10 Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed In Power Rangers

Power Rangers fans, rejoice - the cinematic reboot of the campy, cheesy show about those colour-coordinated cadets is finally here. While it's receiving mixed reviews from critics, longterm followers of the franchise will find much to love in this slightly more grown-up take from Project Almanac director Dean Israelite. With over twenty years of continuity to draw from, Power Rangers is unsurprisingly stuffed full of easter eggs and references. Mostly to the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, from which the movie's characters originate, but also from a few other sources, too. Even the casting of Bryan Cranston as the Rangers' mentor Zordon is one big easter egg - a young Cranston voiced several monsters in Mighty Morphin. In fact, the Blue Ranger Billy Cranston is actually named after him. So, on that note, from the post-credits scene to the writing on a character's T-shirt, here are 10 easter eggs you might have missed in Power Rangers. As always, if you spotted any that we didn't list here, feel free to let us know in the comments section down below. 10) Angel Grove As in the series, the Power Rangers hail from Angel Grove. However, in the movie, Angel Grove is a small fishing town rather than the large town bordering on a city seen in the show. Nonetheless, the movie's Angel Grove High sports the same logo as the one from Mighty Morphin. Angel Grove isn't the only town from the original show that's referenced in the movie, either. At one point, Jason's dad mentions that Angel Grove is at "the crossroads of Mariner Bay and Reefside." These are the settings of Lightspeed Rescue and Dino Thunder, respectively. Also, while they're not seen in the movie, behind the scenes images reveal street signs that point to Amber Beach and Silver Hill - towns from Dino Charge and Time Force. Though these are only small easter eggs, it's nice to know that the movies will also look to subsequent Power Rangers series for inspiration and not just Mighty Morphin. 9) Trini's Action Figure Collection A scene heavily featured in the movie's promotion is the tense moment when Rita attacks Trini in her bedroom. If you have eagle eyes, you can glimpse some intriguing action figures on display during this sequence. Namely, a Putty Patroller from the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as well as Rita's henchmen Finster and Squatt. Another fun callback to the original show occurs at the end of the movie, when Trini's brothers believe the Yellow Ranger is a "he." In Mighty Morphin, the fight sequences were taken from Japanese show Super Sentai in which the Yellow Ranger was played by a man. Trini also wears a shirt with "1973" written on it during the movie. It might be a coincidence, but that's the year that original Trini actress Thuy Trang was born. Finally, in what's more of an easily-overlooked detail than an easter egg, Trini's brief mention of having "girlfriend troubles" means that she's the first LGBTQ superhero in any movie ever. Nice one, Power Rangers. 8) Rita And The Green Power Coin The movie takes huge liberties with the character of Rita Repulsa. One of the big changes is that she's left at the bottom of the sea for millions of years until Angel Grove fishermen fish her out and awaken her. In the original series, Rita is accidentally released from her "space dumpster" prison after ten thousand years and makes her new home on the moon. Rita's usual base of operations is alluded to at the end of the movie, too. After Jason slaps the villainess into space (yes, really), the last image we see of Rita is her floating towards the moon. We don't actually see her die, either, so it's possible that she'll recuperate on the moon and return in Power Rangers 2. The biggest alteration made to Rita, however, is that she's a former Green Ranger turned evil. It's a completely fresh piece of backstory but is nonetheless drawn from a story arc from the original series. In Mighty Morphin's "Green With Evil" multi-episode arc, Rita reveals that she has possession of the sixth Power Coin. She brainwashes one of the team's classmates, Tommy Oliver, and uses him as her champion: an evil Green Ranger. 7) The Morphin Grid There's much talk in the movie of "the Morphin Grid." We don't get a proper explanation, but it appears to be the energy force from which the Rangers derive their power. This is in line with the Morphin Grid of the original show. Much like the Speed Force from the mythos of DC's The Flash, the Grid is the slightly undefined energy field to which every Ranger is connected. In the show, it's established that it's maintained by the balance of good and evil, but this is not mentioned in the movie. Conversely, the Grid has never had the power to resurrect the dead in the series, but it does just that to Billy Cranston here. Speaking of morphing, we probably don't need to explain that Jason's cry of "it's morphin' time!" when the Rangers first morph into their armour is a reference to the famous catchphrase from the original show. 6) Zordon's Three Rules The character of Zordon is another one who's significantly changed from the original TV show. Television Zordon appeared as a head in a tube, or an "inter-dimensional being trapped in a time warp." In the movie, he's a face in the wall - or the "essence" of the last Red Ranger, downloaded into the ship's matrix. One element of his character that's exactly the same though is his three rules for the Rangers. Here's how it goes in the original show: "First, never use your power for personal gain. Second, never escalate a battle unless Rita forces you. And finally, keep your identity a secret. No one may know that you are a Power Ranger.” This is recited verbatim in the movie, except the mention of Rita is swapped for "your opponent." Moreoever, Zordon's initial confrontation with the Rangers plays out very similar to Mighty Morphin's pilot episode "Day of the Dumpster." On both occasions, the Rangers are freaked out by what's going on and try to leave. Jason, however, convinces them to stay and listen to what Zordon has to say. 5) Zeo Crystal The Macguffin of the Power Rangers movie is the Zeo Crystal. Zordon explains at one point that every inhabited planet in the universe has a Zeo Crystal buried within its crust. If retrieved, it'll give the wielder the power to create and destroy whole planets. This is an intriguing reboot of the Zeo Crystal from the TV series. It doesn't actually appear in Mighty Morphin but rather, er, Power Rangers Zeo. In that, it's the source of the Rangers new Zeo powers. However, it's also sought after by Rita's father Master Vile. To prevent it from falling into his hands, the Rangers split it into five and spread it throughout Earth's history. The inclusion of the Zeo Crystal here is presumably a set-up for future movies. Perhaps the next instalment will adapt Power Rangers Zeo and give the heroes a brand new power set? 4) Goldar The big closing battle of the movie sees the Rangers tussle with an enormous golden creation of Rita's called Goldar. At first, the creature is winning, until the Rangers form a "Megazord" from their separate five Zords and manage to defeat it. This exactly mirrors the plot of the previously mentioned pilot episode "Day of the Dumpster." The presentation of Goldar differs, however, as he's a blue furry lion-bear-cat-thing in gold armour in the original series instead of a faceless mute golden golem. Another homage to the series happens when Goldar grows to skyscraper size and Rita decrees: "make my monster grow!" This line was used every time that Rita threw her staff to Earth to increase the size of the monster-of-the-week. Likewise, Rita has an army of foot soldiers made from rock and earth that do her bidding. Zordon mentions at one point that these are called Putties. In the original show, Rita's Putties or Putty Patrol were made from a special clay and transformed into an army by Finster. 3) Meet The Zords After nearly three quarters of the movie, the Rangers finally don their armour and take their Zords into action. The big reveal shot of the five Zords racing across the terrain is a dead ringer for the same establishing shot seen in "Day of the Dumpster," which also features in the Mighty Morphin's opening credits. Speaking of which, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that the classic Mighty Moprhin theme tune briefly plays over this scene. And it wouldn't be Power Rangers if the Zords didn't join together into one Megazord at the end. In the movie, this doesn't seem to be a thing the Zords can do organically and is only caused by them being in such a dire situation (and also perhaps due to the influence of the Zeo Crystal). Blue Ranger Billy excitedly names the resulting creation "a mama Zord" before deciding that "mega zord" sounds cooler. 2) Mighty Morphin Cameos It's long been rumoured that the original Mighty Morphin actors would appear in the new movie. Unfortunately, most of them don't, but arguably the two most popular cast members do, in one fan-pleasing scene. Once the Rangers have defeated Rita and Goldar and saved Angel Grove, the crowd of citizens start taking pictures on their phones and celebrating. The two people at the head of this crowd are Amy Jo Johnson and Jason David Frank AKA Mighty Morphin's Pink Ranger and Green/White Ranger. Fittingly, the pair are wearing their characters' colours, too. Another thing that will please longtime fans is that this cameo means that Johnson and Frank have now appeared in every Power Rangers film. The pair previously turned up in 1995's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie and 1997's Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie. 1) Where Is Tommy Oliver? As is standard procedure for superhero movies nowadays, Power Rangers ends on a post-credits (well, mid-credits) scene which teases a sequel. In this case, we cut back to the kids at detention as the teacher announces that they have a new kid joining them today: a Mr. Tommy Oliver. Though we don't see him, we do get a glimpse of his green jacket... As we've already said, Tommy was the sixth member of the team who joined halfway through season 1. The fact that he'll no doubt claim the Green Power Coin in the sequel is alluded to by the colour of his jacket. Fans will also be interested to note that Saban and Lionsgate have a six movie plan for the rebooted Power Rangers series. That's interesting because there were also six seasons of the original "Zordon era" of the TV show (comprising three seasons of Mighty Morphin and one each of Zeo, Turbo and In Space).