Oh no Power Rangers! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the biggest blunders across the entire “Power Rangers” franchise. Some spoilers may be ahead.
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00:00 I can't believe it, but I think they're...
00:02 It's the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
00:04 Yeah!
00:06 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the biggest blunders across
00:11 the entire Power Rangers franchise.
00:14 Some spoilers may be ahead.
00:16 To answer your question, I can't de-morph, because I don't know if I can breathe the
00:18 air here.
00:20 Number 20.
00:21 I'm dreaming of a White Ranger.
00:24 Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
00:25 In this holiday episode, the Power Rangers have to rescue Santa's workshop from Rito
00:30 and Lord Zedd.
00:31 I am Rito Rivalto.
00:32 I know who you are, and you've been a very naughty boy this year.
00:38 How would you expect this Christmas-themed Power Rangers episode to go?
00:41 Well, if you expected some awesome action with the Rangers in their morphed glory, then
00:46 we've got news for you.
00:47 Sure, this isn't a terrible special, as it has lots of charming moments.
00:52 But the lack of the iconic costumes and awesome weapons, in favor of snowball fights, really
00:57 hold the special down.
01:00 Also, the plot with Zedd wanting to have the elves make brainwashing toys is definitely
01:09 an inspired choice.
01:11 This Christmas special ultimately reminds us that the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
01:15 are the coolest when they actually get to do some Mighty Morphin'.
01:19 The whole thing gives me the whizz.
01:22 The lackluster crossover.
01:24 Power Rangers, Clash of the Red Rangers, the movie.
01:28 A crossover between the RPM Power Rangers and the Samurai Rangers should have been an
01:32 exciting spectacle for the fans.
01:36 Now that's how it's done in this century.
01:41 Unfortunately, this movie really skimped on that whole concept.
01:44 The only real crossing over is with RPM Red Ranger Scott, who gets transported into the
01:49 world of the Samurai Rangers.
01:58 Hardly anything else from the RPM side meets up with the Samurais, besides Scott and Evil
02:04 Vengeance's General Professor Cog.
02:06 Having Power Rangers from different shows meeting up can be epic, but unfortunately,
02:11 this team up fails to do more than just the bare minimum.
02:22 Uninteresting Morphers, Power Rangers Jungle Fury.
02:25 Power Rangers are defined by their morphers.
02:28 These stylish gadgets turn everyday average Joes into the colorful heroes we love.
02:34 So with something that's such a revered staple of the franchise, it's sad that the
02:38 morphers in Jungle Fury were so lackluster.
02:45 The show's morphers were called "solar morphers" and they were essentially just
02:49 a pair of glorified sunglasses.
02:52 These weren't exactly fan favorites, and we can see why.
02:58 They look like something you'd regret buying at Sunglass Hut.
03:01 We're not saying they needed to make them completely over the top like flip phones or
03:05 belt buckles, but there was barely anything that made them actually stand out.
03:09 Hopefully, these morphers are good at shielding the wearer from the shade we're throwing.
03:18 The unlikable Red Ranger, Power Rangers Mystic Force.
03:23 Given they're usually the leaders of their respective teams, Red Rangers are incredibly
03:27 important fixtures of the Power Ranger franchise.
03:30 But not all Red Rangers have been hits.
03:32 Nick Russell from Mystic Force happens to be one of the most disliked Red Rangers of
03:36 all.
03:43 Belonging to a magical lineage and fated to become the light against all darkness, Nick
03:48 was destined for a lot.
03:50 But this chosen one ultimately fell flat.
03:52 He was often lazy, reckless, and kind of a big jerk.
03:56 Not exactly qualities that your savior should possess.
04:03 The Power Rangers don't need a leader who's perfect, but they should have someone who's
04:07 heroic and always willing to lead by example.
04:10 And Nick didn't exactly fit that bill.
04:17 Morpher Mystic, Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue.
04:20 Remember folks, continuity is important.
04:23 In Lightspeed Rescue, the Titanium Ranger Ryan Mitchell, who was taken in by Diabolico,
04:28 believes his real dad abandoned him.
04:34 But when Ryan learns that Diabolico essentially stole Ryan from his dad, the news horrifies
04:39 him.
04:40 Caught in a whirlwind of emotions, he lets his Morpher sink to the ground.
04:47 The entire scene is a dramatic one, but a production error in the immediate aftermath
04:52 unintentionally contradicts it.
04:54 When he goes to face his demonic captor, the Morpher is still on his wrist.
04:58 Sure, they make being separated from the Morpher an interesting plot point in later episodes,
05:03 but this mishap is hard to ignore.
05:10 Throwing a Child into the Mix, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
05:13 Sure, insert a kid into the middle of a battle.
05:16 That won't turn any heads.
05:18 When the Megazord clashes against Tickle Sneezer, a child nearly the same size as the Megazord
05:23 appears next to it.
05:28 The explanation?
05:29 Mighty Morphin extensively used footage from Zuro Ranger.
05:32 And in this case, the Sentai material used had a story beat involving a kid turning into
05:37 a giant.
05:41 But that plot wasn't carried over for this Mighty Morphin episode.
05:45 So this editing botch kind of makes it look like there's an unsupervised gigantic child
05:50 with front row seats to a dangerous fight.
05:52 They probably should have fixed that up in post.
06:00 A show about outer space that didn't do anything cool with the concept.
06:04 Power Rangers Lost Galaxy.
06:06 With a name like Lost Galaxy, this show could have, you know, placed the Power Rangers across
06:11 the galaxy battling exciting intergalactic threats and hopping planets.
06:16 But this series did hardly any of that.
06:19 You told them where we're going.
06:22 No, I didn't.
06:24 I told you to.
06:26 It's actually a lot like Time Force, the Power Rangers time travel show with barely any time
06:30 traveling in it.
06:31 What is it with these Power Rangers shows and false advertising?
06:35 All Lost Galaxy really did was follow the Rangers on a space station slash colony called
06:39 Terra Venture.
06:47 Having it take place there is fine, but not really enough to justify all of the galaxy
06:51 branding.
06:52 The marketing for this show was truly a failure of cosmic proportions.
07:01 Number 13.
07:02 Originally producing the movie costumes without visors.
07:06 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers the movie.
07:08 The 1995 Power Rangers movie had an infamously turbulent production history.
07:14 Even the choices that ultimately improved the movie had some unwanted side effects.
07:19 Let's do it guys.
07:20 Right.
07:21 When the fight scenes were filmed, initially the helmets didn't sport the iconic visors
07:25 or mouthplates.
07:27 Since the entire thing looked pretty odd to say the least, they thankfully decided to
07:31 correct this fashion fail.
07:33 Where'd they go?
07:34 Unfortunately, though, production in general had experienced many delays.
07:38 So the addition of new reshoots that they had to do certainly didn't help things.
07:43 We're glad that they never went with the original visorless footage, but the reshoots were one
07:47 of the many issues that made the movie such a production nightmare.
07:52 What's going on?
07:53 Number 12.
07:54 Goldar's Mask.
07:56 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
07:58 Mobility in costumes is very important.
08:00 Sure, you can have some incredibly rad designs, but what good are they if the actors can barely
08:05 work with them?
08:07 Such is the issue with Goldar's Mask.
08:13 In the first season of Mighty Morphin, the villain's mask proved to be a real challenge.
08:18 The only portion capable of any movement was the jaw's upper half, and even that wasn't
08:23 always guaranteed.
08:27 With how difficult the mask proved to be, it shouldn't be a surprise that they went
08:31 back to the drawing board.
08:32 By season two, the mask was replaced completely.
08:36 Given all the trouble it caused, it looked like retiring it was for the best.
08:40 How does it feel to be stripped of your powers forever?
08:44 Number 11.
08:45 The 2017 movie reboot, Power Rangers.
08:48 With the craze of superhero movies and other franchise films taking over, it only seemed
08:53 fitting that Saban would try to corner that market too.
08:57 It's Morphin time.
09:00 They took a gamble and brought the Power Rangers to the big screen in 2017.
09:05 They hoped to use the movie as a launching pad for an entire new wave of Power Rangers
09:10 movies.
09:11 Unfortunately, this didn't really work out when the 2017 movie tanked.
09:19 The reimagining fell short due to a variety of issues, like the limited budget, which
09:24 meant less screen time with the iconic weapons, and only having one big action sequence.
09:30 We're all for more Power Rangers, but the blockbuster S 2017 reboot just missed the
09:36 mark.
09:43 Number 10.
09:44 Green Ranger's shield, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
09:52 When watching a mashup of footage from Power Rangers and Super Sentai, fans can usually
09:57 overlook the differences, unless it's a glaring prop error.
10:01 While most of the props and costumes were shipped from Japan for Mighty Morphin Power
10:05 Rangers, American prop makers were left to make a substitute shield out of thin cloth.
10:11 This not only made it painfully obvious which scenes were American filmed, but the shield
10:16 in the US version also looks like it can barely protect Tommy at all.
10:24 Later, they mercifully remade the shield with the proper material for Green Ranger's return
10:29 in Dino Thunder.
10:30 However, they also altered his helmet by adding a silver stripe.
10:34 So they fixed one aesthetic issue, but created another.
10:42 Number 9.
10:43 The abrupt shift from Zio to Turbo.
10:45 Power Rangers Zio, Power Rangers Turbo.
10:52 Moving from one season to another can feel like a natural progression if done right.
10:58 Unfortunately, that was not the case for the Zio-Turbo transition.
11:02 The gap between the finale of Zio and the Turbo movie brought with it unexpected visual
11:06 changes, continuity errors, and unfulfilled promises from the finale.
11:21 Perhaps the biggest question left unanswered was, why was it necessary to trade in the
11:25 Zio powers for the Turbo ones?
11:28 There were rumors about a cereal called Scorpion Rain that would have supposedly answered some
11:32 of these questions, but it was debunked as a hoax.
11:36 And sadly, this sudden move wasn't the last hasty change made in Turbo.
11:43 Number 8.
11:45 Jennifer L. Yen as Vipra.
11:47 Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue.
11:54 Arguably the weakest links in Lightspeed Rescue were the villains.
11:59 But while most of them could at least act, there was one notable exception, Vipra.
12:07 Sure, actress Jennifer L. Yen definitely looked the part.
12:17 However, her skills as a thespian were another story.
12:21 In nearly all of her scenes, her inflection is all over the place, and she delivers her
12:25 lines with very unconvincing enthusiasm.
12:32 In fact, the only time it looked like she could actually act was when her character
12:36 was being killed off.
12:38 Even when she returned as a zombie, her performance was deader than she was.
12:43 This wasn't the last characters fans felt was miscast, but it did prove the consequences
12:47 of playing a part without any real passion.
12:55 Number 7.
12:56 The Peace Conference Incident.
12:58 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
12:59 Jason, Zack, and Trini were originally slated to appear in the 1995 movie.
13:05 However, with the show's rising popularity, their actors hoped Saban would go union so
13:09 their salaries could improve.
13:11 Saban didn't concede, so the three walked off set halfway through filming the season.
13:22 And their departure didn't go unnoticed.
13:24 They rarely appeared un-morphed outside of stock footage or body doubles, and stand-in
13:29 actors provided their morphed voiceovers.
13:32 Or tried to, anyway.
13:36 Eventually, the three Rangers were shipped off to a "peace conference" and replaced
13:41 by Rocky, Adam, and Aisha.
13:43 And while unfortunately Trini never returned, Jason did make a comeback in Zeo, and Zack
13:48 would return decades later in the once and always Netflix special.
13:57 Number 6.
13:58 Cal Explosions.
14:00 Power Rangers Disney Seasons.
14:06 Did you ever notice that, starting with Power Rangers SPD, the explosions in the show suddenly
14:11 started becoming gigantic and less practical?
14:14 They'd erupt way behind their targets, sending them into the air unrealistically.
14:19 Then the shot would be repeated again zoomed in.
14:26 This is a case of the Kalish Explosions, a process named after then-executive producer
14:31 Bruce Kalish.
14:33 What's worse is that this increase in over-the-top explosions coincided with the reduction in
14:37 the number of unique martial arts fight sequences the series was known for, likely to tone down
14:43 the violence.
14:44 But in doing so, the fight scenes became incredibly repetitive, to the point where they were a
14:48 mangled mess of laser blasts flying everywhere and hitting nothing.
14:57 Number 5.
14:58 Justin as the Blue Ranger, Power Rangers Turbo.
15:06 A preteen fighting alongside teens with attitude?
15:09 Not exactly a perfect match.
15:11 At the time, Power Rangers was losing at the ratings game, so the studio thought it would
15:16 be a good idea to bring in a younger Ranger to appeal to a newer audience.
15:25 Enter Justin, a preteen genius taking on the mantle of the Blue Ranger after veteran Rocky
15:31 injured his back.
15:32 Justin himself actually made a decent Ranger, taking action the minute trouble arose.
15:37 However, someone his age seemed out of place with the rest of the Rangers, and his central
15:43 episodes tended to feel silly and pandered to younger audiences.
15:47 Needless to say, this audience-grabbing experiment was a washout.
15:51 Number 4.
15:57 Overambitious Operation Overdrive, Power Rangers Operation Overdrive.
16:07 If you can get past the abysmal theme song, there's no turning back.
16:12 Originally, the plan for Operation Overdrive was for a grandiose and adventurous season,
16:17 similar to its Super Sentai counterpart, Bokenger.
16:20 Unfortunately, the low budget caused a lot of cut corners that affected almost every
16:25 aspect of the show.
16:27 According to fans, the season's pacing was off the wall, the potential for the multiple
16:32 villain factions was wasted, and many of the main characters were incredibly unlikable.
16:45 Not even a crossover with fan-favorite past Rangers could redeem the season, as the special
16:51 made the legendary heroes look incompetent compared to this unlikable team.
16:56 Seriously, go watch those episodes again.
16:59 The retro Rangers don't kill a single monster.
17:08 Number 3.
17:09 20th Anniversary Seasons, Power Rangers Megaforce, Power Rangers Super Megaforce.
17:20 Considering it was a 20th anniversary season, Megaforce ultimately failed to celebrate the
17:25 occasion.
17:26 To start, they split the season in half, so that by the time the actual anniversary content
17:30 came into play, it was a year too late.
17:33 As for the actual series, fans are quick to point out that our heroes lacked any depth
17:38 or backstory, and their acting was extremely bland, with Troy, the Red Ranger, easily being
17:44 the worst of the bunch.
17:50 They may have had a much better season planned, but executive meddling thwarted those plans,
17:55 leaving fans with two seasons filled with shallow and out of touch fanservice, rather
18:00 than telling an actual story.
18:07 Number 2.
18:08 Driving David Yost away, Power Rangers Zeo.
18:14 Billy is one of the most iconic Blue Rangers, and the longest lasting member of the original
18:19 five, eventually stepping down and becoming a tech assistant in Zeo.
18:24 But near the end of the season, he departed the show a few episodes after his actor, David
18:29 Yost, resigned.
18:34 There were rumors about a pay dispute, but the real reason was actually much worse.
18:39 Yost has since claimed he was regularly harassed by several crew members about his sexuality,
18:44 with some even deeming him unworthy of being a superhero.
18:48 As a result, Yost opted to walk, and wouldn't return until the 30th anniversary special,
18:54 once and always.
19:15 Number 1.
19:24 Since the beginning of Megaforce, Power Rangers had been foreshadowing a legendary event for
19:29 the finale, an epic battle featuring every Ranger from the previous two decades.
19:34 For the next two years, fans endured what they called lackluster writing, bland characters,
19:40 and dissatisfying tribute episodes, with only two veteran appearances.
19:45 Finally, the big battle arrived, and boy, was it a letdown.
19:50 A handful of veteran Ranger actors actually accepted the last minute invites, and only
19:55 a fraction of them had any dialogue at all.
19:58 And sadly, the battle itself is just as disappointing, with a heavy reliance on stock footage, the
20:04 Megaforce Rangers' annoying commentary, and aggravating plot holes.
20:13 To sum it all up, it was a battle that was hyped up for two years, and it barely lasted
20:18 two minutes.
20:19 Talk about a super mega fail!
20:24 Is there a more phenomenal fail we missed?
20:26 Let us know in the comments.
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