Power Rangers: Once & Always Makes Major Franchise Change With One Word

By Nick Valdez

Power Rangers is celebrating its 30th Anniversary with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always coming to Netflix next month, and the Power Rangers franchise has made a major change to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series with the addition of one major word that changes the demographic and tone of the franchise completely! Power Rangers is celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the long running series with a cool new reunion special bringing back both heroes and villains from the classic Mighty Morphin Power Rangers past! But a lot has happened in 30 years, and this special has grown up the Power Rangers franchise to honor that passage of time. 

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always will be celebrating not only 30 years of action packed episodes, not only the cast behind the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series, but all of the fans who have continued to follow the series until now. Everyone has aged over the course of the three decades, and with that changing demographic comes a change in one of the central tenets. The first Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always trailer uses the word "kill" rather than just destroy. 

Power Rangers: Why Using "Kill" Changes Things

The Power Rangers franchise has incorporated more adult-oriented themes over its long run from the very beginning (it's why it's been such a loved family show), but due to a mix of standard and practice procedures and more, there's been a limit to the kinds of words the series can use. It's why older fans have always thought about what a truly "adult" Power Rangers series could be like, and sometimes take it to mean using more rough edged language. 

Power Rangers has dealt with truly heavy themes such as death, romance, heavier thoughts and more, but the TV series has never used the word "kill." Conventionally, the word "destroy" was used as the main verb for kill. In the trailer for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always, there's two instances of it used. The first is Charlie Kersh's Minh Kwan telling David Yost's Billy and Walter Emanuel Jones' Zack, "She killed Mom. We gotta destroy her." Which is also a showcase that "destroy" is still being used as well. 

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The second is Robo Rita stating, "I'll kill you before Zordon makes you Rangers." It's interesting to note that in both uses of the word, it's in reference to something Robo Rita has done or is going to do. But when Minh refers to violence, it's "destroy." This is a massive change for the franchise that ultimately still keeps the inner child of the series intact. The use of the word "kill" allows the older fans to enjoy the nostalgic series on a whole new level of real stakes. But importantly, the use of it in this way doesn't age it up too much either. It's still very much in the realm of superheroic action. 

How do you feel about Mighty Morphin Power Rangers using "kill"? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things Power Rangers, animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

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