Tokusatsu Gesundheit: I'm Dreaming of a White Ranger

…I thought Lord Zedd was Jewish?

Welcome to Tokusatsu Gesundheit, where even the holidays are morphenomenal! We’re cheating a little and watching Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers Season 3, Episode 16: I’m Dreaming of a White Ranger!

Plot Rundown

It turns out that the Emperor of Evil, Lord Zedd, isn’t a big fan of the Holiday season. He sends his idiot brother-in-law, Rito Revolto, to take over the North Pole and force Santa’s elves to mass produce a hypnotic toy that will sit under every child’s tree on Christmas morning to turn them into naughty pawns of Lord Zedd and his wife Rita Repulsa! Zordon calls the Power Rangers away from organizing the Youth Center Holiday Pageant (‘cuz those six teens are responsible for 90% of community outreach in Angel Grove) to go free old St. Nick – but their powers won’t work in the magic-laden environment of the North Pole.

I think that Elf on the left is a friend of Penn Jillette’s.

Brief Background

By the time season three rolled around, Power Rangers had become two things: a certified pop culture phenomenon (the first feature film having hit theaters months before) and a lot more expensive than it was ever supposed to be. See, by that point they were mixing all American original villain elements with suits from three different Sentai, meaning most of each episode had to be American made. That’s the exact opposite of what the show was created to do and required a much higher budget to accomplish. As such, one can guess why making a Christmas episode with no monsters fights, no morphing, and no Megazords in season three would be appealing.

Santa: Not great in a fight.

Highlights

The Power Rangers pelt Goldar and Rio Revolto, lead henchmen of their arch-foes, with snowballs. This allows Santa’s elves to trip them with ribbon. Yep.
Further, the Power Rangers help Santa and his helpers finish their toy production in time for Christmas Eve. The Power Rangers are friends with Santa Claus. I don’t think there have been fictional characters with a better case for sainthood than the original Power Rangers.
Santa’s head elf is played, physically at least, by the original in-suit actor for Alpha 5. Always fun when the suit actors make a cameo.

Review

It’s an episode of Power Rangers where the Rangers never morph. It’s dripping with corny Christmas sentiment and equally cornball acting. It’s also a fond reminder of Christmas’ past and I love the hell out of it – I watch it every year.