Monster
Crap Inductee: Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie
Ivan’s Gonna Ooze All Over This Movie
Ivan’s Gonna Ooze All Over This Movie
1995
It
may come to a shock with some people, but I was once a child. Besides watching
monster movies, there was a show that were must views in the late 80s and early
90s. The late 80s show as you know was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Because
Of Course It Was
And
the other show in the early 90s was a little show by a studio called Saban and
that show was Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.
It
had everything a little kid like me would want. Cool teenagers, fighting, and
monster fighting. And while most people might have been put off by the monster
fighting being so low budget with people in suits fighting in a fake city, that
did not bother me because as many of you know, I LOVED THAT SHIT.
So
let’s talk some history here. Back in the 70s, Japan had a show about people
who transform into “rangers” and have robots that combine into one giant robot
to fight a monster of the day brought to the city by the bad guys. In 1992, the
third series called Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger was made and it was that third
series with many of the bad guys (Rita Repulsa and later Lord Zed) and robots
being dinosaurs that attracted the attention of a little known company at the
time named Saban Entertainment. As you all know, all any studio needs is one
giant hit to make their name in the business. Saban Entertainment saw something
in this Super Sentai show, but knew to reach an American audience (we were very
picky in the early 90s) so we had to change the whole team to a bunch of
teenagers “with attitude” with plenty of stuff that teenagers do and only use
the sentai footage during the monster battles, fight with the bad guy cronies,
and bad guy footage, with dubbing of course. We’d have these teenagers be two
white guys (Jason the Red Ranger and Billy the Blue Ranger), one white girl
(Kimberly The Pink Ranger), a black guy (Zack the Black Ranger), and an Asian
girl (Trini the Yellow Ranger). They also added a mentor named Zordon (which is
why the robots the kids control are called Zords) and an assistant to the
mentor named Alpha 5. The show called Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers was a huge
hit despite having some some weird moments.
Like
When They Turn Into Rangers And The Pink And Yellow Ranger Obviously Show To Be
Guys In The Suits Because In The Sentai Footage, It Was 5 Guys That Were The
Rangers.
However,
the show came to a mini series where there was going to be an evil power ranger
that the bad guys create and he possesses a teenager who is also good at fighting.
In Power Rangers, they chose a young guy with long hair who just came to the
school named Tommy and he was the Green Ranger. With his own zord named The
Dragon Zord that he summoned with a dagger flute. He was obviously more
powerful than the other Power Rangers, but eventually he was defeated and
eventually turned good to hang with the Power Rangers. Tommy became very
popular and he was able to survive being the Green Ranger since in the original
Sentai series, the Green Ranger dies. To circumvent this, they ultimately had
Tommy lose his Green Ranger powers and later get the White Ranger powers (which
in the Sentai, was a little kid who gets to become an adult to be the White
Ranger).
Something
That Turbo Would Try To Make Up For, With Horrible Results
But
when revealing who the rangers were, some of you may have noticed a bit of
racism there with a black guy being the Black Ranger and an Asian woman being
the Yellow Ranger. Even though it was revealed later that originally, a Latina
woman was going to be the Yellow Ranger, but the actress quit and the actress
who ended up being the Yellow Ranger was the best available on a short notice,
the racism looked really bad. Saban however only changed that mistake when the
actors playing Jason, Trini, and Zack all decided to leave because of pay.
Saban then decided to let them leave via Peace Conference that would have Zack,
Trini, and Jason leave the Power Rangers and they would be replaced by another
white guy in Rocky (the new Red Ranger), a black woman in Aisha (the new Yellow
Ranger) and an Asian guy named Adam (the new Black Ranger).
So
we come time for Saban Entertainment to make a Power Rangers movie to go along
with the still running show and that is where we are here, but before we begin,
we do have some Monster Crap alumni here. Robert Simper was one of the hunters
in Howling III: The Marsupials
Now
let’s get to the movie.
We
begin with Star Wars like prologue crawl with a narration.
After
that, a lightning bolt strikes the screen to reveal our title card.
For
Some Reason, No “Mighty Morphin’” On There, But Oh Well.
An
explosion then brings us into the movie proper with our Power Rangers (Rocky,
Kimberly, Tommy, Adam, Billy, and Aisha)
getting ready to do some sky diving.
There
Are Our Power Rangers In Obviously Color Code Sky Diving Suits So We Know Which
Ranger Is Which Later.
And
Bulk & Skull Are Here As Well
For
those who never watched Power Rangers, Bulk (the big guy) and Skull (the skinny
guy) were kind of nincompoop bullies who were comic foils for the Power
Rangers. They were characters that were mostly made to be kind of hated, but
they did shenanigans that normally failed and they eventually got people liking
them, and if you watched all the way to Power Rangers In Space (which was the
end of the Power Ranger shows being one long story before each new season then
after would introduce new abilities and new characters in a complete fresh
start), these two apparently got a complete arc where they were very important
in helping the Power Rangers save the day. One memorable behind the scenes spot
(that sometimes happened after a Power Rangers episode) showed the actor who
played Bulk (Paul Schrier in gear that Bulk would normally wear) watching over
his nephew at the playground, which shocked some Power Rangers fans as (not
understanding reality from fiction (different time)) didn’t realize he had
actual family and he explains everything and explains how great it is to be an
uncle. I cant find footage of it, but I most certainly remember it happening.
Bulk
and Skull talk like they are so ready to sky dive, but when Aisha offers to let
them lead the way. They are scared by how high they are up and Kimberly has to
remind them that they have to put their parachutes on. As they go to get their
parachutes, the rest go down without them.
This
Scene Of Them Sky Diving Is Kind Of Awesome And Huge Props Go To The Camera
Crew That Had To Skydive With Them To Get This Scene. But I Have To Mention
That This Was Kind Of Dangerous So If You See The Faces Of The Characters
During These Scenes, They Are On A Green Screen (Because You Would Be Freaking
Nuts To Have Your Actual Actors Freaking Do This For A Movie) And For The Real
Sky Diving Shots, You Had Stunt Doubles.
Apparently,
this is all part of a Jump-A-Thon contest which is part of an event to save the
old observatory, which might be bulldozed over.
Oh
And The DJ For This Contest Who You Only Hear In This Scene Was The Director Of
Hell Comes To Frogtown
We
then meet a kid named Fred Kelman and his dad.
Apparently
The Dad Chickened Out Here And Is Getting Guff For It
Fred
and his dad talk to Tommy and the dad reveals that because of this, the
observatory was not shut down. By the way, Bulk and Skull eventually jump. We
then go to our kids who are the Power Rangers doing some roller blading.
They
arrive to the place with some construction and we see Bulk and Skull land
there.
Definitely
Missed The Target
They
try to talk their way out of trouble, but there is no time to give them
consequences as the construction crew found something odd.
I
Wouldn’t Open That As Last Time Humans Opened One Of Those, We Got Rita Repulsa
And
That One Was On The Freaking Moon
Oh
By The Way, The Guy On The Left With Blonde Hair Would Later Become Agent
Brown, One Of Agent Smith’s Pals In The First Matrix Movie
Of
course the dumbasses decide to open it.
Either
That Is A Purple Egg Or Because Of The Hand, Samus Better Get In Here And Get
That Power Up To Do Some New Stuff In The Metroid Game
As
the Power Rangers are about to head to the café they always hang out at the
show (they actually did in deleted scenes), they get a call from Alpha Five
That Zordon wants to talk to them. They go somewhere no one can see them and
teleport to the Power Rangers command center.
Gotta
go on another rant. As a kid and an adult, I was heard that Alpha Five was kind
of useless and was annoying character that wasn’t needed. Let’s just hope you
don’t blame any of that on the voice actor because I know that for most times,
voice actors just say the lines that are written and Richard Wood (later
Richard Steven Horvitz) was just doing the best he can with what he was given.
And considering the popularity of the show, if we did not have to deal with
Alpha Five…
We
Do Not Get Daggett Beaver From The Angry Beavers
We
Do Not Get Billy From The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy
We
Do Not Get Zim From Invader Zim
We
Do Not Get Raz From The Psychonauts Video Games
And
We Do Not Get Moxxie From Helluva Boss
Back
to the movie again as we also get to see Zordon.
Better
Version Of Zordon Than We Normally Get As They Have A Bigger Budget
Zordon
and Alpha Five warn the Rangers that the machines are picking up some strong
evil energy and that the evil energy is from a being named Ivan Ooze that they
need to stop from being released completely (he is in the egg). He is an evil
unlike any the Rangers have dealt apparently so they better hurry.
They
are of course too late because the regular show baddies show up to the same
place.
Rita
Repulsa, Mordant, Goldar, and Lord Zedd
They
knock out the security guards and break the egg.
It’s
Ivan Ooze
First,
let’s talk about the dated CGI. This sadly was at the time a necessary evil for
Saban because there is NO SENTAI FOOTAGE for this movie as this movie is just a
Power Rangers thing. Because of that, any giant monster footage, zord action,
or small things like transforming slime are sadly done with this dated CGI
because while they did have a bigger budget than what the show had, it still
wasn’t enough to make their own city sets or any transformation. In fact,
because of the budget for this film, the second season of the TV show had some
issues so this was a money bleeder as it was being made (thankfully they made
that money back, but the damage in the second season was done). Trust me that I
better get this out of the way now before later stuff happens.
Secondly,
Ivan Ooze is played by Paul Freeman. Fox and Saban tried for bigger names like
Christopher Walken, Rowan Atkinson, Tim Curry, Danny Devito, Christopher Lloyd,
and heck even Phil Collins to be Ooze, but for one reason or another, Freeman
was the one who got the role. Now that’s not to say Freeman is a bad choice, in
fact….he is great as Ivan Ooze. It also isn’t to put down Mr. Freeman’s
accomplishments as an actor as well as he does have experience being a hated
villain as he was rival of Indiana Jones named Belloq in Raiders Of The Lost
Ark.
Back
once again to the movie, we immediately find out that Ooze has some bad blood
with Zordon as even the mention of his name causes Ooze to yell and shoot
lightning in the air in pure anger. Ooze says he will not only destroy Zordon,
but he will obliterate his entire legacy, which is great for Lord Zedd and Rita
Repulsa as Zordon and the Rangers have stopped the two from conquering Earth.
The other bad guys leave Ooze on his own to weave his evil schemes when our
teenage heroes arrive.
Man,
We’re Too Late To Stop Ivan Ooze From Being Released. I Told You We Should Have Taken A Left At Albequerque
Ooze
shows up and Kimberly calls him ugly.
Hey,
Don’t Call Him That. That Was Some Really Painful Prosthetics Paul Had To Put
On To Be Ivan Ooze.
Ooze
then decides to unleash a bunch of Oozelings on them.
The
teenagers fight the Oozelings and it was definitely awesome to see on the big
screen back in the day and it is still a fun fight scene even today. The
teenagers then have to morph into the Power Rangers.
Pterodactyl!!!
Triceratops!!!
Tyrannosaurus!!!
Mastodon!!!
Sabretooth
Tiger!!!
White
Tiger!!!
With
a remixed version of “Go Go Power Rangers” playing, the Power Rangers are about
to fight, but the Oozelings disappear.
Good
Because For The Most Part, The Sentai Footage Did Most Of The Lifting With The
Power Ranger Battles, These Suits Were Quite Heavy To Actually Move Around In
For The Actors And Both Amy Jo Johnson And Karan Ashley Both Had Massive Back
Pains Because Of That. The Sacrifices You Go Through For Your Craft.
Bad
news for the Power Rangers was this momentary distraction with these goons
allowed Ivan Ooze to go to the command center.
The
Face You Make When You Let Out A “Silent But Deadly” Fart That No One Knows Is
Coming
Alpha
Five tries to stop Ivan, but even Ivan finds this foolish.
Are
You For Real Here?
Ivan
Ooze short circuits his ass.
Ivan
talks about how much of a pain it was being locked away and Zordon tells him
that he wont get away with this. Ooze then decides to start destroying shit and
Zordon.
He
talks about all the things he missed like The Black Plague, The Spanish
Inquisition, and The Brady Bunch Reunion. Of course, that was an adlibbed line
that everyone felt was funny when he considers that an atrocity. Back with the
Power Rangers, the fight with the Oozlings continues.
Man,
Better Music Would Have Really Helped This Fight Instead Of The Generic Music
They Chose Here
SUPER
KICK PARTY!!!!
SIDE
BICYCLE KICK!!!
The
White Ranger ultimately ends this with his dagger cutting a giant metal piece
that falls on the bad guys, squishing them into ooze.
They
are about to go find Ivan, but their Power Ranger suits disappear.
Billy
tries to call Alpha, but there is no response. They get to the command center
and realize that Ivan Ooze was there. They enter and see the place has been
destroyed.
They
then see Zordon is very weak and out of his tube. Outside of that tube that is
a time warp, he is dying.
Zordon
says that Ivan has won while Alpha tells them that there may be a power that
can save Zordon, but they have to go to the distant planet of Phaedos. Alpha
says that he has enough power to teleport them there and he does so.
Rita
Repulsa and Lord Zedd are pissed that Ivan Ooze let the Rangers teleport away.
He shows up and she keeps insulting him so he throws ooze to shut her up.
Ooze
then decides that Rita and Zedd deserve a vacation and traps them into a snow
globe.
Merry
Christmas, Everybody
He
then asks where Goldar and Mordant’s allegiances are and they both decide to
swear allegiances to him instead of their former bosses. Ivan then summons
Tengus and has them go after the Power Rangers.
The
Rangers finally arrive on Phaedos and while walking around looking for the
Great Power, we see that they are being followed.
Meanwhile,
Ivan heads to a chemical plant and decides that he is going to create more ooze
and enact whatever his plan is here.
As
they continue searching, we see Tommy and Kimberly have a romantic moment.
Unfortunately,
This Really Isnt Going To Go Far Into The Show Because Pretty Soon Into The
Next Season (With A Whole New Backstory About How The Rangers Lose Their Old
Zords And Get Their New Zords Because None Of This Is Canon), Kimberly Is
Written Out Of The Show And Replaced With Katherine.
All
of this gets interrupted when the Tengus show up.
Without
the Power Rangers power, the Rangers are vastly outnumbered and seem to be
overpowered by the enemy. Eventually the cloaked person makes their presence
known and attack the Tengus.
Meet
Dulcea.
This
might shock you, but even her appearance in this movie is a mess. You see, the
actress Gabrielle Fitzpatrick is the original actress who got the role, but a
bit into shooting, she had to leave due to the fact that she had an ovarian
cyst that needed to be removed immediately. So they had to hire a replacement
actress in Mariska Hargitay.
Yes,
The Same Mariska Hargitay From Law & Order: SVU
Unfortunately
for her, the filmmakers didn’t feel she was working out so on the holidays with
her family, she was told that she didn’t need to come back as she was fired.
They then brought back Gabrielle as at that point, she had recovered from the
removal of the ovarian cyst and that’s where we are now.
She
is able to repel the Tengus and goes to check on the Rangers. She is pissed
that they are here and tells them to go back to where they came from. The
Rangers explain their situation and with the fact that they are here to help
Zordon, she decides to help them. Then we get to see Ivan Ooze’s plans.
Giving
His Ooze To Kids
Yes,
Ivan gives bottles of his ooze to kids, who flock to it as it is like
Nickelodeon’s Gak.
We
Were Weird Kids In The 90s
Dulcea
takes the Rangers to show them the Monolith.
Inside
the Monolith is the Great Power, but it is very much guarded and no one has
survived in their pursuit of it. She makes them call upon the sacred animals of
Ninjetti to help. Back on Earth, Fred’s dad finds the ooze that his son got and
we get to see the true purpose for Ivan giving away ooze.
To
Hypnotize The Adults To Do His Bidding
Back
on Phaedos, Dulcea turns the Rangers into ninjas with animals they represent.
Each
get their own animal.
Aisha
Is The Bear
Rocky
Is The Ape
Billy
Is The Wolf
Kimberly
Is The Crane
Adam
Is The Frog (In A Bit Of Adlib, Adam Seems Upset By Being A Frog, But She
Basically Says “Like The One You Kiss, To Be A Handsome Prince”)
And
Tommy Is The Falcon
These
powers will help them out as for the Ninjetti, “Anything is possible”. Dulcea
then turns into an owl.
Don’t
You Dare Try Putting Me In A Harry Potter Movie
Fred
comes home and sees his dad isn’t around, but the ooze is out and on the
counter. We then see why Ivan Ooze had to kidnap the parents. Basically, he
wants them to work in digging up his Ecto-Morphicons Scorpitron and Hornitor.
He
Even Has One Of Them Dance For Him
The
Tengus return and upon hearing of their failure and Dulcea (who he also knows
of), Ivan Ooze destroys them.
Ivan
then says that his Ecto-Morphicons must be dug up by sundown. Meanwhile, we see
Fred has found out that the parents have been under mind control.
He
also hears all of Ivan Ooze’s plan.
We
then see the Power Rangers journey to the Monolith. While seeing the bones of
giant monsters, Adam makes a “Welcome to Jurassic Park” joke. But it turns out
that those monsters bones don’t mean the monsters are dead.
After
a lot of running from it, Tommy does some rodeo on the monster to save
Kimberly.
Tommy
sees a neckbone that attaches to the head and rips it out, which kills the monster.
DECAPITATION!!!!
We
then see that there also mind controlled adults working to build the
Ecto-Morphicons back up and making more Ooze. Ivan says that with all this
done, the parents will go back to the construction site and leap to their doom.
They leave and Morphant puts the ooze into the Ecto-Morphicons.
Oh
The CGI Of These Ecto-Morphicons Are Really Bad.
The
Power Rangers arrive outside of the Monolith and are attacked by guardians.
They
defeat them by having one fall into acid pool that looks like water, one get
toppled by a giant boulders, having one accidentally cut in half the other, and
kicking one into the door to disintegrate it.
I
See Someone Played Dragon’s Lair On The NES
With
the guardians defeated, the doors open and the Power Rangers get the Great
Power.
They
are now Power Rangers once again, but with new zords.
They
teleport out of Phaedos and back to Earth and not a moment too soon as both
Scorpitron and Hornitor are causing issues.
Apparently,
Angel Grove has never seen monsters this bad (despite all the other times they
have had Rita and Zedd send monsters on them). The Power Rangers arrive and
have a fight with Scorpitron and Hornitor, using their new Ninjazords.
Meanwhile,
we see Fred get all the kids and Bulk & Skull to help him save the
adults of Angel Grove.
The
battle continues and while this happening, Ivan Ooze does not like being
touched.
Ivan
Ooze: Touch
Me Again And You’ll Be Chicken Wings In The Morning.
They
also talk about the Pink Ranger being kind of cute and Goldar?
I
Hope Your Wife And Kid In The Actual Sentai Don’t Know About Your Philandering
Feelings. Yeah, In The Sentai, Goldar And Scorpina (Known As Griffonzer And
Nami) Actually Got Married And Had A Kid.
They
actually destroy Scorpitron with Tommy’s White Falcon Ninjazord dealing the
final blow
Ooze
is pissed and decides that he is going to fuse himself with Hornitor.
Ooze
destroys the bridge, which is really bad as the kids are using the Monorail to
go and get to their parents in time to save them. But first, the Rangers need
to form the Ninja Megazord without the White Falcon Ninjazord since he is going
to take care of the monorail.
That’s
A Goofy Head
So
they fight while Tommy saves the kids.
Unfortunately,
the Ninja Megazord without Tommy is still weak against Ooze Hornitor. So Tommy
comes into to join and the Ninja Megazord is complete.
Basically
It Just Got Wings
They
lure Ooze Hornitor into space where they continue the fight.
The
kids get to their parents and can only try and delay their parents from jumping
to their doom while Fred, Bulk, and Skull go off to do something else with
vehicles. The vehicles are used to spray water on the parents.
And
The Kids’ Backs
The
Ninja Megazord and Ooze Hornitor fight and we remember that there had been
throughout the film a mention of Ryan’s Comet that is going to be passing by
Earth. After several minutes, the Ninja Megazord throws Ooze Hornitor into the
comet’s path.
Did
I Say Throw? I Mean Knee Ivan Hornitor’s Privates So He Lets Go And Heads
Towards The Comet. Didn’t Know Ooze Or Hornitor Had Privates, But There You Go.
And
The Comet And Ooze Hornitor Are Both Destroyed
With
Ooze down for the count, the parents are out of their hypnosis and everyone
celebrates.
The
Power Rangers teleport back to HQ and Alpha has to break the news that Zordon
is dead. However, this is a kid’s show and we aren’t going to let that happen.
I
Mean, We Saw What Happened In Transformers: The Movie When They Actually Killed
Off Optimus Prime.
So
instead, the Rangers use some of the Great Power to bring Zordon back to life.
With
that, everything at the control center is put back in place and Zordon is back
in the tube.
Zordon
thanks the Rangers for saving him and saving the world from Ivan Ooze.
Meanwhile, the kids and everyone are at a fireworks party.
You
might be wondering how they got all these people to that place and not have to
pay insane extra money. Well, they advertised that people could hang with the
Power Rangers at a fireworks festival in Australia and they filmed them
then….without the people knowing about it.
The
Cheek Of These Bastards
It
seems the movie’s over, but there is one more thing to take care of as we have
a mid-credits scene. Back at the villains’ HQ, Goldar is sitting on the throne
while Mordant is serving him.
That
doesn’t last long because with Ooze dead, Rita and Zedd are free from their
snow globe prison.
And
They Are Not Happy The Two Lackies Turned On Them.
And
that is the end of the movie.
This
might shock literally no one, but this movie was a huge hit in theaters (making
$66.4 million on a $15 million budget) and was a great Christmas present when
it came out on home video that holiday season. The original Power Rangers run
ended after the third season with the cast being in the sequel series Power
Rangers Zeo, the third series Power Rangers Turbo, and the fourth series Power
Rangers In Space with only a few changes. While I had stopped watching when
Turbo happened (because Turbo sucked), Power Rangers In Space was actually the
end of the Zordon era with everything supposedly wrapped up nicely. After that,
Power Rangers is still going strong with every new series having a different
cast and different zords.
One
of the only reasons this may be still a thing as it is really the only one
thing Saban has worked on that actually succeeded as shit like Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation were terrible and other stuff like that
attempted Sailor Moon USA series were so bad, they couldn’t even get passed a
pilot that had been buried for years before someone freaking found it THIS
YEAR. Saban tried to make a Power Rangers movie a few years ago to basically
remake the original Power Rangers story with Rita and Zordon, but that bombed
as well despite a decent cast. If you want to know more about the Power
Rangers, you can look up Linkara’s History Of Power Rangers videos that have of
course been put through the ringer by Youtube for various bullshit copyright
claims.
Most
of the cast has done other things, but sadly….some people have since passed
away. Robert Manahan (who was the voice of Zordon for most of the series and
this movie) passed away in 2000 at the age of 43 from a heart aneurysm. Richard
Gennelle (who was Ernie in a deleted scene) died in 2008 at the age of 47 from
a heart attack. Kerry Casey (who was in the Goldar suit for this movie) died in
2015 at the age of 61 from cancer. Robert Axelrod (who did the voice of Lord
Zedd) left this mortal coil in 2019 at the age of 70.
And
now for probably the reason you all guessed why this is being inducted here,
Jason David Frank (who played Tommy the White Ranger) committed suicide in
November of this year at the age of 49. Despite loving the series and showing
up many times as a cameo in many things, he sadly suffered from depression and
is now the second person of the original Power Rangers to die (Thuy Trang (who
played Trini The Original Yellow Ranger) died in a car accident on her way to a
wedding in 2001 at the age of 27). If you are considering suicide, please call
the suicide prevention line or talk to someone because suicide is never the
answer and you are not the only person who will suffer from your suicide.
Now
with that hard shit out of the way, let’s talk about my opinions of the movie.
And there is a reason I chose to induct this movie first before I inducted
Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie as I still in many ways enjoy this movie. Sure the
acting isn’t the greatest, it’s corny as hell, and honestly, the CGI does not
hold up today. But many of the other stuff like the practical effects, the
fighting, and so much of it still holds up today as a fun popcorn flick that
always reminds you of when you were a kid and would be still good for kids
today. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers is still worth a watch for those who
remember the past. While I may be stretching to call this crap, this is fun
crap.
And
with that out of the way and 2022 nearing a close, may I wish you all a Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year.
You
Filthy Animals
