Mighty Morphin Power Ranger - 5 Cases of Unused Stock Footage

 

Here is a list for the sake of fun trivia. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers used stock footage from 3 different Super Sentai incarnations, Zyuranger, Dairanger, and Kakuranger. But, not all of it. Rather than giving a long boring list of everything that was changed or unused, allow me to point out 5 cases of unused footage that I found interesting. Just for fun.

#5. Violence 

This pick does not need much explanation. There were many fight scenes that had to be trimmed down in order to keep the violence at an acceptable level, so to speak. Interestingly, this also meant cutting out the only time we could have seen Green Ranger fighting outside of zord battles in-between the Green With Evil arc and Zyu 2.

un-used Green Ranger fight

#4. Diaranger and Kakuranger Movies

I am not sure if these movie villains were even considered for use in Power Rangers, there was no reason they could not have been used. What kind of story behind them is a debate all on its own, but I am not here to write fanfic, I am here for pointless trivia. These were the first in a long line of un-used Super Sentai Movies that could have potentially made decent made-for-TV movies. Zyurangers didn't have a movie for themselves; if they did then who knows.

#3. 2/3 of Thunderslingers 

But wait, the Thunderslingers were used. Yes, but only once and all their following appearances were unused. Granted, there were only 3 instances of the Zyurangers using them, but it was enough to showcase that they still had them. Plus, there was another weapon combination of the Thunderslingers and the Blasters that we never got to see. Potential toy marketing loss.

#2. Most of Nimrod

While there were plenty of villains that either got their footage trimmed down or not used at all, (especially in seasons 2 & 3), the Nimrod always stood out too me. Why? Because, it was the monster used to introduce the White Ranger. This monster is only used in Megazord fights and those were edited down to the point that it made the 5 core rangers look like they immediately gave up after taking damage once. Also, the 2 other monsters were never really explained.

What we got.

A fan edit of what could have been.

That is not even counting the white rangers battle against this foe.

#1. Dairanger Suits

Saban decided to keep the Zyuranger suits moving into season 2 and use the Dairanger's mecha. With the exception of their 6th ranger Kibaranger which became Tommy's White Ranger. However, they still owned the rights to the Diarangers' fight scenes and tried all the way to Lost Galaxy to use them. Sadly, nothing ever came of it and Saban gave up. We would not see these (Thunder) Rangers until Super Megaforce with no proper explanation. 

Fun fact: there is a scrapt story line in Lost Galaxy where they would have used the Diaranger footage as the "ancient rangers". Some people believe this is why Magna defender had a morpher that was the same as the Diarangers' Aura Changer. 

Those are 5 cases of unused stock footage. But, believe me there are probably hundreds more cases so, if you like this list then leave a comment either on this post or our forums and I'll do another one. Maybe for another season. Till then, peace out.