The Evolution of Power Rangers - Mighty Morphin Zyurangers (Bonus Episode 30)

Didn't think you'd see this again, huh? Mighty Morphin Zyurangers is back one more time. MMPR's second pilot was just released, so while I may be done comparing Power Rangers to Super Sentai, I've only just begun comparing Power Rangers... to itself! How did the concept and characters evolve over time, and which version did it the best?
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[@Tirgo69]

Had no idea MMPR character names were being used in attempts to localize Sentai footage in the DECADE BEFORE the show premiered, that's wild

[@BagOfMagicFood]

And yet some of Power Rangers' earliest licensed comic books weren't given the characters' last names and just made up their own!

[@randomfox12245]

Dunno if this was intentional timing or a happy accident, but it's appropriate that you put out this video around the same time that Hasbro has made it clear that Power Rangers is probably going to be on ice for a while. An appropriate closing of the curtain by looking at at the literal very beginning, as we consider that we may be at the very end.

[@Tails97]

I don't follow the franchise at all so it's a sincere question, weren't they super interested in the franchise, planning to make series with original footage and such?

[@skibot9974]

@@Tails97the exec pushing for that with a grand plan died. I’m not joking

[@matt0044]

I give it at least until 2025 since Power Rangers is one of those shows that tends to get lucky one way or another. The comics seem likely to continue at least. That said, it's clear that between PR as well as Transformers, there needs to be a change of leadership for Hasbro big time. The kind that makes the most of all the brands they have. Say what you will of Disney but they clearly know they have it made with Star Wars. Hell, the hate pieces are pretty much free advertisement.

[@mightyfilm]

I have no idea why they'd want it. I mean, if it's not Transformers or MLP, they aren't super interested in their OWN product line. They let G.I. Joe languish for over a decade, with the last cartoon series all the way back in 2010. And even then, they canned it for a third movie that wouldn't come out until 2021. I don't think I'd trust them with another franchise they weren't really interested in.

[@BagOfMagicFood]

If nothing happens soon, it's going to feel like one of those "Bought it just to have fewer competitors" situations!

[@rambofan334]

6:28 That line's really hilarious when you consider that the Ninja Turtles are canon to Power Rangers.

[@Vinny792]

Well, The Next Mutation series made by Saban sort of is.

[@YossarianVanDriver]

So THESE are the "teenagers with attitude" I've heard about!

[@BagOfMagicFood]

That's funny to notice that Zoltar had actual lip sync at first before they started adding motion blur to stock clips so they could dub on whatever, because it's basically the opposite of what happened to Professor Hart from VR Troopers: There's one early promo where he appears to be someone wearing fake facial hair under a weird color filter with someone putting on a creaky old man voice so they could potentially dub any clip with any lines, but in the end they just hired a regular actor to read all of Hart's lines in front of the camera for real. Grimlord and Jeb performed their voices very differently too despite having the same actors, but what's wilder is there's an earlier pitch video floating around where there was no Professor Hart and it was purely a Metalder adaptation in which sensei Tao gave Jason David Frank the power to turn into "Cybertron," or "Psycon" in another draft. There are also some legal documents from Saban Entertainment preserved online where, just as they continued referring to Zyuranger as "Galaxy Rangers," they also seemed to want to call Metalder footage "Megaman," so I take it they weren't aware of either the Transformers' homeworld nor the localization of Rockman for a while.

[@Vinny792]

The promotional pitch video and rough cut workprint of the Cybertron pilot are available to be seen online. But the first pilot for VR Troopers with the Einstein looking Professor Hart has yet to surface. Kaitlin Star was also originally Kaitlin Hall.

[@otaking3582]

What's weird about "dorky Billy" is that the pilot wouldn't even be the last time he'd be seen, as his headshot is used in character select screen of MMPR: The Movie on SNES.

[@SlobbyMcSlob]

Horn-rimmed glasses Billy also was on the back of the VHS releases. My friends wondered why he had VERY different glasses on.

[@aboy_Mikey]

a lot of the coloring books and earlier artwork feature the “dorky billy” look, as a kid i always thought they were drawing the wrong person

[@barney9456]

Funny that for a lot of the merchandise, they use the characters look from the pilot, even with Trini wearing Audrey Dubois's outfit, even in a few promo shots early into the show.

[@mandroid5678]

I swear I had a poster with old style Billy but new Trini.

[@mightyfilm]

Turning Bulk and Skull into the show's Lenny and Squiggy seemed to be the best change they made. As much as we hate real life bullies, fictional ones have to be either over the top incompetent, incredibly goofy, genuinely sympathetic, or have some other hook to keep them from being one note hate sinks. Binky Barnes, Nelson Muntz, Gian from Doraemon. All beloved characters for those reasons.

[@MistareFusion]

Very true, and plus 50 points for that Laverne & Shirley reference!

[@BagOfMagicFood]

I'm reminded of how Transformers Armada's early comic books featured bullies Sid and Seth doing things that could seriously hurt the main three kids, but for the animated series, they got reimagined as Fred/Jim and Billy, such lovable losers that they went on to join the Autobot crew for the rest of the series. And Tony Sampson used his Eddy voice for both Fred from that show and Dex from MegaMan NT Warrior...

[@jamesbounds]

They should have used the bowling alley during the MMPR show at one point. Change of location would have been interesting.

[@stephenholloway6893]

Plus it would have been an interesting callback to the 1st pilot.

[@jamesbounds]

@@stephenholloway6893 Indeed

[@NitroNEXT]

I would guess that renting and lighting the place was too expensive or time consuming for Saban, who were notoriously cheap.

[@Basillikos]

It shows up again in Wild Force at least

[@BagOfMagicFood]

I suspect Goatan was in the pilot for the _same reason_ he and Octoplant ended up in post-Doomsday episodes: Like Babe Ruthless, there was little to no usable footage of them fighting only costumed Rangers, so they figured they might expend one such monster on an episode that jumps directly to the Megazord battle after beating the Putty Patrol.

[@Critic_Chris90210]

Billy was like Clark Kent/Superman during first season. Billy was clumsy, a goof but after he morphs into Blue Ranger, hes kicking ass like a pro who was holding back what he could do in public😊

[@samwill7259]

You know you could keep up this format by just skipping season 2 and 3 of MMPR Once we start adapting the sentai suits back into it with Zeo and beyond we get much more of what made this show interesting from your perspective. Just a thought

[@mr.protagonist5639]

Thats what i was thinking

[@satellizard346]

It's weird cause while I find most of season 1 MMPR to be kind of a mess, I actually think the first episode is one of the best premieres in the whole franchise cause it works so well, both as a start to the season and as an introduction to an entirely new style of television most americans weren't used to.

[@silveryuno]

They fight, they bite. They bite and fight and bite. Bite, bite, bite; fight, fight, fight. The Power Rangers Show.

[@xdecatron2985]

A rare win for MMPR! I didn’t realize how much I missed this series. Curious if you’re familiar with the MMPR/GGPR comic series and whether you’d be interested in a dissection or review series of those. I know it’s not made by comic artists as talented as Akira Toriyama, but i thought it could be interesting to hear your thoughts on the storytelling.

[@creamreviews1607]

Thanks for the content! I discovered this series 3 days ago and have now watched them all. I've really gotten back into Power Rangers within the last year after watching as a kid, and I started watching Super Sentai (various seasons). I really love Zyuranger, and that wormhole led me here. So thanks again!

[@MistareFusion]

I'm so glad you've enjoyed them! I definitely had fun making them.

[@matt0044]

Wish you included Bioman because it’s premiere episode has beats Saban clearly brought over to Day of the Dumpster.

[@Vinny792]

The complete pilot has not fully surfaced yet.

[@matt0044]

@@Vinny792 True, true. Buuuuuut it would be interesting to see Lance cover Bioman in a sort of "What about this influenced Power Rangers?"

[@bluebaron6858]

Hopefully you will take a look at the saban "DinoRangers" pitch pilot thats been teased online to release soon

[@PhalanxKnight]

I agree. Ending at Part 29 does feel weird. So Part 30 of the Majin Buu Arc coming soon, right? In all seriousness, awesome video. I love Mighty Morphin Zyurangers, so it’s great to see it one more time.

[@OwenPumprey]

Dang it! you just had to post this as I'm getting ready for school...but luckily, I got time. lol I kinda wish they kept this version of the rangers from the first pilot, I especially love this version of Trini. However, you did make a really strong point, I like the violence, but it takes away the time we could've spent fleshing out the characters. Also, I think a mean spirited group of teens probably could've worked for a later PWR story when it got a little darker in some of the later seasons and they'ed go through character development that softens them up or show that they're aren't all that bad once you get to know them. As a former dumb bully, some teens aren't saints and can be crazy at times, but we always have time to change, like meeting the right people or finally seeing your flaws and want to change for the better and make a fresh start.

[@JonesDylan874]

Nice to have a lookback at the first episode of MMPR.

[@VideoGamesAndTheWorld]

I saw the unaired pilot, but I gotta say that the final version of the pilot was way better.

[@PureMaddnessOne]

Thuy Trang is still being missed.

[@JStillPending]

This is very high quality content! Thank you for your hard work and efforts.

[@MistareFusion]

Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and if you haven't already, be sure to check out the comparisons for all the other episodes.

[@silverbullet1620]

Did you know the first time we all see the original Pilot looks and characters in the coloring books? Never understood why they looked so different from the show. Until the unaired pilot came out.

[@BobbyMoore2-mp8wb]

I ❤ the final pilot episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers more

[@mr.protagonist5639]

Man i really wish you were doing more series past zyuranger. I really would love to see someone do a mystic force and Magiranger comparison. Its fascinating how one key change can be all the difference. Making the main characters not be a family while also basically following the magiranger story was a really bad idea. People hated nick so much because he came across like Jayden like 5 years earlier.

[@kennethwilson9970]

I can't wait for the Ohranger Zeo video!

[@EnoYaka]

Thank you! Loved this series. Still have some more of it to watch that I've been putting off.

[@supernerd5781]

I'd love to see you check out some of the later seasons of Power Rangers and compare them to their counterparts expecially since they're more standalone and refined

[@countprophet5881]

Probably, starting from Zeo is the best option.

[@Jordacar]

I wonder if it would be possible to explore some pre-MMPR sentai seasons, with an eye toward 'what if?' There were several attempts to bring Sentai to North America before Zyuranger finally made it through, so I've often wondered what, say, Jetman would have looked like if it had been the first season instead.

[@NitroNEXT]

There was an earlier fourth version that was floating around KZbin at one time, though it was clearly more for pitching the show rather than a full completed episode. It used different actors, had a different name, and I recall the music being licensed (might've been Metallica) and representative of the direction they would eventually go with Ron Wasserman.

[@Vinny792]

It was the promotional pitch titled “Galaxy Rangers” made to show network executives what kind of show they wanted to make. The actors seen in the pitch video are the original cast from the American Bio-man pilot has yet to surface. This here is a fan made reconstruction of what a Bio-man promo might’ve looked like. Pardon the imperfect use of an ai voice filling in for the announcer. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nGSThpaHf5pqg8ksi=NrEiKGkvbn916x1y

[@bluebaron6858]

Now the dino rnagers pitch has been released. I hope you can take a look at it

[@mavrickindigo]

I love this series. Keep it up

[@Zethlynn]

this was a surprise but a welcomed one :3

[@zeokingsilver]

yes each pilot fun in their own way

[@chaoslacky1585]

Thanks for the vid. I do hope you decide to at least review the Zyu2 part of MMPR. I know there's nothing to compare it to but would still be fun to see.

[@Vinny792]

Great comparison of all three pilots. Just wanted point out some details about the first pilot you left out. Mostly about the uncut version that was never broadcasted. While mostly superficial, it’s worth addressing since some edits were made when it was presented as part of the Lost Episode TV Special in 1999. There was an intro sequence for the first pilot comprised of clips of footage seen later in the episode. Unlike the series intro, we don’t hear any voiceover from Rita and Zordon/(Zoltar). The bowling alley scene originally opened with “Higher Ground” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers playing in the background. This was removed in the Lost Episode special to avoid copyright infringement. Finally, the original names for the Dino Zords and Megazord were Dino Droids and Mega Dino Droid. The uncut first pilot can be seen here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKnTf6V_mJ6LiNksi=zh2NrFC5326ycqU5

[@BagOfMagicFood]

I like how "Higher Ground" also ended up in the first scene of the first Power Rangers movie, as if that song signals that we aren't _quite_ in the main continuity. I wonder if they hid the original names of the Dinodroids because Lucasfilm was known for going after anyone who uses Star Wars' trademarked term "Droid" without the "An-" in front of it.

[@Vinny792]

@@BagOfMagicFoodI don’t believe Droid is a Star Wars trademark. Unless I’m wrong.

[@BagOfMagicFood]

​@@Vinny792 Motorola had to license it for their phones!

[@elijahbrown3551]

How have you not discussed the Bio-Man American adaptation footage yet?

[@Vinny792]

The actual pilot in its entirety has not yet been found. Only clips of it from the Galaxy Rangers pitch video and another few clips that came from another early pitch preview that was discovered from the Morphin’ Museum on Twitter. A fan made video attempts to reconstruct what the promotional pitch as an American adaptation of Bio-man might have looked like. Part of the video uses an ai voice at certain moments to try and fill in missing moments for the announcer. Not perfect. But should give an idea of what it probably looked like. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nGSThpaHf5pqg8ksi=jTXd6HW6kD598NlA

[@elijahbrown3551]

@@Vinny792 There’s still clips that are worthy of discussion. Like how Billy was an athlete and not a nerd.

[@Vinny792]

@@elijahbrown3551I’m personally just eager to witness what the pilot looks like in its entirety. How the characters are presented, the performance of the actors, the music. It’s a major piece of the Power Rangers production history puzzle that has remained a mystery for the longest time.

[@elijahbrown3551]

@@Vinny792 Yeah, for me the craziest part is that Miguel A. Nunez who was in Juwanna Man was the original Zack.

[@alizardincrimson]

16:25 yes, but they're TOO good to be a realistic goal to achieve to be super Hero personas aside.

[@Vinny792]

They were goody goods sure. But still role models for young children to look up to.

[@GeraldWashington-xh8pt]

Hey welcome back and are you going to start doing videos on mighty Morphin power Rangers season 2 good luck on that

[@countprophet5881]

He’s not. Seasons 2 and 3 are a mess of used footage from different shows. He might do other Power Ranger seasons and compare them to their Sentai counterparts though.

[@LeonCook34]

I wanted that zeo vs oh ranger that you was going to do that

[@skibot9974]

Great video as always. If you were willing to ever do a Sentai vs Power Rangers series comparison again, what would be most intersting for you in terms of how much Sentis footage is used? For comparison MMPR is approximately 63% original footage and 37% Sentai footage (counting Zyu2stuff as Sentai) Would you want a series with a higher ratio of Sentai Footage? Lower? About the same as MMPR season 1?

[@BobbyMoore2-mp8wb]

Hope you do Power Rangers Zeo vs Super Sentai Oh ranger 😊

[@gazeboist4535]

I remain very curious about your thoughts on PR2k17, especially given the readjustments it makes to the characters.

[@austriacontinente154]

glad you moved on from sailor moon, no disrespect to all the research editing and work you put into them but donkey kong, dbz and power rangers are infinitely better so hyped to see you back on the good stuff!

[@GleeChan]

Trini > Boi. Buuuuttttttt Zyuranger > MMPR

[@Wright805]

My thoughts exactly.

[@YossarianVanDriver]

Actually, if you ever wanted to find even more ways to compare Day of the Dumpster with stuff, a lot of the elements of MMPR that aren't in Zyuranger have their source in Bioman, that earlier Sentai season Saban initially wanted to adapt back in the 80s--a high-voiced golden robot assistant, the heroes as good-natured randos recruited by a mysterious alien force, a refusal of the call, the heroes' and villains' power sources not really having anything to do with each other--there's a surprising amount of Bioman's first two episodes in MMPR that could make for an interesting comparison! But then again, maybe not enough to make a full video on, and 31 episodes probably isn't as satisfying as 30. But maybe I'm just biased 'cause Bioman is one of my favourite Sentai seasons.

[@toastrave7820]

same

[@manoftheusajones5147]

Have you ever tried to get a Monster Suit, MistareFusion?

[@zeokingsilver]

Saban tried several times before getting mmpr

[@zeokingsilver]

I agree

[@zeokingsilver]

yeah why end it on 29 when you can do an even 30

[@zeokingsilver]

how you can do more

[@VICTORZITOSS]

Yeaaaah Let's get this video to a lot of views in the first hour so that it gets love from youtube Algorithm bless this video which i liked even before watching it because it's that good Seriously, sometimes i end up pissed off because i can't like it again after watching it, fix that youtube Lots of words lots of engagement, yadda yadda