Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (film)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

It's Morphin Time!

The Movie adaptation of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, released between the show's second and third seasons and given a Big-Budget Beef-Up treatment. It doesn't fit into the Continuity of the series (which make sense considering the series used footage from the Japanese sentai. For this, they were going on their own, fights and all); the events of the film are repeated/replaced in the third season. The Rangers, villains and Command Center are all radically different, accounting for where the movie's budget went to. In particular, the Rangers have a Powered Armor appearance and the special effects were a far cry from the series.

The plot: Rita and Zedd release another Sealed Evil in a Can, a Shapeshifting glob known as Ivan Ooze, with the hope he would become a new minion. Unfortunately, he proves that there was a very good reason he was sealed away. Trapping Zedd and Rita in a snowglobe, crippling the Rangers' Command Center and destroying their powers, he sets out to rebuild monstrous creatures that he began years ago. The Rangers depart for the planet Phaedos to find "The Great Power" to re-energize themselves and return to stop Ooze.

Directed by Bryan Spicer in his debut as feature film director. Produced by Saban Entertainment, Toei Company and Fox Family Films. Distributed by 20th Century Fox.

Tropes used in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (film) include:
  • Affably Evil: Ivan Ooze is one of the most entertaining Power Rangers villains, he is clearly evil but just enjoys himself so much. He even has some of the most memorable lines of the entire franchise.

Tommy: We're the Power Rangers!
Ooze: "Whooo! Where's my autograph book!?"

  • All There in the Script:
    • The "group of young warriors" who trapped Ivan Ooze were part of an organization called "The Order of Meledon". Zordon and Dulcea themselves were members.
    • The planet Phaedos is located in the Hyperion Constellation.
    • After the Order's enemies were defeated, Zordon continued to fight evil elsewhere
    • Dulcea is the last living member of an alien race, whose ancestors came to Phaedos from "another time, another dimension." They were the ones who brought the "Great Power" to the monolith.
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Ivan destroys the Command Center.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Ivan Ooze mentions several horrific things he missed out while he was imprisoned: "The Black Plague! The Spanish Inquisition! The Brady Bunch Reunion!" That last one was a Throw It In by the actor that everyone working on the project loved.
  • The Artifact: Much like the series, the suits remain the same even after switching to a completely different set of powers. Although at least in the movie the chest pieces displaying their animal does switch from dinosaurs/mythological creatures to the ninja animals.
  • Back from the Dead: Zordon, near the end of the movie.
  • Big-Budget Beef-Up: The CGI hasn't aged well, but for the time period it was fairly high quality.
  • Big Good: Almost no where else in the franchise has Zordon been as revered as the epitome of all that is good. Ooze visibly raged after hearing his name and Dulcea only helped the Rangers when she learned that Zordon was in trouble. The only season that came as close was Power Rangers in Space.
  • Big Red Button: The Ninja Megazord has one that Aisha needs to break a glass panel to use.
  • Blob Monster: Ooze and his servants.
  • Bond One-Liner:

Billy: You ooze, you lose!
Rocky: Talk about a splitting headache!
Tommy: Eight ball, corner pocket!
Aisha: Kiss and make up!
Kimberly: Have a nice trip...See you next Fall.

  • Broad Strokes: Pretty explicitly used, with such dramatic a departure in visual style from the series it's almost like seeing a completely different product altogether. But the core actors were the same, the Ranger costumes and non-human characters are instantly identifiable. It can be assumed that the general story of the series effectively forms the backstory to this film.
  • California Doubling: The series was filmed and set in California, the movie was filmed in Australia. The movie actually looks rather good for it's budget, and some industry analysts have suggested it helped promote the use of Australia as a cheap filming location.
  • Call Back: When Kimberly finally boards her new Zord.

Kimberly: Cool stereo!

  • Canon Foreigner: Mordant. According to an early draft, he is Goldar's second cousin, three times removed, on his mother's side, visiting for the summer, but this was written out for the final draft.
  • Canon Immigrant: This movie marked the first mention of Zordon being from the planet Eltar, which was later stated in the TV series.
    • Word of God states this bit of information was always in the TV series bible. The movie just happened to be the first time it was ever stated on-screen.
  • Chainmail Bikini / Stripperiffic: Dulcea.
    • This was obviously done as Fan Service but Dulcea herself is High Octane Fetish Fuel for many, even the kids who were preteens at the time.
  • Combat Pragmatist: The Ninja MegaFalconzord. See Groin Attack below.
  • Continuity Nod: Alpha mentions that nobody can get into the Command Center without a Power Coin, a plot point first mentioned in the "Green With Evil" five-parter. Ivan Ooze, of course, disagrees.
    • It is actually no one can get into the Command Center undetected without a Power Coin.
      • In keeping with the different continuity in the show no one gets in undetected without a power coin. In the movie no one gets in without a power coin. Period. Except Ivan Ooze.
        • Alpha: "Well... Almost nobody!!"
    • Honestly, the way that was done, it made it sound like the coins were like keys, and the doors won't unlock without one. Ivan didn't need to worry about that, and just slid through cracks in the door.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Unlike most of the Monsters of the Week, Ivan didn't watch the rangers fight his minions and used the distraction to destroy Zordon's command center.
  • Darker and Edgier: They actually mention several times about people possibly dying, including Zordon and the group of brainwashed parents. Kids are also seen at a Rave of some sort (including Bulk and Skull), smearing themselves with Ivan's Ooze and implying it to be some sort of delinquent party. There is even a news broadcast reporting on the destruction being caused by Ooze's monsters.

Reporter: The mayor has declared a state of emergency...

Ivan Ooze: So, they've all been destroyed?
Tengu: Well... we were about to destroy them, when...
Ivan Ooze: What, you didn't kill them?

    • Another example, which is something of a subversion: In the trailer for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, Billy says that Zordon is "aging at an accelerated rate". In the actual movie, however, he explicitly says that Zordon is dying.
    • Dulcea would "age as rapidly as Zordon" if she ever gets close to the Great Power.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: Parodied and averted, as Ivan's shapeshifting abilities were shown second only to his "teenager smelling" power:

Ivan Ooze: You forget: I'm a master of disguise!
Mordant: How could I forget? I never knew!

    • Ivan might have assumed his reputation spread across the universe.
    • The Ranger morphed forms also have wildly different weapons and modes they can switch into, the Red Rangers' scanning visor, the Yellow Rangers' headlights, Pink Rangers' "thunderwhip" and the Blue Rangers' zip line.
  • No Immortal Inertia: Zordon begins aging "at an accelerated rate" when Ivan breaks open the time-warp capsule. Later on, Dulcea tells the Rangers that she too will age rapidly if she leaves her domain on the planet Phaedos.
  • Non-Serial Movie: Despite being based off the popular Power Rangers franchise, and sharing the same cast, the movie isn't part of the show's continuity - Season 3 started off with a similar story arc to the plot of the movie.
  • Nubile Savage: Dulcea. There was actually a little bit of outrage over the outfit, while it shows a lot of skin it wasn't too provocative (a skirt made of wide strips of fabric and a top that didn't show much cleavage), but a publicity photo showing her pining Tommy to the ground had a Male Gaze-ish angle and made it look worse than it was.
  • Oh Crap: Ooze, as he's about to be hit by a comet.
    • Goldar and Mordant at the end of the movie, when Rita and Zedd return.
  • One-Winged Angel: Basically what Ooze does at the end, he merges with his own monster and mutates it into a giant robotic version of himself.
  • Opening Monologue: The film opens with a block of scrolling text with Dulcea reading it in voiceover. This explains Zordon's backstory and the formation of the Power Rangers briefly. The fact that it is read so straight is hilarious.
  • Prop Recycling: The first fight scene in the construction site involved the Rangers fighting mutant, humanoid rats. However, it was universally agreed upon that the rats looked absolutely horrible, and they were replaced with the Oozemen. The rats later showed up in the TV series, in Season 2's "Return of the Green Ranger."
    • And the Tengus were used in the third season as the Tengas.
    • Much later, one of the stone gargoyle-guardians the Ninjetti Rangers fight appeared in the background of an episode of Power Rangers SPD.
  • Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Attempted on Angel Grove's adults.
  • Remember the New Guy?: Mordant, kind of.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Mordant is terrified of the Ecto-Morphicons once they're activated and doesn't join Ivan and Goldar in watching them attack the city. Once Ivan combines with Hornetor, Goldar flies back to the moon. Neither of them are seen again until the post-credits sequence.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Ivan Ooze.
  • Slime, Snails and Mutant Tails: Ivan Ooze has some of this appeal, also his plan to sell kids tubs of purple gunk doesn't make any sense unless you remember the decade's love for this sort of thing. (Remember Nickelodeon in the 90's based their whole business around slime.)
  • The Starscream: Played for laughs near the end of the film: with Ooze gone, Goldar thinks it's time to take over as the Big Bad, but that's just when Rita and Zedd come back...
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Mordant, taking the place of Squatt and Baboo.
  • Take That: A trope rarely used in Power Rangers. When Ivan Ooze laments the terrible things he missed while he was blowing up the command center and Zordon with it, the three things he mentions are "The Black Plague," "The Spanish Inquisition," and "The Brady Bunch Reunion!""
  • The Three Faces of Eve: Kimberly (child), Aisha (mother), and Dulcea (seductress).
  • Title: the Adaptation
  • Trainstopping
  • Transformation Is a Free Action: Played straight AND Subverted, played straight against the ooze-putties but when then are powering up to ninjeti form one of them is nearly decapitated at the tail end of the roll call by the rock monsters.
    • Averted/Lampshaded early in the film. The first time the rangers morph, the oozemen take the opportunity to run away.
  • Universal Driver's License: Kids driving a monorail and a fire engine.
  • Unperson: Ooze menaces that Zordon will become this.
  • Villain Override: When his Ecto-Morphicons fail, Ivan takes control of Hornetor (by filling it up with... himself) and battles the Rangers personally.
  • Watching Troy Burn: The destruction of the Command Center.
  • Weaponized Landmark: The tower Ooze uses for the Megazord battle.
  • What Could Have Been: Some of the first scenes shot had the helmets altered to lack visors and mouthpieces, so that the actors could actually get some emoting (other than the infamous headbobbing) in. Of course this looked completely ridiculous and after a few days the helmets had the missing bits restored and the scenes were reshot.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Saba, Tommy's sword in the series, makes a brief appearance to finish off the last of the Ooze-men. After Ivan trashed the Command Center, though, he vanished along with the rest of the Rangers' powers. Whether or not Saba made the transition with the acquisition of the ninja powers (as did the suits and as happened in the series) was not revealed, however.
    • Zordon's words seem to imply that when the rangers lost their powers, Saba disintegrated along with all the other weapons.
  • Witch with a Capital B: Ivan Ooze's insult of Dulcea.
  • Would Hurt a Child / Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Played with. The Ooze Ivan gives to the kids doesn't turn them into zombies like their parents, but that could be because, Ivan himself doesn't think they are useful in digging out his monsters. The closest Ivan's got to the former, was during the fight between himself and the Ninja-Megazord, when he broke the monorail track the kids were on. However, that was more incidental than intentional.
  • Your Size May Vary: Interestingly, the Zords in the movie are scaled down considerably from the series. Whereas in the show the monster and Megazords are taller than most of the buildings, the Ninja Megazord here couldn't be more than about 10-12 stories tall (individual zords were only about 3 stories tall). This is due to the fact that much of the filming for the CGI was in real locations and not just a model set on a sound stage, the Falconzord especially wouldn't be able to fly between the buildings if it was any bigger. Though the tower Ooze uses as a weapon would have to shrink considerably for it to work the way it does.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Mighty_Morphin_Power_Rangers_(film)?oldid=2048062"