Secret of the Ooze? Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (GEN)

Power Rangers. I wonder how many people don't remember just what a hit the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series was when it came out. I know when I watched the pilot I had no idea what to expect, and what I got was nothing like any other show I'd seen before. Nothing else on American TV was quite like it.


Which, of course, was the whole point. Power Rangers was adapted from a Japanese show. But we didn't know that. It was this cool show where teenagers got awesome dinosaur powers and used Kung Fu and beat up monsters and drove giant robots! New episodes aired five days a week after school! Oh hey, there's a cool evil ranger now, but hey look now he's a good guy! This was the show we talked about during recess.


I don't think anyone was quite ready for how big of a hit Power Rangers became. I mean, it sounds like such a goofy concept, but then, lots of these things seem really silly out of context. Silly stuffed animals that don't even have commercials? Suddenly there's a Beanie Baby craze. Monsters you catch in little balls, and also there's a card game? Now you've got Pokemon, and one of those silly cards is selling for over $100. It's hard to say what's going to become a crazy popular hit, but when it came out, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers certainly was one.


I could probably type for hours about the series, let's try to be brief. The first season was so popular that the showrunners not only had to make special concessions with the Japanese showrunners to get unique footage for a second season, but a full length movie was also made. The movie didn't quite fit into the show canon (the start of the third season is basically the TV series version of how similar events happened) but it was still a big deal and probably did a lot more to push the name into the public eye than ever before.

Of course, there were video games. Lots of video games.


But this is the one we're playing here. Why the clarification? Well, there's a few games where games on different systems have the same name but are completely different games. This is one example. The SNES game is something different. (And if you ever bought the Sega CD Mighty Morphin Power Rangers game... I'm sorry.)

I enjoyed this game a lot when I was younger and played it many times, both single player and co-op. It's also one I was planning to Let's Play back in 2015 before my old computer crashed on me. I don't expect this to be some hidden gem no one's played, actually I'm quite certain some folks from Talking Time have played this one. But it'll still be fun to be nostalgic and think about the past a bit.

Besides, I'm gonna need to vote on Ranger popularity. I'll be playing as Tommy, the White Ranger, in Stage 1, but who I play in the later stages is up to you.

Table of Contents


#1: Tigerzord
#2: Sabre-Toothed Tiger
#3: Mastodon
#4: Triceratops
#5: Pterodactyl

The game starts up with an intro crawl explaining Zordon, and how he gave the Power Rangers their powers as well as access to the powerful Zords.

Stage 1 is the streets of Angel Grove. The introduction to the stage explains about Ivan Ooze and how he was sealed away. The first stage takes place as the Rangers are heading to where Ivan Ooze was sealed away.

I mentioned in the intro post... my audience gets to decide who I'm playing as. Each level I'll take votes for which Ranger we haven't used who will get some time in the limelight.

Of course, this is the Mighty Morphin team, so making a popularity vote is gonna be pretty skewed, so, for Stage 1:


Tommy Oliver was the most popular Ranger of the Mighty Morphin team by a long shot. Originally appearing as the Green Ranger in the first season, Tommy started as a villian, and then was saved and became a good guy. But his powers were limited, so a good chunk of the plot centered around the Green Ranger and how his powers affected the team. During season 2, after an absence (and after losing the Green Ranger powers for good), Tommy came back as the White Ranger, drawing power from the White Tigerzord.

Whether you liked him or hated him, Tommy has probably been the most popular character in all of the Power Rangers franchise for years. In later seasons, he makes several return appearances, including acting as a mentor to a different team of Rangers, and showing off not just the Green and White Ranger powers, but even as Zeo Ranger V Red, the Red Turbo Ranger, and the Dino Thunder Black Ranger. In the comics and the video game Battle for the Grid he features heavily into the story of Lord Drakkon.


#1: Tigerzord
Wherein Red is feeling nostalgic, knows the names of the toys, and laments about the jungle level that could have been.

But hey, don't just read that post and watch the video, because...

Who are we taking to Stage 2?

We've still got five other Rangers to chose from, and I'm taking votes either as posts here, or as comments on YouTube. So, which of these five will it be?

Yellow

I was gonna vote for both of the girls, so Yellow works.

Stage 2 picks up back in Angel Grove after the Rangers have returned from the planet Phaedos with the Great Power. Aside from regaining their morphing ability, they have been given new Zords: The Ninjazords, made up of the Black Frog, Yellow Bear, Blue Wolf, Red Ape, Pink Crane and White Falcon.

Ivan Ooze is attacking the city with his Ecto-Morphicons, so it's up to the Rangers to race through the city to catch up to him... but who's up to the task?


Aisha Campbell is the second Yellow Ranger, who joined the cast midway through season 2. Aisha, as well as Rocky and Adam, were from the neighboring city of Stone Canyon and originally joined the cast as supporting friendly allies to the Rangers after being saved by them. In the process of being saved they learned the identity of the Blue Ranger and were later sworn to secrecy about the Rangers identities. Some of these events will come into play during the game, but eventually Aisha replaced the original Yellow Ranger, Trini Kwan, when she was chosen to attend a Peace Conference in Switzerland. Aisha stayed as the Yellow Ranger until the end events of season 3, where she and the other Rangers were sent back in time to locate parst of the Zeo Crystal. Aisha was sent to a village in Africa that was devastated by attacking wildlife, and she chose to stay in the past to use her veterinary knowledge to help care for the animals and alter her family's history.

...What's that? You weren't voting for Aisha? You wanted the original Yellow Ranger, Trini? Well then...

Trini Kwan, the first Yellow Ranger, was kind and gentle, more of a protector than a fighter, thus the idea of using her power to protect people from an evil witch was a good match for her. She preferred to be a peacemaker and didn't like to fight unless provoked, and her specialty was Praying Mantis Kung Fu. Trini was an environmentalist and liked to clean up the environment and plant trees, and also liked to hold food festivals. In many cases Trini would translate Billy's 'technobabble' for the rest of the team, but this was because she was also very interested in science.


#2: Saber-Toothed Tiger
Wherein Red has to deal with cars, doesn't know how a dagger is different from a sword, and gets to take you back to the past.

After watching the video, of course, comes the big question...

Who are we taking to Stage 3?

We've got four Rangers left this time, and again I'm taking votes either as posts here, or as comments on YouTube.

Always bet on Black

Dorky Blue Ranger for me.

Moments before the final battle with Ivan Ooze, Rangers Rocky, Adam, and Aisha decide to take a moment to reminisce about how they became Power Rangers. The flashback starts in the middle of Season 2 during the episodes White Light pt. 1 and 2. Here, after Tommy lost the Green Ranger powers, Zordon and Alpha 5 vanished for a time to work on a new Ranger. This would turn out to be the debut of the White Ranger, and at the time, the big surprise was that it would turn out to be Tommy. The monsters of the day for these episodes were the Scarlet Sentinels.


The original Black Ranger was Zack Taylor, more of a wisecracking well-natured type whose charisma was up front and center. While some of the other rangers like Jason and Tommy seemed more tradition martial artists, Zack used his own style he developed called Hip Hop kido, combining dance moves with martial arts to create his own unpredictable style. He also would work to coordinate attacks with Billy. Often Zack's cunning would save the day in other ways as well. Zack was one of the few Rangers to temporarily use the Green Ranger's Dragon Shield. Zack's cousin Curtis showed up during season 2 and was meant to be a red herring for the identity of the White Ranger. The role Zack had after the peace summit is never revealed.

Like Trini, Zack was chosen to go to the peace summit, and he was replaced with Adam Park. Adam would not only carry the mantle of the Black Ranger here, but also Zeo Ranger IV - Green, and was the first Green Turbo Ranger. Like Rocky and Aisha, Adam came from Stone Canyon where they came to Angel Grove to participate in a Team Ninja competition. Aside from his time as an active Ranger, Adam appeared to help the Black Space Ranger, complete with his Mastodon Power Coin which had be damaged during season 3, despite the damage and loss of the Mighty Morphin Powers he was able to morph. A decade later, he used these same powers to help the Overdrive Rangers, though the coin was apparently repaired. His Zeo form was shown helping the Megaforce Rangers. Also, notoriously, Adam has a line in the movie where he is disappointed with his new Ninja Animal power: "Adam, what's wrong?" "I'm a frog..."


#3: Mastodon
Wherein Red knows the names of the songs, has to deal with three at once, and has a preference for practical effects.


And then there were three:

Forever Red (or at least for one level)

So now that we've finished the two-parter White Light in Stage 3, we jump ahead a few episodes to the three-part The Ninja Encounter, the formal introduction for Rocky, Adam, and Aisha. The three teens and a teacher are being held in a cave by Lord Zedd who is trying to turn them evil. But who will be the one to rescue them from Lord Zedd and Goldar?


Of the original "teenagers with attitude" cast, Billy Cranston was the last of the original five to leave the show (Tommy stuck around for a long time, but remember that he was the sixth, and not around at the very start)

So Morgi called Billy the Dorky Blue Ranger and that's fitting, cause Billy was the dork at the start, meant to be the nerdy science type, and thus was not as much of a fighter (usually getting support from Trini), but then he did work to improve his fighting prowess and went on to get a red belt in karate.

Billy was also the inventor of the team and came up with lots of gadgets and sometimes solved problems even Zordon didn't foresee Some of his inventions include the wristwatch communicators, a flying car, portal gateway generators, and more. During the final parts of season 3, Billy and the other rangers were changed into children, but Billy built a machine to reverse the effect, and restored himself, but the machine was stolen before he could use it on the others.

When Mighty Morphin gave way to the following series, Power Rangers Zeo, they had a dilemma where they had only had five parts of the Zeo Crystal to power up the six-manned team. Billy stepped down as a Ranger here, but served a supportive role during this time. When the Gold Ranger appeared they used Billy as a red herring for the identity of the Gold Ranger, and later they tried to give him the Gold Ranger powers, but it wasn't successful (something that I was rather disappointed in)

Toward the end of Zeo, Billy started aging, a side effect of curing the reverse-aging previously, and he went to the alien world of Aquitar for treatment, ultimately staying there to live with a girl he met there. Aside from appearing in Super Megaforce, there's apparently a trailer showing him appearing in the upcoming 2nd season of Beast Morphers.

I'm just gonna say this might be my favorite thumbnail out of the ones I've made recently.


#4: Triceratops
Wherein Red remembers the charge attack, faces off against a giant hand, and prefers one Megazord to another.

And then there were two...

Pink, if only because you should save Red for last.

Pink, let's break up this sentai sausage fest.

edit: Also, that sure was a bullshit boss.

Stage 5 is based on the two part "The Power Transfer", in which the Rangers head to retrieve the Sword of Light from a deserted city. Lord Zedd isn't about to let the Rangers succeed in this task, so he's brought his newest war machine, Serpenterra, to destroy the deserted world before they can do so. In game, the destruction is portrayed with falling rocks!


If you tell someone to think of a female Power Ranger, they'll probably pick a pink one. And the first Pink Ranger to come to mind is likely Kimberly Hart, who served the role for the longest. On the team, while Kimberly didn't start as martial artist, she used her skill in gymnastics instead, also using the environment to her advantage in battle. Kimberly was best friends with Trini, and when Tommy showed up the two of them started a relationship. Prior to this, Skull of the duo Bulk and Skull had feelings for her. She was also once chosen by Lord Zedd to be his new queen (prior to Rita's return) and since the spell backfired she got to give a horrifying Rita impression to scare Goldar away..

Kimberly was Pink Ranger until the third season, where there was a long arc involving her departure, and the debut of and eventual replacement with Katherine Hillard, who had been a minion of Rita's. Even after leaving the Rangers to persue gymnastics, she and Tommy remained a couple for some time (though he later received a Dear John letter) but not being a Ranger didn't mean she was done. She appeared in the second Power Rangers movie: Turbo, where she was forced to fight the Rangers. Like I mentioned with Billy, she appears to be in the newly upcoming season as well!

Stage 6 is the only level where we don't get to play as a Ranger, so there's no vote...


#5: Pterodactyl
Wherein Red gets all the point coins, goes to the moon, and gets trolled by the high score screen.

Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait

I know what some of you are thinking. "How come you did all that voting when there's one Ranger missing?" Well, don't worry, I got you covered. I did play as the Red Ranger too! ...which means two more people to do write ups for.


The original Red Ranger was Jason Lee Scott, who also served as the leader of the team. When Zordon gave the Rangers their powers he was the last to walk away as he wanted the powers, and in their first battle he was the one who convinced them to morph for the first time. He wanted to be the best leader he could, which was a blessing and a curse as he would be haunted by his failures, such as the loss of the Green Ranger powers.

Jason was very athletic including being a certified scuba diving instructor as well as other sports besides karate, and his initial rivalry with Tommy soon led to mutual respect. Like the other original Rangers, Jason left the team along with Zack and Trini. But that wasn't the end of his legacy either. Jason returned during the events of Power Rangers Zeo to temporally act as the Gold Ranger, and appeared in the Turbo movie with Kimberly.

Of course the biggest appearance post Mighty Morphn that Jason would make is during the special "Forever Red", which was an anniversary special and had all of the Red Rangers up to that point (with one exception we're going to talk about). In a bit of serendipity, the major threat during Forever Red happens to be the threat we saw in the background of Stage 5: Serpenterra.

In addition, Jason is appearing in the latest upcoming season as well.

But I mentioned one Red Ranger who was not in Forever Red. Conveniently for my post here, that Red Ranger was Rocky DeSantos. Like Adam and Aisha, Rocky was the replacement for Jason and served as the second-in-command to Tommy during the Mighty Morphin era. There were a few times that after a monster took out the rest of the team that Rocky would have to take them on by himself and win.

After the end of Mighty Morphin, Rocky would remain on the Zeo Rangers as Zeo Ranger III: Blue. During this time, when Jason returned, it caused some jealousy and Rocky even tried to prove he was better by taking on the villain on his own, but later realized he was part of the team.

However, during the events of the Turbo movie, Rocky injured himself and the role of the Blue Turbo Ranger would be passed on to... a little kid.

But, with that said and done, that finishes off this game and this Let's Play series! Thanks to everyone who watched and participated.

Well, that sure was an... interesting adaptation: it skips more than half the movie in a single cutscene, it has as many stages for a recap of the show's previous seasons than for the movie itself... and the final final battle is not playable. Also, I haven't seen the movie, but.... it gets resolved by a pink beam out of nowhere?

I never saw PR as a kid, it just didn't call me at all for some reason, that's why I didn't vote for any ranger, but this was interesting to see. Makes me wonder how the SNES and dreaded Sega CD games are.

Thanks for the LP!

PS: It bothers me far more than it should that the rangers' color scheme is really lacking green - why did they have to remove the one they had a replace it for white, which is already present in all the rangers' uniforms? *shakes head*

The pink beam is a comet they knock him into, in the movie itself they knee him in the groin to do so.

WolfOozeman's got nards!