Power Rangers Mighty Morphin - The Return: Once & Always is an American superhero web special written by Nathan10828, the original Pink Ranger Amy Jo Johnson and Matt Hotson serving to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Power Rangers Mighty Morphin and the 25th anniversary of the Power Rangers franchise. In the special, the Power Rangers assemble to stop Rita Repulsa's daughter from bring her mother back to life to killing their past selves before they became Rangers.
Production[]
Development[]
Ideas for a reunion special was conceptualized by David Yost around 2021, where he had a script for a project with the working title Power Rangers: Quantum Continuum. He pitched the idea to multiple networks, but revealed that the project itself was still in its early stages. Yost was not credited as a writer of the final episode.
At an unspecified date, Netflix secured the rights to a 30th anniversary special developed by Hasbro based on the original Power Rangers Mighty Morphin series.
Casting[]
On February 25, 2022, casting sides for a character with the placeholder name "Yen" were released, though it was originally thought to be related to Power Rangers Cosmic Fury. On September 30, 2022 during Hasbro PulseCon 2022, it was announced that both Yost and Walter Jones were in the process of filming a "special anniversary" project in New Zealand. Furthermore, it was announced that Charlie Kersh and Jenna Rae Frank would be joining the cast of the special as well. One month later, Hasbro announced the reprisals of Austin St. John and Amy Jo Johnson in their original roles.
Filming[]
Filming occurred in New Zealand over 12 days.
Post-Production and Marketing[]
The special was audio mixed with Dolby Atmos, the first Power Rangers media to do so, and was followed by Power Rangers Cosmic Fury.
A trailer was released on March 21, 2023.
Synopsis[]
Twenty-two years later, after tragedy strikes, the disbanded team reunites to mourn the loss of their beloved friends, but Zack and Billy have unexpected information to share: Jason, the Red Ranger, who long worked as a lone vigilante, has disappeared. The remaining Rangers, along with two unlikely young heroines take their rightful place among the Power Rangers to seek revenge on the team's oldest archenemy, will they be able to find him, especially with a mysterious figure in pursuit?
Plot[]
In 2022, Billy Cranston is attacked by an unknown woman looks strangely like Rita Repulsa and hordes of Putties. He morphs into the Blue Ranger and leaps into battle, later on joined by the other Power Rangers, Jason, Kimberly, Zack, Trini, and Tommy. Billy fights the woman and manages to damage her face, before being knocked to the edge of a cliff. The unknown woman decides to channel her new powers into a deadly blast from her magic wand. However, Trini saves Billy by diving into the path of the blast and is killed instead. The woman then retreats to the Dark Dimension, leaving the remaining Rangers to grieve over the loss of Trini.
Back at Trini's house, Billy and Zack have an argument about how and when to break the news to Trini's daughter, Minh. Zack doesn't want to tell her that they're Power Rangers, remembering Zordon's rule about never revealing their identities. Billy argues that there's exceptions to every rule and Minh deserves to know exactly how her mother died. However, Minh has walked in on the conversation and immediately runs off in distress. Billy tells Zack that they need to tell her everything.
A year later, at the old ruins of the Command Center, a figure falls down and struggles to fight a shadow in the darkness. The figure is revealed to be Jason, who as the Red Ranger continues to attack his assailant with his Blade Blaster but eventually gets defeated and has his Power Coin taken from him by the shadow. He demands to know who she is and she simply states that she is the past come back to haunt himā¦ and the future as she holds up his Coin.
Zack moved in with Minh and became her guardian, giving up his congressional career to do so. The next day in Angel Grove, Billy hosts an opening ceremony for the Trini Kwan Memorial Park and Youth Center. In his speech, he explains that Trini was not only the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the city's longest-serving mayor, but also his best friend. Not just in the literal sense, but she's one of the best people he's ever known. She may no longer be with them all, but her town still stands and her friends and all who loved her will carry on her memory and honor her dedication to her community by always trying to be a good friend to others . Billy then brings Zack to speak, with the crowd of people cheering for the former Black Ranger, for which he thanks them but says that today it's about Trini, not himself and that she was his heroism.
Kimberly is watching in the crowds and looks at old photos on a memorial wall in the Center, reminiscing about how she taught her kung fu stances at the Angel Grove Youth Center. She flashes back to the ā90s and remembers talking about mixing some martial arts with her gymnastics to improve her fighting style. They both smell the stink of the boys sweating after exercising and deciding to leave to go to the mall, the park and maybe having dinner together. The flashback ends and Kimberly says that she misses her. In the pouring rain, Kimberly goes to Trini's grave to lay a bouquet of flowers and Zack and Minh show up, planning to meet up with the other Rangers to commemorate the anniversary of their teammate's death. He says she missed the rest of the ceremony, she says she stayed during Billy's tearful speech and left when the crowd started gushing over the famous Power Ranger.
Zack apologizes, saying he probably should not have posted on his social media feeds that he was going to attend, he did wish that Kimberly would have come up to say a few words though. She insists that she needs to keep a low profile, Zack invites her to come eat with him, Minh and Billy somewhere private, but she declines and insists that she needs to get to the airport. Zack still wants to offer her a meal since she has saved his life about seventeen times, the least he can do is buy her a slice of pie. Kimberly corrects him and says it was nineteen times and finally gives in, under the condition that she not be called Kimberly, her name is Emma Phillips, Kimberly Hart is dead. However, the unknwon woman they fought a year before, who has resurrected Snizzard and Minotaur in new robotic forms, is back. Snizzard revealed to have captured Tommy and imprisoned him in a machine that will slowly drain his energy. Knowing they're outmatched, Kimberly, Zack and Minh retreat with Billy in his new RADBUG.
At Chetās Diner, the three friends laugh and speak of the good old days, saying how much they missed each other while Minh expresses her desire to get revenge on this woman to Zack, Billy and Kimberly, but they advise her not to get involved and let them sort things out. She angrily lashes out at Billy, blaming him for her mother's death. Kimberly realizes what she said and tells him that what happened to Trini wasn't his fault, but he still blames himself, saying that if he had experimented with his Power Coin's access to the Morphin grid earlier, Trini could have lived. Kimberly stops his trail of thought and inquires what he meant by using the Morphin Grid and how that is possible. Billy says that he has been using his Power Coin to make technological breakthroughs, none of which would be possible without the Grid.
Billy says that Trini missed Kimberly when she was still alive, which she knows about. Zack says that it isnāt fair that they canāt tell anyone about Triniās life as a Power Ranger, which angers Kimberly as she insists he keeps his voice down and that she doesnāt want any more ātell all booksā. Zack says he technically didnāt tell everything with his book, his autobiography fibbed that he was the only Ranger from Angel Grove and his teammates were people from around the world to protect his friends. Kimberly says that is exactly the point, if he did another book revealing Trini was a Power Ranger, someone could put together their identities and they all would be exposed.
Zack doesnāt understand what the problem is if they were found out, Billyās company could use the PR boost and Kimberly is living in Canada under a different name so what does she have to lose. Kimberly angrily shouts that she has nothing left to lose (talking about her unknown husband), it isnāt Zackās place to make decisions that affects everyone elseās lives and he needs to move on. Zack says that maybe she is the one who needs to move on, only getting a glare from her. Billy decides to change the subject and asks Kimberly if she heard about the good that Zack did by revealing his identity organizing a fundraiser called the Clean Power Hip Hop Kido Festival. She says she has not heard of it, Zack says it was a charity event in Tulum, Mexico that is an annual gathering of famous rappers, dancers and martial artists to raise money and it is completely powered by clean energy with 2023ās festival having raised over two million dollars. Kimberly is happy for him and then asks Billy how his phone company is doing.
Billy says it is more of a telecom business and he is hardly in the office anymore on the day to day operations as he uses the money from his company to fund his top secret projects. He recalls how he salvaged Alpha 5ās databanks and operating system, he had been using the data and combining the old Ranger tech to develop a mass production teleportation system after some testing to see if it is safe. He hopes that the technology will revolutionize the delivery of goods and services to give fresh food to needy communities around the globe, evacuation from natural disasters or even possibly move a natural phenomenon like a hurricane away from making landfall and endangering people. His greatest hope is that he can use a teleporter as a bio-filter to remove damaged cells from a personās body so they cannot die from diseases like cancer.
Kimberly is furious again, as this is the exact opposite of what they all agreed on twenty two years ago: no more Power Rangers. Billy says technically they promised to never morph again, he is just using his coin to complete his research just as Zack used his to power his festival. Zack facepalms and says thanks for letting that secret out. Kimberly asks what Jason would say about this, to which Zack tells her that is the reason that they actually wanted to talk to her about.
Kimberly remembers not seeing him at the dedication and the two fill her in on the details of what they know. Jason was a firefighter and during a call, an arsonist burned downtown Angel Grove and lots of people died from the blaze. Jason felt guilty for not doing enough to stop the fire, said that he had the power to do more to help and didnāt use it. He disappeared and later Billy noticed that someone was drawing energy from the Grid other than himself and Zack. Jason was morphing into the Red Ranger and he began using his powers to rescue people, then fought crime, then he went completely rogue and engaged in counter-terrorism operations. He then came to the two of them demanding that they stop using the Grid, as he wanted all the power for himself so he could remain morphed as the Red Ranger permanently. Things got weirder when they detected another signature using the Grid, one that they couldnāt identify. Jason assumed it was Kimberly because Trini is dead and they should ask her.
Kimberly says that is crazy, which Billy agrees and that he promised Jason he would find out who it was and contact him but Jason stopped communicating with him a week ago and his signature as well as the other unknown personās on the Grid just suddenly stopped tapping into it. Kimberly knows that this is awful and she hopes Jason is alright but wonders what she can do about it. The two bluntly ask her to help by all three of them becoming Power Rangers again and going out to find Jason.
Kimberly responds by leaving the diner to look for a taxi, furious that her friends seemingly tricked her as they swore never to morph again. Zack says that they did for twenty two years because she said so and they have never even seen her in all that time, cutting herself off from everybody and leaving her friends. But now one of their own needs them and Zack is willing to break a promise to save a friend. Kimberly hails her taxi as Billy pleads for her help, he knows what being a Ranger cost her and why she left but they need her and her Zord. Billy explains that they need her Zord as with its flight capability they can cover more ground in the search.
Kimberly angrily tells him to stop it, refusing to help, stating she will never be a Power Ranger again, getting in her cab and riding off to get to her flight back to Canada. Zack says that this turned out to be some reunion as she is driven away. Unbeknownst to all of them, someone was watching from a distance.
In the cab, Kimberly gets texts from someone asking if she is alright, with her responding that she will talk about it later and she will be home tomorrow night. The person on the other end says they will be there and she knows that they asked a million times but they really want to meet her old friends. Kimberly holds her head in frustration, but texts one day maybe they will.
Zack and Billy head to a hidden Command Center located beneath Cranston Technologies. While trying to make a plan, Billy admits to Zack he truly is at fault. The year before, he had been attempting to revive their deceased mentor Zordon by finding his particles that remained after the Z-Wave and reconstituting him. However, he accidentally drew in the evil particles that had been purged from the original Rita which took over the body of Alpha 8 .
Suddenly, they receive alerts about hordes of Putties attacking random people throughout the universe, however, Snizzard and Minotaur have been tracking Rangers all over the universe by using the Putties as bait to lure them into the same machine that trapped the other Rangers. Upon learning of this, the Rangers de-morph and fall back.. While this is going on, Minh learns of the Putty Patrollers invading worldwide through a BuzzBlast post. Driven by the desire for revenge, she grabs her mother's Power Morpher and sets out.
The Rangers discover that Minh is at the Juice Bar and is under attack. Minh can hold her own briefly but is overpowered after a failed attempt to use Trini's Morpher. Zack and Billy teleport to the Juice Bar, defeat the Putties, retrieve Minh, and bring her back to the Command Center. Zack takes Trini's Morpher away from Minh and scolds her for seeking revenge instead of justice, and after a heart-to-heart conversation where Zack tells Minh exactly what Billy was trying to accomplish, Minh finally calms down. However, after the Rangers leave, Minh grabs a spare device and Trini's Morpher, and escapes the Command Center. Minh then commandeers the RADBUG and takes off toward the junkyard, where she, after failing to morph for the second time, is abducted by the unknown woman.
Two days later, back home in Canada, āMs. Phillipsā hears a knock on his door. At first, she thought it was someone else, asking her if she had forgotten her keys again, only to be surprised by a young Korean-American girl at her doorstep. She addresses her by her old name and introduces herself as Selena, the daughter of Sylvia, Triniās cousin.
Kimberly decides to tell the story of what happened 22 years ago in the hopes of discouraging Selena from becoming a Power Ranger:
The Evil Space Aliens popped open a bottle of champagne in celebration of the death of Zordon and Alpha 5 on the Moon, only for the Power Rangers to storm in with their Zords. Lord Zedd is ready for them, telling Finster to prepare their army of monsters. What they donāt know is that this is a diversion, as Kimberly and Tommy are preparing the Benevolator, a device that the Rangers made filled with Morphin Grid Energy that will theoretically incapacitate the enemy of all evil by releasing a wave of purification. All the couple has to do is push a remote detonator once the device is placed, deciding to plant it in Rita and Zeddās Bedroom.
Rita leaves the throne room to fetch Squatt from his bedroom as he is missing all the excitement and then stumbles upon the Green and Pink Rangers in her bedchamber. She calls forth some Putties to try and kill Kimberly and takes on the Green Ranger personally.
Outside, Jason is facing Goldar in his Zord and ordering his team to hold the line as they need to keep stalling the enemy army until the device is activated. Lord Zedd revels in watching the final battle against the Power Rangers, but is concerned that his wife has not returned yet, ordering Finster to go find her.
Back in Ritaās bedroom, she admits that she didnāt think the heroes had the guts to try and kill her. Tommy says that the Benevolator will not kill Rita, it will purify and pacify her, make her into a good person. Rita mocks the Rangers for being too weak to kill their enemies even after the death of their mentor Zordon. She zaps Tommy with her wand, sending him flying into the Benevolator, she then relentlessly casts magic blasts, gloating in triumph that it is all over for them. Just as she is about to kill Tommy, powering up her wand with a huge amount of energy, an arrow fired by Kimberly pierced her heart, killing her.
Distraught, Kimberly said she didnāt mean to kill Rita, but Tommy says it is fine as they had no other way of stopping her. Squatt runs in to see Rita lying dead on the floor with the Rangers standing over her. The couple saw their plan had run into a complication: the casing of the Benevolator has been damaged and the Grid Energy inside is now activated as the glass slowly cracks further. They try to get a hold of someone, contacting Jason who is struggling to hold their positions outside as Goldar is smacking them around.
Billy says that there is a fail safe detonator that activates the Benevolator in ten seconds. Kimberly knows that isnāt enough time for them to get out of there, but Tommy says that he can push the button and teleport out of there. Kimberly refuses to leave Tommy behind, reminding him that they vowed āātil death do they partā. Tommy says that she absolutely cannot stay behind (implying that Tommy knows she is pregnant).
Billy adds that there is something he forgot to mention, the Benevolatorās power is proportional to the amount of dark energy it comes in contact with. Unfortunately, with all the new monsters that have been spawned, he calculates that the force of energy released will set off an explosion that will make a huge hole in the moon the size of Angel Grove. Jason says there is no other way as their Zords are taking heavy damage and they are about to be overwhelmed.
Kimberly is crying, refusing to leave her friend, but he reminds her that she promised him if things got bad she would bail out. He tells her that he loves her and gives her one last hug as Jason shouts over the comms that they need to detonate now as the Zords are failing, ordering Billy, Zack and Trini to bail out as their Zords get ripped apart by the enemy forces, with all four of them teleporting out just in time. Lord Zedd relishes in victory, only for the last thing he would ever hear being Squatt rushing in and giving him the tragic news that his wife is dead as the Benevolator detonated.
The Rangers teleported to Earth and are watching the moon explosion from the ruins of the command center, they celebrated at first except for Kimberly who is horrified and in tears. They then realized that Tommy was not with them as Trini went to comfort her best friend after Tommy's supposed death as Kimberly began to cry however he was later revealed to be alive and running away somewhere. Instead of blowing a hole in the surface of the Moon, the Benevolator explosion blew up a large part of the Moon.
Kimberly in the present ends the story saying that her friend saved the world that day at the cost of his life. She doesnāt know what happened in those final moments before the device detonated, but Selena says she is sorry to hear that and asks what happened to the other Rangers. Kimberly says that the world didnāt need them anymore and they all went their separate ways, they were only kids when they became Rangers and they needed to live their own lives as adults.
Selena says that Kimberly did more than move on, she seems to have abandoned her life entirely, hiding behind a new name and living out in the woods of Canada in isolation. Kimberly says she just needed a fresh start and ran away from being Kimberly Hart and a Power Ranger to do so. She tells Selena that her late relative would not want her to be the next Power Ranger, she believes that Trini entrusted the morpher to Selena to give it to her best friend to hide away as no one should be the next Power Ranger. If the morpher fell into the wrong hands it would be disastrous and promises to keep it safe.
Selena asks to hold Kimberlyās morpher, which she allows, but then Selena acts strangely by asking if she enjoyed killing Rita. Kimberly asks why she would say something like that, which Selena presses further by asking if she even felt a teensy bit of relief that every enemy she had was killed. Kimberly is upset by Selenaās insinuation, saying that the Rangers had no intention of killing anyone that day and that the Benevolator had a malfunction causing that to happen. Selena then asks Kimberly if she thinks there would be anyone like Rita and Zedd again, if the world would need the Power Rangers again. Kimberly says no, with Selena having a sinister grin on her face asking if she is sure about that.
A violent burst of energy erupts, shattering the windows and lighting in Kimberly's cabin as "Selena" reveals herself to be Rita Repulsa holding Kimberly's morpher: āHow about now?ā
Kimberly is terrified and shocked, dodging a swing from her assailantās wand, but manages to fight back and knock the morpher out of āSelenaā's hand. āSelenaā says that it will take more than that to hurt her and she has waited so long for this. Both hear a car pulling up to the driveway. āSelenaā is surprised that Kimberly was expecting company, speculating that she has a secret lover and she canāt wait to meet them.
This angers Kimberly who dives for her morpher, but she trembles as she holds it, hesitating to attempt to morph for a second until āSelenaā goads her to do it. Kimberly shouts: āItās Morphing Time!ā, but gets whacked hard on the head with Selenaās wand and knocked out before she can even start morphing. āSelenaā takes the morpher back and says that she really doesnāt think it is.
A black Dodge Charger parks and its driver exits the vehicle, a voice says that she is home and asks why are all the lights turned off, only to see the house torn apart. She then sees that the hidden safe above the fireplace has been left wide open and its contents are missing. The young girl then starts to worry:
āOh noā¦Mom!?!ā
Kimberly wakes up to Jason, Zack and Billy all trapped inside a force field. The Rangers find Selena's machine in her palace, seeing that she has already captured members of multiple Ranger teams. Billy discovers that Selena has been creating a time portal. Selena and her monsters arrive with Minh in tow and reveal her plan - to travel to the past and give knowledge of the future to her mother from the past allowing both Rita and her daughter to kill the Rangers before they are recruited by Zordon. Selena reveals that she isn't related to any of the Rangers but is actually Selena Repulsa, the daughter of Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd (as well as Thrax's younger sister). Billy guessed that she must've tracked them down through their Power Coins. Selena confirms this through search of Zack's social media, Trini's safety deposit box, and Kimberly's arrival at the memorial service. Now she planned on keeping their promise on no more Power Rangers but she's not going to kill them, her mother is. Kimberly is shocked to know that Rita is still alive but Selena told them she heard her calls through the Morphin Grid.
The Z-Wave killed everyone except Rita because she used her magic to transfer her essence into the grid. Now Selena was able to move this energy into Zordon's old energy tube, since she knew Billy had always wanted to find a way to bring him back, with some help from a still alive Finster to the Rangersā shock. Having run from the fight as told by Kimberly to "Selena", Finster hid in his safe with re-enforced walls and was barely able to escape more or less and fed on his dead monsters to survive afterwards. After reuniting with him, Selena put Finster to work on his biggest project, the Morphin-Matic, an upgraded version of his Monster-Matic machine using Lord Zedd's Z Staff, the Rangers' Power Coins, and the last of his magic clay and thus ensure that his mother can go back in time and thus kill all the Rangers more easily. Zack wondered if this was possible and Billy confirmed it is. Kimberly wondered how Selena survived the final battle, because she would've been a child. Selena revealed that her mother saved her by teleporting her via magic. In actuality, when Tommy was about to hit the timer button on the Benevolator, he saw a toddler Selena looking over her mom's body much to his shock. When Finster entered the room, he called for Putties.
Tommy wanted to save the little girl but was overwhelmed by the Putties, accidentally hitting the button. Much to Finster's horror, he ran away and Tommy broke free giving the little Selena his communicator and teleported her to Earth just in time. Just before the device went off, Rita regained consciousness and was about to use her magic. On Earth in Angel Grove Park, the young Selena was found by Bulk and Skull with Tommy's communicator left behind in a bush. Now Selena was ready to bring her mother back as Finster activated the machine. Knowing the Rangers have to do something, Kimberly assures them to not worry and trust her. Just then the machine went dead. Wondering why it didn't work, Kimberly revealed that Selena only had 4 Power Coins, including 1 which was not the real one, as there were 6 Rangers. Selena scoffed and said that Tommy's Power Coin was destroyed as she had the Putties search for it and never found it, same for Triniās, thinking that was the reason Minh couldn't transform. Kimberly said that Tommy wasn't morphed when he activated the Benevolator to which Finster told Selena she was telling the truth. Before Kimberly teleported back to Earth during the final battle, Tommy gave her his Morpher in case he didn't make it back and knew who to give it to. Just then, Finster's sensors went off revealing that the Dragon Power Coin was coming to them. Selena pulled Kimberly out of the forcefield demanding to know where it is as a female Green Ranger teleports in front of the Rangers: Olivia Hart, Kimberly's daughter.
Olivia rummages around and finds Tommyās old Power Morpher, deciding to try and morph, which automatically teleports her to the Moon fully morphed as the Green Ranger. She feels queasy from the trip, but Kimberly shouts for her daughter and surprises everyone when Olivia calls her āMomā.
Selena does not hesitate and quickly attacks Olivia, knocking the Dragon Dagger out of her hands. Billy tells Kimberly to grab it as it could shatter the barrier that the others and him are trapped in. She manages to break through and free everyone while Selena and Olivia fight hand to hand, Billy is surprised that Kimberly had a kid and wonders when she was going to tell them, Kimberly says she would never tell them. Zack hates to interrupt their squabble but they have to deal with a squad of Putties charging at them.
Zack, Jason and Billy fend off the Putties while Kimberly carries the Dragon Dagger and goes to help Olivia. Selena takes down both of them and steals Tommyās Power Morpher, forcing Olivia to de-morph in the process, with the young girl too inexperienced at being a Ranger to stop her. Selena blasts Kimberly with her motherās wand and orders Finster to activate the Morphin-Matic. The machine starts to power on as Selena calls out to her mother Rita Repulsa, with the guys having finished taking down the Putties. Olivia rush tackles Selena, knocking her out of the chamber she was in.
She fires a huge blast of magic from her wand, which Kimberly and Olivia duck away from as the others try to reach them only to be stopped by Finster, who has augmented himself with the remains of his fallen Putties to become a giant with multiple limbs.
Selena attempts one more time to kill Billy with her wand, but Minh breaks free and takes the shot instead. She miraculously survives and notices Trini's Morpher is glowing which flows memories of Trini as the Yellow Ranger to her signifying a transfer of power. The Rangers morph, and this time Minh is successful in morphing into the Yellow Ranger.
Zack is happy to see Kimberly back in action but Billy reminds him of the current danger that they are in with āMega-Finsterā, Minotaur and Snizzard, but the situation is quickly resolved when Olivia stabs Finster in the back with the Dragon Dagger and Mega-Finster collapses. Zack thinks that this will be a cake walk as it is six Rangers against three as he charges his Power Axeās cannon to shoot Selena. Billy is not so sure given Selena has inherited the powers of both her parents, thinking that this will be their toughest foe yet.
Olivia gets blasted and knocked back, with Kimberly checking to see if she is okay, she admits that maybe she is not cut out to be a Ranger yet and says she has only been one for ten minutes, hugging her mother. Olivia morphing into the Green Ranger to help out her new team. Selena is enraged and decides that if she canāt have her mother then she will have revenge by killing all of the remaining original Rangers.
Selena then makes Snizzard grow but then Billy impales Selena with his Power Lance. Billy has Alpha teleport the Zords to the Moon where they form the Megazord. Billy and Minh take the Dino Megazord into battle against Snizzard, while the remaining Rangers defeat Minotaur in the palace. The Rangers join Billy and Minh in the Megazord while a wounded Selena attempts to use the portal. After a small struggle, the Rangers destroy Snizzard, which releases the captive Rangers. The Rangers immediately teleport back to the palace, where Minh holds down Selena, Kimberly destroys the machine and is fed up with the evil witch threatening her family and draws her Power Bow, saying that while she missed and didnāt kill Rita all those years ago, she will aim right this time and kill Selena right now. Olivia is horrified to hear her mother be so cold blooded and the Rangers eliminates Selena with the Power Blaster.
Back on Earth, in Angel Grove, Adam and Aisha, two S.P.A. agents, have finally arrived and loaded the freed Rangers onto their spaceship and set course for Aquitar, where they would heal up before returning home. Olivia looks at old photos of her predecessor with his team from 1993, sad to hear that Trini had passed away because of Selena but proud of everything she accomplished in her life, of everything everyone accomplished in their lives. Kimberly join her, as she realizes that she was wrong and that even if she wasnāt a Ranger anymore, she should not have stopped helping people. She was ready to kill Selena, but that goes against everything that the Power Rangers stand for.
She believes that the world needs the Power Rangers, but the team need her on the front lines, deciding officially to pass Tommy's Green Ranger powers on to Olivia and to train her daughter to be a proper Ranger. Kimberly believes that Olivia is just what the team needs. Minh asks the others if they want to return to active duty as Rangers. Zack and Billy are not up for returning full time, but are willing to help when needed and Jason admits that he lost his way and forgot so much of what Zordon taught them all, hoping Olivia will lead the team to remind them of who they are as Rangers. Olivia is excited about the Power Rangers coming back and her new leadership role.
Billy, Zack, and Minh celebrate their victory at the Juice Bar, where Minh apologizes to Billy for blaming him on her mother and is teasingly grounded by him for stealing the RADBUG. Minh then reveals that the Morpher gave her memories of her mom back when she was a Ranger, and Billy notes the Morphin Grid is full of infinite possibilities so it may still be possible to bring Zordon back one day. Billy and Zack start telling Minh about some of their past adventures.
Continuity and Placement[]
- Power Rangers Mighty Morphin: The special takes place 30 years after the events of Day of the Dumpster.
- Power Rangers S.P.D.: The special takes place some time before the events of the series, as the Troobian Empire is still locked in battle in the Sirius system.
- Power Rangers Cosmic Fury: The special takes place between "The Nemesis" and "Lightning Strikes". The opening scene of the Rangers fighting Selena takes place in 2022. The rest of the special, beginning from the Rangers visiting Trini's grave, is set in 2023. At the end of Cosmic Fury's first season half, Jane Fairview mentioned opening a branch of BuzzBlast in Angel Grove. As a continuity nod, Annie, a BuzzBlast reporter, covers the story of Putty Patrollers attacking Angel Grove.
Characters[]
Rangers[]
Mighty Morphin Rangers[]
| Color | Role | Actor |
|---|---|---|
| Mighty Morphin Red Ranger | Jason Lee Scott | Austin St. John |
| Mighty Morphin Black Ranger | Zack Taylor | Walter Jones |
| Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger | Billy Cranston | David Yost |
| Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger | Trini Kwan ā¶ Minh Kwan | Thuy Trang (archival audio, footage; photos) ā¶ Charlie Kersh |
| Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger | Kimberly Ann Hart | Amy Jo Johnson |
| Mighty Morphin Green Ranger | Tommy Oliver ā¶ Olivia Hart | Jason David Frank (archival audio, footage; photos) ā¶ Jenna Rae Frank |
Other Rangers[]
Captured Rangers
| Color | Role |
|---|---|
| Zeo Ranger II Yellow | Tanya Sloan |
| Phantom Ranger | Phantom Ranger |
| Black Space Ranger | Carlos Vallerte |
| Yellow Space Ranger | Ashley Hammond |
| Galaxy Red | Leo Corbett |
| Galaxy Green | Damon Henderson |
| Galaxy Blue | Kai Chen |
| Lunar Wolf Ranger | Merrick Baliton |
| Red Dino Ranger | Conner McKnight |
| White Dino Ranger | Trent Fernandez-Mercer |
| Grid Battleforce Red Ranger | Devon Daniels |
| Grid Battleforce Blue Ranger | Ravi Shaw |
| Grid Battleforce Gold Ranger | Nate Silva |
Allies[]
Villains[]
- Selena Repulsa
- Robo-Minotaur
- Robo-Snizzard
- Finster
- Putty Patrollers
Cast[]
- Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott (Mighty Morphin Red Ranger)
- Walter Jones as Zack Taylor (Mighty Morphin Black Ranger)
- David Yost as Billy Cranston (Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger)
- Charlie Kersh as Minh Kwan (Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger 2)
- Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Ann Hart (Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger)
- Jenna Frank as Olivia Hart (Mighty Morphin Green Ranger 2)
- Richard Steven Horvitz as Alpha 8 (voice), Alpha 9 (voice)
- Barbara Goodson as Selena Repulsa
- Ryan Cooper as Robo-Minotaur (voice)
- Daniel Watterson as Robo-Snizzard (voice)
- Benny Joy Smith as Annie
- Howard Cyster as George's Boyfriend
Archive recordings[]
- Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan (Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger 1)
- Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver (Mighty Morphin Green Ranger 1)
- Machiko Soga as Rita Repulsa
- Ami Kawai as Scorpina
- Richard Genelle as Ernie
- Paul Schrier as Bulk
- Jason Narvy as Skull
Errors[]
- As Zack is break-dance fighting the Putty Patrollers, his left shoe gets untied, in the next scene, still fighting the Putties, his shoe is tied again.
- The Black Ranger's Power Axe has a sliding piece near the blade that is moved to the base of the handle to convert it to cannon mode. Zack uses the Axe in cannon mode without ever moving this piece.
- The second time Minh unsuccessfully tries to use Trini's Power Morpher, it is open. The Morpher is only supposed to be open when activated.
- Before the portal is destroyed, the past Rita says, "After 10,000 years I'm free! it's time to conquer Earth." This was something she only said in the opening credits of Power Rangers Mighty Morphin. In "Day of the Dumpster", she gasps as she emerges from the space dumpster, but her first line is an insult directed at Baboo.
- At one point in the special, Billy mentioned that Minh "didn't have anyone else" implying he meant Minh didn't have any other family members, this is untrue as Mr. and Mrs. Kwan are her grandparents, Howard is her granduncle and Sylvia is her first cousin once removed. However, it's possible Hasbro didn't know of these characters or that they have all passed away at some point in time.
- hen the Rangers are at the balcony looking at the Megazord, Zack is holding the Power Axe with his left hand normally with the blade pointing to the ground, but when the camera changes angles, Zack is holding the Power Axe over his left shoulder.
Notes[]
- This version of Once & Always is a mix of the canon version and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return. However, Rocky and Kat do not make an appearance during this special, just like Rita who was replaced by her daughter as established in the comics. Olivia also did not become the Pink Ranger, and so Kimberly never retired, but she became the leader of the team as the Green Ranger and Tommy was not seen outside of footage of archives. Xev also did not appear as a White Squadron Ranger.
- The title of this series is derived from the phrase, "Once a Ranger, Always a Ranger".
- This special marks the first time Zack morphs into the Mighty Morphin Black Ranger outside of the Zordon Era.
- Two original cast members were unable to return due to a number of circumstances that have occurred since the end of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
- Thuy Trang, who portrayed Trini Kwan, had passed away in September 2001. As such, this special is specifically dedicated in her honor with the story revolving around Trini's daughter, Minh Kwan.
- Jason David Frank, who portrayed Tommy Oliver, expressed his intent to distance himself from Power Rangers to focus in his lead film, Legend of the White Dragon. Frank passed away in November 2022 following a series of personal issues. With Frank's passing happening after the production of the special, it was posthumously dedicated to him as well in his honor with the story revolving around Kimberly's daughter, Olivia Hart, now assuming his role as Green Ranger.
- As stated with the absentees above, archival audio of their voices are used in scenes while they are morphed as Rangers; archival footage is featured in select scenes while also featuring photos of themselves:
- Thuy Trang's archive audio in the opening fight scene is lifted from the Mighty Morphin episode "High Five", including Trini calling for Billy.
- Trang's black-and-white photo is featured as a substitution for a photo of Trini.
- During the graveyard battle, Tommy's morph calls were lifted from several different episodes from various series.
- Tommy's "Dragonzord!" came from "Dimensions in Danger", including some of his lines and fighting noises.
- With Johnson's permission, the end credits uses the song she wrote Down the Road in tribute of Trang and Frank.
- The initial cast photo that accompanied the announcement of the special's production was taken during shooting of the final scene at the new Command Center. While Minh wears a yellow sweater in that scene, it is digitally recolored into a different colored gradient for the cast photo to hide any hints that she would become the new Yellow Ranger.
- The Megazord seen in this special is fully rendered in CGI, based on a scanned model of the Zord Ascension Project Megazord toy release provided by Hasbro.[1] The entire Zord summoning and formation sequence from the original series is recreated in CGI and adapted to match the setting on the Moon.
- None of the captured Rangers are from the Saban Brands Era.
- When fighting the Putties in the Youth Center, Zack employs his "Hip Hop Kido", a fusion of fighting and breakdancing he taught in the original series, in episodes such as "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Bloom of Doom".
- While fighting Minh, Selena notices she is using the Praying Mantis style, which was Trini's martial arts style of choice.
- Though credited to Toei Company and KyÅryÅ« Sentai Zyuranger, the special utilizes little to no Japanese footage except for the scene where Rita's time portal shows the younger Rita awakening from her dumpster, as well as when Minh has her flashback of Trini.
- While the Rangers are visiting the cemetery, Minotaur destroys a gravestone for Harvey Garvey, confirming that this character was born in 1953 and passed away in 2022. The character originally appeared in the Squadron episode "Lights, Camera, Action".
- Ernie is mentioned by Zack at the Juice Bar, who wonders if the place still has his recipes. Nothing is said about his current whereabouts, though it is noted that Ernie's original actor Richard Genelle had since passed away in 2008.
- Alpha 9 activates the "Bandora Protocol", which is named after Witch Bandora, Rita Repulsa's counterpart from KyÅryÅ« Sentai Zyuranger, while Rita's Moon Palace is named the "Bandora Palace".
- Bulk and Skull are briefly seen on a billboard photo running a company, but are never seen onscreen excepted during the flashback to Selena's childhood.
- Sentai actors including Yasuhisa Furuhara, Reiko Chiba, and Shiro Izumi have publicly acknowledged the special.
- The man and his boyfriend that Minh saves with the Radbug 2 are the first male same-sex couple in the franchise, marking another milestone in its representation of LGBT+ identities.
- Tommy/Olivia's Green Ranger suit would change one more time from its last appearance in Ninja Steel's "Dimensions in Danger". While it retains the corrected helmet and Power Morpher from the aforementioned episode, the Dragon Shield, armbands, gloves, and boots were remade with a more Sentai-accurate look, due to the props falling into a state of disrepair after prolonged use since Dino Thunder and not being replaced with new ones. The armbands, the gloves, and boots' colored portions and the Dragon Shield now sport a metallic look, being more identical to the original ones from the Zyuranger footage. However, the armbands now feature ridged sections on them, not seen on any of the previous iterations of the suit, while the diamond shape on the back of the Dragon Shield is still there.
- In addition, the core Ranger suits had been changed since Beast Morphers' "Grid Connection". The colored portions of their gloves and boots also had a metallic update to them, in addition to a more prominent collar, similar to what was used in the American footage of the first season, while a second, thinner collar portion went all the way up underneath their helmets.
- The ending opening theme is a shortened version of the theme song and uses part of Ron Wasserman's 2012 redux instead of the original theme song.
- Throughout the special, Minh can be seen wearing the colors of the original Mighty Morphin team. In her debut scene, she wears a red-white shirt. One year later, her gym shirt is blue. Her cemetery dress is green. Her outfit during the Juice Bar fight scene consists of a pink shirt and black zip-up sweatshirt. The ending scene of her with Zack and Billy at the Juice Bar has her in a yellow sweater.
- The captured Rangers on Selena's machine are actually represented on-set by Lightning Collection figures. The figures' points of articulation are sealed shut and wrapped by Snizzard's tonsil snakes.
- Trini's death scene was originally written to be more explicit, but was cut back out of respect for Trang's memory.
- In addition, Trini's death was the first permanent Ranger death in the franchise, as Kendrix Morgan, Gem, Gemma, and Steel Silva were all resurrected within their respective season finales.
- The 2021 Lotus Elise that Minh walks past in Billy's "executive parking lot" is Bennett's own personal vehicle.
- This special marks the first time the Blade Blaster is used while a Ranger is unmorphed.
- This special marks the first time the phrase "power down" was used to demorph since Jungle Fury's "Pushed to the Edge".
- Kimberly is wearing one of Tommy's necklaces during her visit to Angel Grove.
- Kimberly keeps a card from Trini in her home, inside it is the phrase āOnce a Ranger, Always a Rangerā.
- In the panel where Olivia is looking at old photos in the Trini Kwan Memorial Youth Center, a visiting Japanese gymnastics team of four boys and a girl walks by him.
Callbacks to other series[]
- Minh watches a news report from BuzzBlast, a media agency originally introduced in Power Rangers Cosmic Fury. The reporter on-site is Annie, with Benny Joy Smith reprising her role from Cosmic Fury.
- Several Rangers from Beast Morphers, Dino Thunder, In Space, Wild Force, and Lost Galaxy are amongst the ones captured by Selena. The names of their home city of operations were listed in the Bandora Protocol.
- This special debuts S.P.A. (Space Patrol Alpha), an organization related to Space Patrol Delta. In connection to the timeline relative to Power Rangers S.P.D., members Aisha and Adam note that they were in battle with the Troobian Empire on Sirius, which was the founding place of S.P.D. and the home-world of Anubis Cruger.
- Aquitar, the home-world of the Aquitar Rangers, is mentioned to be the location where Adam and Aisha plan to relocate the captured Rangers for recovery. It is also revealed that since the events of "Rangers of Two Worlds", Billy and his Aquitian girlfriend Cestria have continued to stay in contact to some capacity.
- Bulk and Skull have established a food company, which builds upon the fact that Skull was portrayed as rich in Power Rangers Samurai.
- Jason's career as a fireman is a nod to Carter Grayson from Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, whom he shares a common occupation with.
- Billy mentions bringing Minh a souvenir from Mirinoi, the home-world of the Galaxy Rangers from Power Rangers Lost Galaxy.
- The term "Z-Wave" was originally coined by the fandom to refer to Zordon's sacrifice at the end of Power Rangers in Space. It was officially canonized in the special.