After 20 years of “power rangers” teams on television, Saban and Lionsgate brought the story to the big screen in a whole new adventure. Though the character names are the same as those of the original “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” the film kicked off the big screen franchise with a new spin on the mythology. The writers still made sure to give callbacks to the series though. Check out all the Easter Eggs and references found in Saban’s “Power Rangers.”
Note: spoilers for the film follow.
Dialogue
In addition to Alpha 5 spouting off an “ay yi yi” at one point in the film, there are bits of dialogue that come straight from the series.
Rita urges her staff to, “make my monster grow,” something she did on the show when throwing her staff to Earth. The biggest though, comes from Zordon.
Despite Zordon having a different backstory for the movie, he gives the Power Rangers the same set of three rules he gave them in the show: “First, never use your powers for personal gain. Second, never escalate a battle. And finally, keep your identity a secret. No one may know that you are a Power Ranger.”
Cameos
The big cameos belong to original cast members Amy Jo Johnson and Jason David Frank, who played the Pink and Green Rangers. They show up in a crowd of citizens snapping pictures of the Power Rangers - even wearing pink and green! Of course, fans will likely get to see the new incarnation of Tommy Oliver in the sequel since the Green Ranger’s name makes an appearance in the mid-credits scene.
They aren’t the only cameos. If you look behind Jason when he and Billy take off his ankle monitor, there’s a shelf behind them that sports familiar monsters. Rita Repulsa’s minions Squat, Baboo, and Finster, are represented as action figures.
Meta humor
When Billy removes Jason’s ankle bracelet, he rambles about his late father and the things they used to do.
He remarks that they “should have had their own TV show,” possibly a nod to the Power Rangers having their own series. He also tells Zack when the latter reveals “I’m black,” talking about the glowing in the water above the spaceship, “no, you’re not,” a reference to the Black Ranger in the original series actually being played by a Black actor.
Trini’s moment comes at the end of the film as she’s patching up holes in her wall and her younger brothers discuss which of the Power Rangers are the coolest. She asks if either of them want to be the Yellow Ranger. Both agree that “he’s” awesome, to which she wonders how they know the Yellow Ranger is male. In the original series, the footage of the Yellow Ranger was from the Japanese “Super Sentai” series, and he was a male character, while the U.S. series had a young woman in the role.
Even more Easter eggs
The movie also employs lots of fun smaller nods, including a new version of the show’s theme song that plays when the Power Rangers use their zords. Jason’s truck wrecked at the start of the movie is a red Ford Ranger.
The Red Ranger literally drives a red Ranger. Trini’s window has the outline of a tiger in it, a nod to her future zord. She also wears a shirt emblazoned with the year 1973 - the year the original Yellow Ranger, played by Thuy Trang, was born. Trang was killed in a car accident in 2001, so the gesture is a nice one.
Jason is the last potential Power Ranger to leave when meeting Zordon, just as he was the last in the series, and the one most receptive to being a Power Ranger. He’s also the only Power Ranger to say, “it’s morphin’ time,’ in the movie, a term coined by Zordon in the series, but made famous by Jason.
The fictional town of Angel Grove also has a few geographical nods to the TV franchise.
Several streets within Angel Grove are named after cities in other “Power Rangers” series. Reefside was the location for “Dino Thunder,” “Jungle Fury” was in Ocean Bluff, “Lightspeed Rescue” was in Mariner Bay, and “Time Force” was set in Silver Hills.
See how many Easter eggs you can catch in "Power Rangers," currently playing in theaters!
