Twenty years ago, something epic happened: the Super Sentai brought the world of Angle Grove, Zordon and, most importantly, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to television.
Speaking on behalf of the majority of millennials, thank you for that.
The Power Rangers were so hot, they were “too hot to handle” in the ’90s. But between the toys, apparel and VHS’s, the show had to have made bank (despite having a few multicultural faults).
As my favorite childhood series, I couldn’t let the anniversary pass without blogging about it, so in the name of Funny Friday, I bring you the funniest completely irrational aspects about the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Why on Earth?
Not that a children’s show requires much rationality (is a five-year-old really going to question the best super hero show of the ’90s?), but Rita Repulsa’s vendetta against Earth makes little sense. In the pilot episode, two astronauts on Mars (?) open a space dumpster and release Rita and her gang of villains from their intergalactic prison. At the time, Rita vows that after 10,000 years of imprisonment, “it’s time to concur Earth.” Really, on a whim (it seems), Rita decides to “destroy the nearest planet” (aka Earth) for her “coming out party.” Luckily, she’s basically the worst villain ever and never wins. Lord Zedd eventually takes over her plan and throws her back into the dumpster.
“Teenagers with Attitude”
When Zordon (aka the floating head) realizes Rita escaped from her dumpster (aka unguarded space jail), he demands Alpha (aka the floating head’s robot slave) beam “teenagers with attitude” to the command center. Why attitude? With the fate of the world in jeopardy, tudey teens might not be Earth’s best option. Alpha then teleports five “over bearing and over emotional humans”–seriously, fate of the world at stake– to the middle of nowhere. Zordon should have requested upstanding, brave teenagers who are witty and know how to fight (only when necessary)–which is essentially what they got (thankfully).
Powers from the Ancient Creatures we call Dinosaurs
Not that dinosaurs weren’t powerful beings or extremely hip in the ’90s, but let’s put one thing into perspective — natural selection killed off the dinosaurs millions of years ago. In fact, the dinosaurs were extinct long before Rita was even put into the space dumpster. I really feel Zordon doesn’t completely care about the fate of the world.
“It’s Morphin Time”
Basically, the power morphers are the key to the rangers’ powers, so why would they always try and combat the enemies without morphing first? When it’s game time, uniforms are required. Eventually, they realize they need to power up, hold their metamorphers to the sky and yell:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYznTduWofo
And the powers of the dinosaurs are bestowed upon them.
Where did the original Putties go?!?
So Rita always sends the useless putties to Earth (irrational in that of itself), and every episode, the Power Rangers easily defeat them. But defeating putties means fighting them until they eventually run away. The Power Rangers don’t kill (they might banish, blowup and destroy when needed), so where do the putties go? Rita has Finster make more putties every episode, so something happens to the existing putties.
The show’s execs probably caught on to this, as the putties in the second season (when Lord Zedd takes over) explode upon taking shots to the “Z” on their chests. Lord Zedd was an even worse villain than Rita–his putties may have been better fighters, but exploding is an obvious flaw. I kind of feel bad for how terrible they were at being terrible beings–but they sure made my Rangers look good.
So, there you have it. Twenty years later, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers are still epic. The show just makes a little less sense. Are there any shows from your childhood that you find completely irrational upon reflection? Share them with us in the comments!
Cover Photo Source: MostlyMichael via Diviantart.com
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://wpmaster.sjadv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Cassandra-Bremer-Our-Space-Photo-e1402061863316.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Cassandra is a Content Manager and Developer at SJG. She earned her BA from Fontbonne University in 2011. Outside the office, she enjoys an active, healthy and well-rounded lifestyle including reading, writing, running, golfing, watching films, listening to music, taking photographs, and consuming media and social media.[/author_info] [/author]