Film / Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always

Spoilers for Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, as well as other Power Rangers entries, including Power Rangers S.P.D. and Power Rangers Dino Fury will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

Once a Ranger, Always a Ranger.

"Now, it's a reunion!"

— Robo-Rita

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always is a 55-minute long movie celebrating the 30th anniversary of the original series and the franchise as a whole. It streamed through Netflix on April 19, 2023.

Rita Repulsa has returned, inhabiting a brand new "Robo-Rita" body. Confronted by the original Rangers, she ends up killing Trini Kwan, the original Yellow Ranger. While her daughter, Minh, wants revenge against Rita for killing her mom, Robo-Rita intends to capture various Power Rangers and drain their power, in order to open a portal to her past self. She intends to destroy the Rangers before they can even be recruited. It's up to Billy, Zack, Katherine, and Rocky to stop her plot and rescue the other Rangers.

Once & Always is a Reunion Show bringing back many of the major cast members from the first three seasons. David Yost, Walter Emanuel Jones, Johnny Yong Bosch, Karan Ashley, Steve Cardenas, and Catherine Sutherland are back as main Rangers, along with supporting actors Richard Steven Horvitz and Barbara Goodson.

You can watch the original announcement trailer here, the initial Entertainment Weekly article here, the fanstream announcing the special here and the trailer can be seen here.

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All right, Tropes! Back to action!:

• Alien Invasion: When Robo-Rita comes back from the Dark Dimension, she not only has Robo-Snizzard and Robo-Minotaur, but enough Putties to launch a full-scale, global invasion requiring an offscreen Crisis Crossover to deal with. However, this is only diversion and bait for her true plan to Make Wrong What Once Went Right.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: Minh's father isn't mentioned at all. No pictures of him are seen in the Kwans' home and Billy says that Trini is "all Minh has", indicating that whatever happened to her father to make him absent from her life happened long ago, likely when Minh was a child.
• Ambiguous Situation: While the special references Billy's previous Put on a Bus by bringing up Cestria, the status of their relationship is seemingly left entirely open with it only being mentioned that Cestria misses him which can be read as them being a current couple or just good friends at the time of the special.
• And Starring: Walter Jones is given top billing in the beginning credits, ending with "and David Yost as Billy".
• And This Is for...: Just before he blasts Robo-Rita into oblivion, Zack dedicates it to Trini.
• An Aesop: If revenge is all you think about then you’re no better than the person who wronged you.
• Art Evolution:
  • The morphing sequence is structured similarly to the original, just with modern CG.
  • The original Megazord and its combination sequence is recreated nigh-exactly with CGI. The render is based on the Zord Ascension Project toy, itself based on the original concept art rather than the show proper.
• Ascended Fanon: The term "Z-Wave," used by the fans to describe the energy wave created by Zordon's sacrifice, is used in-universe for the first time.
• Ascended Meme: The special references the "too much pink energy is dangerous" meme.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: While celebrating Robo Rita's defeat, Billy theorizes that Trini's spirit, like Zordon's, may have become one with the Morphing Grid and jumped in to protect Minh from Rita's One-Hit Kill spell by resonating through the Power Morpher her daughter had with her.
• Back from the Dead: Rita (or rather her evil self) is resurrected into a brand new robotic body, taking over the previous Alpha. In addition, she's joined by Robo-Snizzard and Robo-Minotaur, robotic versions of the classic Evil Space Aliens.
• Back to the Early Installment: Turns out Robo-Rita's plan is to go back in time to the first episode of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and help her past self kill the Rangers before they get their powers. Luckily they stop her but we see some old footage of the astronauts about to release her.
• Badass Bureaucrat: While he steps down by the time the main plot kicks off in order to take care of Minh, Zack's tenure at the Peace Conference eventually lead to him becoming a Congressman in the intervening years since he left the show.
• Badass in Distress: Robo-Rita manages to capture Jason, Kimberly, and Tommy, forcing Rocky and Katherine to step in. Later on, she captures quite a lot of other Rangers as well.
• Berserk Button: Zack declares that the Putties made a big mistake attacking the old Juice Bar.
• The Bus Came Back: In spades:
  • Zack comes back for the first time (excluding stock footage) since Season 2.
  • Aisha's last (adult) appearance was just before the Alien Rangers arc in Season 3.
  • Billy was last seen near the end of Zeo.
  • Adam has not been seen since the crossover episodes of Operation Overdrive.
  • Both Rocky and Kat were a part of the 25th Anniversary special in Super Ninja Steel.
  • Rita in her evil form comes back after last being seen reformed into a good identity at the end of In Space, although Mystic Force made the Mystic Mother a reborn Rita. This is a case of Literal Split Personality.
  • Alphas in general have not been seen since the same Operation Overdrive special as above, but Alpha 5 specifically has not been seen since the middle of Turbo. Another Alpha, Alpha 7, is implied to be the same Alpha in a new body (as he shares Richard Steven Horvitz's voice), but has not been seen since Wild Force. This movie features Alpha 9 (still with the same voice), and it's revealed that Robo-Rita is actually inhabiting a warped Alpha 8.
  • The original Dinozords are back in play once more after their last appearance in Power Rangers Beast Morphers.
  • A place rather than a person, but the Angel Grove Youth Center & Juice Bar appears for the first time since Turbo.
  • This also counts for the core team's Power Weapons. The Power Axe, Power Bow, Power Lance, Power Daggers, and Power Sword appear for the first time since "Grid Connection".
• Both Sides Have a Point: In the beginning of the special, Zack and Billy both make valid points about whether they should tell Minh everything after Trini dies. While Zack makes a good point about how they honor the rules for a Power Ranger that Zordon taught, including keeping their identities secret, Billy also makes a valid argument about how Minh needs to know the truth and how rules can be broken if it’s for a good reason.
• Bus Crash: Harvey Garvey, a talk show host from an early Season 2 episode, apparently died shortly before the main plot gets underway, as his grave (which has his death pegged in 2022) is destroyed during Robo-Rita's second attack on the Rangers.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: By proxy, when Minh reminds Robo-Snizzard and Robo-Minotaur that their boss killed her mother.
  Robo-Snizzard: We work for an intergalactic war criminal. You're going to have to be more specific!
• Call-Back:
  • Billy has made a new Rad Bug.
  • The Rangers' new base of operations is styled after the original Command Center.
  • Rocky wears blue pants, calling back to his status as Zeo Ranger III.
  • When Kat is teleported into the Command Center, she mentions JJ, her and Tommy's son from "A Season to Remember" and "Dimensions in Danger."
  • While battling Robo-Snizzard, Rocky perfectly executes the same move that got him injured when he performed it wrong at the beginning of Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie.
  • Robo-Rita evilly remarks that killing the Rangers will help cure her headache, something that the original Rita was prone to in the series. She also remarks "After so many years, I'm free!" which echoes her famous "After 10,000 years, I'm free!" line in the first episode/opening.
• Call-Forward: Aisha and Adam mention they're off in space dealing with the Troobian Empire, as the events of SPD will take place two years after this special.
• The Cavalry Arrives Late: When the Rangers call for help, Aisha and Adam head for Earth in a spaceship but say it will take about six hours to reach it. They arrive after the final battle is over, so all they can do is deliver the Rangers whom Robo-Rita captured and drained to Aquitar so they can be healed.
• Came Back Strong: While Rita was an extremely powerful magic user, Robo-Rita is a far better fighter than her original, even able to successfully kill a Ranger with one hit.
• The Cameo:
  • Adam and Aisha appear in two scenes, once to say they will take six hours to get from Sirius to Earth, and then after Rita is defeated in order to transport the captured Rangers to Aquitar to get healed.
  • In addition to Tommy, Jason, and Kimberly, Robo Rita captures a number of Rangers from other teams offscreen.
    • From Zeo: Tanya
    • From Turbo: Phantom Ranger
    • From In Space: Carlos and Ashley
    • From Lost Galaxy: Leo, Kai, and Damon
    • From Wild Force: Merrick
    • From Dino Thunder: Connor and Trent
    • From Beast Morphers : Devon, Ravi, and Nate
  • Bulk and Skull make a brief appearance on a billboard, the two apparently having gotten into a food business together.
  • Annie from Dino Fury is seen reporting on the Putty attack at the Juice Bar.
• Car Fu: Minh runs over a bunch of Putties with the Rad Bug 2, saving half of a male couple being harassed by them.
• Co-Dragons: Rather than having an entire army of monsters, Robo-Rita just has two, Robo-Minotaur and Robo-Snizzard, but each are extremely powerful and effective.
• Color-Coded Secret Identity: As per Power Rangers tradition all the Rangers still wear their color in the civilian suits, but Minh doesn't really start doing this in a prominent way till she actually becomes the Yellow Ranger. Before this she has small yellow items or splashes like her running shoes or the lines on her leggings but she starts wearing a large yellow shirt after her first morph. Also Trini had yellow throws and other elements to her house as well.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The main plot kicks off due to Billy trying to revive Zordon after his sacrifice in "Countdown to Destruction."
  • At the end of Dino Fury, Jane mentions that she wants to open up a branch of BuzzBlast in Angel Grove. In this special, Minh watches the Putties trash the Juice Bar via BuzzBlast.
  • One of the locations listed in the Bandora Protocol is Osaka, which is where Ollie was helping out with his mother during Dino Fury's timeskip.
  • Aquitar and Cestria specifically get brought up, with Billy still keeping in contact with them. Mirinoi is also namedropped.
  • Robo-Rita notes that Minh knows mantis-style kung-fu, which her mother learned in the original series episode "Plague of the Mantis."
  • During the fight at the juice bar, Zack breaks out the hip-hop kido, much to Minh's bafflement.
  • At the end of the episode, Billy brings up the events of "High Five," when Trini had to overcome her fear of heights to save him. He and Zack then go over some of their old monsters.
  • When Billy and Alpha unveil the proxy Power Coins, Zack voices his concerns, stating that replicating active Ranger powers could be dangerous. In Power Rangers: Dino Thunder; the White Ranger was cloned, resulting in a "glitch" within the Morphin Grid which caused a power tugowar between the two, as the White Dino Gem couldn't be copied entirely.
  • One of the tombstones shown during the graveyeard battle reads "Harvey Garvey 1953-2022". Harvey Garvey was a talk show host who interviewed the Rangers in "Lights, Camera, Action".
• Continuity Snarl: Adam and Aisha helping SPD fight off the Troobians on Sirius, intended as a Call-Forward to SPD, doesn't really jive with the backstory of the show. SPD confirms that the police force had been established on Earth for many years, with Kruger himself on Earth back during the early 2000's, and that aliens are commonplace citizens by 2025. It's also heavily implied that Grumm destroyed Sirius many, many years prior to the show, while this film explicitly takes place in, at earliest, late 2022, meaning it would only be less than 3 years before the status quo of SPD would need to be established.
  • It's entirely possible that Sirius has been resettled in the interim. The Troobians are definitely not above attacking the same planet twice.
• Costume Evolution:
  • The Mighty Morphin suits have received a bit of a glow-up, in particular featuring much more detailed and high-quality gloves and boots.
  • Alphas 8 and 9 feature a taller frame, new black outlining around his visor, and significantly less flashing lights on his chest panel.
  • Rita's new Robo form not only includes a new face, but a new chestplate as well.
• Darker and Edgier: Trini is outright killed during the opening moments of the special, with Never Say "Die" being fully averted. The next fight also takes place in a cemetery, with Rita and her minions saying that "all of Earth" would look similarly once her plan comes to fruition.
  Robo-Rita: You want to get serious? Let's get deadly serious!
• Description Cut: At one point, Alpha dismays that the rangers are walking into a "monster sandwich". It then cuts to an advertisement for a sandwich company owned by Bulk and Skull.
• Defeat Equals Explosion: As a mainstay of Power Rangers, this is the final of fate of Robo-Rita, and with her, Rita's evil.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • To work around the absences of their actors, Jason, Kim, and Tommy are captured early on by Robo-Rita, and spend the rest of the special as little figures within her machine.
  • Adam and Aisha are on Sirius when the main plot kicks into gear and don't make it back until after everything's over.
• Dragon Their Feet: Robo-Rita is taken out by Billy's Power Lance before Robo-Minotaur and Robo-Snizzard are dealt with. But it's subverted as Robo-Rita was either only temporarily disabled or playing possum while the Rangers dealt with her minions, and rises again to finalize her plan.
• Dramatic Drop: When Minh overhears Billy and Zack talking about Robo-Rita killing her mother, she drops her backpack in shock.
• Evil Is Petty: If one ever questioned just how petty and vile Rita was, her attacking the Rangers at the cemetery when they gather for the anniversary of Trini's death should put those doubts to rest.
• Fake Shemp: Jason, Kimberly, and Tommy only appear in their Ranger suits, and are not played by their respective actors. Archived audio (specifically, Tommy's is from the Power Rangers Ninja Steel crossover) is used for each of their dialogue. This is also how the special handles Trini’s presence, before she is killed off by Robo-Rita in the prologue.
• Good Feels Good: Minh's initial motivation for wanting to be a Ranger is revenge on Rita. The Sabertooth Tiger morpher only works for her when she acts for selfless reasons.
• The Heartless: Robo-Rita is Rita's purged evil reincarnated by possessing Alpha 8 while her good half became the Mystic Mother. This is showcased by the fact she's far more ruthless and bloodthirsty than she originally was.
• Hero Killer: Robo-Rita proves much more dangerous than her original self by outright killing Trini. She intends to follow up by going back in time to kill the Rangers before they were chosen by Zordon.
• Honest Corporate Executive: What Billy's become (though he hasn't told his employees about the Command Center under the main building) since the end of Zeo.
• Honorary Uncle: Minh refers to Zack as "Uncle Zack."
• How Do I Shot Web?: Minh can't get her mother's old morpher to work on her, and she has some trouble getting the Radbug into the air as well.
• Hypocrite: Zack tells Minh that Ranger business isn't for teenagers even though all the Rangers started as teenagers. Justified, as he's being extremely protective of her.
• I Got Bigger: It's not remarked upon in-universe, and possibly justified due to being different bodies completely, but Alphas 8 and 9 are significantly taller than Alphas 5, 6, and 7.
• Inconvenient Summons: Kat grumbles about having to duck out of what she was doing to answer Billy's call, while Rocky was in the middle of lunch.
• In the Back:
  • Billy stabs Robo-Rita through the back with his Power Lance while she's distracted.
  • Likewise, the Megazord finishes Robo-Snizzard by leaping behind him and jabbing him in the back with the Power Sword.
• In Medias Res: The special begins with Billy fighting Robo-Rita, by himself. It's half an hour before there's an explanation as to how this happened.
• Irony: The Power Morpher toys Hasbro made for their Lightning Collection line was heavily based on the original 90's toy and props, featuring a smaller design and matte silver finish. Previously, Bandai released a high-end collector's version of the Power Morpher for their Legacy line, featuring a larger device and die-cast metal. Once the Zyuranger suits began to be used in both Super Sentai and Power Rangers again, the Legacy morpher was used as the default prop. That continues in this movie, where the Hasbro-funded special will have the Rangers use the Bandai-made morphers instead of their own, though the suits themselves still use the original matte-finish morphers.
• Kick the Dog: Minh, angry at Billy, blames him for her mother's death. Since Billy blames himself, he agrees with her.
• Killed Off for Real: Trini ends up Taking the Bullet meant for Billy during the opening fight.
• Last-Name Basis: Although the original Rita did not do this, Robo-Rita tends to address the Rangers by their last name, most notably calling Billy "Cranston".
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Zack and Billy remark that the Juice Bar seems smaller than when they were younger, referencing that the remade set is indeed smaller than the 1993 original.
• Legacy Character: Minh, Trini's daughter, takes up the role as the Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger.
• Left Hanging: Possibly combined with Sequel Hook, Billy never does manage to revive Zordon, but vows to eventually succeed.
• Logical Weakness: The team take advantage of Robo-Snizzard and Robo-Minotaur being mostly metal by using a souped-up electromagnet to capture them.
• Made of Evil: Robo-Rita is the original Rita's evil purged by the Z-Wave, reincarnated by possessing Alpha 8 while her good half became the Mystic Mother. As a result, she's even more ruthless and evil than her original incarnation.
• Make My Monster Grow: As per tradition, the Trope Namer herself pulls this on Robo-Snizzard for the final battle.
• Make Wrong What Once Went Right: Robo-Rita intends to go back in time and kill the Rangers before they were ever recruited by Zordon.
• Mama Bear: It's theorized even death wasn't enough to stop Trini from protecting her daughter and she interfered from beyond the grave to save Minh from Robo-Rita's One-Hit Kill spell.
• Meaningful Echo: Trini is killed after Taking the Bullet for Billy. During the final battle, Minh does the same thing, again for Billy, but this time her morpher's energy protects her and finally accepts her as its proper owner.
• Musical Nod: We get a brief glimpse of a sign picturing none other than Bulk and Skull, who have apparently started a food business together. Their classic theme song plays for a few seconds here.
• My Future Self and Me: Robo-Rita's plan is to go back in time and team up with her past self, using her future knowledge to kill the Rangers in their sleep before they can even be chosen by Zordon.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The subtitle, "Once & Always," is a reference to the phrase "Once a Ranger, always a Ranger," which has been used in multiple seasons but most notably in the 15th Anniversary crossover episodes in Operation Overdrive.
  • The rebuilt Dinozords are launched in the same sequence and camera angles as they were in Season 1 (though this time it's all done with computer graphics).
  • SPA, the organization Adam and Aisha belong to, is a branch of SPD, and is based on Sirius, where they are currently fighting off the Troobian Empire.
  • The captured Rangers are represented by their figures from Hasbro's Power Rangers Lightning Collection toyline. In addition, various props from previous seasons of the show are seen throughout Rita's palace.
  • Alpha remarks that Minh is a "teenager with attitude," referencing the famous line from the Season 1 opening.
  • Rita's return sets off a "Bandora Protocol". It also lists off Coral Harbor, Reefside, the Astro Megaship, Turtle Cove, and Terra Venture.
  • If one looks closely at the exterior of the Cranston Technologies HQ, there is a logo of the Hyperforce Rangers emblazoned on its front.
  • The crack formed on the tube when Rita's essence escapes is at a similar angle to the one Andros swung his Spiral Saber in to sacrifice Zordon.
  • Mixed with Ascended Meme, Zack and Kat are a little concerned about duplicated powers as Zordon warned, Kat even citing the infamous "too much pink energy is dangerous" line. No doubt Tommy told her about this actually happening with Trent and the White Ranger Clone.
  • More coincidental than anything, but this wouldn’t be the first time a Yellow Ranger was killed in action and required a successor.
  • During the graveyard fight, Robo-Minotaur knocks over a grave dedicated to Harvey Garvey, the talk show host in Season 2 played by Kim Strauss (who is still alive).
  • As expected of the Big Eater he's known for, the first time we see Rocky, he's got food on hand. And like in a few other cases, he's interrupted from getting a chance to eat because of the action.
  • Bulk and Skull's food distribution service not only includes their full last names ("Skullovitch and Bulkmeier Bulk Food Co."), but the sandwich shown is the Bulkwich from "Reign of the Jellyfish."
  • The Dino Zords and the Dino Megazord are heavily lifted from their Lightning Collection Zord Ascension Project designs.
  • Alphas 8 and 9 are also modeled after the Lightning Collection design of Alpha 5.
  • The Megazord fight with Robo-Snizzard on the moon just outside of Rita's palace evokes the final level of the first Super Nintendo game, where the Rangers did just that while fighting Cyclopsis.
  • Rocky is not the first Red Ranger to be a firefighter in his day job.
  • When she's surveying her captured Rangers, Robo-Rita states that "Together they are more!", as in more power for her machine. This is a reference to the tagline for the 2017 movie ("Together we are more"). In addition, before heading off to fight, the Rangers say they're stronger together in a manner similar to the Rangers in that movie.
  • The end credits start out with a shortened remake of the original opening, stylized after the Season 1 variant.
• Never Say "Die": Shockingly averted for a franchise that strictly never says kill in the main continuity. Minh mentions that Robo-Rita killed her mother Trini and has a desire for revenge. Rita also says she’ll go back in time and kill the Rangers before Zordon ever recruited them.
  Billy: She needs to know that Rita Repulsa killed her mom!
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The one responsible for Rita's return? Billy. While attempting to gather particles from the Z-Wave in an attempt to bring Zordon back to life, he accidentally gathered Rita's evil essence that was stripped from her by said wave and it found a new body in Alpha 8.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Minotaur openly admits to liking the look of the cemetery.
• Nonchalant Dodge: When Minh tries to fight Robo-Rita alone and unmorphed, Rita casually sidesteps each blow.
• Noodle Incident:
  • What happened to Alpha 7 (Last seen in "Forever Red") is never explained, though it's possible he is still on the Astro Megaship.
  • How Aisha got from 19th Century Africa to present day is not remarked upon in any way.
• No Ontological Inertia: As is the way with Power Rangers, the monster of the week's powers wear off when they get destroyed. Destroying Robo-Snizzard removes his paralyzing snakes, allowing the other Rangers to free their friends. However, it's also averted since destroying Rita doesn't restore the captured Rangers back to human form. They are changed back off-screen once the film is over.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Rita could be dangerous, but is best known for being Laughably Evil. The resurrected Robo-Rita is no less hammy than her original incarnation, but since she is made up entirely of the evil half of Rita that was purged by Zordon's wave, she is much deadlier and competent than her original self compounded when she successfully kills Trini and intends to go back in time and kill the Rangers before they were ever recruited.
• Off-the-Shelf FX:
  • The Rangers use Bandai's Legacy Power Morpher when announcing their morphs, though the suits themselves still use the standard matte finish morphers they've always used.
  • Rita's captured Rangers are represented by Hasbro's Lightning Collection figures.
• Older and Wiser: Of all the returning Rangers, Zack proved to have what it takes to lead the team in Jason and even Tommy's absence and has since learned to adapt be calm and level-headed even when put on a tight spot.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: Minh twice attempts to use her mother's Morpher, but it refuses to respond to her. It's only after she takes the hit for Billy that it allows her to access its power.
• Parental Substitute: Zack becomes one to Minh after Trini's death.
• Passing the Torch: Minh, as the Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger. Not only does the coin eventually recognize Minh as the new owner, but Aisha, the second holder of the power, gives her stamp of approval as well.
• Pocket Protector: When Minh jumps in to protect Billy from the same spell that killed her mother, the Power Morpher seemed to have protected her from getting outright disintegrated unlike Trini. However, it's implied that Trini's spirit also played a part in protecting her daughter, as well as Minh's revival soon after.
• Poisonous Person: Robo-Snizzard has venom in the fangs of the snake heads that amount to his hands, paralyzing his victims so he can capture them.
• Portal to the Past: Robo-Rita kidnaps various Rangers, including part of the original Mighty Morphin' team, to power a device to open a portal back to 1993, when the original Rita and her minions were freed from the space dumpster. Robo-Rita plans to kill the original Mighty Morphin' team before they're ever formed, allowing her original self to conquer Earth unopposed.
• The Power of Love: Billy theorizes that Trini's spirit has become one with the Morphing Grid and protected Minh when she nearly sacrificed herself to protect Billy from Robot Rita's deadly spell and revived her soon after.
• Putting the Band Back Together: Averted actually as the special implies the original group got back together quite a long time ago and has been in close proximity since. In fact the main group in this special is a hodgepodge of both main Mighty Morphin teams made out of the members who'd avoided being captured and who weren't too far out into space to help. Zack for example had never worked with Rocky or Kat before as Rocky was part of the group brought in to replace him and Kat only joined up long after Zack had left.
• Quality over Quantity: Whereas the original Rita followed the Monster of the Week formula and had a decent group of minions, Robo-Rita only has two main monsters while her massive Putty army only serves as bait and a diversion. Fortunately for her, putting a year into making them means that Robo-Snizzard and Robo-Minotaur are likely the two most powerful monsters she's ever had, and likely two of the most effective monsters in the franchise.
• Race Lift: Kind of. Thuy Trang, who played Trini Kwan in the first two seasons of Mighty Morphin, was Vietnamese. However, officially, Trini was supposed to be either Chinese or a Chinese/Japanese mix (with her comic self officially being half-Taiwanese and half-Korean). Charlie Kesh, who plays Minh, Trini's daughter, is Vietnamese just like Thuy, and even the name "Minh" is Vietnamese in origin, indicating that Trini has gone from Chinese to full Vietnamese. Overlaps with Interchangeable Asian Cultures.
  • Of course, given that we know absolutely nothing about Minh's father, it's equally possible that she just gets her Vietnamese heritage and name from him.
• Rejected by the Empathic Weapon: Minh is the first person to reveal when you break one of Zordon's other rules ("keep your identity secret" being the only one that was broken on a recurring basis). When one attempts to use a Power Morpher for personal gain (Minh avenging Trini's death), the morpher itself will refuse to work, a decidedly dangerous scenario considering the power is meant to be used to fight things normal humans cannot handle. Minh later saves Billy from a similar blast of energy that killed Trini, and, in response, the morpher not only protects Minh, it unlocks itself so that she can become the new Yellow Ranger.
• Ret-Canon:
  • Billy's last name was given as "Cranston" on various websites and official documents, but was never mentioned on-air until this special.
  • The original Megazord was simply called "Megazord" back during Season 1. When the recut version happened, Bandai retitled the toy as "Dino Megazord" to distinguish it from all the other Megazords in the franchise. Billy refers to the Megazord as "Dino Megazord" in this film, canonizing it in-universe.
• Retraux: The logo used for the movie is a slightly updated version of the one used in the original series, rather than using Hasbro's modern version of the franchise logo as a base.
• Reunion Show: Bringing back the majority of the Ranger cast from the first three seasons. This is the first time David Yost, Karan Ashley, and Walter Jones have appeared on-screen (Jones voiced a few monsters in the latter half of the first Saban era) since their departures.
• Revenge Is Not Justice: Minh is insistent that Robo-Rita and her forces must be killed after what Rita did to her mother. Zack rebukes this, telling her that being a hero is about more than that.
• Right Behind Me: After the opening battle and Trini's death, Zack and Billy head to the Kwan household to break the news to Minh. While arguing over whether or not to tell Minh about her mother's life as a Power Ranger, Billy blurts out in frustration that Rita killed Trini. Guess who came home from school at that moment?
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Minh's suggestion to destroy the monsters later turns out to be the right thing to do, but she suggests it purely out of revenge at the time, prompting the others to ignore it until they realize too late that Robo-Snizzard needs to be destroyed in order to free the other Rangers.
• Robot Wizard: Robo-Rita is Rita's evil essence inhabiting the body of Alpha 8.
• Saved by Canon: A Ranger is killed in this movie but Power Rangers Zeo episode "A Season to Remember" shows Tommy and Kat will live long enough to know their grandchildren.
• Scarred Equipment: Downplayed but present on the Dino Megazord. Time has put a decent amount of wear and tear on the old Zord but its still as capable as ever.
• Sealed Evil in a Six Pack; Rita's evil half was dispersed through the universe by the Z-Wave, leaving it pretty much in limbo ever since. Billy accidentally collects it trying to resurrect Zordon, allowing it to return as Robo-Rita.
• Serious Business: Zack tells Minh that being a Ranger is about more than just "kicking butt", and that there are rules Rangers must follow.
• Shown Their Work: There are two different stunt actresses for the Pink Ranger. One used in the beginning for when Kim morphed, and one used in the second half to portray Kat, as Catherine Sutherland is significantly taller than Amy Jo Johnson.
• Slogan: Skullovitch & Bulkmeier Bulk Food Co. has the slogan "Use Your Skull, Buy in Bulk!"
• Snap Back: Averted - Despite the Rangers captured by Rita surviving, they’re still shrunken down and need to be taken to Aquitar to recover fully.
• Stealth Pun: Of course it's Kat, former holder of the Ninja Crane powers, who operates the magnetic crane that traps Robo-Snizzard and Robo-Minotaur.
• Stock Audio Clip: Austin St. John, Amy Jo Johnson, and the late Thuy Trang and Jason David Frank ^*who was still alive at the time of this movie's production all have their various "hi-yas", grunts, and other bits of Kiai reused from the original series to make up for their absence. The original morphing calls from the first season are also reused in one instance. Strangely, while the few proper lines Trini, Kimberly, and Tommy have are clearly recycled audio, the handful of proper lines Jason has are performed by someone else, though thankfully a better impression than the one used in Season 2.
• Stock Footage:
  • When Minh is hit by Rita's blast, her morpher glows and she sees various clips of Trini from Season 1.
  • The film ends with a clip of Kimberly singing "Down the Road" from the Season 2 episode "The Song of Guitardo," the end of which is edited to focus on Trini and Tommy before the memorial slate pops up.
  • Rita's time portal showing the astronauts releasing her from her space dumpster is a mix of original footage and Zyuranger footage.
• Suddenly Voiced: Mighty Minotaur never spoke in the original show, only vocalizing in generic roars and grunts. The robotic version of him here is fully voiced and just as talkative as most other monsters.
• Taking the Bullet: When Robo-Rita unleashes a lethal spell at Billy, Trini jumps into its path, taking the hit for her old friend.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Billy refuses to go along with Minh's desire to kill Robo-Snizard and Robo-Minotaur after they're captured because 'Rangers don't just kill bad guys.' It's Played With, however, as while Rangers are usually fine killing monsters, this would be an outright execution of an already captured foe, something that the series has been fairly consistent in being something Rangers shouldn't do.
• Time Skip: One year passes between Trini's death and the main plot. Judging by Minh seeing the Juice Bar being attacked through a Buzzblast video, this also takes place some time after the Dino Fury six-month Time Skip when Jane mentions opening a Buzzblast branch in Angel Grove.
• Took a Level in Badass: Minotaur is much more competent and cunning in his robot upgrade compared to the mindless brute he originally was.
• Transformation of the Possessed: When Rita's evil energies infest Alpha 8's body, they quickly alter it into the Robo-Rita form.
• Vanity License Plate: Billy's new ride has a "RADBUG2" license plate.
• Villain Ball:
  • Rita successfully kills Trini in the opening, and instead of finishing off the rest of the team, decides to run away to the Dark Dimension. Justified in a quick explanation she makes that she needs to sacrifice a portion of her robot body's energy in order to power the killing spell she uses on Trini, and by an implication from a later reveal that she had only just been revived and might not last long against the remaining five Rangers.
  • Rita attempts to blast Minh, and the other four Rangers de-morph to see if she's OK. Instead of finishing off the Rangers right then and there, Rita sits back and waits while Minh collects herself and the Rangers re-morph. As with the first, justified as she did the same exact spell she used to kill Trini, which is established to take a lot out of her.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: After they capture Rita's monsters, Minh asks Billy why they don't just kill them. She's not taken with Billy's explanation that they can't, and goes off to do it herself. Of course, it's only then Billy learns they do actually need to destroy Snizzard to save the others.
• The Worf Effect: Robot-Rita pulls no punches, and this demonstrates this by the fact that Many rangers are captured off-screen, including Sixth Rangers Merrick and Trent, and two Red Rangers, Leo and Connor, who, while they have Battlizers at their disposal, Connor also has access to the Triassic Ranger form.
• Wrestler in All of Us: During the Juice Bar fight, two Putties grab Minh and use a double team belly to back suplex to slam her onto a table, which doesn't break.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Minh's tone when she asks Zack "Are you break-dance fighting?!"
• You Killed My Father: Minh's reason to go after Rita is because Rita killed her mother, Trini.

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