History of the Power Rangers: Mighty Morphin’ S3

Yes, it’s time again to return to the city of Angel Grove. This was the last of the Power Rangers series to use “Mighty Morphin'” in the title. This would have come off of the first theatrical movie, but for whatever reasons, they decided to ignore it completely. We also got to pilot a new Saban series. But let’s let Lewis Lovhaug do the explaining thing, since he already did the work.

First, about Masked Rider. I’m not as against it as other fans, especially the “Kamen Rider” fans, but I have to admit after VR Troopers they really dropped the ball. I think this was around the time that parents groups, still upset by stories of kids getting hurt imitating the show (like that’s never happened before? I’d hate to think about the kids who saw a play back in ye old England and decided to play Musketeers), so Saban went for a lighter tone, almost to the point of the NBC sitcom ALF. Considering that the source material, Kamen Rider Black RX, is supposed to be one of the darker shows (I’m still getting through the first Black series, which is pretty good) that seems an odd choice to go with. (Not as bad as the Escaflone anime, mind you.)

Also I should note that some of the battle footage came from Black and then from a movie, Kamen Rider J, sometime after the show went into syndication. Now let’s get back to the Power Rangers.

• Quick note about officers Bulk and Skull: I pretty much had the same reaction as the rest of the Juice Bar, and I overheard them talking. Surprisingly, they never really abused their authority. This really was the beginning of the turning point for the characters, despite earlier examples Lewis pointed out in the first two videos.
• I’ve tried to figure out which grouping were the less intelligent, the Tengas or the Putty Patrol. Speech isn’t always an indication of an IQ, as demonstrated with these guys. I will say that hatching from an egg makes more sense than Ivan Ooze shooting them out of his nose. Also, it’s less disgusting. 🙂 One thing that was missing from the video was the Tengu theme, which kind of gets into your head after a while.
• I’m sorry, but I never bought that Ninjor voice. It just seemed so wrong, and made me miss the half-naked chick from the movie. And not for the “wrong reasons” (I still had the video for that. 😛 ) The video doesn’t show off his “battle mode” too often, which kind of made Ninjor resemble a Zord. Plus, considering how he transforms between forms, Ninjor has to be at least partly mechanical, because there is no way even a “movie ninja” could do that with their bodies. See for yourself.

• Catherine. My first Ranger crush. While I can’t argue some of Lewis’s issues with her introduction, as they kind of got me, too, I’m too busy swooning whenever she speaks to care. 😀
• Ah, the scene when Zedd’s throne teleports into the Power Chamber. That was such an awesome moment.

• The same for the Zedd/Tommy fight. They even remembered that the staff was formed from a snake in Zedd’s debut.

• Kimberly’s departure: not only handled better than Jason, Zack, and Trini’s departure, but the only time the transfer (outside of the Turbo transfer) was done right, and even the Turbo transfer comes with issues. But I’ll debate Lewis’ points when we get to that season.
• The “Metallic” armor. Major fail here. I was expecting they would at least use the movie suits. I don’t know who actually owns those designs, but look at these things.

They even came with extra features, like Aisha’s scanner and headlights.

• Master Vile spits out eggs. Still less disgusting that Ivan Ooze. At this point, I can’t figure out the Repulsa/Repulso family, or how it works. Why is Rita essentially human, while Rito looks like Scare Glow‘s cousin and Master Vile doesn’t look like either of them. Makes you wonder what momma looks like, right? Pray we never find out. I think Vile was used to get the footage out of him. This was the big bad in Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, the source of the Ninja and Shogun Zords, as well as the Alien Rangers. (Why didn’t the Ninja Powers come with those costumes?)
• The Youth Center/Juice Bar takeover. Fun scene.
• One thing I really like about the Alien Rangers is that it expands the Power Rangers universe. Sure, all the bad guys came from space, and Zedd would name drop a few planets he’s conquered now and then, but outside of the PRU version of Masked Rider, this was the first indication that Zordon and Alpha 5 weren’t the only good guys in this universe from space. As for the headpieces, I didn’t mind them so much. It was the way they spoke, which made Seaspray from the Transformers cartoon easier to understand.
• The destruction of the Command Center was a big deal back then. Nowadays, every Power Rangers series ends with their HQ being destroyed in a huge monster attack, but that was something new in the Mighty Morphin’ era.
• I never really thought about Zedd’s win/loss record before and after marriage to Rita. Kind of makes me want to do another Spider-Marriage rant. 😀
• Missed opportunity: when Bulk and Skull are racing to save the “drowning” kids in slow motion, Lewis needed to break out the Baywatch theme.

And so things look bad for the Rangers, but soon they would unleash the power. Next time: Power Rangers Zeo!