope, the evil Ranger usually has the same costume and powers as the core heroes – except that they are much stronger, at least initially. The Green Ranger was far more menacing than all of Rita Repulsa’s monsters combined and raised the stakes for the show. Tommy’s story was also the first time Power Rangers had an overarching storyline that lasted for more than just one episode.

5 The Green Ranger Was Not Around For That Long

Tommy’s run as the Green Ranger was shorter than I ed

The Green Ranger became such a symbol of the Mighty Morphin era that is strange to notice how little he was on the show. There were only so many Zyuranger scenes featuring the Dragon Ranger, meaning Power Rangers had to constantly come up with ways of writing off Tommy. There are episodes in which Tommy has to stay behind for some reason, plus entire arcs about the Green Ranger losing his powers. The fact that Tommy’s powers came with an expiration date helped Power Rangers slowly remove the Green Ranger from the story.

Still, by the time Power Rangers had run out of Green Ranger footage to use, Tommy had already become one of the show’s most popular characters. Having watched The Best Of The Power Rangers - The Ultimate Rangers DVD collection countless times, the introduction of the White Ranger in “White Light” is one of my favorite moments of the series. It saw Tommy’s return shortly after he departed from the team, now as the White Ranger. Funnily enough, the White Ranger’s scenes came from Dairanger instead of Zyuranger. This means he could only interact with the rest of the team in American-made scenes.

4 Power Rangers’ Super Sentai Limitations Were Easy To Notice

“Why is the White Ranger always fighting by himself?”

The fact that the White Ranger’s scenes were clearly from a different show was just one of many Super Sentai limitations Power Rangers had to deal with. The White Ranger usually had to fight a monster on his own, as all of his action scenes came from Dairanger. The transition from American scenes to Japanese footage was incredibly easy to notice, although I did not care about it when I was a kid. Still, some moments are quite hilarious in hindsight, including how the landscape behind the Rangers would change as soon as they morphed.

Power Rangers soon ran into a major Sentai problem, though. Zyuranger only ran for 50 episodes, whereas Mighty Morphin lasted 145 episodes. The American show eventually ran out of Sentai footage to use, which is why later seasons began to include more and more original scenes. Power Rangers also used “Zyuranger 2 footage” – Japanese scenes filmed exclusively for the American show. The series also incorporated scenes from Dairanger until it eventually had to switch to a new Sentai entirely. Almost every change in the show’s status quo, including the arrival of new Zords, had to do with which footage was available.

3 Lord Zedd Was An Incredible Villain Until He Wasn’t

Power Rangers ruined its best villain

Power Rangers went through a drastic change in tone between the end of season 1 and the beginning of season 2. While Lord Zedd had always been one of my favorite Power Rangers villains, I was surprised to how much his introduction changed the series. An original character created for the American show, Lord Zedd was everything Rita Repulsa had not been. Zedd actually felt like a threat to the Power Rangers and even destroyed their arsenal in his very first appearance. Lord Zedd also did something Rita never did – he put an end to the Green Ranger.

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From his voice to his design, Zedd felt quite menacing for a kid’s show’s villain. Unfortunately, by the end of season 2, Zedd had been turned into a joke. Power Rangers decided to switch back to its original tone and had to tone down Lord Zedd’s scariness. Rita Repulsa eventually came back to the show, leading to a hilarious yet frustrating storyline about the marriage of Rita and Zedd. Almost 30 years after MMPR ruined its best villain, I was happy to see Lord Zedd return as a more menacing figure in Power Rangers Dino Fury.

2 The Original Power Rangers Were No More By Season 2

The new Rangers were great, but the OG team was missed

I always find it bittersweet to revisit Mighty Morphin, even more so now following the ing of Jason David Frank. Seeing the original Rangers in the first one-and-a-half season of the show is a reminder that they never got together again after Jason, Zack, and Trini left the team. By the latter half of season 2, Power Rangers had become a very different show with several new cast . By the end of season 3, Billy and Tommy were the only characters from the team’s original lineup that were still on the show.

That said, all of the Power Rangers replacements worked well. Rocky, Aisha, and Adam had the difficult mission of replacing the original Red, Yellow, and Black Rangers, but they succeeded in doing so. Rocky didn’t shine as the Red Ranger, but his Power Rangers history would continue as the Blue Ranger in Zeo. Likewise, Adam became one of the most important Power Rangers characters from the 1990s and returned a couple of times after that. Sadly, Aisha was not around for Zeo, although she did return in 2023’s Power Rangers: Once & Always.

1 Power Rangers Only Got Better After Mighty Morphin

Mighty Morphin is not the best Power Rangers season

Mighty Morphin was great, but Power Rangers only got better after the original series – at least for the first decade. Although Zeo was not that different from MMPR, the former was a slightly more mature series compared to the latter. The first half of Power Rangers Turbo was not at all great, but the introduction of the new cast massively improved the show. By the end of the Zordon Era, Power Rangers was now the best version of itself thanks to In Space and Lost Galaxy, two of my favorite seasons.

I will always be nostalgic for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but the original series was not as good as other seasons that were yet to come. In Space, Lost Galaxy, Lightspeed Rescue, and Time Force are just some examples of Power Rangers seasons that took the show to the next level and went beyond the formula Mighty Morphin had established. Of course, these great seasons only happened because MMPR paved the way for Power Rangers to try different things now that the heroes in spandex had become a pop culture phenomenon.

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Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

TV-Y7

Action

Adventure

Superhero

11

9.5/10

Release Date

1993 - 2023-00-00

Network

ABC, Nickelodeon, ABC Family, Toon Disney, Netflix, Fox Kids

Directors

Charlie Haskell, Oliver Driver, Terence H. Winkless, Jonathan Brough, Robert Hughes, Akihiro Noguchi, Peter Salmon, Worth Keeter, Shuki Levy, Michael Duignan, Mike Smith, Riccardo Pellizzeri, John Stewart, Ryuta Tasaki, Michael Hurst, Blair Treu, Peter Burger, Steve Markowitz, Caroline Bell-Booth, Jerry P. Jacobs, Robyn Grace, Vickie Bronaugh, Larry Litton, Robert Radler

Cast

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  Austin St. John

  Dana Mitchell
• 
  Thuy Trang

  Sydney Drew

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Where to watch

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Mighty Morphin Power Rangers marks the beginning of the Power Rangers franchise, centering on a group of teenagers with attitude who transform into superheroes. They are tasked with defending Angel Grove from the evil witch Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd, Emperor of evil, along with their monstrous minions.

Franchise(s)

Power Rangers

Seasons

30

Streaming Service(s)

Netflix, Plex

Creator(s)

Haim Saban, Shuki Levy

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