Power Rangers All Killer No Filler Watch Order Part 1 - The Zordon Era

Hello my friends, and welcome back to my blog.

So I wanted to talk about Power Rangers today, which is one of my favourite franchises despite its ridiculous, over-the-top and incredibly cheesy nature. I devoted my 75th episode of my podcast to it and discussed how much I love it, especially how it has an interconnected nature that builds a mythology across thirty years of a franchise history. However I freely admit that is is a very repetitive franchise, and for anyone interested in watching it it is an incredibly formulaic show with tropes that you may soon grow tired of, and in many ways this is by design.

Power Rangers is a children's television franchise, but more than that it is a Western-made adaptation of a long-running Japanese superhero franchise called Super Sentai. Super Sentai is part of a genre of shows known as "henshin" (transforming) heroes, and is part of a filmmaking style that is quite common in Japan known as tokusatsu, a term which literally translates to special effects. Tokusatsu shows and films use a variety of practical special effects including costumes, make-up, miniature work and pyrotechnics in order to create fantastical concepts, such as the rampaging monsters of the Godzilla franchise, the henshin heroes of Kamen Rider, and the giant transforming robots of the Super Sentai series. Super Sentai originated in 1975 and has had a new series released pretty much every year since, providing a new team of heroes that appear every Sunday morning in brand new adventures fighting monsters by transforming into colourful costumes and using weapons and robots to save the day. The footage from these shows has, since the early 90s, provided the costume and robot footage for Power Rangers, which has made a greater effort at an ongoing continuity, especially in recent years, than Super Sentai, which tends to limit any continuity between shows to special team-up films that ignore any inconsistencies. 

Now as part of the nature of Power Rangers there are several factors that can influence anyone wanting to watch it. Firstly due to the Super Sentai source material essentially being a completely new show every year it can quite often repeat episode ideas - for example a common storyline is for two of the characters to swap bodies for an episode, or the introduction of a team of evil rangers for our heroes to fight, or an episode where the team are in costumes or cosplay as part of a plan to lure the enemies, with wedding dresses being common, or it can be common for the team to spend an episode on the backfoot, close to defeat, before a new powerup is unlocked allowing them to succeed, often as a two parter midway through the season, the introduction of a sixth ranger after a third of the series to change things up, or a clipshow episode towards the end of the season to summarise the main plotlines before the endgame. As a result you can see a lot of ideas repeated across seasons, even without the standard episode structure of a monster of the week and a moral lesson. The second biggest issue is that as I said the Super Sentai seasons run for most of the year, often reaching over 40 episodes in length. Now obviously this means that not every single episode is essential for the ongoing character and plot arcs at play, and this is even more pronounced in Power Rangers, which is often being written while the Sentai show it will use footage from is still airing, often without translation, and avoiding elements that are present only in the untransformed footage, which is not used and is replaced with western footage. This means that there is a lot of filler. 

Now filler gets used as a dirty word nowadays, being as filler episodes are entries in a continuous serial that are unrelated to the main plot, don't significantly alter the relations between the characters, and generally serve only to take up space. As a result most modern shows seem to have made efforts to exorcise filler episodes, only focusing on the most important story and character elements, in many ways spurred on by the fact that shows have become more expensive and time-consuming to make, meaning shorter seasons released left often. However not all filler is bad. Many of my favourite episodes of older shows like Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, and Smallville are episodes that started as filler, especially ones that use the concept of the "bottle show", which uses only the main cast and standing sets to reduce costs. Obviously Power Rangers doesn't approach filler episodes in quite the same way as these shows, but there are many episodes with interesting or memorable monsters of the week that despite this add nothing to the overall plot, do not feature an important character moment, or expand the arsenal of the team of heroes. And so as a result many may wish not to skip these episodes despite their "filler" nature, but with over 970 total episodes of Power Rangers, and 30-50 episodes in most series, then perhaps getting to the best episodes may be necessary.

And so that is what this list is aiming to do. I am trying to highlight the best or most memorable episodes of Power Rangers across its entire history, while also focusing on the episodes that tell the story of each series. The idea being that should you wish you could watch your way expediently through any of the series, or even the franchise entire, and get the most essential episodes to enjoy everything there. The best bit is that most of these seasons are now hosted free of charge on the Power Rangers official YouTube channel, making them very easy to watch.

I should add that this will be a long project, and so I'm going to break it up into several parts, grouped by the main eras of the Power Rangers franchise. This part will cover the heavily interconnected Zordon Era. During these shows there is a definite and continued continuity between the shows, with each season leading directly into the next, with the P:ower Rangers under Zordon fighting the forces of a United Alliance of Evil. What I intend is to provide the most essential episodes to the overall storyline across these six seasons. 

So let's get stuck in!

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers

Mighty Morphin ran for three seasons before Power Rangers changed itself to more closely follow Super Sentai's formula of a yearly revamp, and so it has over 150 episodes if you include the short Alien Rangers mini-series. Obviously not all of them are great, and many are forgettable, but towards the end there was a lot of plot there, and many of the monsters of the week are distinctly memorable and have been seen again in merchandise over the years, and so I may highlight some of the more notable ones, but they will be listed in italics. 

S1E1 Day of the Dumpster

• The pilot episode, introducing rangers Jason, Billy, Trini, Zack and Kimberly, their leader Zordon and his assistant Alpha 5, enemy Rita Repulsa and her generals Goldar, Finster, Squatt and Baboo, as well as Bulk and Skull, and Ernie and his Juice Bar.

S1E2 High Five

• Billy develops the team's wrist communicators, a staple of the series going forward.

S1E3 Teamwork

• Introduction of the Power Weapons. 

S1E4 A Pressing Engagement

• Monster is King Sphinx

S1E6 Food Fight

• Monster is Pudgy Pig

S1E7 Big Sisters

• Billy develops the Radbug, and the Power Eggs are introduced. 

S1E8 I, Eye Guy

• Monster is Eye Guy

S1E12 Power Ranger Punks

• Monster is Terror Toad

S1E13 Peace Love and Woe

• Monster is Madame Woe

S1E14 Foul Play in the Sky

• Monster is Snizzard, who returns in the 30th anniversary special, and is voiced by Bryan Cranston

S1E16 Switching Places

• The first body swap episode

S1E17-E21 Green With Evil

• The introduction of Tommy, the Green Ranger and his Dragonzord, and Scorpina, as well as the first multi-part episode.

S1E22 The Trouble With Shellshock

• Tommy fights with the Rangers for the first time.

S1E23 Itsy Bitsy Spider

• The Rangers get a new zord combination.

S1E26 Gung Ho!

• Introduction of the Super Putties and Titanus

S1E27-E28 Island of Illusion

• Introduces Lokar, an ally of Rita, but mainly is a clip show showing the rangers fighting previous monsters, including King Sphinx, Madame Woe, and Terror Toad.

S1E31 Calamity Kimberly

• A personal favourite of mine as it features every single zord combination used in battle. 

S1E34-E35 The Green Candle

• In this two-parter Rita takes steps to remove Tommy's powers.

S1E36 Birds of a Feather

• The rangers fight without Tommy for the first time against the deadly Hatchasaurus

S1E39-E40 Doomsday

• The originally planned series finale, featuring Goldar piloting Cyclopsis and Lokar. 

S1E45 Crystal of Nightmares

• Bulk and Skull show a heroic side, albeit in a dream sequence, important for their development across the series.

S1E49-E50 Return of an Old Friend

• Tommy returns and gets his powers back temporarily as the Green Ranger.

S1E54 Trick or Treat

• Monster is the Pumpkin Rapper

S1E59 Mighty Morphin Mutants

• Monster is Commander Crayfish, who leads a team of evil Mutant Rangers

S1E60 An Oyster Stew

• Notable for Zack briefly using the Dragon Shield.

S2E1-E3 The Mutiny

• Season Two begins with Lord Zedd taking over as the main villain, and the Rangers getting their new Thunderzords.

S2E7 The Green Dream

• Lord Zedd starts to target Tommy and his fluctuating powers. 

S2E12-E13 Green No More

• Lord Zedd creates a group of Dark Rangers, and makes a final play to drain Tommy's powers

S2E14 Missing Green

• Jason faces his guilt over being unable to save Tommy's powers the first time.

S2E16 Beauty and the Beast

• Lord Zedd tries to make Kimberly his queen, and she acts suspiciously like Rita, a hint for a later development. She also deals with missing Tommy.

S2E17-E18 White Light

• The introduction of the White Ranger and his Tigerzord, and Rita returns.

S2E22-E24 The Ninja Encounter

• Introduction of Rocky, Adam and Aisha

S2E25 A Monster of Global Proportions

• The first real episode in the Peace Conference storyarc, and Tor the Shuttlezord

S2E26 Zedd Waves

• Rocky, Aisha and Adam have to save the Rangers

S2E27-E28 The Power Transfer

• Rocky, Adam and Aisha take over for Jason, Zack and Trini, who leave to attend the Peace Conference. Also the debut of Serpenterra.

S2E31 When is a Ranger not a Ranger?

• Bulk and Skull finally learn the identities of the Power Rangers

S2E36 The Great Bookala Escape

• The Rangers encounter a peaceful alien, and get a postcard from the Peace Conference.

S2E39-E40 Rangers Back in Time

• Zedd attempts to rewind time to defeat the Rangers.

S2E41-E43 The Wedding

• Rita returns, marries a bewitched Lord Zedd, and turns Alpha against the Rangers

S3E4-E7 Ninja Quest

• Rita's brother arrives to congratulate her on the wedding, bringing new footsoldiers and destroying the Thunderzords, leading to the Rangers seeking new powers from Ninjor. Bulk and Skull join the junior police.

S3E15 The Potion Notion

• Goldar finds a way to free Lord Zedd from Rita's love potion, but things don't go how he expects

S3E17-E18 A Ranger Catastrophe

S3E19-E21 Changing of the Zords

S3E23-E25 A Different Shade of Pink

• These three multi-part episodes see the introduction of Katherine, a servant of Rita being used to strike at the Rangers, allowing Zedd and Rita to capture Ninjor and Kimberly's powers, as well as leading to the debut of the Shogunzords. Kimberly is also given a great opportunity. Essentially these chapters all work as a three-act ongoing storyline, and are best treated as such.

S3E27 Another Brick in the Wall

• Rita strikes at Katherine after losing control of her. 

S3E29-E31 Master Vile and the Metallic Armor

• Rita's father Master Vile arrives and strikes at the Rangers, seeking the powerful Zeo Crystal.

S3E33 Rangers in Reverse

• Master Vile turns time back again, leading to the Alien Rangers mini-series

Alien Rangers E1-E10

• Sometimes this is listed under Season Three of Mighty Morphin, and sometimes listed as its own thing, but all of the episodes essentially make their own storyarc, as the now child rangers try to restore the planet, get the Alien Rangers of Aquitar to help them fight Master Vile, and seek the Zeo Crystal to help restore the world. Each episode contributes in some way to the storyarc, so its pretty hard to skip any of them.

Power Rangers Zeo

E1-E2 A Zeo Beginning

• The debut of the Machine Empire and the Zeo Rangers as our heroes get new powers.

E3 The Shooting Star

• Debut of the Zeo Zords.

E10 Graduation Blues

• Billy finds himself graduating school early, and works with the Alien Rangers.

E12 Instrument of Destruction

• A pretty interesting one for Skull. 

E14 Mr Billy's Wild Ride

• Billy returns from Aquitar

E15-E17 There's No Business Like Snow Business

• Kimberly sends a letter breaking up with Tommy, ending their long-standing relationship. The three-parter focuses on the aftermath for that and how it affects not just Tommy, but Katherine. 

E18 Inner Spirit

E19 Challenges

E20 Found and Lost

E21 Brother, Can You Spare An Arrowhead?

• These four episodes are part of a connected storyarc dealing with some a plot thread for Tommy from his Alien Rangers chapter, introducing David Trueheart.

E24 Bulk Fiction

• The rangers get the new Zeo Cannon weapon in this episode which sees Bulk, Skull and Lt Stone leave the police force.

E27 The Power of Gold

• The introduction of the Gold Ranger and his Zord Pyramidas. His identity is unknown for now, with several characters suspected over his appearances in the next few episodes. If you wish to see the rest of these setup episodes then keep watching from here until the next episode.

E32 Do I Know You?

E33 Revelations of Gold

E34 A Golden Homecoming

• The Gold Ranger is hunted by the Varox, his identity is revealed, and he passes his powers to an old friend.

E35 Mondo's Last Stand

• As the Rangers adjust to their new teammate they confront King Mondo.

E36 Bomber in the Summer

• Rita and Zedd return and use Louie Kaboom to try to take over the Machine Empire. Again this is an ongoing subplot for several episodes.

E38 The Lore of Auric

• Aisha sends a letter to Tanya that leads the Rangers to Auric.

E40 The Joke's On Blue

• The introduction of Prince Gasket and Archerina and the end of the Louie Kaboom arc.

E41 Where in the World is Zeo Ranger 5?

E42-E43 King For A Day

• These episodes see Tommy turned against the other Rangers by Gasket. features a lot of great subplot elements coming together in interesting ways.

E47-E48 Rangers of Two Worlds

• The Zeo Rangers and the Alien Rangers team up and Billy starts drastically aging.

E49 Hawaii Zeo

E50 Good as Gold

• Across this two part finale the Zeo Rangers and Gold Ranger make a final stand against the Machine Empire.

Power Rangers Turbo

Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie

• I'm not marking this as essential, as it does get summarised when the series proper starts, but it introduces the new Turbo powers, sees Justin become the new Blue Ranger, sees new villain Divatox debut, and sees the return of Jason and Kimberly. Despite all this the film is very bad, and the series works as a better introduction to the concepts.

E1-E3 Shift into Turbo

• Summarises the events of the movie, and helps set the new status quo for the series.

E13 The Millennium Message

• The Blue Senturion arrives from the future with a message about the United Alliance of Evil.

E14 A Drive to Win

• Introduces Ashley and Carlos

E16-E17 Honey, I Shrunk the Rangers

• Some developments for Bulk and Skull, and the midseason finale.

E18-E19 Passing The Torch

• Introduces TJ and Cassie, who alongside Carlos and Ashley take over as the Turbo Rangers. 

E20 Stitch Witchery

• First episode for the new team, and the return of Bulk and Skull. 

E21 The Wheel of Fate

• Debut of Lightning Cruiser and Storm Blaster

E22 Trouble by the Slice

• The infamous episode where the Power Rangers get baked into a pizza. Non-essential but very fun.

E23 The Phantom Phenomenon

• Debut of the Phantom Ranger.

E26 The Darkest Day

E27 One Last Hope

E28 The Fall of the Phantom

E29 Clash of the Megazords

• These episodes see the debut of General Havoc and the rangers get new weapons and zords.

E43 Parts and Parcel

• TJ comes to the defense of Bulk and Skull when they are accused of theft.

E44-E45 Chase into Space

• Divatox launches a final assault on the Rangers and their command centre, including capturing Zordon. The Rangers use a space Shuttle to follow her into space to rescue their mentor.

Power Rangers in Space

A very plot heavy season, with much less filler than previously, with many storyarcs continuing across multiple episodes, including a long arc with an evil Ranger team.

E1-E2 From Out of Nowhere

E3 Save Our Ship

E4 Shell Shocked

E5 Never Stop Searching

• These episodes all lead directly into each other, setting up the new status quo for the series, including the new enemies Astronema and Dark Spector, Andros the new Red Ranger, and even a teamup with the Ninja Turtles. 

E10 The Wasp With A Heart

• Cassie comes to the defence of a monster who doesn't want to be evil.

E11 The Delta Discovery

• The Rangers get help from the Phantom Ranger while searching for Zordon

E12 The Great Evilyzer

• The Rangers arsenal continues to expand.

E14 The Barillian Sting

E15 T.J.'s Identity Crisis

E16 Flashes of Darkonda

E17 The Rangers' Mega Voyage

• A four part storyarc introducing new villain Darkonda

E18 True Blue to the Rescue

• Justin, Storm Blaster and Lightning Cruiser all return

E19 Invasion of the Body Switcher

E20 Survival of the Silver

E21 Red With Envy

E22 The Silver Secret

E23 A Date With Danger

E24 Zhane's Destiny

• Several character plots get development as the Silver Ranger is introduced and joins the team.

E25 Always A Chance

• Adam returns to help Carlos after an incident, and morphs again.

E26 The Secret of the Locket

E27 Astronema Thinks Twice

E28 The Rangers' Leap of Faith

E29-E30 Dark Specter's Revenge

• Astronema learns her origins, leading to her becoming an ally of the Rangers

E31 Rangers Gone Psycho

E32 Carlos on Call

E33 A Rift in the Rangers

E34 Five of a Kind

E35 Silence is Golden

E36 The Enemy Within

• The Psycho Rangers arc, where the Power Rangers fight an evil team of Rangers. 

E38 Mission to Secret City

• Introduction of Andros's Battlizer, something that will become a franchise staple.

E39 Ghosts in the Machine

E40 The Impenetrable Web

E41 A Line in the Sand

E42-E43 Countdown to Destruction

• The Power Rangers head towards the end of the Era, to rescue Zordon and have a final confrontation with Dark Specter. Features Bulk and Skull, Rita and Zedd, Divatox, Astronema, Darkonda, the Alien Rangers, the Gold Ranger, the Blue Senturion, the Psycho Rangers, the Machine Empire, the Phantom Ranger, and General Havoc. 

And that's the end of the Zordon Era! 

The next Watch Order I do probably won't be the next part of Power Rangers, as there are a few others I'm working on right now as well, but when I return to the franchise I'll cover the next few seasons, probably up to and including Dino Thunder, as it features an older Tommy Oliver returning as a team mentor and the 500th episode of the franchise. 

So yeah I hope you will all join me again for that one, and anything else that comes out in-between. Until next time please look after yourselves and do the best to take care of your physical and mental health, including reaching out for help if you need it.

Much love everyone, Bye for now.