Watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers the Way I Watched It Back in 1994

 And I'm back! I wasn't quite sure if this should be a post for The VHS Corner, or just a separate thing because I will be talking about a VHS tape, but I'll be focusing more on the contents of the tape, and what it means to me. So let's get into it.

Because yesterday was the 30th Anniversary of Power Rangers, my dad got out the VHS tape you see in the picture above. On this tape is five episodes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers that were recorded off of YTV and Global by the mom of a classmate of mine at OCTC sometime between March and April 1994. Two of the episodes were on YTV and the other three were on Global during its Kids TV block, which was around for most of the mid '90s, from at least 1993 until at least 1997, if not 1998. In honour of the 30th Anniversary, I watched all five episodes, including the commercials, channel identification titles and the "Today on Power Rangers..." segments for the three episodes that had them. I say only three, because two of the Global episodes are missing the entire opening sequence and the first five minutes of the episodes. 

The episodes on the tape, in the order they were taped are "Island of Illusion Part I", "Switching Places", "A Pig Surprise", "Birds of A Feather" and "A Star is Born". "Island of Illusion Part I" and "A Star is Born" are the two episodes that were taped off YTV, and both have Tommy in them as the Green Ranger. "Switching Places" was the final episode to air before "Green with Evil" started, and the other two are both post-Green Ranger, with "Birds of a Feather" airing right after "The Green Candle Part II", and "A Pig Surprise" airing two days after the show's original two-part finale, "Doomsday". When I was a kid I would usually fast forward through the commercials whenever I watched the episodes on this tape, but last night I did the opposite. Last night, I watched the episodes the way I would've had I just watched them on TV back in 1994. I watched every commercial, every identification card, and every "Today on Power Rangers..." segment because that's how I watched Mighty Morphin Power Rangers back in 1994.

I've seen all five of these episodes on DVD tons of times, but they hit different watching them on this tape, because the commercials and station identification title cards were just as much a part of the experience and the memories as the episodes themselves. Like, for example, on the Global episodes there was a commercial for The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show because 1994 was the year that Global started showing episodes on Sundays at 5 pm in addition to the ones they showed every Saturday at 5 pm. And I always watched The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show on Saturday night without fail, no matter where I was. 

On the first episode on the tape, which was taped off YTV, there was a commercial for the YTV Achievement Awards which were hosted by Tarzan Dan, who was the host of the original YTV series, The Hit List, which was the station's entertainment show, geared towards teenagers, and Weird Al Yankovic. Yes, as crazy as that sounds Weird Al cohosted the YTV Achievement Awards in 1994, AND appeared in the commercial for it. Like, that's insane. You wouldn't have that these days. There was also a commercial for YTV Kids Night at Pizza Hut, where you could get Power Rangers glow in the dark tattoos. 

The Global episodes had more commercials for other shows Kids TV aired. Aside from the The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show commercial, there were commercials for Eek! The Cat, Tom & Jerry Kids, Inspector Gadget, Animaniacs (which aired on Saturday mornings right after Power Rangers), and reruns of Alvin and the Chipmunks. I used to watch all of those shows when I was a kid. The only show that YTV showed a commercial for was the 1991 animated series based on Rupert the Bear, which was a character in a British comic strip. Of course I watched Rupert all the time whenever I had access to YTV, so seeing that commercial brought back memories as well.

Honestly, watching those episodes last night made me feel like I was back in 1994, sitting in my living room, watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on Global and YTV. Which is why I didn't fast forward through the commercials. I just wanted to feel like I was back in that time, watching the show the way it was meant to be watched. On TV. I love DVDs and VHS tapes, but for TV shows they weren't meant to be on those formats. Especially cartoons. Which is why shows like The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers weren't remastered when they were put on DVD. Plus the DVDs and VHS releases don't have all that extra stuff like station identification logos, the commercials, and, in the case of MMPR, the "Today on Power Rangers..." segments before the opening credits. Though for some reason for "The Green Candle Part I" Hasbro included the "Today on Power Rangers..." segment on version that appears on the official Power Rangers YouTube channel.

Yes, I can see all of this stuff on YouTube, but it's not the same as seeing that logo for YTV's The Zone back on my TV screen before and during an episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Or...

...seeing the various Kids TV logos before and during episodes of MMPR. Especially because Kids TV is where I watched Power Rangers the most since we didn't have cable at home, and YTV removed Power Rangers from their lineup between the first and second season, replacing it with Rugrats after reruns of Batman (1966) in September, 1994. Which explains why I don't remember seeing Rugrats when it first started airing in 1991, because it didn't start airing here in Canada until September 1994. 

I think that's going to be it for me here. I have a "Reminiscing About YTV's The Zone" post in the works for another time, but today I wanted to focus specifically on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers because of the VHS tape my dad got out for me. I'll be back with a comic book review sometime tomorrow. Nothing too fancy, just a single issue review. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.