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It's Morphin Time! (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers)
2011-09-27 12:50:36
edited 2011-09-27 20:18:07 in General
Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder’s eye on the last Day.
GO GO POWER RANGERS!
I'm sure all of you at least know of the Power Rangers. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the first series, began in 1993, and was an almost immediate super hit. Using fight footage from the Japanese Super Sentai series Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger combined with original footage filmed in the US, the Power Rangers fad was huge. It was like the Pokemon of the early ninties.
If that theme song doesn't get you excited and ready to punch something, either there's something wrong with you, or you weren't a kid in the nineties.
Now, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is one of my biggest guilty pleasures. The writing is usually pretty bad, the acting is usually pretty bad, the monsters and effects are incredibly cheesy and kind of stupid, and yet I have so much fun watching this show. I'm going to begin this liveblog with one of the last episodes of the first season, and then select episodes after that. Because Mighty Morphin Power Rangers alone (not even taking into account Zeo, Turbo, In Space, and the dozen other seperate continuity series) has 177 episodes, and that's too many to liveblog in totality. And also because I can just watch episodes without needing to liveblog them sometimes.
But first, let's meet the cast
THE GOOD GUYS
Zordon
He used to be a wizard or some shit, now he's a giant floating head in a tube. I'm not sure what his deal is. He's basically the Rangers' mentor, and the one who called them together to fight evil. He lives in this super advanced secret lair. Also, his mouth doesn't move.
Alpha
Zordon's robotic assistant. And you thought C-3PO was the gayest robots could possibly get. Often flails his arms, yelling "AIAIAIAIAI" and gets deactivated a lot.
The leader of the team. His dinozord is a red Tyrannosaurus, and his weapon is the power sword. He seems to be incapable of not yelling when he's morphed.
Billy / Blue Ranger
The nerd of the team. He talks like stupid people think smart people talk. His unnecessary technobabble is so incomprehensible that he needs someone to translate most of the time. Kind of a bitch. He sort of reminds me of that guy from Troll 2 what yelled "OH MY GOOOOOOOD."
Kimberly / Pink Ranger
The hot one. She's basically the girly-girl of the team. Also she's hot.
Trini / Yellow Ranger
She's Asian. 
Zack / Black Ranger
Yes, the black ranger is black. Also, he likes "funky" music and to dance. 
Tommy / Green Ranger
First showed up partway through the first season, as a special evil ranger under Rita's control. The Rangers were able to break Rita's spell over him, and he's been an on and off teammate ever since. The multi-parters about Tommy tend to be the best episodes, in my opinion. In a relationship with Kimberly, though I don't think physical contact was allowed by the network.THE BAD GUYS
Rita Repulsa
The main villain of the first season, and the self-proclaimed (I assume) empress of evil. She mostly sits on the moon, screaming about how she has a headache, and planning ways to ruin the Power Ranger's day.
Goldar
Rita's right hand man-ape-thing. He likes to yell whilst waving his sword to and fro. Also, for some reason, only the top half of his mouth usually moves when he talks, while his jaw stays stationary. This is important information.
Squat and Baboo
Rita's more dumbass henchmen. They're mostly there to act stupid and get yelled at by Rita.
Finster
Rita's monster maker. He always describes monsters as his best work, but they get their asses kicked every time. Also they look stupid.
The Putties
Rita's foot soldiers. They suck so much that the Rangers can beat them up even when they aren't morphed. Also, they sound like pigeons.BULK AND SKULL
Bulk and Skull
The Three Stooges of our generation. Generally the best part of any given episode, they provide comic relief in the form of slapstick humor. Every scene involving them will generally involve either a) them on the ground on top of each other, or b) the two getting covered in food/goop/mud/whatever, and are always followed by their theme. They're described as bullies, but they kind of suck at it, and sometimes it seems like the Rangers are meaner to them than they are.The plot of any given episode is generally very predictable. The rangers face some sort of minor problem in every day life, Rita gets an idea from said problem to ruin their day for a monster, Rangers fight monster, Rita grows monster and the Rangers kill it with the Megazord, and the everyday problem is resolved in the last minute and a half or so. My favorite illustration of this is the episode where Billy must conquer his fear of getting a B on a test by... fighting a giant bee. The best episodes are those which break from the formula, especially multi-part episodes like Green With Evil and Doomsday.
The Power Rangers live in Angel Grove, and are still attending high school despite obviously being in their twenties. They hang out at the youth center most of the time that they aren't fighting monsters, and occasionally teach martial arts/self defense classes. Even though Zordon specifically asks Alpha to recuit "five overbearing and over emotional humans"/"teenages with attitude", the Rangers are the biggest goody-two-shoes this side of Ned Flanders.
With that preliminary info out of the way, this liveblog will begin for real soon.
Comments
1. theme song, opener version
2. slice-of-life showing the rangers and characters around them, well, going about daily life, possibly highlighting some issue or problem
3. antagonists scrying on good guys and supporting cast, promising to make their day miserable
4. commercial break
5. good guys and supporting cast run into trouble. Generally speaking, supporting cast will run into monster of the day, while good guys will run into putties to keep them busy and give them a fight scene. Bad guys may appear while their shenanigans occur, talking about how their evil plans are working so well.
6. cliffhanger before commercial break. Rangers may morph before or after this.
7. commercial break (~ 15 minute mark)
8. morphed rangers fight monster. May get beaten up in the process. (Early shows showed their suits becoming blackened. Later shows just ignored this.) If they do, expect help to drop in unexpectedly, from a missing ranger or something.
9. lead antagonist enlarges monster to giant size. Rangers call on their specific mecha (a "megazord" of some sort usually), which always involves a bunch of transforming thingies combining into a giant robot (they're almost never used separately), complete with transformation sequence. Battle ensues. Sparks fly and cockpit view shakes when mech is hit. Battle ends when giant mech summons special weapon and slices through monster, after which monster collapses and explodes. Giant mech then poses.
10. commercial break (~26 or 27 minute mark)
11. slice-of-life again. somehow, the problem that was the premise of the show has been solved, and everyone's hunky-dory again. A few jokes may be cracked, especially at Bulk's and Skull's expense (and occasionally expanse).
12. freeze frame with first set of credits showing Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, followed by theme song, ending credits version. May be accompanied by voiceover or shoved to the side by the network, to preview next show or next episode.
If you want to catch the action, start watching 15 minutes in. The premise of the episode pretty much doesn't matter, ever.
This applies best to the first series of MMPR. Doesn't apply to multi-episode plot arcs, obviously. In later seasons, they started doing things more interestingly, doing more with season-long plot arcs and stuff, though they almost always had one major fight per episode.
EPISODE 58
All this despite football never having been mentioned in the series before.
Just then, Bulk and Skull come charging around the corner like the idiots they are, and proclaim that Bulk is about to be the school's new MVP.
To demonstrate this, Skull runs down to the other end of the hall, and challenges Bulk to take him down. Of course, the principal chooses just this moment to emerge from his office to scold Skull.
You see where I'm going with this.
After the principal gives them one week of DEEEEEETENION for running in the halls, our heroes laugh at their misfortune.
Tommy starts getting all nervous like a girl before prom again, and Jason tries to talk some sense into him.
MEANWHILE, AT RITA'S PALACE
Squat and Baboo are watching the football game, and they think it looks fun! Rita, of course, proclaims that fun is junk, and S&B suck up some more.
Then Goldar suggests that she if she forms a team with the monster of the week and the putties, it will be unstoppable!
wat
Rita decides that this is a brilliant plan, and that she wants a
SMASHDOWNTOUCHDOWN!After a commercial break, we see Tommy moping at the Youth Center. Dammit, you aren't usually such a little bitch. Stop that.
Kimberly and Trini show up and try to boost his confidence. BUT HE'S DETERMINED TO MOPE, DAMMIT, AND NO ONE WILL STAND IN HIS WAY.
Suddenly, Ernie, the Chuck Norris of Power Rangers, declares that he will help! Apparently, he was an all-star fullback in his college days, and he offers to train Tommy.
SUDDENLY MORE BULK AND SKULL
oh lawd
Apparently, Skull read that football players need grace and agility. So Bulk is a ballerina.
And Bulk isn't taking no "twinkle-toe" crap.
Kimberly: Eheheh, ballet, that's funny...
The girls invite Tommy to come play "flag football" with them, but Tommy refuses so that he can laugh at Bulk some more.
THEN TRAINING TIME
Ernie trains Tommy like a motherfucker.
Tommy, who's the best martial artist of the whole Power Rangers, says that he has two left feet.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
We cut across town to the other Rangers playing catch with a football.
The wimminz arrive, and Kimberly proposes a scrimmage. As they begin to play, an utterly terrible rap song begins to play, and oh god my ears why are you doing this to me
We cut back to Tommy, who seems to have lost the ability to do a jump attack. GOD DAMN IT YOU'RE AWESOME STOP SUCKING
mope mope mope
Suddenly, Bulk doing ballet. I'll let the images speak for themselves.
Yeah.
Back to football. And rap. And me wiping blood out of my ears.
Luckily, Goldar saves my ear drums by declaring that it's time for putties.
They flip in out of nowhere and steal the football.
Dick.
A fight ensues, in which the rangers steal back the football and run for the endzone!
Pretty sure that's an illegal move.
The putties poof away, and they all high five.
SUDDENLY THEIR BEEPERS GO OFF
Zordon teleports them to the command center, and tells the Rangers that Rita is "planning a football game of her own", and shows them her latest monster:
Zordon gives the whole schtick about how eeeevil and powerful this monster is, and that if Rita wins, she'll be unleashed on the world.
The Rangers are confident in their abilities, and they morph!
And oh dear lord, here come the football puns.
Those monsters need to come up with a better insult than "Power Geeks" and "Power Brats".
And.... the putties are wearing football uniforms.
ahhhhhhhhh
Then this happens.
Try as they might, they are no match for the putty linemen, and the Rhinoblaster traps them in a a tornado, which apparently banishes them to the multidimensional vortex.
Whatever the hell that means.
Even Zordon and Alpha get in on the bad football puns as they plan to defeat the monster.
They then contact Tommy. They teleport him to the command center, and fill him in on what's going on.
He morphs, then leaps into action and instantly takes out the putties.
Rita, as she always does, overreacts and uses her magic wand to "MAKE MY MONSTER GROOOOOOW"
Tommy declares his need for Dinozord power, and we're treated to a long stock footage shot of the zord rising from the ocean.
They fight for a while, the monster making football puns all the while.
In an attempt to up the stakes, Alpha tells Zordon that if Tommy loses, he'll lose the dragon dagger and the rangers... forever!!!!!!
Zordon advises Tommy to throw his dagger into the multidimensional mists, as that might allow the Rangers to free themselves.
...Somehow.
Tommy pretends to surrender, as Rita watches from the moon, cackling, then throws the Dragon Dagger into the monster's open mouth.
Suddenly filled with confidence, he boards the Dragonzord, and renews his fight. But then, he starts losing power! The Dragonzord goes down, and he's thrown from the cockpit! Is this it for the Green Ranger??!!
Nah.
Just then, the Megazord appears from the air! Where they got the zords from while they were trapped, who knows.
As the Megazord engages the monster, Tommy retrieves his dagger, and sends in the Dragonzord once again.
More stock footage ensues, as the Megazord and the Dragonzord combine to form the Megadragonzord.
They fire, and obliterate that mean old monster once and for all!
Rita screams that she has a headache, and all is well.
Only not really, because the principal has to announce who made the team!
And the new team includes........................................................
........................
........................
........................
........................
........................
........................
........................
........................
........................Jason, Billy and Zack, but... no Tommy.
Wah wah wahhhhh.
But the principal is a dumbass, and Bulk and Tommy are on the team too.
Yes, he's still wearing the tutu.
Tommy goes to thank Ernie, and the Rangers gather to congratulate Tommy on this morphinominal news.
And we learn a valuable lesson about self-confidence.
WOOOOO
Also, I commented on your liveblog! Go read mine!
Thanks to a momentary misreading of the thread title, I now want to watch an episode of Mighty Morphine Power Rangers.
It's also an adaptation of the time Dan/Triceraranger and Mei/Pteraranger went all punk-y tooIt was awesome.
The sad realization that Amy Jo Johnson's butt and the actual Pink Ranger's butt aren't the same butt.
Also, that in Zyuranger footage, the yellow ranger is a dude.
So here's a preview image to hold you over.
Also, I'll admit I had this stuck in my head upon seeing this picture.
Until the switch to Disney male yellows were made girls. Which was the case for Gingaman/Lost Galaxy, GoGoFive/Lightspeed Rescue, Timeranger/Time Force, and Gaoranger/Wild Force.