History Series / MightyMorphinPowerRangers

** The early action figures, comics, and promo material showed the Rangers wearing costumes with their respective dinosaur emblems on their chests. This never happened at any point outside of ''[[Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie]]''. Also, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbwhsKbl2HY early toy commercials]] show the Rangers (in toy form anyway) on a misty, rocky alien planet.

* DecompositeCharacter: Dora Franke from ''Zyuranger'' split into two characters for the series. His first form becomes the Frankenstein Monster, and his second and third forms (Zombie Franke and Satan Franke) became Mutaytus.

->'''Rita Repulsa:''' AAAH! After 10,000 years, I’m free! It’s time to conquer Earth!\\

* TenThousandYears: Rita Repulsa was locked up for 10,000 years, as she helpfully reminds viewers at the start of every Season 1 episode

* TransformationSequence: The iconic shout of “It's Morphing Time” with the Rangers thrusting their morphers outward and calling for their assigned dinosaur (later, ranger color power) to which the suits form over them and allow them to go into action.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Watching the Rangers interact with Bulk and Skull in the original unaired pilot is strange. The bullies’ personalities were reversed, and Skull (played by an [[TheOtherMarty Other Marty]]) aggressively pursued Kimberly, while the Rangers were much more aggressive towards them. They even delivered a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to the two without provocation, something that would never happen in the actual series.

** Writer and producer Douglas Sloan plays Kimberly's uncle Steve in the episode "Foul Play in the Sky." He later played Kim’s mom’s new boyfriend in "Return of an Old Friend" (hopefully not intended to be the same character)

* ForTheEvulz: Rita Repulsa is hell bent on destroying the Power Rangers and taking over the world, though it’s never explained why.

** Bulk and Skull’s straight-to-video special, ''The Good, the Bad, and the Stupid'', was made specifically to test viewer interest for a planned spin-off starring the duo. Due to the video’s poor sales, the project was scrapped.

* SecondYearProtagonist: Though it took them four seasons to graduate, WordOfGod as per the official merchandise places not a single Ranger below the age of sixteen during the first season. The only one to graduate ahead of the others was Billy, who was a freakin’ genius, and given what ideal role models they were all supposed to be, it’s doubtful any much less all of them were in remedial classes.

* TheBGrade: Billy gets upset about getting a B grade in "Grumble Bee". Of course, this inspires Rita to make a [[JustForPun bee]] ''[[MonsterOfTheAesop monster]]''.

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[Main/ByThePowerOfGreyskull It’s Morphin’ Time!]]'']]

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Even though they've never actually been onscreen together, this is pretty much the case with Zack and Adam. Each Ranger of the original six is considered to be the best of their respective color, except Zack. And guess who's the one Ranger that beats him to the #1 spot, Adam. Due to the overwhelming popularity of Johnny Yong Bosch and his subsequent returns to the series, Adam is the only replacement ranger to be more popular than his predecessor.
** Ironic, considering that Adam has no personality (at least early on), while Zack, while stereotypical, at least had plenty of it.
** Let's be honest, everyone succumbed to this thanks to Tommy, not so much during his Green Ranger days but after he became the White Ranger and the leader, everyone else was pretty much invisible.

* {{Tuckerization}}: Two examples:

* ShoutOut:
** In one scene in Season 3, the Rangers (in their Ninja Ranger outfits rather than their Ranger suits) decide to go all ''Franchise/SuperSentai'', doing a team roll call followed up with a team pose - specifically, the signature pose of ''Series/DaiSentaiGoggleFive''!
** Another one had them doing one of the poses from ''Series/KousokuSentaiTurboranger'', which had a ''very'' similar setup to this show (in terms of "teenagers with attitude" and all).
** One episode involved a MonsterOfTheWeek named Shellshock who was a turtle-creature. When he grew to giant size, he exclaimed, "Just wait until those teenage mutants find out what a full-grown turtle can do!" The reference couldn't have been more obvious.
** In "A Chimp In Charge," as Finster attempts to transform a chimpanzee into the Sinister Simian, he asks "Don't you want to be a big gorilla-like [[Film/KingKong King... what's his name]]?"
** In "Rangers in Reverse," the natural rotation of the Earth is stopped and then put in reverse, causing time itself to rewind. [[Film/SupermanTheMovie Where does this sound familiar?]]
** "May the Power protect you." seems to be at least partially inspired by the phrase "[[Franchise/StarWars may The Force be with you]]."
** "Trick or Treat": Skull (dressed in a prisoner costume) has "[[Literature/LesMiserables 24601]]" written on his chest.
** As Rita Repulsa is being shrunk down by Zedd in "The Mutiny Part I," she exclaims "I'm shrinking! What a planet!" This is an obvious reference to the Wicked Witch of the West's final words in ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', which was the largest inspiration for Rita when the show began.
*** Aside from Rita, the voice and dialogue of the third-season monster Witchblade are shout-outs to the film version of the [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Wicked Witch of the West]]. Witchblade's dying words are "I'm falling, falling - what a world!"
** In "The Wedding," Finster is trying to return Rita to normal size with a machine of his. He eventually says "I've never [[Film/ThisIsSpinalTap turned it]] up to eleven before." This increased setting successfully restores Rita to her proper size.
** Goldar shares his name with the North American localization of ''Series/AmbassadorMagma'', one of the earliest TV Toku heroes ever.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** In "Rangers in Reverse," the natural rotation of the Earth is stopped and then put in reverse, causing time itself to rewind. [[Film/{{Superman}} Where does this sound familiar?]]

10,000 years ago, a great war raged across the cosmos, pitting a wizard named Zordon against a sorceress named Rita Repulsa. The war ended with a stalemate; Zordon's essence was trapped in a time warp, while Rita and her forces were entombed in a sarcophagus wandering the vastness of space. The sarcophagus landed on a passing asteroid, with astronauts unleashing Rita and her forces, who decided to renew the war from the moon of an InsignificantLittleBluePlanet. Zordon had long since set up a Command Center on Earth to be a sentry against her return, and with the help of his robot ward, Alpha 5, Zordon assembles his own team of warriors to combat Rita. Utilizing talismans called the "Power Coins" he selected five "[[RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude teenagers with attitude]]"; [[TheStoic Jason]] [[{{Determinator}} Lee]] [[TheLeader Scott]] (Austin St John), [[FunPersonified Zack]] [[DanceBattler Taylor]] (Creator/WalterEmanuelJones), [[ValleyGirl Kimberly]] [[DeadpanSnarker Ann Hart]] (Creator/AmyJoJohnson), [[TheSmartGuy Billy]] [[NonActionGuy Cranston]] (Creator/DavidYost) and [[JackOfAllStats Trini]] [[SoapboxSadie Kwan]] (Thuy Trang). Each teenager was given a coin and TransformationTrinket called a "Power Morpher" to become enhanced fighters in armored suits and access to an arsenal of weaponry, along with HumongousMecha based on prehistoric animals called "Zords". Rita's came with her own forces; [[TheDragon top lieutenant Goldar]], the resident ThoseTwoGuys Squatt and Baboo, and her scientist Finster, who would turn his clay sculptures into Rita's foot soldiers, the Putty Patrol, and various [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week]].

The initial curiosity of the series paid off in the ratings. It wouldn't become the juggernaut it became until the five-part miniseries "Green With Evil", in which Rita brainwashes the NewTransferStudent, [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Tommy Oliver]] (Creator/JasonDavidFrank), and gives him a sixth power coin to serve as [[EvilCounterpart her own Green Ranger]]. The team manages to break the brainwashing and [[HeelFaceTurn bring Tommy to their side]]. The response to this new Ranger was overwhelming, as the character not only became the BreakoutCharacter of the series and the TropeNamer of the SixthRanger but can be considered the face of the entire franchise.

MMPR was intended for forty episodes, ending with the two-part "Doomsday" where Rita would be entombed once again because the Sentai footage was running out. However, the show's surprising success led the production team to seek ways to extend its lifespan. "Doomsday" was rewritten to be more of a mid-season finale and Saban commissioned new ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'' footage from the Sentai production staff, [[PostScriptSeason extending the show's first season]] to sixty episodes. The Toei-filmed action footage is referred to as "''[[FanNickname Zyu2]]''" footage in fan circles.

During a break in the season, ''Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangersTheMovie'' went into production and released in the summer of 1995. It had a big budget treatment with radically different costumes and deliberately [[NonSerialMovie doesn't fit into the continuity of the series]]. As production on the movie went long, multiple episodes were filmed in Australia using existing locations and taking place in new locations.

The third season had Rita's brother, Rito Revolto, successfully destroy the Rangers' powers and the Thunder Zords, and the Rangers find the legendary creator of the coins Ninjor, who forges them new Power Coins based on modern creatures and [[GratuitousNinja the art of ninjetti]]. Retaining Zyuranger costumes still, ''Series/NinjaSentaiKakuranger'' served as the basis for the new Ninja Zords, and they introduced a partial morph where [[HighlyVisibleNinja they fought in brightly colored ninja-themed outfits]]. During this season, Creator/AmyJoJohnson requested to leave and, unlike before, the production team had time to craft an exit story, with replacement character Katherine Hillard (Catherine Sutherland) brought in for a better PassingTheTorch. Later, in an escalation of villains, Rita and Rito's father Master Vile arrives and neutralizes the Rangers using TimeTravel to reduce them back to preteens. Unable to use their own powers, Zordon sends out a request for help from [[RubberForeheadAlien aquatic humanoids]] from the planet Aquitar with their own Ranger team, leading to a ten-episode miniseries called ''Mighty Morphin' Alien Rangers''. The first appearance of new Ranger teams and costumes, the Alien Rangers used the Kakuranger costumes and unused mecha battles to that point. The ''Alien Ranger'' miniseries is seen as an extension of MMPR rather than its own thing, as concurrently the young Rangers went on quests through time and space to find the pieces of the powerful Zeo Crystal (a MacGuffin introduced [[ChekhovsGun earlier in the season]]) to resolve the problem. Their return with the completed Zeo Crystal (along with the destruction of the Command Center) was the jumping-off point for ''Series/PowerRangersZeo''.

In the grand scheme of the franchise, ''MMPR'' is certainly [[FirstInstallmentWins the most iconic]] series but [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness it had some quirks]] that [[GrowingTheBeard were ironed out or improved upon]] in later series.

-->-- '''The opening dialogue of the iconic intro.'''

* OffTheShelfFX: Rita's shrunken banishment at the start of Season 2, as well as the Ninja and Shogun Ultrazords in Season 3, were all done using toys... with [[SpecialEffectsFailure predictable results.]]
** The transformation of the Dino Zords into the Thunderzords was also achieved using heavily modified versions of the toys, with some post-production tweaks to get them to move more like the original Sentai models of both teams.

** The first season characterised Bulk and Skull as a pair of idiotic school bullies, somewhat like the young Biff Tannen from ''Film/BackToTheFuture''. While this is the characterisation that most viewers likely remember, it actually only accounts for a sixth of their overall time on the show (or an eighth, if you count the seasons where Bulk appeared without Skull); starting with the middle of the second season they were portrayed as being bumbling and occasionally selfish (and still acted as a thorn in the Rangers' side through their attempts to discover their identities) but were shown to be good-natured deep down. Their status as friendly goofs was solidified in the third season when the two joined the Junior Police Patrol

* FreakyFridayFlip: Kimberly and Billy as well as Bulk and Skull in "Switching Places."

** Season one had a MonsterOfTheWeek named Terror Toad, a man-sized toad who transformed four of the Rangers into spheres and consumed them to increase his strength, requiring [[TheHeart Kimberly]] to defeat him and save her friends.

* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: Season 3's "A Friend in Need" three-parter, for ''Series/MaskedRider''.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: What is Alpha's reaction when Bulk, Skull, and Kimberly have gotten trapped within the innards of a taxi cab monster? "Aye-yi-yi! Lord Zedd and Rita have created a Crabby Cabbie! And he's charging double the going fare!"

--->'''"Dragonzord!" / "Tigerzord!" / "White Ranger Power!"'''
--->''' "Mastodon!"/"Black Ranger Power!" '''
--->'''"Pterodactyl!" / "Pink Ranger Power!"'''
--->'''"Triceratops!" / "Blue Ranger Power!"'''
--->'''"Sabertooth Tiger!" / "Yellow Ranger Power!"'''
--->'''"Tyrannosaurus!" / "Red Ranger Power!"'''

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Young Kat in the ''Alien Rangers'' series.

A special, set 30 years after the conclusion of the original series known as ''Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Once and Always'' will debut on Creator/{{Netflix}} on April 19, 2023 as part of a big MilestoneCelebration for the franchise, which includes the next season in the franchise, ''Cosmic Fury''.

* CallBack: In the very first episode, Billy describes Alpha as "a fully-sentient multi-functional automaton". When he, Kimberly and Tommy lose their memories in "When is a Ranger Not a Ranger", he says the exact same thing upon seeing Alpha. Likewise, in both situations Kimberly asks if "someone could bring be back to Earth because I'm totally confused".

* TheAdjectivalSuperhero: Originally. "Mighty Morphin" now serves as the team's official disambiguator, as heard when the [[Series/PowerRangersSuperMegaforce Super Megaforce Rangers]] used their Ranger Keys.

* CallBack: In the very first episode, Billy's describes Alpha as "a fully-sentient multi-functional automaton". When he, Kimberly and Tommy lose their memories in "When is a Ranger Not a Ranger", he says the exact same thing upon seeing Alpha. Likewise, in both situations Kimberly asks if "someone could bring be back to Earth because I'm totally confused".