Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (also known as, Power Rangers: The Movie) is a movie based on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on Fox Kids, the first series in the Power Rangers franchise. It featured the characters and actors from the series itself and was loosely based on Ninja Sentai Kakuranger (only the Rangers' Zords were based on the Mecha of Kakuranger, no other storyline elements were used in the movie). It was produced by Saban Entertainment and released by 20th Century Fox on June 30, 1995 and ultimately grossed $37,804,616 theatrically in the U.S. and over $66 million worldwide, making it a financial success.[1]
Plot
After the Power Rangers participate in a charity skydive, a giant egg is unearthed in Angel Grove. Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa investigate the egg, and release the creature inside - Ivan Ooze, whom Zordon had trapped inside the egg six thousand years ago. Once released, Ooze leaves to seek revenge on Zordon, double-crossing Zedd and Rita by trapping them in a snowglobe. He disguises himself as a carnival wizard and gives free jars of purple ooze to children. Fred Kelman, the Rangers' young friend, buys a jar, and brings it home. Later, his father finds the jar and inspects the ooze. When he pulls some out of the jar, mysterious charges of purple electricity go through him, putting him under the control of Ivan Ooze along with all of the other parents of Angel Grove. Apparently this ooze only affects adults, as it is later seen that the children and teens are not affected and are playing with the ooze.
When the Power Rangers are sent to fight Ooze's Ooze Men, the Command Center is left defenseless, allowing Ooze to destroy it, leaving Zordon near death. Due to the destruction, the Power Rangers lose their powers, and they must go on a quest to find new Ninjetti powers on the distant planet of Phaedos. When Ooze sends his Tengu Warriors after the Rangers, they are assisted by Dulcea, who bestows upon the Rangers new Ninja powers based on the six Ninja animals: the white Falcon, the red Ape, the yellow Bear, the blue Wolf, the pink Crane, and the black Frog. Dulcea directs the Rangers to find the Ninjetti Temple to find the Great Power on their own, as she will age rapidly if she takes one step off the plateau. On their way, they must battle a living dinosaur skeleton and at the temple battle four living statues. When the statues are destroyed, the Great Power is bestowed upon them and they morph into the Power Rangers again.
When the Rangers return to Earth, they find it under attack by Ooze's Ectomorphicon Titans, and call upon their new Ninjazords to battle the Titans. They destroy Scorpitron, and then form the Ninja Megazord to battle Hornitor. During this time, the children of Angel Grove realize that Ooze plans to kill all of their parents. Fred leads them to the construction site where Ooze directed the adults to fall into a massive hole. When Ooze fuses with Hornitor, the Rangers form the Ninja Mega Falconzord to try and destroy him, eventually using Ryan's Comet, which was passing the Earth, to destroy him. The Rangers struggle fighting Ooze, and Aisha has an idea: she hits a button next to her post, claiming that, "desperate times call for desperate measures", which causes the Megazord's knee to come into contact with Ooze's groin, causing him to let go and come into contact with the Ryan's Comet, and destroying him and releasing the parents of Angel Grove from Ooze's spell. The Rangers get back to the Command Center, but Zordon has died. Tommy reminds the Rangers that with the Great Power, anything is possible. Combining their powers, the Rangers revive Zordon and restore the Command Center.
The movie ends with a celebration in the Angel Grove harbor, thanking the Power Rangers for saving the world, although Bulk and Skull complain that it was themselves who saved the day. Later, during the credits, Goldar takes Lord Zedd's throne and jokingly proclaims himself king, just as the newly released Zedd and Rita walk in on him.
Characters
The Power Rangers
- Tommy Oliver
- The White Power Ranger, played by Jason David Frank.
- Rocky DeSantos
- The Red Power Ranger, played by Steve Cardenas.
- Adam Park
- The Black Power Ranger, played by Johnny Yong Bosch.
- Billy Cranston
- The Blue Power Ranger, played by David Yost.
- Aisha Campbell
- The Yellow Power Ranger, played by Karan Ashley.
- Kimberly Hart
- The Pink Power Ranger, played by Amy Jo Johnson.
Allies
Villains
DVD and television releases
The movie was first released on DVD on November 4, 2003. It has also aired a few times on the ABC Family channel as well as Cinemax and HBO. In Russia it has aired on the Channel One. It airs rather frequently on the Fox Movie Channel, with a rating of TV-PG-V.
Adaptations in other media
- Various video games were created for the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Game Boy, and Sega Game Gear.
- The Sega Genesis version had three levels dedicated to the movie battles against Ivan Ooze, the Scorpitron, Hornitor, and the Ooze Men. The other four levels were dedicated to memorable MMPR Season 2 episodes (in which Jason, Zack and Trini were playable), such as Tommy getting his White Ranger powers and the recruitment of Rocky, Adam and Aisha. The Thunder Megazord and Tigerzord were also playable characters in the Season 2 levels, though their destruction was never shown as in the movie.
- The Sega Game Gear version had three levels dedicated to Season 2 of MMPR while the other four levels were dedicated to the movie-based battles.
- Marvel Comics released an adaptation comic of the movie which was dated September 1995. It is nearly faithful to the movie except for:
- A deleted concept from the film was Zordon referring to his previous warriors as The Order Of Meledan.
- The Ninjazords from Kakurangers/MMPR Season 3 are used rather than the movies version, but still has the sword similar to the Shogun Megazord.
Differences between the movie and the show
According to Paul Freeman, who played Ivan Ooze, the movie was originally going to be done in the style of the TV shows before the producers changed their minds and decided to put more resources into the production.
One of the changes is in the opening crawl when it states Zordon originally chose six teenagers to be Rangers, when it was actually five.
Though not canon, the movie is the first time Zordon's home planet of Eltar was mentioned. Following this however, Eltar became part of the TV show's continuity. Characters such as Dulcea never appear in the show or are even referenced (Ninjor bequeathed the Ninja Powers to the Rangers in the TV show). The new character of Mordant is treated as if it had always been among the "Evil Space Aliens," and Squatt and Baboo are nowhere to be seen; neither were Finster and Scorpina (Mordant's presence was explained in a scene cut from the final draft of the script). When the Tengu Warriors were introduced in Season 3 of the TV series, their names were changed to Tenga Warriors.
Other changes include the fact that, in the show, Zordon's plasma tube is a means of communication between the world and the time warp he is trapped in. In the movie, his tube contains his body, prevents him from aging. When destroyed, Zordon dies slowly (and possibly painfully) by way of rapid aging.
Also, in the movie, Alpha claims that no one can enter the Command Center without a power coin (before being proven wrong by Ivan Ooze slipping through the cracks in the door). This seems to imply that access is physically impossible, yet in the show, in the episode Green with Evil, Part 1, Zordon claims that a power coin merely allows a being to enter the Command Center undetected, implying that anyone may enter the Command Center if they do not mind an alarm being sounded.
Sets
Many of the differences are merely cosmetic, as the movie budget and the fact the film was shot in Sydney, Australia necessitated new and more elaborate sets to be constructed. The Command Center and Zedd's Palace sets are much more detailed. The Command Center has lights built into the walls that dim and brighten, as well as a "rotating" light in the floor. The neon columns are also designed differently too, giving the Command Center a more futuristic appearance than on the show.
In the series, Zordon appears as a projection from a time-warp dimension via his Plasma Tube and the large blinking poles around him. The movie portrays Zordon as living inside the Energy Tube, which acts as a time-lock chamber, preventing him from aging, with the poles as a form of power and life-support. Once the tube is shattered, however, Zordon begins to grow old quite rapidly, until he eventually dies. This, too, is different than the series, where shattering the tube would sever the communication with him. It is important to note that it is different from Zordon's tube in Countdown to Destruction, which actually kept him contained—and killed Zordon immediately when shattered—since he had been freed from the time warp at that point.
Even the face of the Ninja Megazord looks different from its Kakuranger counterpart. The seating is somewhat changed, for example, Pink Ranger sits lower-down, front-and-center, Blue Ranger sits to the left of her, and Red Ranger sits to her right. Due to this, Kimberly is hinted to be the second-in-command as opposed to the show in which Rocky seems to be second-in-command in the Ninja Megazord. The Ninja Megazord's Power Sword resembles the Fire Saber used by the Shogun Megazord in the series.
The city of Angel Grove looks significantly different from how it appeared in the show. This is a result of the show being shot in Los Angeles, while the movie was shot in Kiama and Sydney, Australia and the Fall Creek Falls State Park near Pikeville, Tennessee.
Costumes
Costumes were also upgraded. The Rangers' suits are made of PVC and metal plating rather than the standard spandex, the ranger skirts are gone, and several Rangers have features in their helmets that never appeared in the series (a mountable scope on Rocky's helmet, and headlights built into Aisha's). The helmets also appear heavier and bulkier. In addition, Alpha 5's appearance is quite different, but Richard Steven Horvitz provides his voice in both the movie and TV show.
The Rangers' suits also feature emblems in the center of the white diamond on the chest (instead of a "fang" design that resembled diamonds) with a picture of their respective prehistoric animals early on, and later, their Ninja animals. Although these emblems were never part of the costumes from Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger used in the show (except for Tommy's White Ranger costume, which is from Gosei Sentai Dairanger), they appeared in early promotional art and the Power Rangers action figures during its early years. In a leaked early draft of the script, the emblems did have a use (although, only for their Ninjetti costumes); on the backs of the emblems were mirrors that the Rangers had to use to solve a puzzle connected to the Great Power that would eventually give them their new Ranger powers and Zords. (Kimberly primps her hair a moment during the scene as well, demonstrating the popular girl stereotype.)
Also, the movie's morphers were different. The morphers were not removable from the belt holsters. The holsters color matched the ranger, while in the show they were silver. The morphers were chrome instead of silver, the red circle around the power coin did not have any words rather than say "POWER RANGERS" and the color of the lightning bolts on the morphers matched the rangers.
Action sequences
The Rangers morphed in a different order than the TV show's morphing sequence. Here in the film, the morphing order is Pink Ranger, Blue Ranger, Red Ranger, Black Ranger, Yellow Ranger, and White Ranger; as opposed to the TV show's normal order of White, Black, Pink, Blue, Yellow, and Red.
To further the differences between the show and the movie, Tommy's call to morph here is "White Tiger!" instead of "Tigerzord!" in the show.
The Ninja Ranger Power morphing sequence is also different. Instead of calling "Ninja Ranger Power, now!" Tommy calls "Ninjetti!" Afterwards, the rangers call upon the name of their sacred animal independently (in the show, everyone morphs simultaneously, with no further callings).
There are two weapons from the movie that do not appear in the series: Billy's "Stega Stinger," and Kimberly's "Pterodactyl Thunder Whip."
There are also two devices from the movie that do not appear in the series: Aisha's "Power Beam," and Rocky's "Power Scope."
The rangers often crack jokes as they fight; for example, in the first battle with Ivan's ooze monsters, Aisha screams "Kiss and make up!" before ramming two ooze monsters' faces together. This is not seen in the series until after the end of the classical era (which ends with the two-part episode Countdown to Destruction).
The zords, although based on the mecha from Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, as was also the case with the television show, have the ability to fight on their own; the crane and falcon have missiles in their wings, the wolf and bear zords can bite, the ape fights with a lance, and the frog can neutralize enemies with its tongue, putting them open for an attack. In the series, only a few zords per team have this ability (however Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is the exception as the three different Zord formations had the ability to fight on their own, but, with the exception of the zords used by the Red, Green, and White Rangers, was rarely - if ever - displayed). Additionally, the Ninja Megazord from the movie had functional hands, while the hands television show version were permanently formed into fists.
See also
References
External links
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