The Fans Power Up



There were many supplemental features included with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers box set. Some of them were videos given to fans during the initial run of the show. One of them was The Good, The Bad, and The Stupid, a pilot for a Bulk and Skull spin-off to the Power Rangers franchise. The Zeo Serials were packaged into one video to watch all in a row before heading onto Power Rangers Zeo. But not everything was done in the moment. Some of the things were a look back at the three seasons that spawned a nearly thirty-year franchise.

The Fans Power Up was a look at the fans of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and their love of the show. If there was one thing that kept the Power Rangers franchise going for as long as it has, it was the fans. They came into the show early, kept it from being a one season show, and kept coming back for every iteration of the show. Some seasons had more fans than others, but that core fanbase has always been there, and they got their own tribute in the box set. Now it’s time to showcase that little piece of Power Rangers history.


The Fans Power Up
The fifteen-minute celebration of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fandom began with an overview of the basic elements of the show that were brought together. There were superheroes. There were dinosaurs. There were robots. It checked off many of the boxes of things that children enjoyed. It brought them together in a nice little package that kids could see on the television almost any day of the week.

Then it looked at the other side of the show, the characters. They weren’t the typical television characters that kids were used to seeing. Most television shows had either precocious children, or heroes that never put their heroics aside to live a normal life. The characters in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers had a life outside of heroics. They spent their high school lives being a part of their community. They gave back to their community. The teens would clean up litter, teach children martial arts, or rebuild abandoned lots. They were involved in good deeds outside of their monster fighting, teaching the audience that they should be good people, too.

Things took a turn to Tommy for a bit as the many fans of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers discussed why he was one of the best Power Rangers to join the show. Jason David Frank was even there to discuss the character that he made famous. Tommy was an outsider, new to town and looking to make friends. That allowed some of the audience to relate to him in a way they couldn’t relate to the other characters. His introduction was the first instance where the Power Rangers didn’t easily win a fight, instead losing to him a couple times before coming out victorious. He was the most complex character at the time.

Finally, the special shined a light on the fans and how they created the lasting success of Power Rangers. The fans who came in early and fell in love were still fans (in 2012, when the video was made). More fans came in as the first season went on, lifting the ratings until Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was the number one kids show. Tommy got to stick around because kids fell in love with the character and demanded he come back. The fans even led to part of Los Angeles being shut down for a Power Rangers live event. Oh, and who could forget Power Morphicon, a convention devoted to Power Rangers?

In fifteen minutes, the short documentary video highlighted the different things that built Mighty Morphin Power Rangers into a juggernaut show, and then explained how the fans pushed it beyond any expectations. It was a nice tribute to the fans as well as a perfect look back at the success of the show. The Fans Power Up was well done.
  

The Power Rangers franchise wouldn’t be where it is today without the fanbase that it built back in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers days. Many of the kids who watched it back then remained fans to this day. The people involved know it as much as anyone else. Haim Saban, Tony Oliver, Walter Jones, Catherine Sutherland, Jason David Frank, Paul Schrier, Jason Narvy, Karan Ashley, and Steve Cardenas all said as much in The Fans Power Up. Each subsequent season of Power Rangers helped to bring more fans into the show, as well as more actors and characters to follow and appreciate. The fans of Power Rangers have always been the show’s lifeblood.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers had some interesting supplemental materials in the box set released by Shout Factory. There were things like The Good, The Bad, and The Stupid that were made while the show was being aired. Then there were things like The Fans Power Up that were made to celebrate the legacy of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the fans that made it popular. Things will be dealing with fans again in the next post, though in a different way. Come back soon for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Fan Club Video. It should be fun.


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