YOPR: 24. The Spit Flower
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: The fate of world peace rides on a broken float.
Why it matters: There are numerous “issues of the day” that Mighty Morphin Power Rangers spotlights throughout its gaudy run, but the topic of world peace is a uniquely 90’s emphasis. How often does the topic of world peace come up in actual conversation in 2023? What was a pipe dream in 1993 feels even further from actualization, despite the best efforts of six teenagers with attitude who tried to bring attention to its importance. Kimberly is emotionally distraught after Putties invade the Juice Bar and destroy her parade float, but Zordon makes sure to focus on the larger issue at hand: if her efforts to derail the world peace parade as a whole are successful, “peace on Earth will be dealt another blow.” I laughed out loud when this line was uttered – with as much seriousness as most others that originate from the entombed mentor – but that reaction, at least slightly, came from a place of cynicism. In a vacuum, a parade getting disrupted isn’t going to prevent world peace, but our inability to continue ignoring relatively small, preventable disasters – domestically as much as internationally – will. Power Rangers is deep, if you let it be.
Episode MVP: Pigeon-holed writers. I’ve glossed over this since “Green with Evil,” but the existing footage from Zyuranger wasn’t particularly helpful to Power Rangers when it came to integrating a full-time sixth member into the teen group. Burai, Tommy’s equivalent in the originator, is more of a supporting player, and eventually dies because of a curse (that’ll sorta be worked into MMPR). So, the Western writers frequently had to find ways to write Tommy out of initial battles before his Japanese counterpart showed up to assist. Sometimes the way it’s handled makes sense, sometimes it’s laughable, and sometimes both – here it’s kind of the latter. Zordon says Tommy must stay back in case the other Rangers fail – an unusual admission by the leader who just spent the last 20-plus episodes building them up to be Earth’s top protectors – but the writers also tie his absence into a cute resolution to the episode’s initial problem. These contrivances can wear thin, but their effort was admirable.
A good quote: “Flower power is too much for the Dragonzord!” – Alpha 5
Rating: 3/5 unnecessary binoculars
