The film features a lot of references to previous Power Rangers lore, including allusions to the Super Sentai franchise and its namesake counterpart, Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger.
open/close all folders
To Super Sentai & Zyuranger
- Trini shows off her newfound powers by wallcrawling a mountain face on all fours in an animalistic way — exactly one of Boi's (the original Yellow/Tiger Ranger) powers from Zyuranger.
- During the ending, Trini's brothers mistake the Yellow Ranger to be a male, and Trini asks about the legitimacy of that claim. This harkens back to how Trini's Zyuranger counterpart, Boi, is male, as well as the tendency of early Power Rangers installments to change the gender of the Yellow Ranger from male to female if there was only one female in the original Sentai team.
- A classmate at Angel Grove High has a shirt with "77" on it, referencing 1977, when Himitsu Sentai Gorenger (the first Sentai series) ended.
- In Zyuranger, the footsoldiers were called Golems. Here, the Putties are made up of rock and asphalt, making them literaly golems.
To Power Rangers
- Trini has a T-shirt saying "1973" - the year the original Trini's actress, Thuy Trang, was born. She is also introduced to exercise poses just as in the original pilot and intro.
- Zordon's unmorphed form looks a lot like the depiction of Zordon's out-of-tube form from the 1995 movie.
- Zordon and his Yellow Ranger resemble the Aquitian Rangers from the Alien Rangers arc.
- Set pictures have shown street signs referring to the names of towns in other Power Rangers series. So far, Reefside and Ocean Bluff have been spotted. The intersection of Reefside and Mariner Bay is mentioned in the movie.
- When the rangers glow in their eventual colors when they land in the water above the command center, Zack comments “I’m black” to which an offended Billy replies “no you’re not.” Of course, the original series famously cast a black guy as the Black Ranger, whereas this version has a black Blue Ranger and an Asian-American Black Ranger.
- The Dinozords briefly pass by a building marked "Dex's Door and Window"- Dex being the protagonist of Saban's infamous Masked Rider adaptation (who appeared in a Backdoor Pilot in MMPR season 3).
- As with the original series, the Rangers all wear their respective colors even in their civilian identities, albeit a lot more muted than before and in unexpected ways.
- When Zach steals his zord in his unmorphed form and bursts through the cliff face, the rock formation is shaped almost exactly like the Command Center from the original series.
- Kimberly's line "We're talking to a wall" (referring to Zordon), is similar to Zack's line "We're talking to a giant floating head" in "Day of the Dumpster".
- As Goldar's body is taking form, Rita says her iconic line "Make my monster grow!".
- Jason David Frank, the original Tommy Oliver, and Amy Jo Johnson, the original Kimberly Hart, make a cameo appearance among the crowd cheering when the Rangers win and they pull out their smart phones to take pictures. They are both wearing their classic colors of green and pink. A deleted scene showed them in the Krispy Kreme where Kim and Trini were fighting for the last bite of a doughnut with JDF even sporting the long hair he had during his tenure in the original show.
- When the Rangers pilot their Zords into battle against Rita, Alpha calls out "Go go, Power Rangers!", which cues the first movie's version of the theme song to start playing.
- Billy, a black dude who loves country music, isn't that unlikely if you know that Joel/Lightspeed Green actually went the whole hog with it, having a cowboy hat and calling himself the Sky Cowboy.
- Rita's mention of "they" who will come for Earth. It could be a nod to Lord Zedd's involvement in the second season, or considering the Zeo Crystal's plot importance in the movie and the fact that she said "they" instead of "him", it could be a nod to the Machine Empire instead. or even the the United Alliance of Evil that both of them were members of by the time of In Space.
- The Megazord emerging from a fiery pit may remind people of the original TV series' T-Rex and Pterodactyl Zords coming out of a volcano.
- When Rita got launched into orbit, the Moon is seen in the background, referencing the place of her lair in the TV series.
- The putties' weakness being the center of their body is the same as Lord Zedd's Z-Putties'.
- When the Rangers first fight the Putties in the quarry, several moves are taken directly from the same fight in the pilot episode, including Billy doing a back-bump and Kimberly doing a flying arm-drag.
- Zordon's three rules for the Rangers- "Never use your powers for personal gain, never escalate a fight unless forced to, and to never reveal their identities to anyone"- is near word for word from the original series.
- Action figures of Squatt & Finster appear in Billy's room, and a figure of a Putty appears in Trini's house.
- Also in Trini's house during the end, you can see a picture of an owl on the wall; this may or may not be a reference to Circuit from Time Force.
- Rita's new design has its influences from Scorpina, Divatox and Trakeena.
- The Morphing Grid is channeled at a circular altar/dais where the teens stand around to get their powers to morph, similar to the round morphing dais from Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie.
- A Deleted Scene shows Trini sneaking back in through her window after training with the other Rangers. When she stands in front of the window, you can clearly see the Sabertooth Tiger logo from the original series etched into stained glass.
- Trini is the one to backhand Rita into outer space, referencing the 1995 movie, where the Yellow Ranger (though Aisha in this case) disposed of the villain with a mundane attack (in this case a Groin Attack).
- During one early scene when Jason is arguing with his dad in the kitchen of their house, a newspaper article about Jason's past football exploits is shown hanging on the fridge with a title referring to Jason as "Angel Grove's Golden Boy", referencing how Jason in the show returned after his tenure as Red Ranger had ended to become the Gold Ranger during Zeo.
- Rita Repulsa originally being the Green Ranger on Zordon's team is a nod to how Tommy Oliver was brainwashed into serving Rita when he first became the Green Ranger in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
- Also the fact that Rita tried to steal the Green Ranger's power for herself at the end of "The Green Candle" 2-parter.
- This version of the Power Coins give the Rangers powers outside of their Ranger forms, like the Dinogems from Dino Thunder and the Energems from Dino Charge.
- Trini is a Latina in the film, a nod to the original pilot's version of her as played by Audri DuBois before being replaced by Thuy Trang.
- The prehistoric Yellow Ranger's death in the opening can also be seen as an acknowledgement of Thuy Trang's tragic passing, since it's very much Played for Drama; as the shot lingers on her, Zordon apologizes to her and tries to comfort her before she dies.
