Power Rangers 30: Green With Evil

Now that Power Rangers has debuted and taken not just America but the entire world by storm, how do the producers keep things interesting? Well, it's simple, add in a new Ranger to the mix.

Having seen this promo way back when, it caught my attention in ways that even now I still remember being in awe of what I saw. Having five Rangers was cool enough but introducing a new Ranger was something else, and it was because of how he was presented in the promo. While the Green Power Ranger's suit was the same as the other five, there were some key differences. One being he had a shield across his chest thus giving him more protection, along with the gold bands on his arms and legs. Plus the fact that he had his own zord - modeled after a dragon at that - showed that this guy was not your typical Ranger. And the small scenes of him kicking all the other Ranger's butts showed just how deadly he was going to be. Having it be a five-part saga also allowed for the story to be stretched out and not have it be compressed to one episode.

When part 1 started it felt like a typical episode at first, but then once Tommy was revealed that's when the vibe changed altogether. From Tommy being kidnapped by Rita and forced under control to wield the Green Power Coin, you could tell this episode was not going to be a typical one. And it wasn't. When the Green Ranger wrecked the command center and then surprised the Rangers in their zords which then led to the fight on the ground, just about everyone was glued to their screens for the next four days.

And with every episode things seemed to go from bad to worse for our heroes. Jason gets captured and is out of action for a bit, The Green Ranger fights Zack and the other Rangers for a bit, then Rita finds a way to bind Tommy to her control via the Sword of Darkness while she also works on a spell to weaken the Power Rangers' zords. And it all turned out to be effective.

Fortunately there is still a gleam of hope, for Alpha manages to decipher the Green Ranger's identity, and is still able to find a way to locate Zordon. And not a moment too soon for Rita gifts Tommy with the Dragonzord that he uses to attack the city.

During the fight Jason and the others learn Zordon is alive and they get teleported back to their zords and another fight ensues, but this time the tide finally turns and not only does the Megazord trounce Dragonzord, but Rita's spell over Tommy is finally broken.

And so with the team at six, a new era begins not just for the five teens themselves, but for the new guy Tommy Oliver, who would go on to become not just a fan-favorite, but a Legend in the years to come, and for us 90s kids, this new show became even more amazing.

I myself didn't get a chance to watch the entire 5-part saga until some years later, but everybody at school was talking about it, and rightfully so. In many ways this mini-series helped propel the show as a true flagship show for Fox Kids at the time, and ensured Power Rangers dominance for more than just one season.

Not only that, but the reaction in the ratings just from this five-parter - especially in the final episode - showed that the audience was much larger than what had been projected. Much larger.

Interestingly enough, the circumstances that led to this was almost by accident, for according to then story editor/co-producer Tony Oliver, as he was looking through the Sentai footage to edit for what would become future episodes, he was surprised to find that there was another Ranger in the footage and not just the five that they had already cast, so as he had said once, "It was a mad scramble to find someone." And when they found Jason David Frank and cast him, the rest was history.

So if one wants to narrow down the essential episodes of Season 1 of MMPR, "Day of The Dumpster" and then "Green With Evil, Part 1 - 5" are definitely a must. These episodes show why MMPR is as beloved as it is today, and why the original six are held in such high esteem, something that the comics from Boom! Studios have faithfully built on and expanded.

If you have the DVD sets of MMPR, go check them out. But you can also check out YouTube as well, for there are official PR channels that have the episodes too!