They say all good things must come to an end, and as much as
Amy Jo Johnson will always be the Pink Ranger in my heart, it was with the
third season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers that things were about to change,
Kimberley leaves for Florida, Bulk & Skull become junior police officers,
and the Rangers find themselves regressed back into children for ten episodes
and having to be saved by some fish-alien ranger-type heroes, but let’s start
at the beginning.
Rocky, Adam and Aisha have settled in nicely having starred
in the big screen adaption of the show and season three kicks off with a
crossover to upcoming show “Masked Rider”, the Rangers find themselves teaming
up with the titular rider in an effort to save Alpha 5's birthplanet, whilst
Rita and Zedd attack Earth, Kimberley is the only one left to defend having
stayed behind with the flu.
The main opening arc more or less retells the film’s plot
albeit with a much lower budget, Rita Revolta’s
brother “Rito” shows up, fights the Rangers and destroys their
Thunderzords, they then begin on a quest begins to gain new Ninja powers and
Zords from the massively irritating Ninjor, up there with Alpha 5, and Bulk and
Skull’s theme in terms of irritation, he is a highly skilled ninja master but
talks kind of like Paul Reubens in Flight of the Navigator, he grants the
Ranger’s Ninja powers and consequently they save the day.
It’s then business as usual, with the season settling into
more monster of the week shenanigans until we reach the absolutely dreadful 16th
episode “I’m Dreaming of a White Ranger”, the bad-guys capture Santa Claus and
the Rangers must travel to the North Pole to rescue him, but some nonsense
involving festive cheer and the northern lights prevent our team from morphing,
and with that Goldar, Rito, and the Tengas are defeated in a snowball fight,
then there’s some mush about a singing group and family coming together at
Christmas, it’s dire, they don’t even morph for smegs sake.
Luckily things perk back up with the introduction of
Katherine, a new girl to Angel Grove who Rita possesses to befriend Kimberley
and steal her powers, in her weakened state Kimberley is abducted and Zedd
forces our team to pilot his evil Zords in exchange for her release, Billy
overrides them and enables the Rangers to defeat Zedd and get Kimberley back,
but her powers are all but gone and she has to rely on Tommy sharing his with
her to keep going.
Shortly after though, Kimberley is caught in a dilemma,
continue with her friends as a Ranger despite her dwindling powers or leave to
train with international gymnast trainer, Gunther Schmidt, for the Pan-Global
Games, Katherine manages to encourages her to follow her dreams as she herself
will conveniently take over as the Pink Ranger, and thus we say goodbye to Amy
Jo Johnson.
Everything settles back down for the next few episodes as the
show gives Katherine a bit more body to her character until Rita’s father,
Master Vile, appears on the scene, and immediately sets about going after the Zeo
Crystal, a great source of power, Tommy and Kat get to it first and manage to
retrieve the Falconzord at the same time, luckily with all that on their side
they are granted upgraded Metallic Armor, allowing them to push back the evil
forces with the power of fabulous glittery Ranger suits instead.
This is where things get a bit weird, Master Vile reverses
Earth’s polarity using the Orb of Doom and everyone finds themselves turned
into children, Earth is defenceless and from this point defended by the Alien
Rangers of Aquitar, whilst our miniature morphers are searching for a way to
undo their newfound Preadolescence, the remaining episodes feature meandering
plot of our alien heroes constantly requiring water to recharge, and terrible
child actors in place of our usual crew off searching for the pieces of the Zeo
Crystal to restore order.
Personally the Alien Rangers arc spoils an otherwise alright
season, though this slightly shorter collection of episodes does bring with it
some of the biggest stakes our Rangers have faced, it isn’t without its goofy
and downright silly moments, more Bulk and Skull pissing around but this time
with an inept police officer too, a rapping monster, a taxi monster, Bulk
BECOMING a monster, as well as new Ranger Shark Cycles, appearing for a handful
of scenes, only to be handed off to the Alien Rangers and never seen again.
This is the last season to feature the Mighty Morphin
element in the title as it switches to be more in line with its Japanese
sibling, and this is all set up in a brilliant cliffhanger just when we think
that all is going to be ok, and unlike the sudden departure of three of the
cast and subsequently shoe-horned plot and replacements as per last season, everything
has a better flow to it this time around, Kimberley is given the perfect send-off,
with other characters also receiving sufficient attention to their major
moments, but I won’t go into any more spoilers.
Though a shorter season than previous, it packs so much into
it and features some of the best stories of the original MMPR monicker,
multi-episode arcs once again proving that, for me, the bigger the story the
better, I think it’s the levity of the singular episodes that detracts from the
more effective storylines, but I fail to remember time and time again is that
at its core, Power Rangers is a kid’s show.
It may be twelve years old now, the acting might be hammy
and wooden, and the effects definitely don’t hold up to today’s standards, but
if you’re looking for something to show your children that will entertain them,
make them laugh, and teach them plenty about the power of yourself and
friendship, then season three of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ticks all the
boxes, it might not be the best of the original trilogy of series but there’s
still a morphinomenal time to be had.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - Season 3 is out now on DVD