I am so mad I only found this now because it was first uploaded all the way back in February, but I thought it was still worth sharing. Jeff Pruitt, the former stunt/action director of the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, has uploaded a chunk of old footage filmed in Japan and used exclusively for the American series. This footage, commonly referred to by fans as “Zyu 2,” is fabled for its rarity and that it contains unused fight scenes for various Power Rangers episodes.
For the first time in over twenty years, you can finally watch what was never used.
No one predicted Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers to be as successful as it was. Billionaire music mogul Haim Saban conceptualized the show after watching Super Sentai in his hotel room while in Japan (rumor has it, he was watching Bioman), and tried to shop an American version of the show to television networks for years. Today it would take him maybe one phone call and he’d have a deal on Hulu, but in the late ’80s importing a strange sci-fi show was like moving a mountain. He was constantly rejected until the stars aligned and the show was produced and aired in 1993. But even then, he didn’t think it would last longer than a year.
Well, it did, and twenty years later you have obsessed weirdos like me going to conventions asking fellow fans if they can name the Wu-Tang Clan (yeah, I actually did it). But there was a pivotal moment in 1993 when the show was at its hottest and the FOX Kids network was even prepping it to air in prime-time. The only problem was that there was nothing left.
Producing Power Rangers, even today, is unlike any other scripted TV show. The show predominantly makes use of the long-running Japanese Super Sentai series as its source material. Each year, Power Rangers borrows costumes, props, monster suits, action scenes, (and during the Jonathan Tzachor years, entire storylines) from Toei Company’s franchise and tweak it to fit American tastes. They shoot new footage featuring American actors (or since 2003, New Zealand talent, you can hear their kiwi accents slip from time to time) so American kids and parents won’t be scared by a gang of Asians. That’s how Power Rangers is made.
But in 1993, Saban — and I mean Saban Entertainment (now Saban Brands), not the guy himself — didn’t know what to do. The original Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger footage from which Mighty Morphin’ was specifically adapted from had all been used, and whatever was left was pretty much unusable because Zyuranger even by its genre standards was a fucking weird show. Towards the finale, a disembodied head named Satan lends his powers to Frankenstein’s monster — YES, FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER — who goes bezerk and turns into a towering monster of meat and guts. It’s still a kids’ show, though.
With all action scenes used up, Saban went to Toei and paid for new footage for them to film so they can use it for their show. Stop for a second and think about how much balls that takes. To be a film company and admit that whatever you could create wouldn’t look as good as the original guys that did it. It is both EMBARRASSING and BALLSY to admit that. Also, CHEAP. Somehow, the Hollywood paperwork and noisy union fees that would have to go into shooting your own footage is far greater than asking a bunch of dudes in Japan to do the work for you. Imagine if the producers of Homeland, which was adapted from the Israeli series Prisoners of War, asked Gideon Raff if he could film new footage of terrorists blowing shit up for them to use exclusively. It’s completely unheard of.
But Saban’s check must have been pretty sweet because Toei did just what they asked. They shot entirely new footage of the Power Rangers fighting brand-new monsters and this footage, dubbed “Zyu 2” by fans, makes up for most of the fights in late season one and the first half of season two. And they have been uploaded in their raw(ish) glory, thanks to former director Jeff Pruit. The video is entirely silent, because duh, they were only shooting for fight scenes.
Fun note: The original Zyuranger had an emphasis on Tolkein-esque fantasy. The original monsters were goblins, orcs, minotaurs, trolls, skeletons, and dark knights. The monsters in “Zyu 2” were far more generic and less fantasy-themed, a rogues gallery of beetles, iguanas, apes, crawfish, sharks, and like fleas and shit.
Watching this video is a sublime experience. The video is silent but there is a slight hum that must have come from the VHS transfer. There is so much action and colors flashing on the screen, but with the audio cut it’s like watching ghosts. It’s like being in a dusty film archive in the middle of the night and coming across an old treasure.
This footage is fabled because we even though we see most of it on the show, just knowing how film production works there is a ton of stuff not used in the final episodes. There are gaps in continuity in the episodes that are fully explained with the unused material. There is also some pretty weird shit. Unfortunately this 30+ minute video doesn’t even cover half the episodes that contain “Zyu 2” footage, but considering it has been twenty years and that footage has likely been destroyed, we fans will eat up whatever we can get and this video is a Thanksgiving feast.
The big treat in watching this video is seeing the action continue from whatever Saban cut. Take for example the season two episode, “The Wanna-Be Ranger” with Primator, the white ape that can disguise himself as a Power Ranger. In the episode, Jason (Red Ranger) goes one-on-one with Primator disguised as the Red Ranger. Two Red Rangers fight and one of them — in true tokusatsu fashion — gets beaten and rolls over to his team-mates. Primator, as the fake Red Ranger separate from the others, quickly warns his “friends” that the Red Ranger with them isn’t the real one. The Rangers freak out — and now for some reason Kimberly (Pink Ranger) is now on the ground — and Primator taunts them and blasts them with laser eyes. That’s how the episode was edited.
Now check out the raw footage: Turns out, the rolled-over Red Ranger was Primator, and Jason was separate from his group. There is a whole fight sequence that Saban didn’t use! And it explains why Kimberly is down on the ground.
By far the coolest example of an unused fight happens with “The Power Stealer” that had the Octophantom. In the episode, the Rangers were taken prisoner by Lord Zedd and tied to posts on a rock quarry. Jason, once again, fights the Octophantom with the help of a mirror shield Billy (Blue Ranger) made. While Jason takes on the Octophantom, Billy leaps up to the quarry and frees the other Rangers, including a weakened Tommy (Green Ranger).
Billy freeing the other Rangers was American footage.
A little on the BDSM side, but still innocent enough for kids to understand and parents to not be offended by.
Now check out the shit Japan shot:
THE POWER RANGERS ARE BEING FUCKING CRUCIFIED. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers was infamously under heavy fire from parents and TV censors for violence and inappropriate content, never mind you could probably see the same amount of violence in any Disney movie. Japan, probably unaware of the ruckus Power Rangers was making with Christian parents and slightly indifferent to religious symbols, shot this thing. I’m trying to imagine the heart attack the producers had when they saw this.
Also notable: MEGAZORD FIGHTS! Season two started with a massive change in merchandising, namely the giant Megazords the Power Rangers end their climactic fights with. The story behind this is another tale for another time, but season two started with brand new mecha, the Thunder Zords, from the series Gosei Sentai Dairanger. However, that was not planned during the production of these scenes, so there are some original Dinozord fights with season two monsters! For true Power Rangers buffs, that should be enough to want to see this video.
But the greatest thing about these clips is how much the Japanese production put effort into abiding by the characters established in Power Rangers and actually create some interesting filmmaking. The Power Rangers were radically different from the Zyurangers, and it is wonderful to see how the Japanese made sure that was reflected in these scenes. In the clips for “The Power Stealer,” Billy — who you remember, is the techy brainiac — invents his mirror shield device and struggles to carry it to the battlefield. The thing is heavy for him, he can barely run two feet without having to set it back down. When Jason, the powerful meathead jock, takes it he carries it like it’s nothing. That’s incredible. Toei could have skimped on the scenes and be as straightforward as possible. But they colored the scenes with not only character, but with awesome pans, zooms, punch-ins, dutch angles, and other stuff that wasn’t asked for. No other kids’ show had ever been filmed like this. They could have shot this in an afternoon and collected Saban’s money, but there was a ton of effort top to bottom. It’s no wonder American audiences were enamored with the Power Rangers. There was really nothing like it.
Importantly, credit must be given to the costume actors and stunt men. Imagine being on set and having to act out for lines that haven’t been written yet in a costume where no one can know what you’re saying. The Japanese stuntmen are some of the most unsung heroes in the show’s production. What they do transcends acting into a weird form of postmodern art that not even the snobbiest of film critics could understand. With things like Billy’s shield, the body language necessary to communicate is extremely difficult on a sublime level.
I’m kicking myself for totally missing this, because it’s been uploaded since February. But big thanks to Jeff Pruitt for sharing all this wonderful stuff. I speak for all the so-called “’90s kids” when I say this is fucking awesome. You can see more cool stuff, including a look into the making of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, on Pruit’s channel here.