Having not seen MMPR for more than a decade, it’s a very different experience to watch the show as an adult. While I always enjoyed the US live-action sequences more than the fight scenes, it’s very obvious to me now that these are spliced from the Super Sentai series, Zyuranger.
Curious about the source footage, I checked out a few episodes of Zyuranger and the geographical similarities between Japan and Angel Grove astounded me. Not to mention, both locations have identical city sky-lines. And many Angel Grove buildings have Japanese-written signs – it’s uncanny really.
Each episode of Zyuranger has its own monster-of-the-week to go along with the storyline (similar to MMPR) except for one major difference: MMPR storylines were drafted to fit the Zyuranger fight footage as opposed to the other way around. Why does Tommy always forget things and have to separate from the rest of the team? Because the Green Zyuranger wasn’t in every fight scene due to his limited life (by his green candle – a storyline MMPR “borrowed” as well). The Super Sentai series was a lot darker than MMPR – but I found the storylines a lot less believable (I say this without irony).
Most of Rita’s (Zyuranger – Bandora) monsters are inspired by what the teens are doing in real life (Lord Zedd carries on this tradition in Season 2). Jason’s being held back by his teammates? Let’s separate him from them by creating a monster that prevents his friends from being near him. Kimberly is writing Tommy a song on her guitar? Let’s create a monster that hypnotizes you with his guitar. The US footage is very deliberately dictated by the Zyuranger footage as seen with the fact that a lot of storylines center around an unexplained (and never seen again) child - because Pandora is obsessed with hating children (understandably so). Cheer up though, things will get better when we get about halfway through Season 1 when the source footage ran out and Saban paid Zyuranger to film more fight scenes for him to use.
Saban intended on getting in and making a quick buck off of action figures and didn’t anticipate the cash cow he created. He used non-union actors, so he didn’t have to worry about their collective bargaining power and could just write someone off the show (cough, go to a peace conference much?) which meant he could pay actors very little and maximize his profit. He cut costs by using the super cheap Sentai footage (essentially halving his production costs). In summation: low costs, high revenue = PROFIT!
Please note that the Yellow Zyuranger is a guy named Boi. Trini the Yellow Ranger is a girl. They wear tight spandex suits . . . as if we wouldn’t notice. Ever wonder why Jason and Tommy both have similar looking helmets (dinosaur teeth surrounding the eyes) – cos their Zyuranger equivalents are brothers. Also, notice that the Green Zyuranger has a hard shield whereas Tommy the Green Ranger has a shield that looks like something my mom made.
Looking ahead – I’ll provide a similar comparison between the source footage and the US storylines for Season 2 once I finish up with the Season 1 episodes (and subsequent analysis). I guarantee once you hear how Saban spliced that footage - your mind will be blown and you will question everything you've ever known. In the meantime, this youtube video summarizes the differences between MMPR and Zyuranger rather candidly. Check it out.
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