The Most Terrible Things The Power Rangers Have Ever Done

When you look back on the original Power Rangers, it may be surprising that the show ever attracted
any controversy. It was charmingly goofy, and it starred a bunch of kids who were basically
the biggest nerds in the world — whether they knew it or not.
"Alpha! Rita's escaped. Recruit a team of teenagers with attitude!"
After the show became a hit, American parents complained to the FCC, claiming that the show
was too violent for children, while Canadian adults got Power Rangers removed from the
airwaves on multiple networks. If only they knew... While Power Rangers' fight scenes
look relatively tame by today's standards, the Rangers themselves aren't the squeaky-clean
heroes that everybody thinks they are. Sure, the galaxy needs saving, but are these delinquents
really the best ones to do it? We're not so sure.
Red Ranger, gambling addict
Things started going south for the Rangers as early as the second Red Ranger, Rocky,
who decided that saving the world wasn't nearly as important as… playing with a Pachinko
machine?
"A what machine?"
"A Pachinko machine."
In the episode "Rocky Just Wants to Have Fun," Ernie installs a Pachinko machine in the Angel
Grove Youth Center, not understanding that it's basically an addictive gambling device.
Rocky is immediately hooked. Lord Zedd picks up on Rocky's fascination and curses the teen,
making him obsessed with the thing, causing him to forsake his monster-fighting responsibilities.
"Yeah… c'mon, c'mon. YES! ALRIGHT! Heh heh, yeah."
Eventually, Rocky's gambling problem ends in tragedy, as he and all of the other Rangers
are transformed into Pachinko balls by one of Lord Zedd's Pachinko monsters.
"Whoa, I'll bet he knows how to have fun!"
Alpha manages to reverse the spell, restores Rocky and his teammates to their regular forms,
and Rocky kicks his addiction in the aftermath… much to Ernie's dismay.
The racist Ranger
If you're attacked by horrible monsters every few days, and still take the time to understand
the heart inside of those monsters, that's when you're a true hero. But Time Force's
Quantum Ranger and resident jerkbag, Eric Myers, didn't get the memo.
There's a fine line between lovable rogue and space racist, and Eric crosses it in the
episode "Trip Takes a Stand." Like he normally does, the villainous Ransik employs a criminal
mutant to help him destroy the Power Rangers… except the creature he frees, Notacon, has
absolutely no interest in fighting. Notacon's terrible crime? Stealing veggies to feed his
family.
"I'm not a violent a violent mutant! I was only put in jail for petty theft!"
"Petty theft?!"
That doesn't stop the Quantum Ranger from trying to kill Notacon and anyone who's protecting
him. In this case, that means sucker punching Power Rangers. The Quantum Ranger doesn't
care about Notacon's minor crimes. Notacon is a mutant, and just too weird-looking to
possibly be nice.
"You think they deserve the same justice we do? Why? They're not even human! Look at him…
he's a --- a freak! "
Harsh. Eventually, Eric backs down, but only after the Green Ranger gives him a stern lecture
about prejudice. Eric still warns them that the next time they defend a mutant, he won't
be so kind. So is Eric a killer? Maybe not. Is he prejudiced? Oh, heck yes.
Zordon's Christmas kidnapping
What started as a marketing tool to try and sell some more Alpha toys ended up becoming
one of the most-reviled holiday specials this side of Star Wars. Alpha's Magical Christmas
is considered a low point, even in the already low-budget world of the Power Rangers.
When Alpha gets lonely because the Rangers are too busy helping Santa load his sleigh,
Zordon takes some pretty extreme measures.
"But I've made arrangements for you to have some company tonight. Push the green button
on the console and get ready from some Christmas magic."
While it was one thing to abduct teenagers with attitude to save the world, it's another
thing to pluck random children from around the world to provide a lonely robot with some
company.
To their credit, the kids put on pretty brave faces, especially considering that they were
just abducted by a head in a tube. But as Alpha's Magical Christmas limps along, the
cracks start to show. The youths' performance of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is a pretty
clear indication that they'd rather be anywhere else...like, say, home? They're out of the
Command Center as soon as Zordon mercifully opens a portal, and viewers are left hoping
that they have a big box of therapy waiting for them under the tree.
Rita Repulsa's repulsive love potion
While Lord Zedd is taking a brief nap to recharge, which he has to do every hundred years, the
evil Rita Repulsa escapes from exile. With her opposition out of commission, she decides
to whip up a "love potion" to bend Zedd to her will — not so much because she has the
hots for Zedd's well-developed bod and completely exposed brain, but because she thinks that,
with Zedd by her side, she'll finally be able to destroy the Power Rangers and control the
universe.
The boundary that separates science and magic is pretty flexible in Power Rangers, but it's
clear that her marriage is based on a drug-fueled deception. The potion doesn't work quite as
well as Rita hopes, but the wedding proceeds as planned, and in true Power Rangers fashion,
the newlyweds decide to forgo traditional honeymoon activities and instead team up for
the one activity that gets them both hot and bothered: murdering super-teens.
The Navy Ranger's friendly fire
The Power Rangers spend a lot of time under mind control, but Power Rangers Ninja Storm's
"I Love Lothor" episode is a particularly egregious example, and not just because it
comes back to more creepy love potions. While Ninja Storm's big bad Lothor is busy starring
in a family sitcom that also happens to brainwash teenage girls into falling in love him, a
totally separate love spell messes with the ranks of Rangers.
Blake, the Navy Thunder Ranger, and Cam, the Green Samurai Ranger, spend the episode lusting
after their teammate Tori. And by the end, they're just straight-up fighting each other.
But that's not what makes the episode so creepy.
Tori's not into it, magic spell or not, and has to forcefully tell both of them to back
off numerous times. Blake has a crush on Tori before the love spell hits, so you can't chalk
his aggressive, stalker-y behavior up to drugs or spells or dehydration. That's just, y'know,
how he is. Maybe that's the kind of thing that happens when you cram a whole bunch of
weirdly aggressive teenagers into a small space.
The Red Ranger's baby brawl
Power Rangers RPM already has a reputation for being the "dark" season of Power Rangers,
since it begins in a post-apocalyptic world where a computer virus has wiped out almost
all of humanity. It gets even more morose in the episode "Ranger Red," which begins
with the most memorable fight scene in Rangers history.
Don't worry, the baby is fine, although not for a lack of trying. If it's not totally
clear, that's a Power Ranger using a stroller with a baby inside to assault some henchmen.
All that, and it doesn't even work: one of the Grinders gets its hands on the baby anyway,
forcing Scott to unleash a spinning kick that knocks the robot off its feet and sends the
baby hurtling through the air. While "gently spin-kicking a baby to safety" just isn't
something that was taught in Angel Grove, it seems to come in handy.
Zordon's chronic laziness
Real Power Rangers fans know that "Countdown to Destruction," the finale of Power Rangers
in Space, was supposed to be the very end of the Power Rangers franchise,
wrapping up pretty much every plot thread that the show introduced up to that point.
In the episode's action-packed conclusion, the Red Ranger Andros and his team fight to
save the universe from the United Alliance of Evil, an organization formed by every villain
in Power Rangers history.
In order to stop the Alliance's forces, Andros is forced to kill Zordon by breaking his tube,
which sends an energy wave across the galaxy that turns most of the monsters into bad Photoshop
filters, transforms a few more into yuppies, and wipes out all alien threats for good.
"I'm alive!"
But if Zordon had that kind of power all along, why didn't he use it? That would be better
than tracking down teenagers and forcing them to put their lives in danger to fight off
monsters, aliens, and all other kinds of nasty creatures, right? Zordon even admits that
only he has the power to really fix, well, anything.
"Shatter my energy tube."
"No!"
"Only the good energy from my tube can destroy the forces of evil."
Zordon doesn't have to answer for his crimes, given that he's already dead, and everyone
is so relieved that the crisis is over that they don't ask the really difficult questions.
Was Zordon saving the world, or just saving himself? Maybe you shouldn't trust a giant
floating head just because he gives you giant dinosaur robots, guys.
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The Most Terrible Things The Power Rangers Have Ever Done

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