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Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind Is A Great “Fake” Retro Game
It might be nostalgia bait, but they got me
I watched every episode of the first four seasons of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers as a kid, and I loved all of them. I also went to the first theatrical film on day one. The slow build-up and transition from the characters and plotlines in season 3 to the rebranded Zeo narrative in season 4 felt like the coolest thing I ever had or ever would see. I didn’t know at the time that it was because they were running out of Japanese source footage and they were desperate to start reusing old shows again to get the budget back down. To my kid self it just seemed like storytelling magic.
The second movie Turbo and its follow-up season of TV completely lost me for all sorts of reasons. The first movie had a proper budget and production staff, while Turbo was made for about eight bucks and with an already exhausted TV show crew. It’s probably one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, and it only gets more frightening over time. Even beyond the many quality issues, the movie and its ensuing show also introduced a ton of elements that didn’t appeal to kid-me, like cars and a child character. When I was younger, I paradoxically didn’t love entertainment that had a token kid character in it, because it somehow took me out of the fantasy. I already knew what it was…
