Power Rangers: The Unproduced Episodes

Power Rangers fans love a good abandoned plotline. For a series that’s run for 25 years, of course there’s a ton of ideas that never quite made it to screen. Pick any season and a hardcore fan will be able to tell you some incredible ideas that were planned but never made it to screen for one reason or another.

Rarely as fans do we get to see how these ideas would have played out. Most of the time ideas are just that, ideas. Idle speculation in the writer’s room that never made it to a script or planned arcs that had to be scrapped for budgetary reasons. At best all these are the topic of idle speculation by fans at conventions or footnotes on a wiki. Fun to discuss but no way to know how they would have been made. 

However, we have something almost as good as seeing a lost idea actually filmed. We have scripts. That’s right, we have six Power Rangers scripts that were ready to be filmed but, for one reason or another, were never completed. This is the closest fans will ever get to knowing just how some of these lost ideas would have ended up on screen.

That, and it’s the closest thing we’ll ever get to “new” old episodes of Power Rangers. This is too fun.

read more: Power Rangers: Ranking all 25 Seasons

(Note: We are only discussing scripts for unmade episodes here. We aren’t tackling early drafts of existing episodes, outlines, or other ideas fans have heard rumblings about over the years.)

Yo, Ho, Ho, And A Bottle Of… Rangers? (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 2)

Written By: Tony Oliver

The Story. Actually, let’s do this in the style of the original show, shall we?

Announcer: TODAY ON POWER RANGERS: The kids take a tour of Australia.

Tour Guide: Today we’re going to learn about how Australia got its start and how sailing ships playing a part in our history.

Kimberly: I’ve got to get some pictures of this.

Announcer: But Zedd and Rita send a magical bottle to trap the Rangers on board the ship!

Zedd: By the time Zordon figures out how to release them, it will be too late to save the world from our grip.

Announcer: Can the Rangers escape the ship in time to save the city? Find out next on the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers!

In a more traditional summary, the Rangers are still on their trip to Australia that began in the “The Wedding’. As the Rangers get a lesson in the history of Australia (very sanitized, of course), Rita and Zedd plan to trap the Rangers in an energy field on the ship that will make them fall asleep. A group of Putties attack the ship and attempt to get a bottle open to unleash the spell but fail.

It’s only when Bulk and Skull discover it does the whole boat fall asleep, except for Adam and Billy who were below deck. Billy was giving a lot of historical facts about Australia, because of course Billy was, but the two go back up on deck and try to wake their friends. This is accomplished by combining the power of the team’s communications with “the reserve power in one of the morphers.”

During this, Goldar is sent to attack the city along with a generic monster that isn’t named. Once Billy and Adam manage to wake the other Rangers up, the team get to their Zords and makes short work of the monsters. They return to boat, undue the bottles effects, and continue on with their trip.

Why It Didn’t Get Made: When the cast had to fly down to Australia to shoot MMPR: The Movie, they also ended up having to shoot episodes of the TV series there after filming on the movie ran over schedule. “Yo, Ho, Ho, And A Bottle Of… Rangers?” was planned to be the fourth episode shot there, according to supervising producer Tony Oliver in a 2011 panel at Otakon. He then elaborated on why the episode didn’t get made.

“I rented a tall ship… and we were going to go out in the Sydney Harbor… but we got rained out.” 

Simple as that. It’s more than likely they didn’t have the time to remount the episode since the cast was still filming on the movie. However, Oliver says the scrapping of the episode did have one upside.

“I bought fifty lunches for the crew so we took it to an AIDS hospice so the guys (there) ate really well that day.”

Thoughts: This is a perfectly average season 2 episode of Power Rangers. The series wasn’t exactly in a creative renaissance at this point (that would come in Season 3) but there are a few gems. Skull really wants to be a pirate, despite Bulk making fun of him, and there’s an extended dream sequence where he imagines himself as a Captain ordering the Rangers and Bulk around! It speaks to a side of Skull we never saw much of in the series, wanting to be the dominant one in his friendship with Bulk.

Billy’s plan to wake up the team is beautifully ridiculous. He has to focus the power in the communicators/morphers and “reverse the polarity”. What’s great though is that he needs Adam to activate the morpher so we get multiple instances of him yelling, “MASTADON” without actually morphing. That visual alone would have stuck in fans brains. The Rangers almost never call out their dinosaur without actually morphing! (Yeah yeah, a mastodon isn’t technically a dinosaur.)

What’s most intriguing is how, at the point this script was written, the monster of the day hadn’t even been decided on! This makes sense, since Tony Oliver said these episodes were quickly written with executive producer Shuki Levy in a hotel room in Australia. 

Zedd just shoots an energy beam at Earth and a “monster” grows to giant size. This was at a point in the series run where they were relying less and less on Sentai footage so it’s easy to imagine they would have picked a random monster they hadn’t used yet, or simply recycled a previous one. You’ve even got Goldar also attacking the city thrown in for good measure.

Much like a lot of fights in Season 2, this would have probably had Goldar running at the camera (stock footage from the SentaiseriesZyuranger), along with stock footage of whatever the monster of the day would be doing the same thing. The Rangers’ Zords would stumble back, maybe Goldar would fire some lasers, and then the Megazord would bust out the sword to finish the monster of the day off. Goldar would escape. It had been done plenty of times before and if you want an example of how this battle might have looked, check out the ending of ‘The Wedding Part 3′. That’s stock footage glory, right there.

Read the full script here!

Party Crasher (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 2)

Written By: Daniel J. Sarnoff & Ellen Levy-Sarnoff

The Story: Aisha’s parents are heading out for the day and allow her to have a small party with the other Rangers, as long as she doesn’t damage her mom’s precious antique vase. Bulk and Skull get wind of the party and decide to invite the entire school, planning to show up as monsters so the Power Rangers will make an appearance.

Zedd turns the vase into the monster, Party Crasher, and it leaves Aisha’s house just before Bulk and Skull show up along with all the teens in the city. The Rangers morph and attempt to stop Party Crasher but Rocky, Adam, Kimberly, and Billy are all trapped in its vase and can’t try to escape for fear of shattering it. With some advice from Zordon, Tommy and Aisha fight back and manage to free the other Rangers. They make quick work of Party Crasher in the Megazord.

When the Rangers get back to the house (with the vase) everyone but Bulk and Skull are gone and the place is a mess. The two leave after they see only “those geekoids” ever showed up. Aisha’s parents are about to pull up and, somehow, the team is able to clean the whole house and get out before they come in. Aisha greets them but her father accidentally shatters the vase.

The script ends with this description.

“Aisha bites her lip waiting for the worst monster of all to come down the stairs. Her Mother. FREEZE FRAME.”

Why It Didn’t Get Made: When filming on MMPR: The Movie ran over by several months several scripts meant to be shot in America ended up not getting made, including this one. “Party Crasher” was supposed to be the first episode shot post movie but for reasons that aren’t quite clear, it was moved back in production order. Instead, ‘Storybook Rangers’ took its original production number and while plans were made to eventually film it, soon it was cancelled all together.

read more: The Power Rangers Episodes That Will Make You a Fan

Thoughts: Still an average season 2 episode, although the setting of Aisha’s house is a nice change up from the usual Juice Bar setting. It’s rare we got to see the Rangers at home (especially with their parents!) so this gives us a little insight into Aisha. The best moment of the episode comes when, just after her parents leave, she blares hip hop on the stereo and uses the remote as a pretend microphone to sing along. The whole episode lets Aisha display a wide range of emotions, from the jubilation of planning a small party, to the dread of her parents finding out the vase is gone. Towards the end of the episode when her house is still in ruins and her parents are driving up, she quips,

“My life is over. You guys better start looking for a new Yellow Ranger.”

Aisha needed more episodes like this. Hell, all the characters did!  At least so we could see some range of emotions outside of “we’re perfect students” or “oh no, a monster!”

Sidenote, in an odd choice, any scene with Aisha’s parents we never actually see them! The script only has them speak in voice over and notes we only see their feet! What is this, avant-garde cinema? That or Peanuts, I guess. It would have been fascinating to see how this would have been directed.

Fun Facts: Unlike the previous episode, this one features an actual named monster in the form of Party Crasher. This monster would have been taken from episodes 26 and 27 of the Sentai series Dairanger, where he was known as Pot Taoist. 

-At the start and end of the script, the stage directions specifically indicate Aishia is reading a book called “Miracle Teen” written by Cheryl Saban. For those not in the know, Cheryl is Haim Saban’s (the creator of Power Rangers) wife, although she’s also accomplished in her own right. She’s a philanthropist, TV writer (she wrote many early episodes of Power Rangers), and an author! One of those books was titled ‘Miracle Child’, which detailed the birth of one of her children by surrogate. If aired, Cheryl Saban would have canonically existed in the Power Rangers universe and she kept writing more books about her children!  (And that, wonderful readers, is the most deep cut Power Rangers factoid ever.)

Read the full script here!

Zordon I Shrunk The Rangers Parts 1 and 2 (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 2)

Written By: Shuki Levi and Shell Danielson

The Story:

Part 1: It’s “Feed The Hungry” week and the Rangers are sponsoring a dinner at Ernie’s while Billy and Aisha work on a growing ray to make food larger. Zedd and Rita plan to steal the device and reverse it so it can shrink the Rangers, but Bulk and Skull get to it first.

Goldar are Scorpina are sent down to steal the device but end up growing (the normal way). The Rangers make quick work of them and go to the dinner but Billy realizes the device is still in the park. He, Rocky, and Aisha go the park but Finster has already gotten to the device and shrinks them.

Part 2: Goldar and Finster search for the tiny Rangers as Alpha works on a way to protect the others from being shrunk as well. They teleport to the park and fight Goldar, who threatens the tiny Rangers by stomping everywhere. The tiny Rangers manage to escape on a Skate Board, which Tommy also uses in a battle with the “regurgitated” Nimrod, AC and DC.

The tiny Rangers are saved and grown back to normal size but once again Bulk and Skull get a hold of the device and shrink themselves. The Rangers now have to save them and fight Nimrod and her clones.

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Part 3: Sadly no copies of Part 3 are available.

Why It Didn’t Get Made: Like the previous script, this was another story that was canned after filming ran over on MMPR: The Movie. It probably didn’t help that it was filled with complicated special effects and a lot of green screen as well.

Thoughts: Easily the best of the season 2 unproduced scripts we have, mostly down to the villain scenes. Both scripts are chock full of amazing Zedd and Rita dialogue. This is after their marriage and the bickering/loving couple mode is on full display. There are even some self-aware jokes!

Rita: How enchanting. Billy the brain has come up with a way to make things grow!

Zedd: (bored) Who cares, we’ve been doing that for centuries my little beetle blossom!

Part 1 also contains what would have been Scorpina’s second appearance in American footage (in season 1 she was only seen in Japanese Sentai footage) and it’s flat out stated her and Goldar are dating!

Rita: I want you to go down there and get that device for me!

Goldar: I don’t take orders from you, I take orders from Lord Zedd only…. Besides, it’s my day off and I’ve got a date with Scorpina.

For anyone who’s ever wondered what was going on with those two, now you know!

read more: Power Rangers and How It Was Adapted From Super Sentai

The scripts do run in circles for awhile, with Bulk and Skull getting a hold of the device, rushing to get it, or losing it far too many times. We’ve even got a reused Scorpina and Goldar battle for good measure, which had already been done in ‘Goldar’s Vice-Versa’ earlier that season.

More interesting is the return of Nimrod, AC, and DC from the much beloved ‘White Light’. Their return is purely down to having unused Sentai footage but the lengths they go to justify it is wild. Tommy rides on a skateboard because sure, let’s use those few seconds of Sentai footage!

It’s hilarious to note that the Rangers are almost secondary characters in these episodes, with the focus mostly being on the villains and Bulk and Skull. While of course the Rangers were popular, you can tell the writers were already having way more fun writing the wacky side characters. Even the villains at this point in the series weren’t all that scary and were far more humorous. Check this one out for jokes alone.

It should also be noted that while the plots are completely different (outside of the Rangers shrinking) both this episode and the Power Rangers Turbo two-parter ‘Honey, I Shrunk The Rangers’ were at least partly written by Shell Danielson.

Read the full scripts here! Part 1. Part 2.

Rangers in Concert (Power Rangers Turbo)

Written By: Colleen White

Background: Okay, this one needs a bit of a primer before we start since some of the names are different then you might recognize. Carlos is the same (but with the different last name of Chavez) but the character of Missy would later become Ashley. Confusingly then, the Ashley in this script is actually Jenny, Lt. Stone’s niece from the Power Rangers Turbo episode, “Cars Attack”. Michael is a very early version of TJ.

The Story: Tanya is giving away tickets to see the band “The Roaches” in concert over the radio and is introduced to their newest intern, Michael. 

Divatox reveals to Elgar she bought tickets early and plans to lure the Rangers and their friends to the show.

Missy runs into the Juice Bar saying she won free tickets. Tommy would love to win some and Ashley mentions he just might, since Lt. Stone is putting on a sing-a-long night and grand prize is, of course, Roaches tickets. Bulk and Skull (still monkeys) plan to enter the contest in hopes their great singing will let everyone know they’re really humans.

Carlos and Adam try to get to a phone to win more Roaches tickets but a random man nearly beats them to it, until Divatox sends Piranhatrons to stop him. Adam is suspicious and teleports to the Power Chamber to tell Dimitira about what happened. Justin and Alpha 6 work on trying to retrieve “that message” from Blue Senturion.

Back at the Juice Bar, Ashley has also won a ticket to the concert as Bulk and Skull sing terribly.

Tanya and Michael leave the radio station but are unknowingly confronted by the Rockin’ Roach (a Divatox monster) but they just think he’s a promoter. He gives them both tickets and vanishes.

He reappears as Tommy and Kat are attacked by Piranhatrons, and slips some tickets into Tommy’s car. After the battle Tommy finds the tickets and thinks Kat gave them to him before he notices Rockin’ Roach disappear.

read more: Power Rangers: Ranking the Red Rangers

The Rangers all meet back up at the command center and deduce it’s too big of a coincidence everyone got free tickets. They scan the concert area for detonators and find it right near Missy, Ashley, Carlos, and Michael! They morph and rush to save them but Rockin’ Roach grows.

Tommy deals with the detonator while the other Rangers and Blue Senturion head for the Zords. Tommy makes quick work of it and joins the team in battle, successfully defeating Rockin’ Roach. Divatox is furious and sends Rygog to take out the teens at the concert.

Missy, Ashley, Carlos, and Michael hold their own but are ultimately saved by the unmorphed Rangers. Divatox watches them and declares, “there will be no future for the Power Rangers.”

The Rangers and the other teens are at the Juice Bar and who walks in but The Roaches! They’re bummed they had to miss the gig because of the monster but Ashley says she can help them out. The Roaches perform but the Rangers are called to the Command Center.

Alpha 6 has finally gotten Blue Senturion’s message to play. It’s the same one from “The Millennium Message’ but now we see it all. The faces of the future Rangers are revealed.

Why It Didn’t Get Made: Producers Doug Sloan and Ann Austen left Power Rangers Turbo after ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Rangers Part 1’ and a mostly new writing staff was brought in. Since this episode was building off of plotlines Doug and Ann had started earlier in the season it was scrapped in favor of new story arcs. 

Thoughts: It’s a perfectly average episode and fits all the standard plot beats of Power Rangers Turbo’s first half. They even have the detonator because Divatox was obsessed with those things. The ticket plot feels extremely drawn out since they needed to get tickets to eight different characters. I get why they did it and it’s a decent bit of foreshadowing, but it could have been accomplished much faster. Tanya is also apparently very afraid of roaches for some reason. Who knew?

Also the script has an incredible callback to Power Rangers Zeo when Tommy mentions singing “isn’t my thing.” If you somehow have never seen Tommy singing in the Zeo episode ‘Another Song and Dance’, stop what you’re doing right now and watch it. It’ll make Skull’s quip in this episode all the funnier.

 “He’s right, I’ve heard him (Tommy) sing. That’s a bad idea.”

The Millennium Message elements of the script are the most intriguing though. The whole episode is just an excuse to remind the audience that Divatox has seen the faces of the new Rangers before and to set up that reveal at the end.

The implications of the ending are huge, hinting at a whole lost era of Power Rangers we never got to see. Plus it also finally gives fans the end of the Millennium Message they’ve wanted for years! This was so big we wrote a whole article about it.

read more: Power Rangers: The Lost Era Details Surface

Fun Facts: Rockin’ Roach is an adaption of the Carranger monster GG Goki-Chan, and his suit was taken from his appearance in episode 15 of that series.

-The Roaches band is made up of four members, three of which are named in the script. John, Paul, and George. Yes, this is obviously a reference to the members of The Beatles. But why no Ringo, huh? 

Read the full script here!

Forging A Friendship (Power Rangers Lost Galaxy)

Written By: Unknown

Background: When Valerie Veron (Kendrix) got sick with leukemia during the filming of Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, a replacement Ranger was quickly needed. Originally Patricia Ja Lee (Cassie from Power Rangers in Space) was selected to return to the series in a full time capacity. The in Space team-up with Lost Galaxy was used to introduce her to the Lost Galaxy cast and she played a vital part in “The Power of Pink”, the episode where Kendrix died.

As originally filmed Cassie would have stayed on Terra Venture at the end of that episode and ‘Forging a Friendship’ was written to follow that. The script is another peak into what might have been for the series.

The Story: Cassie has joined up as a GSA cadet and Kai gives her everything she needs, including a GSA uniform. Cassie shows off the uniform to Maya, who is very cold to her. Cassie tries to get her to hang out but Maya declines, preferring to go to the Megaship. She tells Cassie she’s glad she’s here but, “I just don’t know if I’m ready for a new friend yet.”

Cassie hangs with Kai, Leo, and Damon at the Comet Café and tries to figure out what’s going on with Maya. The guys reassure everything will be fine; it’s just that Maya’s not only lost her world but her best friend. Cassie decides to give her a hand on the Megaship.

On the Megaship Alpha’s work is interrupted when Trakeena, Deviot, Kegler, some Stingwingers, and new monster Buzz break into the ship. Alpha is captured and Kegler manages to deactivate DECA. They’re going to steal the Megaship! Cassie manages to get on the Megaship just before it takes off.

Trakeena discovers the Rangers are on board and sends her monsters after them. Cassie manages to save a cornered Maya and the two rush to get control of the ship back. Cassie once again saves Maya from being discovered by Stingwingers and Buzz.

Stanton puts the colony on red alert when the Scorpion Stinger appears but lowers his guard when the Megaship flies in. Trakeena fires on the colony and destroys one of the connecting tubes. Cassie works as fast as she can to splice wires in the ceiling just over the bridge where Trakeena is and manages to save Terra Venture from another blast.

Maya and Cassie are discovered in the ceiling and get away as the Megaship tumbles, no longer under Trakeena’s control. The two morph and fight Buzz, who accidentally unleashes toxic gas that forces Trakeena and the other monsters to retreat.

Buzz attacks the colony and has Leo, Damon, and Kai on the ropes when Maya and Cassie arrive just in time to save them. The full team activates the Lights of Orion and takes Buzz out but, of course, he grows. The team forms the Galaxy Megazord and with the help of the Stratoforce Megazord defeats Buzz.

The team is in the park, the guys playing football as Maya apologizes to Cassie. They decide to play a joke on the guys and spray them with a hose. It ends with everyone laughing, the script specifically pointing out “the two girls can’t help but become friends.”

Why It Didn’t Get Made: Some filming on ‘Forging a Friendship’ may have been done but at some point in the filming of that episode or ‘The Power of Pink’ Ja Lee decided to quit. This lead to a mad scramble and the original ending of ‘The Power of Pink’ needed to be reshot, which is why in the aired episode you only see the Space Rangers in suit. Eventually Melody Perkins (Karone) was brought on as the replacement Ranger and ‘Forging A Friendship’ was abandoned.

Thoughts: This is the holy grail of all the scripts we’ve looked at. Kendrix’s death in Lost Galaxy was a huge moment for the franchise and knowing Cassie could have taken over for her was always the biggest “what if” for fans. While of course Karone was an excellent choice and her introduction episodes were incredible, there’s always been the question of just how Cassie would have been integrated into the team.

It mostly works. The strongest scenes are the beginning and end, particularly the second one where Maya tells Cassie she’s not ready for a new friend right now. That’s fairly deep for Power Rangers and really sells her feeling of loss. The main plot of the episode, basically Die Hard on the Megaship, is fun but you wish Cassie and Maya had more emotional scenes to play together.

Still, those action scenes had the potential to really be something different for the series. Like ‘The Rescue Mission’, it feels like this episode was attempting to stretch the franchise’s legs and do something a little more cinematic. Ripping off Die Hard sounds easy enough, but for Power Rangers to try and pull off something so full of tension? That would be fairly irregular for the series.

It’s also nice to get confirmation that Cassie was allowed on board Terra Venture, unlike Karone or even Maya who both just showed up and no one ever questioned why.

As for how Cassie would have worked in later episodes, we get a small glimpse. Her joining the GSA as a cadet was rife with possibilities. In the Comet Café (nice to see that location reappear) Kai picks a piece of lint off Cassie’s uniform, which hints at Kai being the one to show her the ropes of the GSA. With Kai being so uptight and Cassie being fun loving, one can just imagine the banter between the two.

Other than that, it’s easy to imagine Cassie would have ended up getting the same plots Karone did after ‘Facing the Past’. In fact if you watch episodes like ‘Turn up the Volume’” it’s easy to imagine all of Karone’s lines being written for Cassie. They actually fit Cassie a little better, but we’ve never gotten any confirmation that script was originally written for Cassie. 

On the whole, ‘Forging a Friendship’ isn’t so much a complete game changer as some fans might have expected but more of a diversion. Cassie wasn’t going to totally shake up the show and make it something different than what we got, she was just going to fill the needed “Pink Ranger” role. In that respect, Ja Lee quitting the show probably worked out for the better. 

read more: Power Rangers Seasons We Never Saw

Cassie coming back would have been fun to see but Karone returning presented the series with a golden opportunity to continue her character arc. ‘Facing the Past’, the episode that replaced this one, is one of the all time great Power Rangers episodes and you just couldn’t have gotten that kind of depth and emotional complexity with Cassie. Karone had to face her dark past, finally coming to terms with all the horrible atrocities she’d committed.

Cassie, on the other hand, just feels bad she can’t be friends with Maya right away. There isn’t even that much lingering guilt over partly causing Kendrix’s death. It’s still above average for Power Rangers, but it can’t compare to ‘Facing the Past’. 

Fun Facts: Buzz is an adaption of the Gingaman monster Chainzaws, which appeared in episode 45 of that series.

-While this script was mostly abandoned, the ending of ‘Facing the Past’ does contain an altered version of the final football and hose scene with Karone instead of Cassie. The dialogue in that scene however reflects Karone’s emotional journey in “Facing the Past” instead of Cassie and Maya becoming friends.

Read the full script here!

While these are all the episodes we had access to, we know other lost scripts exist. There’s a third part of  “Zordon I Shrunk The Rangers” and a few other scrapped season two episodes that we’ve never seen. One was titled ‘Lost and Found’ and there at least two others we don’t have information on.

If these ever see the light of day, we’ll update this article. Also, if anyone happens to have copies of unmade Power Rangers scripts from any season please get in touch with us. We’d love to see them!

Thanks to Project Hexagon: The Power Rangers Script Archive for scans of the script pieces included here.

Keep up with all our Power Rangers Beast Morphers news here!

Shamus Kelley is a pop culture/television writer and official Power Rangers expert. Follow him on Twitter! Read more articles by him here!

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