Power Rangers is a globally recognized franchise that has managed to hit multiple generations. The series is well-renowned for its humor, fun action sequences, and deep lore. But looking at the earliest days of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the sequel series it spawned will remind audiences of some stranger details from the show.
Some odd aspects of Power Rangers were likely dropped when the franchise produced more recent, modern incarnations. Other elements of the superhero series have fallen away as the show evolves with the times. Regardless, there is still an abundance of charm to those earliest Power Rangers seasons.
10 Monster Designs
Although the designs of the monsters in the Power Rangers series have improved, in the early days, there were some truly strange creations. Largely due to the budget available, many of the creatures intended to appear on-screen were created with a hodgepodge of different elements.
The Power Rangers certainly weren't short of enemies to battle. But there were some memorably odd beasts from the early series whose strangeness has yet to be rivaled. Some, like Frankenstein's Monster, didn't have a lot of effort put into them, with a man and a mask completing the look. Others, like Artistmole, were truly bottom-of-the-barrel concepts. Indeed, the Artistmole was quite literally a mole-like animal dressed as a painter.
9 The Actors Weren't High School Age
The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers are one of the franchise's most iconic teams in the franchise's history. But these characters set an unusual precedent, which has become a problem across successive series. One weird detail was that the Rangers were still enlisted in High School despite their age.
The early Power Rangers episodes were filmed at a time when it was common practice to cast characters far older than they should be. But it looked strange to see grown adults pretending to be school students every week, dealing with the conflicts audiences would expect from the setting.
8 Battles In Deserted Areas
It's a Power Rangers problem that has become less common in recent years as filming continues to be inventive. But in the earliest days of the shows, the backdrop to some of the major Ranger battles was completely deserted. It was always odd when a fight sequence would occur in a field, quarry, or barren landscape. Although some had city-like backdrops, many more happened in the middle of nowhere.
The early Power Rangers episodes were cost-effective by filming on location in these less populated areas. But, the show would have felt a lot more real had the series continuously gone to cities and towns, where regular citizens would have been under threat. Instead, there was rarely anyone around to see the chaos.
7 Power Rangers Rarely Crossed
Crossovers have taken place in the Power Rangers franchise across the decades. After all, the lore of this series is so dense that it was always inevitable. But just like criticisms of the DCEU and MCU today, it was a weird detail that the Power Rangers teams rarely crossed over in their day-to-day adventures.
The Power Rangers would face insurmountable odds, and even come close to defeat. But it was so uncommon to see other versions of the team called upon for assistance, despite the obvious connections. In practicality, those crossovers happened on special occasions, but in the universe's logic, it's strange more teams didn't come to the rescue regularly, especially if they had an established relationship.
6 They Weren't Dino Rangers
The very first Power Rangers were nicknamed the Mighty Morphin. However, the show was supposed to be called Dino Rangers, which was already reflected in the team's costumes and vehicles. The characters were covered in dinosaur motifs and boasted connected powers.
It's an incredibly weird detail that the Power Rangers were not called Dino Rangers, considering how closely their imagery was linked to the extinct beasts. Although recent appearances from these Power Rangers offered a nostalgic experience, they did once again force a comparison to teams like Mystic Force or Ninja Steel that played to their themes.
5 Felt Like Different Characters
In the earliest Power Rangers shows, the battle sequences featuring the superheroes themselves were mostly taken from a Japanese series. Super Sentai was the inspiration behind the hit, and the series thus repurposed many of its sequences in order to keep costs low.
The logic behind the Power Rangers filming strategy makes sense, but it did leave a weird detail behind. The actors in the suits feel like completely different characters compared to those seen in the non-super scenes. Unfortunately, the mannerisms, build, and general aura of each character didn't match, leaving a real disconnect for audiences.
4 Recycled Footage
Another cost-cutting exercise that Power Rangers initially embarked on was using recycled footage. The same sequences could play out in a slightly altered fashion across different episodes. The Morphin sequence is a perfect example, as is the growth of many of the monsters.
Although the assumption was that Power Rangers fans wouldn't notice these continuous shots, they were pretty distracting. These days, there is far less recycled footage, and when it's used, it seems like a charming reference to the early years. But back then, it felt a bit weird, as if the audience were experiencing déjà vu every time they watched one of the classic episodes.
3 TMNT Crossover
Although crossovers between the different Power Ranger teams were few and far between, there was a surprising and strange franchise link in the early days. In a truly bizarre move, the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show, The Next Mutation, impacted the Power Rangers in Space series.
In an episode named "Shell Shocked," the Power Rangers had to fight against a brainwashed group of turtles before they inevitably teamed up. Interestingly, the Power Rangers and TMNT have crossed over in the comics in the years since, with modern lore paying homage to this infamously strange episode.
2 The Conflict Of The Week
Many Power Rangers stories didn't pan out, while others were built across the series. In each episode, there was typically a smaller-scale conflict for the Rangers to deal with, along with a bigger bad. In those early years, many of these problems were utterly ridiculous.
In the Power Rangers Turbo episode "Trouble by the Slice," the heroes were baked into a giant pizza. In the Mighty Morphin episode "The Ninja Encounter: Part I," the newest recruits on the team had to chase down and catch a fast-paced baby stroller. Needless to say, the conflicts of the week were far less inventive and far more bizarre than they are today.
1 Super Sentai
Power Rangers was originally based on Super Sentai, a Japanese show with global appeal. At the time, without the internet, many fans probably didn't know that the series was heavily linked to a completely different franchise. But strangely, Power Rangers refers to this.
In an old episode of Power Rangers Dino Thunder, known as "Lost & Found in Translation," a parody version of the Power Rangers appears on TV. In actuality, this footage is from the Sentai show that the Rangers stole from. It's quite the meta-commentary and weird use of the show's origin within the lore.