Abstract
In this chapter, O’Melia addresses what Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is, how it was received by the young American audience when it debuted, and how it both conformed to the established narrative and conventional norms of Saturday Morning, and how it deviated from them with its own foreign tropes and conventions. From this point, she further explores Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ influence and the reaction of the networks at the time by analyzing Big Bad Beetleborgs, a similarly composed Japanese hybrid show, and Superman: The Animated Series, a popular American production, looking at how they either reflected the newly introduced, but foreign conventions, or reverted back to traditional American conventions in this first stage of the cultural transition and Japanese integration on Saturday Morning.
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Notes
- 1.
The generalizations about Mighty Morphin Power Rangers are based on the seasons that fall under the name “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” as well as the seasons named “Power Rangers Zeo” and “Power Rangers Turbo.” For the most part, the focus is on the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episodes because they are the most iconic and the ones that created the phenomenon. When the franchise continued with Power Rangers in Space, that season acted as a transitional period for the franchise where all new characters and plot elements were introduced. While Power Rangers in Space continued to use many of the conventions introduced by Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and exists in the same narrative universe, the initial dynamics of the series changed and the story of the original team of Power Rangers concluded.
- 2.
Meg James, “He believed in ‘Power Rangers’ when nobody else did, and it turned him into a billionaire,” Los Angles Times, 19 March 2017, accessed 31 August 2018, https://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-haim-saban-power-rangers-20170319-story.html.
- 3.
Ibid.
- 4.
“Janine Melnitz , Ghostbuster,” The Real Ghostbusters. DVD. Written by Michael Reaves (29 September 1987; Pueblo, CO: Time Life Entertainment, 29 September 2009).
- 5.
Marwan M. Kraidy, Hybridity or the Cultural Logic of Globalization (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005), 148.
- 6.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “Green with Evil, Part 1,” Netflix, 19:00, 5 October 1993.
- 7.
“Janine Melnitz , Ghostbuster.”
- 8.
“You Were Never Duckier,” Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. Boomerang (7 August 1948; Atlanta: GA, 21 January 2014).
- 9.
“What’s Opera, Doc?” Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. Boomerang (6 July 1957; Atlanta: GA, 31 January 2014).
- 10.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “Green with Evil, Part 1.”
- 11.
Ibid.
- 12.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “Green with Evil, Part 2,” Netflix, 19:00, 6 October 1993.
- 13.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “Green with Evil, Part 1.”
- 14.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “Green with Evil, Part 4,” Netflix, 19:00, 8 October 1993.
- 15.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “Green with Evil, Part 5,” Netflix, 19:00, 9 October 1993.
- 16.
Ibid.
- 17.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “Green Candle, Part 2,” Netflix, 19:00, 18 November 1993.
- 18.
Ibid.
- 19.
Ryan Lambie, “Transformers: The Movie and The Great Toy Massacre of 1986,” Den of Geek!, 18 December 2018, accessed 19 December 2018, http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/transformers/256185/transformers-the-movie-and-the-great-toy-massacre-of-1986.
- 20.
Ibid.
- 21.
“Burai Shisu,” Super Sentai Zyuranger. DVD. Written by Noboru Sugimura (11 December 1992; City, St: Shout! Factory, 17 February 2015).
- 22.
“Bewitched Bunny,” Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. Boomerang (24 July 1954; Atlanta: GA, 21 January 2014).
- 23.
The Real Ghostbusters, “Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster.”
- 24.
Peter Suderman, “Why Power Rangers Is a One-of-a-Kind TV Franchise,” Vox, 29 March 2017, accessed 19 December 2018, https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/3/29/15039986/power-rangers-tv-series-movie.
- 25.
“A Thing About Rats,” Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. DVD. Written by David Wise and Patti Howeth (30 December 1987; New York, NY: Lions Gate, 20 April 2004).
- 26.
“Hot-Rodding Teenagers from Dimension X,” Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. DVD. Written by David Wise and Patti Howeth (31 December 1987; New York, NY: Lions Gate, 20 April 2004).
- 27.
“Turtle Tracks,” Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. DVD. Written by David Wise and Patti Howeth (28 December 1987; New York, NY: Lions Gate, 20 April 2004).
- 28.
Big Bad Beetleborgs, “Beetle Rock, Part 2,” Netflix, 22:00, 7 September 1996.
- 29.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “Day of the Dumpster,” Netflix, 19:00, 28 August 1993.
- 30.
Ibid.
- 31.
Big Bad Beetleborgs, “Beetle Rock, Part 2,” Netflix, 22:00, 7 September 1996.
- 32.
Beetleborgs Metallix, “Crush of the Crustaceans,” Netflix, 22:00, 8 September 1997.
- 33.
Beetleborgs Metallix, “Metallix Rising,” Netflix, 22:00, 9 September 1997.
- 34.
Herbert I. Schiller, Mass Communications and the American Empire, 2nd edition (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992), 201.
- 35.
Shamus Kelley, “American Tokusatsu Shows: Big Bad Beetleborgs,” Den of Geek!, 14 August 2014, accessed 19 December 2018, https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/beetleborgs/237232/american-tokusatsu-shows-big-bad-beetleborgs.
- 36.
Superman: The Animated Series , “The Last Son of Krypton, Part 3,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 6 September 1996.
- 37.
Superman, directed by Richard Donner, performed by Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, and Margot Kidder, Warner Bros, 1978. Film.
- 38.
Superman: The Animated Series , “The Last Son of Krypton, Part 3.”
- 39.
Superman: The Animated Series , “Apokolips…Now! Part 2,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 14 February 1998.
- 40.
Superman: The Animated Series , “The Last Son of Krypton, Part 3.”
- 41.
Superman: The Animated Series , “The Way of All Flesh” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 19 October 1996.
- 42.
Superman: The Animated Series , “Action Figures,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 20 September 1997.
- 43.
Superman: The Animated Series , “Ghost in the Machine,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 29 September 1997.
- 44.
Ibid.
- 45.
The Real Ghostbusters, “Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster.”
- 46.
Michael Robert Gale and Devin Grayson, Batman: No Man’s Land, Vol. 1 (New York: DC Comics, 2011).
- 47.
Genevieve Van Voorhis, “Who Is Mercy Graves on ‘Supergirl’? The Comic Book Character Is Finally Getting the Story She Deserves,” Bustle, 14 October 2018, accessed 19 December 2018, https://www.bustle.com/p/who-is-mercy-graves-on-supergirl-the-comic-book-character-is-finally-getting-the-story-she-deserves-12208163.
- 48.
Batman: The Animated Series, “Pretty Poison,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 14 September 1992.
- 49.
Batman: The Animated Series, “Joker’s Favor,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 11 September 1992.
- 50.
Batman: The Animated Series, “The Cat and the Claw, Part 1 & 2,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 5 September 1992/12 September 1992.
- 51.
Batman: The Animated Series, “Shadow of the Bat, Part 1 & 2,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 13 September 1993/14 September 1992.
- 52.
Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo, Batman: A Death in the Family (New York: DC Comics, 1991).
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O’Melia, G. (2019). The Emergence of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. In: Japanese Influence on American Children's Television. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17416-3_4
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