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Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Season 2)

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PR2020 logo This article is about a/an series entry, (the 2nd) in the Power Rangers franchise.

The second season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is the 2nd overall season of Power Rangers, serving as an adaptation of Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger while borrowing elements of Gosei Sentai Dairanger. The season follows the arrival of Lord Zedd on Earth, requiring the Rangers to grow stronger in order to fight him.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1 to 3 logo TV Version

TV Version

Production[]

Saban was originally going to produce only 40 episodes in the series, ending with the two-parter Doomsday. Another character was to make an appearance, named Bubba. As the episode was originally written, he piloted Cyclopsis, and was based on the character of Kai from Zyuranger. After Cyclopsis' defeat at the hands of the Rangers, Rita would be sealed away in an urn (mimicking the ending of Zyuranger), and the teenagers would give up their powers.

However, 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. Saban contacted Toei, the Japanese company which produces the Sentai series, along with Rainbow Productions which designed and produced the monster suits, requesting another half-season's worth of Zyuranger footage to be made 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. They also incorporated elements from MMPR into the footage, including a relationship between the Green and Pink Rangers, and the Blue Ranger's portrayal as the brains of the group. This footage is collectively known in the Power Rangers fan community as "Zyu2".

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 footage in the remainder of Season 1 of Power Rangers, but when it 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 fighting the Thunder Megazord instead of the Dino Megazord. The new scenes would show only the monster attacking, followed by a shot of just the Thunderzords taking the damage. It did not always work, and occasionally the monsters could actually be seen making physical contact with the old Megazord. Saban also decided to continue to use the Zyuranger costumes instead of replacing them with the Dairanger costumes, despite the second season being adapted from Dairanger. Due to this, the Rangers would rarely engage the monsters adapted from Dairanger in hand-to-hand combat as they had previous monsters due to the lack of available footage, except whenever spliced footage could compensate. This also meant new cockpit footage for Zord battles could not be adapted from Dairanger, with new footage shot to use for the Thunder Megazord, but not the individual Zords. This was somewhat mitigated after introducing Tommy as the White Ranger, adopted from the Kibaranger Dairanger costume, in the later half of season 2, although the Kibaranger costume is notable differentiated from the Zyuranger suits thematically enough to stand out.

This season marked the 100th episode of Power Rangers at episode 40. Originally, the episode "Lights, Camera, Action" was originally meant to be the 100th episode of Power Rangers which is why it was almost entirely a clip-show showing off the past adventures of the Rangers. Due to the Power Transfer fiasco, FOX Kids butchered the airing order of episode so it ended up becoming the 93rd episode instead. This is why footage from the then un-aired episode "Forever Friends" (right down to featuring the Jaws of Destruction) could be seen during the montage prior to the Rangers' introduction in that episode. Due to this rescheduling, the actual 100th episode became "Rangers Back in Time-part II" by air-date order.

The Rangers' Blade Blasters and individual weapons were left unused for much of the season until the Power Weapons were outright dropped after the episode "Rangers Back in Time-part II" except the Power Axe which last appeared several episodes later in "Storybook Rangers-part II"). The reduction in weapon use was due to complaints from parents about the supposed violence in the series which also led to the dumbing down of Lord Zedd and created a much more campy and goofy character, as well as the lack of resources to film new scenes involving weapon-to-weapon combat. Although the reason for this drastic increase in complaints has never been ascertained, it is likely due to the fact that Mortal Kombat had been released a year before the first season aired. That game's violence and copious amounts of blood caused an uproar in parents over fears that their children would begin hurting each other and trying to copy these moves because they looked cool. It is likely that complaints started at the tail end of Season 1 and they began to implement changes by Season 2.

Season 2 was the first real season of Power Rangers that had continuous story arcs outside of multi-part episodes, starting with the Green No More saga between The Green Dream (episode 7) until the eponymous two part episode of the arc (which ended with episode 12). However, more infamously, there was the Power Transfer fiasco which began with "A Monster of Global Proportions" (episode 25) and concluded with the eponymous two-parter (ending with episode 28) although one could actually start it with the episode "Two for One", both because it was during production of that episode that three of the cast left and because the infamously terrible dub voices begin. The reason for this uptake in multi-part episodes is unclear but one can take either an optimistic or a cynical view of the motives. The optimistic view one can take is that they were experimenting since they weren't limited by Sentai footage but the cynical view is that they were running out of ideas by this point and were dividing episodes into multiple parts to kill time. Fans have pointed out that this proverbial wheel spinning is most apparent in four episodes, "Rangers Back in Time" and "Storybook Rangers" which many argue felt like it was just killing time in one way or another to get to the usable footage.

Additionally, a new ongoing subplot involving Bulk and Skull was introduced in the first episode of season 2, with the two resolved to discovering the true identities of the Power Rangers. Nearly every episode introduced a new hairbrained scheme by the two to unmask the Rangers, each comedically ending in failure. This new plot helped to soften Bulk and Skull's previous images as high school bullies, which by then had become a publicly-recognized concern in American schools, and reshaped their roles into bumbling but less-hostile characters. This subplot continued until the final episode of season 2, and would form the basis of Bulk and Skull carrying season-long comedic subplots in each new iteration of the series up until the end of Power Rangers in Space.

A major issue that Saban had to work around was the White Ranger himself, since the actual screen-time of his counterpart in Dairanger was extremely limited, even moreso than Zyuranger's Green Ranger. Multiple episodes at a time of Dairanger didn't feature Kibaranger at all even after he had been introduced. In total, he only appeared in twenty-eight episodes, most of which only featured him in his unmorphed boy form, and many morphed scenes featured him for about no more than two minutes. It took seventeen Dairanger episodes out of fifty for him to debut and another five for him to get his Zord and be able to fight with his comrades against giants. Even when he did appear, he rarely joined the other five for fights and usually just geeked out from the sidelines and sometimes would only show up in the Zord fight out of the blue, while just as often he would appear but not actually fight. The worst example of this footage clash is arguably for the Zord fight in the episode "Where There's Smoke, There's Fire" where he clearly summons his Zord but never appears in it. In fact, aside from that example, this issue is even evident in the show itself since this is why Goldar will randomly show up to fight Tommy even if he had nothing to do with the rest of the episode such as in "Rangers Back in Time-part II" and "Forever Friends." Additionally, the cockpit of the Kiba Daioh, which was used to represent the Mega Tigerzord, featured the Kibaranger as well as the additional four Dairangers and thus could not be used in Power Rangers. Unlike the Thunder Megazord, no new cockpit footage featuring the White Ranger and the four Power Rangers was shot to use for the Mega Tigerzord. This did not apply to the White Tigerzord itself, where despite featuring four additional terminals, never featured any costumes in footage other than Kibaranger, allowing easy adaptation for the White Tigerzord.

Season 2 is primarily remembered to older fans for the departures of Austin St. John, Thuy Trang and Walter Jones. All three would be released over a contract and pay dispute. There were a variety of issues with the contracts that the entire main cast were concerned over.

During the first season, Saban had updated the contracts for each actor to accommodate more episodes as Fox had requested more. The contract accommodated more episodes than what was eventually produced for the season. Instead of correcting the issue, Saban kept production going, with the actors filming the first cluster of episodes for the second season under their first season contracts.

After wrapping the first nine episodes, the contracts expired and the cast and crew went on break while new contracts were written. To keep production costs low, the contracts were not altered and the actors pay remained at $600 a week. Austin St. John, Thuy Trang and Walter Jones approached Shuki Levy and Haim Saban over the matter.

Despite popular belief, they did not walk out on the show after being declined a raise in pay. Instead, John and Jones were fired after wrapping the very next day of production. Trang was not let go until the following production day, which is evident by her ADR work in Welcome to Venus Island, which does not feature any ADR from John or Jones. She was not present on the day John or Jones were released as she not on the call sheet for the day.

David Yost would elaborate further in 2009. “We were all disheartened with how the contracts were worked out, and the low pay for all of the hard work we were doing. We all wanted to speak up, but they were the only three that had the guts do it. In retrospect, I feel if we had all gone to management together, as a team, we most likely would have gotten our way. We also could have all been fired as well, but sometimes that’s a risk you have to take to get treated fairly. Because the rest of us chose to stand back from it all, those three got criticized relentlessly, when they shouldn’t have been, and that’s the most unfortunate part.”

Plot[]

The evil Lord Zedd arrives on the Moon, intent on conquering Earth. To protect the world, the Power Rangers will need new Thunder Zords, new teenagers with attitude,' and the help of the brand new White Ranger and his ferocious White Tiger Zord.

Characters[]

Rangers[]

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers[]

Zyuranger (Team)

The first quarter of the season with the Green Ranger

Mighty-morphin-power-rangers-season-2-1994-1108x0-c-default

The rest of the season with the White Ranger

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The Power Transfer, Part 2

Main article: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (team)
Designation Name Actor
Red Ranger Jason Lee Scott ▶ Rocky DeSantos Austin St. John ▶ Steve Cardenas
Black Ranger Zack Taylor ▶ Adam Park Walter Jones ▶ Johnny Yong Bosch
Blue Ranger Billy Cranston David Yost
Yellow Ranger Trini Kwan ▶ Aisha Campbell Thuy Trang ▶ Karan Ashley
Pink Ranger Kimberly Ann Hart Amy Jo Johnson
Green Ranger Tommy Oliver ▶ Tom Oliver Jason David Frank
White Ranger Tommy Oliver Jason David Frank

Wild West Rangers[]

White Stranger, Wild West Rangers and Pink Ranger

Kimberly Hart, the Wild West Rangers, & The White Stranger

Main article: Wild West Rangers (50-51)
Designation Name Actor
Red Wild West Ranger Rocko Steve Cardenas
Black Wild West Ranger Abraham Johnny Yong Bosch
Blue Wild West Ranger William David Yost
Yellow Wild West Ranger Miss Alicia Karan Ashley

Evil Rangers[]

Dark Rangers[]
Main article: Dark Rangers (12-13)
Designation Name Actor
Red Dark Ranger Justin Patrick Wolff
Black Dark Ranger Zane Ogie Banks
Blue Dark Ranger Bobby Aaron Atinsky
Yellow Dark Ranger Tina Jhoanna Trias
Pink Dark Ranger Kristen Gwen Sanford
Other Evil Rangers[]
Designation Name Actor
Blue Ranger Billy Cranston (clone) (52) David Yost
Other Rangers[]
Designation Name Actor
Red Ranger Primator (4, 21, Holiday Humbug) Paul Schrier (first time)
Richard Epcar (second time)
Black Ranger
Blue Ranger
Yellow Ranger
Pink Ranger
Green Ranger
Red-Green Ranger
White Ranger

Allies[]

Command Center[]

Main article: Command Center

Others[]

Civilians[]

Angel Grove Youth Center[]

Main article: Angel Grove Youth Center
  • Ernie (4, 6-7, 9, 11, 13-14, 16, 18, 20, 25, 27, 29-32, 34-35, 41, 52)
  • Richie (9-20)

Angel Grove High School[]

Main article: Angel Grove High School

Others[]

Villains[]

Arsenal[]

Main article: Arsenal (Mighty Morphin 2)

Morphers[]

Multi-Use Devices[]

Communication Devices[]

Sidearms[]

Individual Weapons and Team Blaster[]

  • Power Weapons
    • Power Sword
    • Power Axe
    • Power Lance
    • Power Daggers
    • Power Bow
  • Dragon Dagger
  • Saba

Team Cannon[]

Power-Ups[]

Other Weapons[]

Zords[]

Main article: Zords (Mighty Morphin 2)
Main article: Zords (Mighty Morphin 2)
Legend:◆ piloted zord, ➲ carrier zord; see Style Guide for rules on icon colors

Thunderzord System[]

Alternate Formations[]

Evil Zords[]

Episodes[]

  1. The Mutiny, Part I
  2. The Mutiny, Part II
  3. The Mutiny, Part III
  4. The Wanna-Be Ranger
  5. Putty on the Brain
  6. Bloom of Doom
  7. The Green Dream
  8. The Power Stealer
  9. The Beetle Invasion
  10. Welcome to Venus Island
  11. The Song Of Guitardo
  12. Green No More, Part I
  13. Green No More, Part II
  14. Missing Green
  15. Orchestral Maneuvers in the Park
  16. Beauty and the Beast
  17. White Light, Part I
  18. White Light, Part II
  19. Two for One
  20. Opposites Attract
  21. Zedd's Monster Mash
  22. The Ninja Encounter, Part I
  23. The Ninja Encounter, Part II
  24. The Ninja Encounter, Part III
  25. A Monster of Global Proportions
  26. Zedd Waves
  27. The Power Transfer, Part I
  28. The Power Transfer, Part II
  29. Goldar's Vice-Versa
  30. Mirror of Regret
  31. When is a Ranger Not a Ranger?
  32. Rocky Just Wants to Have Fun
  33. Lights, Camera, Action
  34. Where There's Smoke, There's Fire
  35. Scavenger Hunt
  36. The Great Bookala Escape
  37. Forever Friends
  38. A Reel Fish Story
  39. Rangers Back in Time, Part I
  40. Rangers Back in Time, Part II
  41. The Wedding, Part I
  42. The Wedding, Part II
  43. The Wedding, Part III
  44. Return of the Green Ranger, Part I
  45. Return of the Green Ranger, Part II
  46. Return of the Green Ranger, Part III
  47. Best Man for the Job
  48. Storybook Rangers, Part I
  49. Storybook Rangers, Part II
  50. Wild West Rangers, Part I
  51. Wild West Rangers, Part II
  52. Blue Ranger Gone Bad

Specials[]

VHS/DVD Streaming Releases[]

VHS[]

  • Alpha's Magical Christmas
  • The White Ranger Series: Goldar's Vice-Versa
  • The White Ranger Series: Rocky Just Wants to Have Fun
  • The White Ranger Series: Where There's Smoke, There's Fire
  • Lord Zedd's Monster Heads
  • Morphin Series: Lord Zedd Waves
  • Morphin Series: When is a Ranger Not a Ranger?
  • Morphin Series: Lights, Camera, Action
  • All Time Favorites: White Light

DVD[]

Youtube[]

Errors[]

  • The new footage created for the Lion Thunderzord has two extra rear legs during the American-produced transformation from the Mastodon. Neither the toy itself nor the adapted Dairanger footage featured these extra legs. Additionally, the head of the Lion was recolored black for the new footage but remained green in Dairanger footage, as that series did not actually have a Black Ranger.
  • Due to the need to splice footage between Zyu2 and Dairanger, Zord battles would occasionally show bits and pieces of the original Megazord rather than the Thunder Megazord, usually obscured by explosions, sparks, or smoke.

Notes[]

See Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Notes

See Also[]

External links[]

References[]

Footnotes[]


PR2020 logo
Mighty Morphin (s01) • Mighty Morphin (s02) • Mighty Morphin (s03) • Alien Rangers (mini-series) • Zeo • Turbo
• In Space • Lost Galaxy • Lightspeed Rescue • Time Force • Wild Force • Ninja Storm • Dino Thunder • S.P.D. •
Mystic Force • Operation Overdrive • Jungle Fury • RPM • Samurai • Super Samurai • Megaforce • Super Megaforce • Dino Charge • Dino Super Charge • Ninja Steel • Super Ninja Steel • Beast Morphers • Dino Fury • Cosmic Fury

Power Rangers: The Movie (alternate continuity) • Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie • 2017 movie (alternate continuity)

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