33 Years Ago Today, ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ Changed Childhood Forever

Thirty-three years ago today, five teenagers with attitude were summoned to a command center underneath the California desert, handed brightly colored spandex suits and told they were now responsible for protecting Earth from an evil space witch who had just escaped from a dumpster on the moon. And an entire generation of children basically said, "Yep. Makes perfect sense. What time is it on tomorrow?"

On August 28, 1993, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers premiered on Fox Kids, introducing American audiences to Jason, Zack, Kimberly, Billy and Trini. What followed became much bigger than another children's television show. Power Rangers took over toy aisles, playgrounds, Halloween costumes and Saturday mornings while giving millions of '90s kids a franchise that would remain part of their lives long after they were too old to run around the house pretending to morph. For millennials of a certain age, you don't simply remember watching Power Rangers. You remember which Ranger you were.

Five Teenagers With Attitude Took Over the ’90s

The original premise wasn't complicated, and honestly, it didn't need to be. Rita Repulsa and her army of monsters threatened Earth, prompting the mysterious Zordon to recruit five teenagers from Angel Grove to become the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Austin St. John played Jason, the Red Ranger; Walter Emanuel Jones was Zack, the Black Ranger; Amy Jo Johnson became Kimberly, the Pink Ranger; David Yost played Billy, the Blue Ranger; and Thuy Trang completed the original team as Trini, the Yellow Ranger.

Once those morphers came out and somebody yelled "It's Morphin Time!", whatever happened next had our complete attention. The series combined newly filmed American scenes with action footage adapted from Japan's Super Sentai franchise, creating something unlike virtually anything else on American children's television at the time. The seams weren't always invisible, the monsters were gloriously bizarre, and buildings had a remarkable tendency to explode whenever somebody got thrown near them, but none of that mattered to the kids watching.

Then came the Zords. Every battle could eventually escalate until giant dinosaur robots were needed, at which point those robots combined into the Megazord and somehow made an already ridiculous situation even better. We watched that transformation sequence countless times, and not once did we need them to hurry it along.

But Power Rangers became more than something we watched. Kids picked Rangers, and those choices became serious business. Maybe you wanted to be Red because Jason was the leader. Zack had enough confidence to make Black the obvious choice for plenty of kids, while Billy showed that being the smartest person in the room could actually save everybody. Kimberly made Pink iconic, and Trini brought a quiet strength to Yellow.

Playgrounds suddenly came with their own Ranger teams, although assembling one could require negotiations worthy of an international summit. Everybody couldn't be Jason or Kimberly, somebody had to agree to be Billy, and everything seemed reasonably manageable.

Then Tommy Oliver showed up.

And Then Came the Green Ranger

Jason David Frank debuted as Tommy during the legendary five-part "Green With Evil" storyline just weeks after Mighty Morphin Power Rangers premiered. Rita selected the new kid at Angel Grove High, gave him the Dragon Power Coin and turned him into an evil Green Ranger with one assignment: destroy the Power Rangers.

For young viewers accustomed to watching Jason and the team defeat Rita's latest monster before the credits rolled, Tommy felt genuinely dangerous. He could fight the Rangers, infiltrate the Command Center and summon his own Dragonzord with that unforgettable dagger flute. Suddenly, the heroes weren't simply battling another creature destined to explode before dinner. They were fighting someone who looked like them and seemed capable of winning.

Tommy eventually broke free from Rita's control and joined the team, creating one of the defining moments in the franchise's history. It also created an entirely different emergency on playgrounds across America because now half the children who had already established their Ranger identities suddenly wanted to be Green.

Frank's character would grow far beyond that original storyline. Tommy eventually became the White Ranger and returned throughout multiple eras of the franchise, establishing himself as arguably the most recognizable Power Ranger ever. Decades later, fans who hadn't watched the show in years could still recognize that green shield or hear the Dragon Dagger melody and immediately know exactly who was coming.

‘Power Rangers’ Became Bigger Than Saturday Morning Television

It didn't take long for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to escape the boundaries of television. The show became a genuine pop-culture phenomenon, and its merchandise became some of the most sought-after children's products of the early '90s. Parents trying to find Power Rangers toys during the 1993 holiday season learned very quickly just how seriously their children were taking this whole protect-the-Earth-from-Rita business.

There were action figures, morphers, Zords, video games, lunch boxes, costumes, bedsheets and seemingly anything else capable of having a Ranger helmet printed on it. If you had the Megazord, you were doing pretty well. If you had the Dragonzord too, people suddenly wanted to come over to your house.

The franchise made the jump to theaters with 1995's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, giving the Rangers new suits, new powers and Ivan Ooze, a villain who managed to be both disgusting and hilarious. The movie became another defining piece of Power Rangers nostalgia, particularly for kids who were already fully invested in the television series and now got to see their heroes on the big screen.

Eventually, the original Mighty Morphin era gave way to Power Rangers Zeo, Turbo, In Space and the many teams that followed. Rangers came and went, Zords changed, new villains threatened Earth and each generation of children found its own version of the franchise. What started in 1993 proved remarkably adaptable, surviving well beyond the era that created it.

A New Generation Gets Its Own Power Rangers

Hollywood eventually tried to reinvent the original team for a new generation with 2017's Power Rangers, starring Dacre Montgomery as Jason, Naomi Scott as Kimberly, RJ Cyler as Billy, Becky G as Trini and Ludi Lin as Zack. Bryan Cranston stepped into the role of Zordon, while Elizabeth Banks traded Rita's classic horned headpiece for a decidedly more modern take on the franchise's original villain. The movie reimagined the five Rangers as complicated teenagers who had to become friends before they could become heroes, giving the familiar Angel Grove story a darker, more grounded makeover.

The reboot didn't become the theatrical franchise Lionsgate hoped it would, and plans for sequels never materialized. Still, the movie has maintained a loyal group of defenders in the years since its release, particularly for its young cast and the relationships between the Rangers. It also remains an interesting chapter in the franchise's history: nearly 25 years after Mighty Morphin Power Rangers first became a phenomenon, Hollywood was still trying to figure out how to recapture what made five teenagers with attitude so important to an entire generation.

Looking Back Hits a Little Differently Now

Celebrating 33 years of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers also carries a bittersweet element for the adults who grew up with the original team. Thuy Trang, who played the original Yellow Ranger Trini Kwan, died following a car accident in 2001 at only 27 years old. Her time with the franchise was relatively brief, but Trini remains inseparable from the original five who introduced millions of children to the Power Rangers.

Jason David Frank died in 2022 at 49, leaving another enormous absence in the franchise. Frank remained connected to Power Rangers for decades after Tommy's debut, returning to the character through multiple series and anniversary appearances while maintaining a close relationship with the fan community that had grown up alongside him.

Their deaths hit differently now because the children who once watched them are adults themselves. Seeing an old episode isn't only about remembering a favorite television show anymore. It can mean remembering Saturday mornings, childhood friends, family members who bought the toys and a version of ourselves that genuinely believed yelling "It's Morphin Time" before jumping off the couch made the landing more impressive.

Thirty-Three Years Later, We Still Know What Time It Is

That's the strange thing about the television we love as children. We forget episodes and storylines, but certain pieces apparently get stored in a part of the brain that adulthood can't touch. Say "It's Morphin Time" around the right group of millennials and there's a very good chance somebody can still finish the sequence.

Play the opening seconds of "Go Go Power Rangers" and we're suddenly back in 1993. We remember Alpha 5 yelling "Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi," Bulk and Skull arriving with their unmistakable theme music and Rita screaming about another headache. We remember the Megazord transformation we watched hundreds of times, and yes, most of us still remember exactly which Ranger we claimed as our own.

Thirty-three years ago, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers arrived as a strange experiment combining Japanese action footage with newly filmed scenes featuring a group of American teenagers. There was no reason for the kids watching that first episode on August 28, 1993 to imagine we'd still be talking about Jason, Zack, Kimberly, Billy, Trini and Tommy more than three decades later.

But here we are in 2026. We're older, some of us have children who have discovered Rangers of their own, and our knees probably aren't going to cooperate if we attempt any of those poses. Still, somewhere underneath the jobs, bills and responsibilities is the kid who remembers exactly what came next when somebody yelled, "It's Morphin Time!"

Thirty-three years later, the Power Rangers are still part of us.

Relive your childhood by streaming the original series with these apps below.