Why do adults watch Power Rangers?

[CyberCubed]

As a kid I remember watching a bit of the original Power Rangers, but I was never a huge fan as I was angry that Ninja Turtles was losing popularity to Power Rangers at the time.

Anyway I've been watching the, "remastered" first season of Power Rangers airing on TV right now, and it really is a kids show.

The plots are generally simple with a new monster for the Power Rangers to fight every episode, the villains are beyond cheesy and hard to take seriously, and some of the costumes are just awful. The characters are fairly plain and nothing to write home about.

I don't know why they kept hyping Tommy up as being, "so cool" in these early episodes. And, "Ayyi yi yi yi" from Alpha is beyond annoying.

I understand why kids loved this show back in the day, its cheesy fun for kids, but what is the appeal otherwise?

[mgr91686]

Nostalgia is a major factor for me, and also it's cheesy.... and a lot of fun to watch. It never strives to be anything more than what it is.

I enjoy the concept, and regardless of it's flaws it was always enjoyable even when it was ludicrously stupid.

And those characters feel like family to me, Billy Cranston is just awesome. Also Kimberly was my very first crush.

I guess what it boils down to is you either embrace the formula, or you hate it. For me the formula is what makes it enjoyable, It was the waiting to see how they got out of it, the chemistry among the cast, and the antics of Bulk & Skull.

If you are looking for a more fulfilling experience, then most Live-action kids shows are not for you.

Also Ayy yi yi yi yi is not annoying, it inspired a song that is now stuck in my head because of you... thanks.

Bottom line: The chemistry between the Rangers, the likability of the supporting cast, and of course Amy Jo Johnson are the major things that still appeal to me about MMPR.

Spoiler:

Also, where were the awards for acknowledging this extremely well acted and written look at teenage problems and epic Shakespearean allusion? And if you agree with that, I have a tropical island to sell you here in Idaho

[spongebob03]

For me it's something I've never grown out of loving! It's all about the nostalgia for me. I was so excited to read that they were bring the orginal show back to tv and releasing the toys also. I use to have the original toys, but my dad threw them away years ago. And I was a little sad to see the new toys look so small compared to the orginal toys. I'm getting off subject! Yea it's a simple cheesy kids show. But think about the kind of site were posting on right now. Most of us, if not all of us (who are 18 and older), are still kids at heart. I think you have to be to want to get into the animation industry or just be hardcore fans of it. We love relieving our childhoods by watching cartoon shows we grew up with, don't we? Live action shows like the Power Rangers are no exception. I stopped watching once Amy Jo Johnson left. I had a feeling it was coming, I thought I was prepared for it, but I was hurt when she left. I loved the show, but I LOVED Amy also. And with to many of the original cast members gone for my taste, Amy was the final straw for me. Like mgr91686 said, they had a chemistry and Amy was the first crush I also had. I use to watch her in Lifetime type movies just to see her! Are there any life action kid shows you grew up watching mgr91686, that you enjoy today?

[Undrave]

Why do adults collect toys?

Why do adults watch animation?

Why are you hanging around here?

Because its fun. Because we can and nobody can tell us not to

Admitedly I find MMPR to really suck compared to the more solid fare of later years like In Space to Time Force.

[Blackstar]

Because as adults, we can do whatever we want. Adults watch Power Rangers for the same reasons why they watch cartoons and hang out on forums (Hey, like this one!) to talk about cartoons. Because we can, that's why!

[AlgeaX]

I was just about to join in with a well deserved savaging of MMPR's idiotic plots, cardboard cut out characterisation and cheap-ass visuals. Then I remembered that I own the entire run of the G1 Transformers toon on DVD.

[PC!]

I'm not a huge fan of the original Power Rangers series, but I darn loved pretty much everything from Lightspeed Rescue through Dino Thunder. And this is coming from a guy who first watched the show when he was in his mid-teens.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Adults should not be interested in Power Rangers. They should watch something mature, like Scooby Doo.

I'm always surprised when people ask questions like that here. Have you looked around the place?

[mgr91686]

Adults should not be interested in Power Rangers. They should watch something mature, like Scooby Doo.

Doesn't TMNT 80's count as mature?

[veemonjosh]

Honestly, I don't really like MMPR for the plots or anything (except Green With Evil, that was epic). I mainly watch it for the absurdity factor.

Like the newest reversioned episode, "Itsy Bitsy Spider". Tommy randomly destroys a statue for some strange reason and out pops a giant freakin tarantula. I'm sure that actually made sense in Zyuranger, but without some real explaination as to why he did that, it came off as incredibly hilarious.

I do, however, love several of the other series, with Time Force and RPM at the top of the list.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

Now that I'm older I realize just how terrible a lot of the show is but I do find a marginal amount of enjoyment in the design of the show. The bigger storylines (Green With Evil, Doomsday, Green No More, Return of a Friend, The Green Candle, White Light, The Mutiny, pretty much all of Season Three) are things I find to be very interesting concepts, but for the most part I have an incresingly difficult time watching the series. Linkara's reviews are very fun to watch, though, so I suppose that's where a lot of my current interest comes from.

[GWOtaku]

The truth is, cheese isn't exclusive to kid's shows. Heck, for my money, Power Rangers isn't even as cheesy as a certain classic TV show that legions of adults embrace even today. Sooooo, yeah. Not much room to throw stones!

(yes, classic Trek captured some brilliance in a bottle and isn't equivalent to Power Rangers. Just saying, though!)

I'll say this, I'd rather watch a Power Rangers episode than indulge in, say, True Blood and Twilight. Better to watch deliberate cheese than melodrama taking itself seriously.

[Storm Eagle]

I was just about to join in with a well deserved savaging of MMPR's idiotic plots, cardboard cut out characterisation and cheap-ass visuals. Then I remembered that I own the entire run of the G1 Transformers toon on DVD.

I do too. So what?

[Ryoutarou]

I believe his point was that, at least around here, we're all likely to be huge fans of something most would see as poorly written children's stuff, so to call one show cheesy and bad kinda means you haven't stepped back to look at your own interests.

Anywho, I generally only liked Power Rangers from season 3 onwards and the early stuff was very cheesy, but it does get a lot better in later series. The acting definitely is knocked up a couple of notches and doesn't make you cringe whenever something dramatic is happening, rather, you can actually see the cast emoting and properly portraying various emotions.

I think, especially from Lightspeed Rescue to Wild Force, you have very well written shows with decent casts and production values. The Sentai already predetermines the aesthetic of the majority of the show, so not much can be done about that. To say that the characters are plain just misses the point, I think. True, there are a lot of characters that one can find uninteresting, but this is something that isn't unique to Power Rangers. The characters in a lot of later series actually have personalities outside of the character archetypes that are handed to you in the first few seasons and feel like real people...most of the time.

For me, there's a level of cheese I can and can't take, I cannot stand anything from the first two seasons at all. I liked season three because we saw a few characters maturing in how they act and in their paths in life. Oddly enough, it wasn't the Rangers half the time, but I think it shows that Power Rangers can have a rather nice set of supporting characters and back then, there just wasn't a lot of emphasis placed on the narrative of the main characters for whatever reason, but it was still there. Season three was tightly written and had a lot of plots culminate for the grander moments.

[Blue Beetle]

Well he is watching the original show MMPR, you have to remember it came out in 1993, even if some fans bash the newer shows all the new shows have better character development, less cheese and better plots and effects.

Why do adults watch Power Rangers is no different than why adults watch Pokemon. neither is really mind blowingly amazing yet theres stuff there that people like whether its the martial arts or fighting pocket monsters.

Now instead of watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers which you are watching now, watch the latest series of the show, Power Rangers RPM. I love MMPR but its mostly because of nostalgia its indeed cheesy and that what I like about it, take the nostalgia factor and I wouldn't enjoy it as much. The latest show RPM is great, you get character development, more serious villains a post apocalyptic world and whatnot, the effects, quality and plot are all leaps above the original show. Now theres still colored spandex heroes and giant robots fighting monsters in RPM, thats what PRs is and the universe needs some suspension of disbelief but you can see how much the franchise has changed from the simple days of the original show to now. Don't get me wrong if you don't like the giant robot fights or the spandex costumes then you still won't like RPM but you'll see why adults still watch PRs, its a fun show that is enjoyable, this is ToonZone people watch cartoons and most of them adults are not the target audience even if Batman is the main character.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Doesn't TMNT 80's count as mature?

I do too. So what?

It's sad when you have to explain obvious jokes, but I think people are missing the important point here. There's nothing to be gained sitting around debating what childrens programming is "mature" enough for an adult to feel cool watching it.

Instead, take a look around you at your own geeky interests and the ones you accept from people you know, the ones that are widely accepted on this site. See all those glass houses? Now stop throwing stones. Enjoy what you like for whatever reasons you like it and resist the impulse to look down your nose at people for doing the same.

Now, back to Scooby Doo, whom I've enjoyed for about 30 years and hope to enjoy for 60 more.

[rogueguy]

I still watch it because it's fun, often mindless entertainment, and it's what I grew up on. One of my earliest memories is watching the thunder megazord in action and playing with a Zack morphin head figure.

[AdamYJ]

They watch it because some adults just love cheesy action melodrama.

[chalmers]

As a kid I remember watching a bit of the original Power Rangers, but I was never a huge fan as I was angry that Ninja Turtles was losing popularity to Power Rangers at the time.

Anyway I've been watching the, "remastered" first season of Power Rangers airing on TV right now, and it really is a kids show.

The plots are generally simple with a new monster for the Power Rangers to fight every episode, the villains are beyond cheesy and hard to take seriously, and some of the costumes are just awful. The characters are fairly plain and nothing to write home about.

I don't know why they kept hyping Tommy up as being, "so cool" in these early episodes. And, "Ayyi yi yi yi" from Alpha is beyond annoying.

I understand why kids loved this show back in the day, its cheesy fun for kids, but what is the appeal otherwise?

Good question. But I ask you this, why do adults, including you, watch shows like Pokemon?

Because it's a show that, despite the fact that you may have grown, the show itself really hasn't. That's what keeps people coming back to their childhood favorites.

Hell, most of the shows discussed here are targeted towards kids, and yet most of the people who post here are adults. Let people watch what they will. It's not hurting anything.

[Azrayel]

I'm no adult (I'm a teen) but seeing these guys fight bad guys in cool costume powered by big machine and advance weapons makes you want to become one

I don't know why they kept hyping Tommy up as being, "so cool"

How could they not consider Tommy cool from the begininng. I mean what other ranger has been the red ranger twice a white, black, and green ranger? So the other rangers probably predicted all this and thats why they thought they seemed cool.

I'm predicting now that saban owns power rangers again Tommy will be the blue ranger at some point.