Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers is on DVD! Hallelujah!

Every now and then there comes a quality television show that will stand the test a time, a program with such a lasting impression to make you dream you were a character during your sleep. If you ask me, Power Rangers is one of those programs. And I bet you thought I was talking about The Walking Dead. Sorry, guys – I’m a little biased. I’m a 26-year-old man, and my six five-inch Power Ranger action figures stand on my DVD rack to guard my BluRay discs — a fact that my girlfriend tends to roll her eyes at.

Hey, no shame in my game.

So, imagine my excitement when Saban Brands and the Shout Factory recently released the first two seasons of Power Rangers on DVD. Cue the chorus. There is a God.

Now, anyone that knows me knows that I keep it real. The only Power Rangers seasons worth owning are the first two. Everything after that is overly campy … especially those wretched Turbo years … with the exception of Yellow Ranger Tanya, who I always thought was cool. But let’s focus on the positive! Season one of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers is available on DVD, and if you’re a nerd like me, I suggest you go get it! I mean, seriously. It’s been out for a while now. What are you waiting on?

For those of you not familiar with Power Rangers lore, the show is essentially about a group of six teenagers (with attitude) who are given extraordinary abilities by a wise wizard when an intergalactic witch declares war on Earth. The program debuted in 1993 and is still going strong today – with a new cast of Rangers and a brand new plot of course. However, nothing compares to the first six rangers – Tommy the brave Green Ranger, Zachary the cool, spunky Black Ranger, Kimberly the gorgeous and determined Pink Ranger, Billy the clever Blue Ranger, Trini the capable Yellow Ranger (whom I simply adored), and Jason the testosterone driven Red Ranger. As a kid, I could always count on those six to save the day time and time again.

Luckily for me, I can still count on them to do just that whenever I pop one of those DVDs into my BluRay player. Now, unfortunately, Shout Factory decided to split season one into two sets – Volume 1 and Volume 2. That’s fine though. I personally feel that the first set has the better episodes. There’s the episode where the Black Ranger fights that creepy knight out to destroy Angel Grove. There’s also the episode where the Blue Ranger has to take down a monster made of eyeballs. Oh, yes – and how could I forget the five-part story arc featuring the Green Ranger before he became a good guy? That alone should be worth the price of purchase. However, there are absolutely no bonus features – no behind the scenes footage, no episode commentary, no nothing. Shame.

Still, let’s be positive. Who needs all that when you can have fun watching grainy Japanese footage being dubbed by American voice actors? Don’t believe me? I implore you to look closely at the scenes featuring Rita Repulsa. Her lips rarely line up with what she’s saying.

Ah, good times.

Season one of Power Rangers is really a treat, and to be honest, there hasn’t been a single season that has really lived up to this one. Subsequent seasons seem to be missing something, the spark that made this one really tick. In these episodes you’ll learn the value of teamwork and camaraderie. Each episode featured a lesson and some kind of moral which was good for me as kid. Power Rangers means a lot to me, and when I have children, they’ll probably be forced to watch the series.

I suppose I’ll just have to anticipate more eye rolling from my girlfriend.