Power Rangers - I was just "too old"...

[O.Supreme]

Sit back kiddies, enjoy the warmth of the campfire and let the old man tell you a story. A story about myself who was just on the cusp of being “too old” when Mighty Morphin Power Rangers first came to the U.S. and my observations of it ever since.

I remember well the year 1993. I was 17. My summer vacation consisted of going to the San Diego Comic-Con with two friends. Fox’s TV lineup for kids cartoons was a smash hit with Batman: TAS, X-Men, and a new Spider-Man coming soon! I had picked up my VHS bootleg of Godzilla vs. Mothra along with other assorted Japanese Toku & Sci-Fi. I was collecting Bandai Godzilla figures like mad, and just starting to rediscover Transformers toys, trying to purchase used originals now that this new-fangled “Generation 2” thing was starting to come out.

Now along with getting Godzilla films I was aware of the existence of other franchises like Kamen rider, Metal Heroes, and Super-Sentai. But to me, none of them could compare to the original Ultraman, so I usually paid them little mind, besides since such things were not readily available at the time, I didn’t have enough money to invest in another franchise I thought.

So here is where it gets a little sketchy for me. The convention was August 19-22. The premiere episode of MMPR was August 28th, just a week later. Now my best recollection would be that I probably saw ads for this on Fox TV maybe a week or two before the premiere, maybe a months at the most, but I recall NO ads or promotion for it at SDCC. Of course it simply could have been that because I wasn’t interested or I wasn’t looking…but that sounds a little off to me because I do know I watched and recorded the very first episode, trying to keep an open mind, I would have thought I would have sought this out at SDCC…oh well to this day it remains a mystery.

Now on to the morning and world premiere itself. Of course being 17, I was a little old for the shows demographic, but the biggest blunder I think was in my mind, I thought this was going to be Ultraman all over again…In that Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was just an American name, and the series was going to be a straight dub of the Super Sentai source material, despite seeing adds obviously with American actors, I must have been delusional to the extreme degree. Well I watched and a wave of shame, disgust, embarrassment and a host of other negative emotions filled my mind. The teenage actors were so bad, and the show felt so hacked to pieces. Admittedly the fight scene at the end with the Megazord and (I think Goldar was in the first episode…?), was the only redeeming quality. Even what little dubbing they did to with the Japanese villains was cringe worthy. But I like anyone else decided to give it time and see what would transpire.

Well the 2nd episode had a guy in a pig outfit and the only other friend at the time I convinced to watch this was done, and I couldn’t blame him. It was beyond stupid. Still something compelled me to keep going. Now as the season progressed, I think the thing that drove me was seeing the unique monsters and mecha which were part of the show. I usually just fast forwarded through all the teen garbage and watched the fight at the end (I recorded it and hardly watched it live). Then when I got wind that my cousin who was 7 was into the show, well that gave me a whole new perspective…Yes I would no longer watch the show for myself…but FOR HIM. Yes so we could converse on his level about what he liked (man was I crazy or what?)

So fast forward almost two years June 30th 1995. I was now 19, in College. I convince my girlfriend at the time to go see the MMPR Ranger movie with me in the theater (because none of my other friends will go with me). Needless to say, that relationship ended when the summer did. *(But that’s ok, I eventually found and married my beautiful wife and have two great kids…). But by this time I was well familiar with the Sentai source material, and was still confused at how the MMPR show was deviating from its source. I mean at one point you had Zords, costumes, and enemies from three different Sentai shows all going back and forth. To be a writer or editor on this show must have been agonizing.

Then when the Fourth season (Zeo) started, I actually breathed a sigh of relief. Though many fans were attached to certain characters, they started to follow the Sentai pattern of starting fresh each season with new actors and the correct corresponding mecha and monsters etc… I hung on for a couple more years until the end of “Power Rangers in Space”. I really don’t remember what this season was about, but I do remember Zordon dies at the end, and all the villains the Rangers ever fought are either finally defeated…or are no longer evil, or some such thing. I saw this as my opportunity to make a clean break, and so I did. It was late in 1998. I was 22, had completed college, had my first good job in the Mortgage Industry and could finally put Power Rangers behind me. Sure I still love Godzilla, Ultraman, Transformers etc… but those things were with me in my formative years. Power Rangers was just a failed experiment that hung on a little too long. It’s funny that years later, my wife found an old box of the VHS tapes that had Power Rangers episodes. When she questioned me about them I just said “I was taping them for my cousin, I just never sent them to him”, and that was it. They found their way to the trash.

So…I ask myself, do I “Like” Powers Rangers, and honestly I can so, no, I don’t. I was just too old for it. If it had started when I was younger, I may still be a fan to this day, but time and circumstances just didn’t work out on this for me. Now of course my son sees these shows all over Netflix. I have indoctrinated him with my likes, so the idea of Power Rangers isn’t foreign to him, but he just hasn’t chosen to take it up, and that’s fine. He turns 11 soon, and I just took him to see his first big-time sci-fi movie in the theater Kong: Skull Island, which he enjoyed. The trailer for the new Power Rangers movie played, and a few years back I would have been dead set against seeing it, but I told him—If YOU want to see it, I’ll take you. He said no, and that’s fine, he has other interests aside from some of the things I’ve shown him.

Now I will make this concession. I do appreciate that Shout!Factory is releasing the Super Sentai series on DVD. I’d actually like to see some of the older “Pre-Rangers” (1975-1992) shows but I understand S!F has to release what they think will sell well. If they ever do a deep discount on these, I may just pick them up. Also if YOU are of the age that grew up and loved Power Rangers as a kid, then kudos to you. It is not every franchise that has such longevity, and never let anyone tell you that you are too old-enjoy it for as long as you can.

[Dr Kain]

Define deep discount because the Sentai sets are on sale for Amazon for $28 a piece. That is as deep discount as you are going to get. Hell, that's barely $1 for 2 episodes.

I don't understand the concept of being too old for something. As far as I am concerned, you can enjoy something you want regardless of the age. Hell, my dad loved Power Rangers too.

I was 11 when the series came out and I instantly fell in love with it just by a magazine article that showed off the toys (and they also said there was going to be a green ranger, so I was already excited for that before the show even hit). It was like Voltron, but with dinosaurs, in live action, with awesome fights. That was good enough to get me hooked. As for dubbing, that would have been the dumbest thing ever and the show would not have been the success it was had it been dubbed over.

[lhb412]

I never watched PR as a kid. I actually only watched it when I was in high school and college when Disney was making it and, more importantly, reran all the classic series on Disney XD (which is where I learned Power Rangers in Space is awesome). I've actually never seen any of the new Saban era shows, though.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

I really enjoyed the original power rangers myself. I was 10 though when the show started almost 11. I do remember seeing ads for it and scoffing at it but then I caught the second episode or maybe it was third and I was instantly hooked on the show. Sadly though as I go older I grew apart from it. I think the last season I watched religiously was Turbo and even then I did watch it fully just because I couldn't get into the characters.

For me Power Rangers is and always will be the first three seasons with Zack, Billy, Trini, Kimberly and Jason and later episodes Tommy.

That being said the new movie looks like crap to me.

[Dr Kain]

[O.Supreme]

[canofhumdingers]

I was 10 or 11 when PR came out and even then, despite really wanting to like it, I couldn't STAND how intensely corny and poorly acted it was. I hated all the stuff with the "high school" kids. And the villains were just so... so dumb! The whole thing just felt overtly juvenile, in a bad way. I've always felt like someone who never grew up (I still love most of my obsessions from my childhood) and I can still enjoy lots of things that might be corny or juvenile to many people. But Power Rangers just never clicked for me and I really just can't stomach it.

FWIW, I've never tried watching any other sentai shows but every time I see clips from them I have much the same reaction as I feel towards PR. Something about the aesthetic of sentai really puts me off.

[EricDent]

I was a bit older than you at the time (pretty sure I turned 21).
I liked the old show, sure it was goofy as heck, but like the '60s-'70s Godzilla/Gamera films it was a good goofy.
I even bought some of the toys (the combined Zords were cool).
I saw the movie in theaters, and thought it was fun (I recently re-bought the DVD & it's still fun).

When I watched the recent "reboot" movie trailers, I was simply shocked that they would totally change the fun factor into the usual "Twilight" teen-agnst stuff that seems popular now.
The Zords look bad, the monsters look bad, and the Rangers look bad.
The only good things are Bryan Cranston, and Elizabeth Banks looks hot.

So most likely not gonna see it, until maybe Redbox has it, or maybe the discount theater.

[Dr Kain]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

[Dr Kain]

[O.Supreme]

^True enough, I know its all one season, but I do recall a significant gap between waves of episodes especially in the early years. Not sure how they do it now especially since it appears each season has far fewer episodes, but I remember some excitement in the spring of 94 as a whole wave of new episodes started to air (still in season 1)...also IIRC season 1 really didn't have a proper ending, when Season 2 started, there was an obvious change, but there was no official end to season 1 that I can remember, just a regular episode like all the others.

[Dr Kain]

[O.Supreme]

Makes sense. At least it wasn't as bad as Super-Human Samurai Cyber-Squad. When they ran out of material from the 39 episodes of Gridman, they would just have new teen/drama stories, then recycle the exact same battle footage form a previous monster fight to push the series to 53 episodes ugh...Unlike PR I actually made myself suffer through all of SHSCS because I knew its source was Tsuburaya's Gridman, and it basically was "Ultraman" in Cyber-Space. Man did I back the wrong horse on that one...

Still I'd definitely pick up the original Gridman on DVD if someone were to get distribution rights to it, although considering its probably wrapped up in TPC's Ultraman mess, I'm not holding my breath. Also I know Mill Creek released SHSCS on DVD in 2 very inexpensive volumes. I literally will watch only the battle scenes, and sometimes with the volume down so I don't have to hear the annoying kids talk all through it.

[kidnicky]

I'm with the op. I was 13 when MMPR came out and appreciate the designs and the clips from sentai,but I don't love it. Its just too dumb.

[Kaiju_Ultra_Fan]

I was probably 15-16 when TMMPR came out on tv. I wasn't a "fan" but I definitely watched my fair share of it. The theme song was fun to play on guitar, and the pink and yellow rangers were attractive. Plus there was mecha.

All I remember is season 1 stuff though. I had no idea it had been on the air for the past 20+ years until recently.

Now that Godzilla has led me to Ultraman and Kamen Rider and turned me into a fan. I've picked up copies of DaiRanger and Shuriken Sentai that I'm saving for a rainy day. I still really have no interest in the American Rangers, but I'll give the Japanese Sentai a viewing and an honest chance one day. I've heard it's a lot better than the MMPR. More serious and dramatic, less cheese.

But yeah, Giant Robots, Pink and Yellow Ranger being cute, and a 'metal' theme song are about all I remember of the show. Even at 15-16 I thought it was really cheesy,..and not really in a good way.

But at that age I'd watch any show that had a girl I thought was cute on it.

...hell I've watched more episodes of Charmed than I'd like to admit just because of Alyssa Milano.