Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Season 3/MMAR Overview

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Season 3/MMAR
Episode Count: 43
Air Date: September 2nd, 1995-February 17th, 1996

Season Numero 3 and the final season to carry the Mighty Morphin' name could possibly be the strongest season out of the 3!! Let's be real, Season 1 and 2 were a series of filler episodes with most multiparters dealing with Tommy and him constantly losing or regaining his powers. Sure there was a plot sometimes but there was never really a story arc to follow. That all changed this season!!! But first we had to deal with the very mediocre 3 part season premiere, "A Friend In Need", dealing with Edenoi, Dex and Count Dregon. Honestly, those episodes were more episodes to promote Masked Rider than anything else instead of pushing the overall story forward and showing the next phase of the series. The next 4 episodes, "Ninja Quest" did that though and did it WELL!!! :) We finally got some plot movement again in the introduction of Rito Revolto, Rita's pretty powerful but ultimately dimwitted brother. He brings with him a new army of foot soldiers in the Tengas and a deadly new monster to surprise the rangers as well as give Lord Zedd and Rita a late wedding gift. But it's the moment the Thunderzords are destroyed that the story really gets interesting as it's one of the best acted moments of the series.

It leads to the rangers having to find new powers and zords by going to the Desert of Despair and discovering the ancient temple and the creator of their old and new power coins, Ninjor. Ninjor is quite the goofy, eccentric character but makes for a decent ally who would come and help the rangers during a couple of battles throughout the series when they needed it. The arrival of the Ninja powers are definitely my favorite set of powers in the MMPR era. While the first two seasons had the rangers' rely on the power of the dinosaurs, these new powers gave them a separate set of powers out of their regular ranger suits with their ninja forms. These ninja forms would allow them to do a lot more than their ranger forms in teleporting, phasing through objects, shooting energy blasts, creating duplicates of themselves and even growing in size. It was a cool evolution of their powers and always made their fight scene with the Tengas interesting. Speaking of fights, I feel like her is when the American fight choreography began to improve immensely as the ninja vs Tengas fights always looked well done and more properly choreographed than the messy, poorly edited morphed fights of Season 2.

Now it time for me to talk about the rangers again and their individual character episodes as well as development. And of course, I will start with the character who got the biggest and best character development this season, Kimberly. The final season for our original Pink Ranger, Kimberly's story arc this season saw some of the best writing from the series so far with Kimberly going through serious character evolution. Seriously, this isn't the same girl who cared about getting her hair all messed up in the helmet in the Pilot. It started with "A Brush With Destiny", a very fine episode that has Kimberly dealing with her fears of possibly moving away with her mom and her fiance but finding the inner strength to keep fighting as a ranger by trusting in what is meant to be. If that wasn't great enough, we get a whole story arc that not only develops her character superbly but leads to a series of episodes that are some of the best of the show. "A Ranger Catastrophe, Part 1 and 2" begins a series of events that would not only test Kimberly's strength as a ranger but her compassion and selflessness as a person in the wonderful three parter "Changing of the Zords".  By "A Different Shade of Pink, Part 1-3" Kimberly is able to show that she is grown so much and show concern as well as understanding toward a character that recently tried to have her essentially killed but realizing it wasn't her fault. Kimberly's last moments on the show are just beautifully written and Amy Jo gave a fine performance throughout. Kimberly will seriously be missed as the franchise moves forward.

I guess I'll go to the next ranger that got the most character development which is Aisha.  The two parter, "Stop The Hate Master, Part 1 and 2" shows Aisha faced with unfair social and societal expectations when a Girls' Club won't accept her because her family doesn't make enough. We see her and Kimberly's relationship grow closer as well as having a touching moment with her grandmother that helps her face the hate inside of her and overcome it with love. Yeah, it's corny but it was done in a light that made it relate to the viewers. I loved seeing her running around trying to save her friends and teaching them not to hate. I just really enjoyed Aisha this season.....that being said, her exit from the series...horrible, in poor taste and such an upsetting betrayal of the character. I mean I get that Aisha learned about love and compassion through being a Power Ranger and she has grown SOOO much since "When There's Smoke, There's Fire" last season but how the hell would she just abandon the rangers like that thinking her short work at an animal shelter could cure a plague killing animals in Africa??? O_o I mean that is just so forced to me honestly. I mean the only thing good to come from that plot development is Tanya. A mysterious new character who will get to know more about in Zeo. Sigh....Rocky and Adam....I'm sorry but these characters continue to always bore me. I guess "Wizard for A Day" was suppose to make me care about Rocky and how he understood how to be more like an adult and more responsible. Ummmm, ok....but we still don't know who Rocky is as a character!!! -_- So no thanks! In "Passing The Lantern", Adam learns about having strength and inner power with in himself and not in his family's priceless lantern....BUT the lantern they destroyed wasn't even his family's lantern so what was the point of the lesson. I'm sorry but at times when Rocky and Adam when in the background, I felt like they could be replaced by literally anyone. They were just there to say lines and still fill those shoes of  the Red ranger and Black ranger but they just make me continue to miss Jason and Zack. Sigh.

Tommy and Billy didn't get much development....or any development at all this season. Tommy's spotlight comes in "Rita's Pita" but that's more just a ranger being under a dumb spell than a lesson Tommy has to learn or developing him. Billy probably got zero focus this season, except for maybe the Alien Rangers mini-series. Speaking of that, it was heavily mediocre!! Some episodes reeked of desperately childish writing (I know it's a kids show but come on!!!) The little rangers return and are an annoyance, the Alien Rangers themselves are dull, characters outside their suits and watching Rito and Goldar continue to get own by children is just freakin' pathetic. The only redeeming factor of it was the Zeo Quest, as the Zeo Crystal was wonderfully introduced a few episodes before to help audiences with the transition between Mighty Morphin' and Zeo! It was cool seeing Billy take leadership of the Earth rangers for the time being and showing more of his technological expertise as it will be essential to his evolution in Zeo next season. When it come to the zords, they were cool. Not as good as original Dinozords or as impressive looking as the Thunderzords but the Ninjazords were nice. The Shogun Zords were even better and I liked the different formations like the Ninja Mega Falconzord and the Shogun Mega Falconzord. What didn't I like??? The Ninja Ultrazord and Shogun Ultrazord. They just randomly bring back Titanus and suddenly we're suppose to care. Not!

As for the villains this season, Lord Zedd and Rita proved to be more efficient this season. As married duo of evil doers, they had more victories over the rangers than losses than when they worked individually in Season 1 and 2 respectively. Let's see, they managed to destroy the old powers and zords, capture Ninjor, steal the Pink Power Coin, steal the Falconzord and destroy the new powers and zords as well. Its funny because it's true!!! As laughable as their plans could be at times (like making Tommy overeat! Yes, I won't let that go! -_-), they proved to be even more vicious as a villainous couple than ever. So kudos to the writers for that. Goldar had his moments but he's been a joke since after Season 1 pretty much. Squatt and Baboo are just there for villain comic relief and Finster had some moments to shine with making monsters but it's sad we won't see him again doing that really after this season. As for the new villains, Rito was fun at times, a sometimes entertaining and incompetent villain who could beat the rangers sometimes but other times gets outsmart and beaten up by a bunch of kids. Master Vile was excellent though, at least in the three parter "Master Vile and the Metallic Armor". He comes out of no where after the Zeo Crystal and forms a plan that really puts the rangers' through one of their toughest battles. Then of course, he resorts to the same daily routine of random monster attacks until he reverses time but leaves as soon as the Alien Rangers arrive to beat him...ONCE!!! Kind of pathetic for such a promising and gruesome new villain. The final villain/ally I'll talk about is Katherine. A feline spy sent by Rita to infiltrate the rangers, Katherine is a part of what made this season so much fun. It was cool seeing an arc that had a character spying on our heroes and secretly manipulating them. Something fresh and new at the time. But ultimately, it's her inner battle to regain her memory and goodness that was so fascinating. I loved how she overcame Rita's spell and was there for Kimberly in her time of vulnerability. It's because of Kat's bravery and self sacrifice that not only forced Kimberly to make an important life decision but leading to her succeeding the Pink Ranger powers. Kat was a nice if not slightly underdeveloped addition to the team. I mean after her arc with Kimberly, she becomes a generic goody good like the rangers were in the first 2 seasons and it's not fun. I'm just looking forward to her evolving in Zeo as well as some of Turbo.

Lastly, I'll talk about Bulk and Skull, who become apart of the Junior Police Academy this season as their new arc for the year. It really doesn't do much besides making them nicer to the teens they use to pick on. They are still as dumb and incompetent as ever. They do things like steal Katherine's pet Chimp ("A Chimp In Charge") to almost breaking Adam's lantern ("Passing The Lantern"). Bulk and Skull just continue to annoy immensely as the rangers try to develop them but it just doesn't work for me at all. I just hate them! Oh the rangers get Shark Cycles this season which allow them to fight on motorcycles that are armed!!! :) Speaking of armed, the Metallic Armor was a last minute joke from the writers. It had to be because I just couldn't take that "upgrade" seriously! Hmmmmm, am I missing anything??? Well then, I'll proceed....

Pro:

• A terrifically written overarching story for the first time in the franchise!
• Kimberly's exceptional final arc and character development
• Some of the best written episodes
• The introduction and use of the Ninja Powers
• Cool new villains in Rito, Master Vile and Katherine

Cons:

• The dull and unecessary 3 part premiere "A Friend In Need"
• Some weak filler episodes outside of arc episodes
• Rocky and Adam continue to bore me
• The unevenness of the Alien Rangers mini-series
• Two Words. Metallic. Armor! -_-

Best Episodes:

1. "A Different Shade of Pink, Part 1-3"-Kimberly's departure could not have been handled better than these fine and fantastic 3 part conclusion to her story.

2. "Changing of the Zords, Part 1-3"-With Kimberly's life in danger, her power coin in evil hands, Ninjor captured as well as the Falconzord, these episode were surprisingly serious and spectacular!

3. "A Brush With Destiny"-The beginning of Kimberly's wonderful final arc on the series started here and it was overall just a well done character centered episode. :)

4. "Ninja Quest, Part 1-4"-The destruction of the Thunderzords was shocking and well done. We're introduced to a new villain and foot soldiers as well as new powers and zords. It was all well done as a whole.

5. "Master Vile and The Metallic Armor, Part 1-3"-Master Vile coming in with the Blue Globber monster, the introduction of the Zeo Crystal, the awesome zord battles, etc. These episodes had it all!! :)

Worst Episodes:

1. "Alien Rangers of Aquitar, Part 1 and 2"-I knew it was going to be a long mini-series with the little rangers returning and what felt live forever to get to the action of it.

2.  "The Potion Notion"-Everyone's all love sick and nothing really happens in this episode!!! O_O

3. "A Friend In Need, Part 1-3"-Such a weak and ultimately wasteful 3 part premiere.

4. "The Sound of Dischordia"-I'm all for Power Rangers silliness but this episode took it overboard. My goodness. Dancing rangers, yikes!!! O_O

5. "Passing The Lantern"-It's an episode centered around Adam, of course, it's boring and dull! ;)

'The 3rd and final season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers is arguably the best of the 3 with some of the show's finest written character development and an stunning first story arc for the show. While things like the mediocre mini-series and metallic armor made me cringe, the more serious and productive narrative of the show kept me entertained and intrigued."

Season Score: B+