Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Season 1)

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (often abbreviated as "MMPR") is a live-action television and movie series, based on the Super Sentai series Kyoryuu Sentai ZyuRanger, literally Dinosaur Task Force Beast Ranger and often abbreviated as Zyuranger (after the Kunrei-shiki romanization). The Super Sentai genre was already one of Japan's hottest tokusatsu properties. The show first aired on Fox Kids on August 28, 1993, and ended on February 10, 1996. Although it was a children's series, it became known as one of the cultural icons representing the 1990s.

The series takes place in the fictional town of Angel Grove, California. After an expedition to the moon revealed a dumpster, astronauts opened the dumpster and inadvertently released the villain Rita Repulsa from confinement. When word of Rita's release came to Zordon, he ordered his robot assistant, Alpha 5, to find five "teenagers with attitude," who would defend the Earth from Rita's attacks. The story would continue on to subsequent incarnations, often with new villains.

Although the series started off with five Rangers; the sixth, the Green Ranger, joined later on in the episode arc "Green With Evil." The Green Ranger appeared on and off throughout the series through various storylines until he was replaced permanently with the White Ranger, who remained from "White Light" until the end of MMPR.

The theme music, "Go Go Power Rangers," was often parodied, and many of its subsequent incarnations contain the words "Go" or "Power Rangers" in their theme music.

The various Power Rangers over the years have been replaced, partly based on evolving storylines, and partly because the actors behind these characters were rumored to be holding out for greater pay.

Synopsis
Long ago, the ancient wizard Zordon did battle with the evil witch Rita Repulsa. After long years of battle, he managed to defeat her in a game by using five magic coins. As punishment for her loss, she was sealed in a canister on Earth's moon. However, before being sealed away, Rita trapped Zordon in a time warp, preventing him from participating in further battle against her.

Millennia later, Rita and her minions escaped their prison thanks to two unaware astronauts, and set out to conquer Earth. Zordon, desperate to stop her, had his assistant Alpha 5 recruit five "teenagers with attitude" to do battle with her. They were granted the powers of the dinosaurs, and became Power Rangers.

After several battles, Rita created an evil Power Ranger using a magic coin of her own, infused with the power of the Dragon. This Green Ranger caused major damage to her foes, until he was freed from her control by the other Rangers. Grateful, and now burdened with responsibility, he joined the Power Rangers.

Rangers

 * Jason Lee Scott, the first Red Ranger and leader of the team, power of the Triannosaurus (played by Austin St. John).
 * Trini Kwan, Yellow Ranger with the spirit of the Sabre-toothed Tiger (played by the late Thuy Trang).
 * Billy Cranston, Triceretops-empowered Blue Ranger (played by David Yost).
 * Kimberly Hart, Pink Ranger powered by the Pteradactyl (played by Amy Jo Johnson).
 * Zachary "Zack" Taylor Black Ranger, power of the Mastadon (played by Walter Emmanuel Jones).
 * Thomas 'Tommy' Oliver, Green Ranger, armed with Dragonzord power (played by Jason David Frank).

Allies

 * Zordon
 * Alpha 5
 * Bulk and Skull

Villains

 * Rita Repulsa
 * Goldar
 * Scorpina
 * Finster
 * Squatt
 * Baboo
 * List of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers monsters

Arsenal

 * Power Morphers: Morphers used by Power Rangers, powered by magic coins.
 * Dragon Dagger: Weapon of Green Dino/Dragon Ranger, used to summon and control Dragonzord.
 * Blade Blaster: Standardized Ranger weapon, can be used as blaster or short sword.
 * Power Blaster: Assortment of weapons individualized by each Ranger, can combine into the Power Blaster for powerful attacks.

Zords
Main article: MMPR1 Zords:Zords in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Series 1
 * Dinozords
 * Tyrannosaurus Dinozord (Jason/Red)
 * Mastodon Dinozord (Zack/Black)
 * Triceratops Dinozord (Billy/Blue)
 * Sabertoothe Tiger Dinozord (Trini/Yellow)
 * Pteradactyl Dinozord (Kimberly/Pink)
 * Megazord (combination of Dinozords)
 * Dragonzord (Tommy/Green)
 * Dragonzord Battle Mode (combination of Mastodon, Triceratops, Sabretoothed Tiger  Dinozords & Dragonzord)
 * Megadragonzord (combination of Megazord & Dragonzord)
 * Titanus the Carrierzord
 * Ultrazord (combination of Mega Dragonzord & Titanus)

Trivia

 * Due to the unforeseen popularity of the series, Saban, the company that produced Power Rangers, was faced with the possibility of exhausting all of its Zyuranger footage with no more to fall back upon in order to continue producing the show. The company contacted Toei (the company which produced/produces the Sentai series in Japan) as well as Rainbow Productions (the company that designed and produced the monster suits), requesting another half-season's worth of Zyuranger footage...specifically for Power Rangers. The two Japanese companies agreed, creating around 25 brand-new monsters and filming both human- and zord-sized battle footage for each, as well as incorporating elements from MMPR into the footage (a relationship between the Green and Pink Ranger and the Blue Ranger as the brains of the group being the most obvious examples). These monsters are collectively known in the Power Rangers fan community as "Zyu2," a term coined by Power Rangers fan Chris Funaro.  Around this time, Saban was also negotiating a deal with Toei to acquire footage from Gosei Sentai Dairanger, the sentai series which followed Zyuranger.  Saban used more than half of the Zyu2 costumes in the remainder of Season One of Power Rangers.  When they decided to replace the Dinozords with the mecha from Dairanger in Season Two (termed Thunderzords in Power Rangers), the Zord footage of the remaining Zyu2 monsters became obsolete. To compensate for this, Saban attempted to splice the Zyu2 and Dairanger footage to ensure that the Zyu2 monsters were not seen fighting with the old Megazord that was not supposed to be there. In other words, it would show only the monster attacking followed by a shot of just the Thunderzords taking the damage. This did not always work, for occasionally the monster could actually be seen making physical contact with the old Megazord.


 * "Bones", was the name of the first monster to ever battle the Power Rangers in the inception of the series. Although in the lost episode (the original Pilot), they battled "King Sphinx", and Sphinx appeared again in the episode titled, "A Pressing Engagement."


 * Billy Cranston (David Yost) wears blue plaid boxer shorts. In the episode "Power Ranger Punks," Billy and Kimberly (Amy Jo Johnson) become punks after drinking Rita's potion.  Viewers can see the top of Billy's boxer shorts in his punk outfit, which is a blue plaid pattern.  However, after the spell is removed by Alpha and Zordon, Billy immediately notices this and hides the top of his boxer shorts from sight.


 * The suits of several monsters were modified in some fashion in order to create new monsters for American footage. Such monsters were:
 * Pudgy Pig was disassembled, and parts were used for Turkey Jerk in Season Two's "Storybook Rangers."
 * Mr. Ticklesneezer was repainted and clad in a Santa Claus-like suit, becoming Grumble the Elf in Season Two's "Storybook Rangers."
 * Snizard was repainted and modified with a cobra hood to become the Cobra Monster in Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue's "The Cobra Strikes."
 * Chunky Chicken was also disassembled for use in Turkey Jerk.
 * Grumble Bee was repainted and given buck teeth to become Waspicable in Power Rangers: In Space's "The Wasp with a Heart."
 * Primator was repainted and given extra fur, and became the Snow Monster in Season Two's "Storybook Rangers."
 * Salaguana was disassembled into the reptillian parts of Triter from Power Rangers: Zeo's "King for a Day."
 * Silver Horns was repainted and a tongue was added, becoming Repellator in Season Three's "A Friend in Need."
 * Merrick the Barbaric's head was removed, and his body was used for Incisorator in the Season Three episode "Changing of the Zords, Part II." Ironically, Incisorator's episode aired before Merrick's.


 * The expression "Morphinomenal!" was coined by Kimberly Ann Hart


 * Similarly, "It's Morphin Time!" was first spoken by Zordon.


 * The expression "Back To Action" was coined by Jason Lee Scott


 * According to the "Reality Check" PSA of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Amy Jo Johnson, David Yost, and both their respective characters are accomplished martial artists and gymnasts.


 * As the title says, the announcement is a reality check, or something that clarifies or serves as a reminder of reality often by correcting a misconception.


 * Five video games based on this show were produced, one for Sega Genesis, one for Sega CD, one for Sega Game Gear, one for Super Nintendo Entertainment System and one for Game Boy.


 * Billy the original Blue Ranger has the distinction of being the only Ranger to hold the same position for the longest time (3 years, 1993-1996) without ever switching colors, a record yet to be surpassed. Similarly, he is the only original Power Ranger to appear in every episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and remain there from the start to the end of the MMPR generation.


 * Being the original series, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers also the most favorite of all Power Rangers fans, winning a viewer contest conducted by ABC Family in 2004, receiving the most votes.


 * Aaron Waters Composed and Wrote The Original Power Rangers theme song, a full length, 4 minute long track used for promotion. It's title is Go Go Power Rangers


 * A USENET poster named "The Dark Ranger" created a pornographic fan fiction called "Agony in Pink", which was about the torture and death of Kimberly Hart at the hands of Lord Zedd and a fan character named "Tortura" (after the word "torture"). This story, first posted in the alt.sex newsgroup around 1994, caused a lot of commotion on USENET due to its adult nature and subject matter. Sequels of the story were later created. The posting of the story lead to the Australian Broadcasting Group to censor a newsgroup.  Another posting of the story on Fanfiction.net was removed. The story was blamed for the banning all adult fan fiction on FF.net.
 * As is commonly known now, despite the Yellow Ranger being a female within Power Rangers , in "Kyoryuu Sentai Zyuranger" the Yellow (or Tiger) Ranger , named Boi/Boy , was male. Due to this there is an obvious change in the physique of the Yellow team member when the show cuts to Sentai footage. (This is most notable within Season 1 )