by O.Supreme » Tue Mar 21, 2017 5:17 pm
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.
There are no more good TV Shows, only ones that haven't disappointed me yet.