“Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” fans can celebrate now that volume one of the first season of the television show is available on DVD. It’s not high definition Blu-ray but it’s the next best thing. Thirty of the sixty episodes are included in this three-disc collection from Saban and Shout! Factory.
In “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers – Season 1: Volume 1,” astronauts on a mission to the Moon release an evil sorceress named Rita Repulsa and her monstrous followers from 10,000 years of imprisonment. Upon her escape, she decides to conquer the Earth. Her nemesis, Zordon, recruits five teenagers and gives them super powers to defend their planet from Rita’s forces. They are assisted by a robot sidekick named Alpha 5 and giant robotic vehicles called Zords that look like dinosaurs.
Kids of all ages will love the martial arts combat and monster mayhem served up in this classic television show from the early 1990s. Rita’s minions look as scary as they can dressed up in rubber suits with mouths that don’t move. The action sequences and physical battles between the Rangers and their enemies are harmless and energetic, encouraging kids to get active. My son can barely sit still after one episode. He’s constantly up running about and kicking like a ninja.
The only thing that might cause kids to scratch their heads in bewilderment are the awful -looking and dated clothing worn by the Rangers outside of their costumes. They make me wish someone could digitally remove clothing and put something a little more current on each character.
Everyone wants to know if the 30 episodes in this collection include the ones with the first appearance of the Green Ranger. I’m happy to report it does. He shows up around half-way through this first volume.
The picture quality is better than VHS. However, don’t hold your breath for a hi- def transfer. It looks like Shout! Factory took the original source material and did a straight conversion over to DVD with very little image clean-up.
Consumers and fans will be upset with the fact that there are no extra features included in the release. I’m surprised they couldn’t get a few of the original Rangers together to do a commentary track. What else are they doing these days? Didn’t anyone shoot footage of the making of this show? If they did, you won’t see it here.
Enthusiasts will be content with “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers – Season 1: Volume 1.” A lack of bonus material will no doubt spoil the mood. The three-disc set is still recommended for the hardcore devotees of the series who waited so long to get these on DVD.
For more articles by Eric Shirey, check out:
Blu-ray Review: “The Hunger Games”
Blu-ray Review: “Battleship”
DVD Review: “Wolverine” Anime Series
