Top 10 Power Rangers Moments That Have Aged Badly
#10: Rocky’s Departure
"Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie" (1997) & “Power Rangers Turbo” (1997) Although Rocky was insecure about his place on the team when the ranger he replaced returned, he was reassured that he was a vital part of the team. But that went out the window during "Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie”. While Rocky is training for a karate tournament near the beginning of the film, he messes up a karate move so badly that he ends up hurting his back. The incredibly ridiculous and cringey scene gets worse when the much younger Justin takes over as the blue ranger. Although Rocky didn’t mind retiring later on, the timing couldn’t have been worse. After the poor guy questioned if his team wanted him, he got kicked to the curb in favor of a pre-teen newbie.
#9: “Tommy Oliver?”
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“Saban’s Power Rangers” (2017) Don’t you just hate when sequel baiting doesn’t follow through? During a mid-credits scene for Lionsgate’s 2017 “Power Rangers” movie, we got a small hint at a big franchise development. Apparently, Green Ranger Tommy Oliver would appear in the next movie. The character became legendary for starting off as evil before becoming a powerful ally and legendary ranger. Fans started getting excited about aspects like who they would cast or if Tommy’s gender would change. Unfortunately, any hopes for a sequel were dashed thanks to the commercial failure and lackluster critical reception of the first film. Rewatching this Easter Egg scene today feels completely pointless. Thanks to the studio’s overconfidence, we’re STILL wondering what a female Tommy Oliver would be like.
#8: Mentor Ji
“Power Rangers Samurai” (2011) & “Power Rangers Super Samurai” (2012) Let’s be honest, Mentor Ji was never the best Ranger Mentor. He was abrasive, showed clear favoritism to red ranger Jayden and was quick to disregard anyone who wasn’t up to his standards. But at least his worst qualities were better than the man who played him. Actor Rene Naufahu was placed under house arrest for a year after pleading guilty to six charges of indecent assault. He was said to have committed these crimes during what were supposed to be private acting lessons with several women. This makes watching him try to act as a mentor to a team of people a whole lot more uncomfortable than it ever was before.
#7: Rita’s Baby Rant
“Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” (1993-95) & “Power Rangers Operation Overdrive” (2007) Almost immediately after they tie the knot, Lord Zedd proposes to Rita Repulsa the idea of having a baby. Hilariously, Rita is disgusted by the idea and absolutely refuses. But her stance oddly seemed to change. Over a decade later during the “Operation Overdrive” season, we meet Thrax – the so-called son of Rita and Zedd. His existence seems a little contrived because it’s hard to tell when he could’ve even been born. But more importantly, it makes Rita’s outrage about children more bizarre to look back at in hindsight. What made the evil ruler drastically change her mind about parenting? Only she and Zedd know for sure.
#6: The CGI Zords
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“Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie” (1995) While the acting and some action scenes from this event film hold up, there are parts of the 1995 movie that haven't aged well. Arguably the biggest offender is the Ninjazords. In the TV series, these machines were usually actors in suits or prop models. However, the Zords in the movie were almost completely made with 90’s CGI… and it REALLY shows. The big bots barely look like their series counterparts. It definitely doesn’t help that the poor rendering makes them all look overly shiny and cheap. At one point, they even forget what color the yellow bear zord is supposed to be! While we understand CGI technology has evolved since then, we still can’t help but laugh at these poor excuses for zords.
#5: Shane’s Haunting Images
“Power Rangers Ninja Storm” (2003) Pua Magasiva led the Ninja Storm Rangers as the charismatic and noble Shane. While he was constantly a beam of light on the show, his real life took a dark turn. After Magasiva faced charges for assaulting his wife, he took his own life. There was an alleged diary left behind full of dark thoughts where he said harsh things about himself. Knowing what happened to him makes one particular episode particularly hard to view. During a fight in the “Eye of the Storm” episode, Shane is trapped in a hallucination. Inside this twisted vision, the actor’s real life brother tells him he’s a let down to the family. The parallels between this scene and real life events are absolutely painful to revisit.
#4: The Zeo Finale
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“Power Rangers Zeo” (1996) The Season Finale for Zeo opened up plenty of interesting opportunities for future series plotlines. While Bulk and Skull left Lt. Stone for a new detective job in France, Rita and Zedd were considering getting back in the villainy business after blowing up the Machine Empire. But what did big moments like this lead to? Absolutely nothing! Neither of these promises came true in the Turbo movie. Instead, Bulk and Skull go back to working for Stone while Rita and Zedd decide to just retire and not even try to go after the Rangers again. We understand the film didn’t have time to follow up on every beat. However, it could’ve at least tried to be consistent with the story that was already set up.
#3: Ricardo Medina Jr. as Deker
“Power Rangers Samurai” (2011) & “Power Rangers Super Samurai” (2012) Fans were pleasantly surprised to see Ricardo Medina Jr. return to the series as a new character named Deker after he played Red Wild Force Ranger Cole. He did a great job playing a cursed swordsman who initially clashed with the heroes. Unfortunately, seeing him with that sharp weapon nowadays becomes painful to watch after you know what happened in real life. In 2015, Medina Jr. was arrested for fatally stabbing his roommate with a sword. Knowing that he committed such a dark crime is uncomfortable to think about. Every time we see him fight with a sword on TV, we’re constantly reminded of the gruesome tragedy.
#2: Trakeena’s Invasion
“Power Rangers Lost Galaxy” (1999) Long ago, Lord Zedd made a joke about Finster having a monster that blows itself up when he became frustrated with how Finster’s monsters always fail him. Unfortunately, that joke ended up aging poorly when Lost Galaxy made the concept real. The twisted Trakeena decides to attack Terra Venture by strapping bombs to her Stingwinger footsoldiers. They go on to destroy various structures and even attempt to take out the rangers with their explosives. While the real life parallels were bad when the episode aired, this storyline got much worse after 2001. The unfortunate comparison to real life events makes this finale absurdly shocking today. It’s no wonder one of Trakeena’s soldiers called her out for this plan.
#1: The Time Capsule Wishes
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“Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” (1993-95) While a time capsule is being buried, rangers think about what the future will be like in 100 years. They all wish for a world without war, crime, or prejudice. The red ranger insists hope and cooperation might be enough to make the vision come true by the time the capsule is opened. While this overly sentimental scene was a nice thought, the world’s definitely struggled to meet those goals since the episode aired. But the hardest part of the dialogue centered around Billy’s wish for no more prejudice. The actor’s gone on record to say he received discrimination behind-the-scenes of the show because of his sexuality. While we knew some ranger wishes were far-fetched, it’s disappointing to hear one ranger’s hopes were continually dashed.
