Hokey smokes, they’re coming out on DVD.
What’s coming out on DVD, you ask?
If you read the headline of this blog, you would know EXACTLY who I’m talking about.
Yeah, I can still see that blank gaze on your face.
Maybe this clip will help.
Okay. I knew that would work.
It was just announced via one of my favorite blogs, tvshowsondvd.com, that Time-Life will be issuing “best of” sets, “season” sets and a 40-disc “complete series” set of the Power Rangers franchise. That’s right, you can get all 145 episodes of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, as well as another 180+ episodes of the shows Power Rangers Zeo, Power Rangers Turbo, Power Rangers In Space and Power Rangers Lost Galaxy.
You gotta understand what happened here. There used to be a long-running television show in Japan called Super Sentai, and it features a group of teenagers who receive special powers from an alien race – the powers are bestowed so that the teenagers can fight the evil forces of another alien race. Makes sense, right? Must make a lot of sense, this show has been on the air in Japan for over 36 years, and is still running today.
At some point in time, an American distributing company wanted to create a kids’ action show by using the Japanese film footage and intercutting it with American actors. And in 1993, the show premiered quietly on the Fox network.
I say “quietly.” Within a week, the show had scored MONSTER Nielsen ratings and became a runaway hit. And suddenly there were Power Ranger toys everywhere, there were Power Ranger costumes ready for Halloween, etc., etc.
And all for a television show in which the plotline invariably stayed the same. Alien bad guy sends monsters to terrorize the city. The Power Rangers first try to fight the bad guy, but initially battle some grey-leotarded bad guys by using some of the cheeziest martial arts moves ever seen. Then, about five minutes later, they “morph” into their costumes, and suddenly we’re watching the Japanese version of the show – albeit dubbed in English. Then, the alien bad guy grows to about 90 feet in height… and what does that mean for our heroes? Simple. They transform into mechanized warriors, and then at some point they assemble those mechanized warriors into a 90-foot-tall robot. The robot (I think his name was Megazord or Ultrazord, it’s not coming to me clearly) then battles the bad guy in a “Godzilla versus Voltron” battle for about three minutes, and then the bad guy is dispatched, roll the credits. Lather, rinse, repeat.
To say this show was popular is like saying water is wet. The iteration of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers only lasted for three seasons, and the third season saw three of the actors leave the show over contract disputes. Of course, nobody’s going to care as long as the Japanese footage still has the Power Rangers running around in the colored jumpsuits, fighting the bad guys and saving the town, right?
I had mixed feelings for the Power Rangers series. I realize that most of the violence on the show was either cartoon violence or simulated violence, but I could imagine that there were some parents who watched the program and thought, “I haven’t seen anything this violent since the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote ran through the Arizona desert.” And come on… you put the Asian girl in the “Yellow Ranger” costume, the African-American guy in the “Black Ranger” costume and the cute girl who would later appear on Flashpoint in the “Pink Ranger” costume – we’re not adding any subliminal messages, now are we??
Anyways, after the original Power Rangers series ended its run, the show kept coming back. More Japanese Super Sentai action footage. More teenagers being recruited by alien races to stop other alien races from taking over Earth. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Still, I’m sure there’s plenty of you out there that are nostalgic for an episode or twelve of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. That’s fine. Go to the link I posted above and see how you can order your DVD’s of the series.
Me… I’ll just wait for the US dub or sub of the Space Battleship Yamato anime that recently debuted in Japan. FIRE THE WAVE MOTION GUN!!
Chuck The Writer 