Summary
I recently rewatched all three seasons ofMighty Morphin Power Rangers, and while the experience was very nostalgic, it also made me realize things I had never picked up about the originalPower Rangersshow.Mighty Morphinpremiered on August 13, 2025, and ran until July 06, 2025. While thePower Rangerschronologywas just getting started, the franchise is still associated withMighty Morphinover 30 years later.
Mighty Morphinis not my favoritePower Rangersseason, but it is the one that got me into the show thanks to reruns and a VHS of the1995Mighty Morphin Power Rangersmovie. From the theme song to the morphing call, every aspect ofMMPRis iconic. It is no surprise that the franchise still relies on its original show in many ways, including in the comics. Although not everything aboutMighty Morphinaged well,Power Rangers’ first season surprisingly holds up three decades later.
8Power Rangers Was A Risky Idea (& It Somehow Worked)
Power Rangers shouldn’t have worked, but it did
When Stan Lee tried to makeSun Vulcaninto 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 JapaneseSpider-Manseries. 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 onChoudenshi 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.
Tommy
Green Ranger
Fox Kids decided to move forward withSaban’sSuper Sentaiadaptationproject, except that they were now looking at adapting the most recentSentaias 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 didMighty Morphin Power Rangersbecome a hit of its own, but it also showed franchise potentialand kickstarted a saga that would continue for decades.
7Most Power Rangers Episodes Were The Same
Mighty Morphin sticks to its formula
Having watchedall 30 seasons ofPower Rangers, most of which more than once, I was aware thatMighty Morphinfollowed a very strict formula.Power Rangershas used the same tropes and story beats since its inception, and while most of it comes fromSuper Sentai, the franchise created a tone of its own. Still, I was surprised to see how formulaic and episodicMighty Morphinwas compared to otherPower Rangersseries – especially in the first season. The stakes were very low, and everything was solved in 20 minutes.
The first season ofPower Rangersestablished 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.
6Tommy Oliver Steals The Spotlight As Soon As He Arrives
The original Green Ranger (deservedly) steals the show
The first few episodes ofPower Rangersmay all have been the same, butthe 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 aboutTommy Oliver’s Green Rangerarc is very nostalgic, from his first scene to his first morphing sequence.
Why Power Rangers’ Newest Team Made Me Fall In Love With The Show Again
Power Rangers’ most recent team gave the show its best seasons in years, Dino Fury and Cosmic Fury, both of which combined nostalgia with new ideas.
The Green Ranger is not my favorite of Tommy’sPower Rangersforms, but I cannot deny how iconic the first evil Power Ranger was. A relatively commonSentaitrope, 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 timePower Rangershad an overarching storyline that lasted for more than just one episode.
5The Green Ranger Was Not Around For That Long
Tommy’s run as the Green Ranger was shorter than I remembered
The Green Rangerbecame such a symbol of theMighty Morphinera that is strange to notice how little he was on the show.There were only so manyZyurangerscenes featuring the Dragon Ranger, meaningPower Rangershad 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 helpedPower Rangersslowly remove the Green Ranger from the story.
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Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel (cameo)
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Still, by the timePower Rangershad run out of Green Ranger footage to use, Tommy had already become one of the show’s most popular characters. Having watchedThe Best Of ThePower Rangers - The Ultimate RangersDVD 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 fromDairangerinstead ofZyuranger.This means he could only interact with the rest of the team in American-made scenes.
4Power 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 manySuper SentailimitationsPower Rangershad to deal with. The White Ranger usually had to fight a monster on his own, as all of his action scenes came fromDairanger.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 Rangerssoon ran into a majorSentaiproblem, though.Zyurangeronly ran for 50 episodes, whereasMighty Morphinlasted 145 episodes. The American show eventually ran out ofSentaifootage to use, which is why later seasons began to include more and more original scenes.Power Rangersalso used “Zyuranger 2footage” – Japanese scenes filmed exclusively for the American show. The series also incorporated scenes fromDairangeruntil it eventually had to switch to a newSentaientirely. Almost every change in the show’s status quo, including the arrival of new Zords, had to do with which footage was available.
3Lord Zedd Was An Incredible Villain Until He Wasn’t
Power Rangers ruined its best villain
Power Rangerswent 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 favoritePower Rangersvillains, I was surprised to remember 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.
Lord Zedd’s Final Form In Power Rangers Reveals How Powerful Zordon Really Was
Lord Zedd recently debuted a new, ultimate form in Power Rangers, and it proved just how powerful Zordon really was in the original series.
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 Rangersdecided 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 afterMMPRruined its best villain, I was happy to see Lord Zedd return as a more menacing figure inPower RangersDino Fury.
2The 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 revisitMighty Morphin, even more so now following the passing 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 Rangershad become a very different show with several new cast members. 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 thePower Rangersreplacements 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 hisPower Rangershistory would continue as the Blue Ranger in Zeo. Likewise, Adam became one of the most importantPower Rangerscharactersfrom the 1990s and returned a couple of times after that. Sadly, Aisha was not around for Zeo, although she did return in 2023’sPower Rangers: Once & Always.
1Power Rangers Only Got Better After Mighty Morphin
Mighty Morphin is not the best Power Rangers season
Mighty Morphinwas great, butPower Rangersonly got better after the original series – at least for the first decade. AlthoughZeowas not that different fromMMPR, the former was a slightly more mature series compared to the latter. The first half ofPower RangersTurbowas not at all great, but the introduction of the new cast massively improved the show.By the end of the Zordon Era,Power Rangerswas now the best version of itself thanks toIn SpaceandLost Galaxy, two of my favorite seasons.
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Cosmic Fury
2023
I will always be nostalgic forMighty 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 ofPower Rangersseasons that took the show to the next level and went beyond the formulaMighty Morphinhad established. Of course, these great seasons only happened becauseMMPRpaved the way forPower Rangersto try different things now that the heroes in spandex had become a pop culture phenomenon.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Cast
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.
