Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers

Go, go power rangers!

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers was a playground sensation when I was a kid. It was a smash hit largely because it merged all of our favorite things - big robots (like in Transformers), big monsters (like in Godzilla), dinosaurs (like in Jurassic Park), martial arts (like in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), and teamwork (like in Captain Planet and the Planeteers). It also had a hyperactive theme song that was basically just electric guitars and the name of the show, and a lot of flipping around and explosions that never seemed to really hurt anybody.

Shows where kids or teenagers piloted giant robots and usually merged together into a samurai or knight-shaped robot were nothing new. Giant robots go all the way back to the '50s in Japan. Power Rangers made it special because the giant robots (known as "Zords") were dinosaurs.

Dinozords

Every episode was basically the same. Usually, the villain, Rita Repulsa, would send some kind of monster to destroy the Earth. The Rangers would morph using their Power Morphers - little plastic belt buckle things I think you could get at McDonald's for a limited time (yes, I had one). When they learned of the evil monster Rita had unleashed, they would morph into their ranger costumes (plastic helmets and spandex or nylon suits) and do battle. Often they would fight a small army of "putties" - the easily defeated gray weirdos that Rita sent - or a few of her henchmen, like Goldar. Then they'd call their Dinozords and fight the big monster, and they'd have to merge together into the Megazord to defeat it. Somewhere in there would be a few scenes of their normal high school lives, often with comic relief from the two inept bullies Bulk and Skull.

Before the Green Ranger miniseries was released, I remember that a lot of kids were wondering if there was going to be a Purple Ranger.There never was. The Green Ranger was the new ranger, and he was the coolest. Instead of a dinosaur, he had a Mechagodzilla-like robot that he would call with a flute that was also a dagger. Dragonzord even rises from the ocean like Godzilla does.  The Green Ranger started off as evil because Rita (the evil witch from outer space) had put him under a spell.

The Green Ranger even has better armor than the other rangers

I remember one of my friends pointing out how silly it was that the putties would explode when you hit them in the big Z on their chest - could their weak spot be any more obvious? But they didn't get that "improvement" until Lord Zedd took over as chief villain, and if I remember correctly, he was a much cooler bad guy than Rita.

At recess, playing Power Rangers probably got us into more trouble than anything else we did, since all you had to do to be a Power Ranger was shout out the name of a dinosaur and punch and kick each other.

Good times.

The Cartoons of My Early Childhood

The '90s were a decade that produced some of the best cartoons that have yet been on TV, but also carried on some great cartoons from the '80s. Because I was born in 1985, I remember watching quite a few '80s cartoons in my early childhood. My cartoon history starts there, but because this is a blog mostly about the '90s, I only want to focus on cartoons that impacted me significantly, and not every cartoon I saw. Even though I had Liono underwear when I was a toddler and I know who Snarf is, the Thundercats cartoon ended in 1989, as did the franchise.

Explaining how I became aware of these '80s cartoons is not too difficult. I have a sister who is ten years older than I am. This means she was an '80s kid. I remember going garage sale hunting with her. She was looking for anything Care Bears related. I eventually found a talking Terminator toy. Hasta la vista, Cheer Bear.

I went to preschool and kindergarten at a place called Kinder Care. This was a place with kids as young as four and as old as 15 - not necessarily the best dynamic, as the older kids had a tendency to pick on the younger ones and teach them swear words - but this probably also played a role in my learning about some of these older cartoons.  In order to be there on time, or because my mom went to work very early, I would be watching cartoons at six in the morning, when G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero was on. I don't remember much of that.

Finally, I had the good fortune to have a next door neighbor with a great collection of Transformers and G.I. Joes, some of which were pretty old. I think the most prized Transformer he had was Galvatron, who transformed into a laser cannon.

Freud might have something to say about this...

I don't remember ever playing with Galvatron - probably because it was taken off the market in 1987 and he didn't want to risk breaking it. I ultimately liked Beast Wars better than Transformers, because I don't remember ever seeing the Transformers TV series. But it was lucky that he was my next door neighbor, because my parents would not buy me any toy that involved guns, whether it was Transformers, G.I. Joes, cap guns, or anything of the sort. I was "sheltered".from these horribly fun toys until I was at least eight, but I still played with them all the time.

But I digress. The beginning of my cartoon history was The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, and I must have watched it a lot, because the theme song is still etched into my brain and is the first thought in my head almost every morning. It first aired in 1988, when I was three, and I probably watched it at least until I was five.

The most significant of these '80s/'90s crossover cartoons is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which influenced me greatly. I had tons of the toys, I still own the movie on DVD and VHS (and it's still awesome),and we even had the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Comin' Out of Their Shells on cassette tape (which is not still cool). These wise-cracking, pizza-eating, party-loving turtle dudes were my heroes.

We also went as Turtles for more than one Halloween. I was always Raphael - he was my favorite because he was rude and had a temper, and had the coolest weapons - the sai. He was the one with the red mask.

Home-made costumes

Did you have a favorite Ninja Turtle?

Child of the '90s

Welcome to Remembering The '90s, a blog dedicated to celebrating the greatest decade in human history. The '90s featured some of the best television, best popular music, and especially the best cartoons and toys.

It was a decade that saw internet use becoming widespread, but it was painfully slow. People still had patience. It was a decade where videogames were good, but they weren't so good that kids didn't play outside (but they could take their Gameboy just in case - it was durable). It was a decade where gas only cost a dollar a gallon. It was a decade before reality TV took over and turned television into a desert. MTV still played music and The Simpsons was still funny.

How do you know if you were a child of the '90s? I could treat this as a question of sociology, and talk about demographic cohorts and generations - Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y - but that wouldn't be fun. So instead, ask yourself these questions.

Did you play with Gak, NERF, or Pogs? Did you call things "rad" or "awesome"? Did you eat pizza Lunchables in school? Did you eat aliens for breakfast? Are you, or were you ever a Planeteer? Did you have a Bart Simpson t-shirt? Did you know where Carmen Sandiego was? Do you know who Rocksteady and Bebop were, or what Calvinball is?

If you know what the heck I'm talking about, you may be a child of the '90s.