A Rundown Review and Rant on MMPR and Comparing it to Zyuranger, Dairanger and Kakuranger

So yeah, I've heard Power Rangers will have its DVD copy.  So I guess every 90s kid who watched it and still wants to should try to seize it ASAP.  However I'd also like to make some good and bad, two or more sided comparisons.  So yeah here's the rundown on MMPR... and these were the works of Noboru Sugimara used in here.

Season 1: 


Any kid may not notice so clearly the footage splicing done in MMPR with Japanese footage from Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger.  Nobody really knows what show it was supposed to be adapted from or how long Saban has negotiated with Toei with payments and what show.  Maybe Toei allowed Zyuranger to be used due to Jurassic Park's popularity... moving on...


So yeah, we are introduced to a story MUCH different from Zyuranger though Zyuranger footage was used like Barza as Zordon's flashbacks, even Goushi's battle with Dora Knight was used in one episode.  I thought that the change from ancient warriors to teenagers with attitude (similar to Turboranger) became the theme.  So it was some kind of originality working there.


One specific ranger caught my attention action-wise that was Trini Kwan.  Okay I wasn't surprised to learn her Zyuranger counterpart was a man considering the no-skirt thing and Turboranger's yellow ranger was male.  I found her pretty cool that while she was unsure of herself, made me think she was more badass than the rest.  Too bad the TV-Y7-FV standard couldn't permit her from doing more dangerous stunts.  But yeah, she did her own stunts and I compared her to Mika Koizumi in Bioman, Haruka in Maskman and Remi in Fiveman- all martial artists.  She had her tough attitude while caring for her teammates.  I just thought though if Trini tried to run away from the team in the next episode, will Zordon have a good explanation to give her?


My eye candy and guilty pleasure here was Kimberly Hart.  Yup, I'd admit that while I had crushes on Momoko and Hikaru (who I knew as Kimberly in the English dub of Bioman), it was her.  So it got me surprised, "Another Kimberly?" without knowing about how those inaccurate dubs change a lot of things.  So yeah she was my crush for the show and made me endure the decay. XD


The use of footage of Witch Bandora for Rita Repulsa was used a lot.  Much was altered from her story.  Yup, Bandora's headache scenes have been spliced into running gags instead which can get funny to irritating.  In Zyuranger, Bandora's headaches weren't really always used.  I thought the voice acting can get terrible sometimes, Soga Machiko knew how to make Bandora scarier.  For one, it's obvious they can't match the words with her lips because of the differences of Japanese and American wordings and syllables.  So there.  Soga Machiko filmed more Zyu2 footage at the same time.  I'll admit that Bandora is funnier than Rita and also more scary at the same time.  Check out her Bandora dance.


Now here we have the arrival of the Green Ranger.  Yeah it was known as the "Green with Evil Arc" which was cool.  Tommy was my favorite though later on, after seeing Zyuranger I am completely impressed more with Burai.  Hee hee.  The Green Ranger arc for me sounds pretty corny after hearing Burai's evil laugh was downright scary compared to Tommy's "mwahahahaha" and seeing that Burai wasn't brainwashed and crazy, he willingly allied with Bandora.  Yup Burai's fight with Geki was better imo than Jason and Tommy.  For Jason blasting the Sword of Darkness, it might have been deleted footage from Zyuranger that Toei allowed Saban to use.  Later, my Tommy fandom just waned because of Burai.  Not surprising to me was that Burai actually died but yeah, so sad.  Plus, Burai's reasons for not showing up made more sense than Tommy though on the positive side, Tommy didn't have an expiration date attached to him like Burai's (30 hours, really that sucks) but it made him lazy. XP


Of course this NEVER happened. Burai was 31 years old already, Mei was probably 17 or so.  Of course, I was a fan of Tommy and Kimberly though I was pretty surprised that Burai and Mei were not a couple. XP


Another was the mystery of Lamie.  If you've already seen Zyuranger, you'll know why Scorpina her American counterpart couldn't always be there.  She was purely Japanese footage that's why.  A lot of Lamie's scenes involved the civilian Zyurangers as well.  Later Saban tried to get an actress for the second season, got her once then again, the Scorpina character was gone again.  For one, it wasn't a shocker for me that Griforther and Lami were married though the truth that Griforther was mute until she came along was!


After episode 40 where this was supposed to happen- Rita and her goons defeated, Rita's supposed son was supposed to appear but instead he have Goldar piloting Cyclopsis.  So yeah, we have Lokar defeated (but the footage that Dai Satan blew up like as if he had constipation was missed)

Season two: 

Season two was using Dairanger footage later on when Lord Zedd arrives at the same time, the Green Ranger stayed until he was written off.  Made me think there were pluses and minuses here...


So yeah, season two was created and one has to admit Zyu2 footage was created which included Lord Zedd which leads me to speculate on stuff much later after I learned more about Super Sentai.  For one, if I'm to credit Lord Zedd for anything is that this guy really brought in real conflict and real battles with the Power Rangers.  Sad to say, he was decaying.  So he's not based on any Sentai villain but an original but he was part of Zyu2 footage.  Made me think- was Lord Zedd a rejected design for the Gorma Emperor?  Maybe, maybe not I can't say anything.  To be honest, I wish Lord Zedd's design was used for the Gorma Emperor though the Gorma Emperor imo is creepier.  But on the positive side, Lord Zedd isn't senile and has real plans.  But his one time crush on Kimberly was a sign of decay imo but not really bad considering this...


For me Goldar in season two was starting to suffer decay.  He started to look scarier than the Japanese costume but no explanation was done to how that happened.  But for me, what a waste to let this guy become just a dupe who defects to Lord Zedd immediately then he becomes what you'd call a dummy.  Plus, he's blindly loyal to Lord Zedd and later he renews his relationship to Rita Repulsa.


Dairanger footage got spliced into MMPR footage.


So okay we realize Green Ranger is written off because of the final Zyuranger footage had Burai die.  So yeah, pretty much depressing and sad.  Later, Tommy became the White Ranger but a lot of surprise was to this...


That the White Ranger in Dairanger.  While Tommy became the leader like Banba became the leader in JAKQ, Kou was a kid.  Not surprising since I saw PR Turbo first and I had no complains about Justin.  However Kou unlike Justin had a real solid storyline and not just chosen out of random.  Yup, there's much of cool stuff about Kou.  Too bad Kou gets unfairly hated.


So we have the news that Jason, Trini and Zack left because of pay issues.  For Austin St. John, maybe not but maybe it was because he and another project.  Trini apparently had an issue with Saban back then, maybe she was asked to work without pay for the meantime and quit.  At least she got to finish season one compared to now missing actress Yuki Yajima in Bioman.  The second cast for me wasn't as good as the first but I had not much of a problem except the story was getting cornier imo.  So yeah we end having a red ranger replacement similar to Sun Vulcan and a yellow ranger replacement similar to Bioman.


He may have gotten rid of Rita Repulsa by exiling her (he can't kill her due to U.S. standards that time).  However I did love the whole return of Rita Repulsa (which happened after Jason, Trini and Zack were written off).  Rita Repulsa's marriage to Lord Zedd may have made him sillier and funny in contrast to being scary BUT the two really made the Power Rangers lives miserable as possible.  If you ask me, Lord Zedd was more level-headed when he was married to Rita Repulsa.  Though Rita once wanted to get rid of him but the two grew to love each other which made them almost unbeatable.  In fact, I'd dare say they are the best PR couple ever!  For me, I think their marriage may have inspired the creation of Bacchushund and Hysteria as a couple in Ohranger.  Maybe, maybe not.


We had the crossover of MMPR with Mashed Rider which was poorly written.  So yeah, Saban gave life to the idea of Kamen Rider/Sentai crossover to life in the adaptation.  But the problem was it was HORRIBLY written and Kimberly was sick for that crossover, making it dumber.  For me, this was awful but a good idea.  A good idea that was tarnished by bad writing.  Sadly it may be the spiritual father of the disasters known as Super Hero Taisen which I think is already worse than this. XP

Season three: 

Season three took Kakuranger footage.  So yeah it was the Ninjazords and Shogunzords time.  I just had a thought that sheesh MMPR could have ended last season and let a new season come in.  Then again, the popularity was so great.  Then it overextended and got wrecked to the point I only would rewatch the first two seasons.

We are introduced to Rito Revolto, Rita Repulsa's younger brother.  So yeah in Kakuranger, his counterpart was Gasha Skull.  At first, he was pretty menacing considering he destroyed the Thunderzords but later, he is reduced to a bumbler like Goldar was.  He and Goldar became a team but too bad, they couldn't be menacing.  Sigh.  Knowing Gasha Skull left us so soon in Kakuranger and Rito Revolto got to stay longer can be bad for me.  This guy was hardly threatening.  Gasha Skull's death scene was spliced here when Rito Revolto grow... honestly I thought he was going to die but no, he ended up staying and just annoying everybody.  Sigh, why did they make somebody who appeared so menacing turn into a scatterbrain?!  


Meanwhile I enjoyed the fact Lord Zedd truly loved Rita Repulsa.  It was also the beginning of their more insidious schemes, even Lord Zedd entering the Command Center where he basically frightened Alpha Five.  He and his wife were working double time to win.  But too bad they were never killed in an actual finale battle, only scared away by the Machine Empire from Zeo.  What a waste really.


So Amy Jo Johnson prepared her departure from this script for other career (can't blame her) and she arranged it rather well.  So yeah, it made way for Kat who I found okay but never found her anything.  But it led to that stupid Dear John letter in Zeo which was very OOC for her to do.  I continued to watch though without anything else to watch. XP


Later Master Vile arrived and I'd agree he was a great villain but the voice made him sound silly.  Daimaou was more scary imo.  So we realize Master Vile has started to gather some rather insidious plans.  Too bad though, they wrapped him up leaving for his Galaxy and his son-in-law Lord Zedd more than happy to see him go away.


Then we have the Alien Ranger saga.  It was a poorly done adaptation of Kakuranger imo.  So yeah, it wrapped things up but in a bad way.  In fact, after the Earth was set back right after Master Vile made it wrong, the ending was just the Command Center goes "boom"... then we go to Zeo up to In Space.  Fortunately Turbo started cast changing, in Space ended the Zordon arc and Lost Galaxy started an entirely new tradition for Power Rangers probably due to contracts between Saban and Toei.

Overall, I had my thoughts I had good and bad memories but Power Rangers is still part of the family of Toei and isn't fake. XD

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