YOPR: 5. Different Drum
On April 19, MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS: ONCE AND ALWAYS premieres on Netflix. I’m writing about all 60 episodes of MMPR’s first season in the lead-up to that premiere.
If you’d like to follow along on this rewatch, entirety of MMPR’s first season is available for free (with ads) on YouTube.
One-sentence synopsis: A deaf girl saves her friends with the help of the Power Rangers.
Why it matters: Representation was baked into the brand that would become Power Rangers from the moment Haim Saban started pitching it to networks in the 1980s. The call for diversity often extended beyond the core heroes and into how the stories were told; that’s not particularly noteworthy for kids’ television in 2023, but it was revolutionary for an action-adventure show on a broadcast network 30 years ago. Here, the story revolves around Melissa, a deaf girl whose disability proves to be a game-changer in a battle against Gnarly Gnome, who wears a viking hat and is definitely an incel. When thinking about “iconic” MMPR episodes, this one seldom springs to mind, but it’s well-conceived, well-paced and makes the most use of its source footage in a legitimately creative way instead of trying to work around it.
Episode MVP: Oddities. For many fans, this episode is probably more memorable for its “errors” than its story content. Four of the five Power Weapons distributed by Zordon in “Teamwork” now have more alliterative names called out as they’re assembled into the Power Blaster (Zack had a “Cosmic Cannon” instead of his “Power Axe,” for example); this is the only instance in the show’s history where they’re referred to by these names. There are shots where the Pink Ranger is colored gray, for some reason. “Different Drum” also features neither a mention nor appearance of Zordon or Alpha 5, which bears mentioning given how integral they’ve been to the Rangers’ successes up to this point. It’s rarely — if ever — mentioned in fandom resources, but at least a couple of the morph calls are sourced from different ADR sessions than the more familiar renditions; Kimberly’s “Pterodactyl!” and Jason’s “Tyrannosaurus!” are noticeably more relaxed in how they’re spoken, especially (these recordings will appear again, but not frequently).
A good quote: “Musical monsters aren’t very reliable. Wouldn’t you rather have a nice fire-breathing hedgehog instead?” – Finster
Rating: 4/5 dancing Putties
Previously on “Yesterday on Power Rangers”
1. Day of the Dumpster
2. High Five
3. Teamwork
4. A Pressing Engagement