Power Rangers 30th Anniversary Today!

[chazraps]

30 years ago today the first episode of 'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' "Day of the Dumpster" aired on Fox Kids!

I spoke to Walter Jones ("Zach" the original Black Ranger), Jason Narvey ("Skull" of "Bulk and Skull") and the grand prize winner of the Fox Kids Power Rangers Sweepstakes for today's Los Angeles Times to look back on what it was like making the show, the phenomenon and the impact it's had over the past 30 years - www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2023-08-28/power-rangers-30th-anniversary

What are your memories of Power Rangers conquering the 90s?

[tirtefaa]

I remember when it first came out, my parents didn't want me to watch it since it was violent, so when I did watch...it was very sporadic.

When three of the cast members got replaced, I started to watch it more often. I liked Adam the most. I initially liked Billy, but he was the only one who wasn't doing something cool in his intro.

One thing I always liked was that while Bulk and Skull didn't like the gang...they idolized the Power Rangers. Obviously they could have gone the easy route with this, but it shows that even Bulk and Skull aren't all bad. And that one episode where they saved the day after everyone lost their memories was always one of my favorites.

Another weird connecting thing was in 1994, my grandmother died. While traveling to Indiana for the funeral, we stopped at a McDonald's. I guess I must have been showing my emotions, because a McDonald's employee came up to me and gave me like 30 Power Rangers pogs they were giving away. It was a small thing, but that just always really stuck with me.

[thechase]

I remember watching the first episode on breakfast station GMTV in the UK, over a year after it's U.S debut, the next day I had to go in for major surgery, so I spent the next few days watching it in my ward. I've stuck with it ever since, though I very seldom ever bought a toy as at the time my parents could never afford them. I was more into it for the story anyway. My brother had a friend who watched more episodes on satellite and told me about this Green Power Ranger who was evil. I didn't believe him at first.

I didn't get satellite until 1999, so I watched the show on GMTV and later CITV throughout the 90s, then from there it was Fox Kids/Jetix all the way through the Disney era.

[Zone Was Wrong]

Man, remember watching a children's show and seeing it's season 2 premiere on prime time was trippy and really spoke to its popularity. Also remember how hype the White Ranger reveal was at the time.

Fell out of love of Power Rangers after SPD and Time Force but got back into it because of Linkara's History of Power Rangers videos and was surprised at the quality of RPM that I actually watched it as an adult and loved it. Ended up becoming my favorite season of the show. Just a special program that has endured for such a long time and has such a legacy.

[Sponsored by Groose Wipes]

Me as a kid: I have no idea what's going on but cool guys in helmets are fighting monsters, also there's a giant robot. Awesome.

[Tea & Crumpets]

This show was my childhood in a nutshell and influenced far, far too many of my tastes and interests right to this day. I still rewatch and revisit the franchise every so often if I ever want to recapture my inner child, in my head it's the biggest, grandest science-fantasy space opera ever.

I'll still never understand what they were thinking with the movie reboot though. If ever there was a time to do a 90s/classic rock-flavoured take on Guardians of the Galaxy, it was the Power Rangers reboot, lean into the memes and rough edges, instead we got a half baked reboot trying to mature-up the silliest f***ing premise possible.

[Deleted]

Godzilla was my intro to Tokusatsu as a whole and then PR came and really refined everything that made up my general taste in shows for the rest of my life.

Martial arts

Rubber suit monsters

Giant robots fighting said monsters

kick ass memorable music

[Hobby Drifter]

Even as a kid, I thought to concept and potential for the series kind of outweighed the obviously small budget.

As the show progressed from season 1 up through Zeo, I was very surprised to see that changes to the status quo could happen and actually stick. From the Green Ranger joining the team to Rangers being replaced, to costume/zord/villain changes, nothing really seemed off the table.

The theme song rocked incredibly hard.

I was a bit disappointed that while the Zord toys were excellent, pretty much every other bit of merch kinda sucked.

MMPR was also my first exposure to the usual suspects losing their minds over kid’s entertainment, and trying to get the show taken off the air or have the toys pulled from shelves because Power Rangers was too violent/encouraging witchcraft/anti-American/encouraging delinquency/etc.

Oh, one other thing. I started watching the show when I was 10. So the main characters on the show kinda messed up my expectations of what teenagers in high school looked like.

[thechase]

I read the article, it mentions the pilot episode wasn't aired, but it actually did in 1999 in a special presentation that Austin St. John and Walter Jones hosted

[Wolf Hawkfield no1 NZ poster]

I watched most of the first season but missed the last few episodes.

Then it was banned on New Zealand Televison until 2011 despite several seasons being filmed here since 2002.

[Mainia]

Happy anniversary!

Started watching 30 years ago and have been a fan ever since. Watched every series, every movie, collect the current lightning collection figures and collect and read the current Boom comics. What a ride.