Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always Easter Eggs and References - Netflix Tudum
- The new special nods to 30 years of lore.By Derek LawrenceApril 20, 2023
🤐 SPOILER ALERT 🤐
Some of the most memorable Power Rangers have reunited to celebrate 30 years of the pop culture staple. And with three decades of lore behind them, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always has plenty of past characters, settings and memories to pull from. With the scripted team-up special now streaming, we morphed together a list of some of the many Easter eggs. But there’s more where these came from, so happy hunting!
Once & Always
The title of this latest Power Rangers installment is a reference to the motto “Once a Ranger, always a Ranger,” which previously inspired the two-part episode of Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, “Once a Ranger” in 2007. That episode celebrated the franchise’s 15th anniversary with guest stars including beloved Ranger alum Johnny Yong Bosch, who once again reprises his role as Adam Park in Once & Always.
A rad ride
Zack (Walter Emanuel Jones) and Minh (Charlie Kersh) arrive at the cemetery to pay their respects to Trini (the original Yellow Ranger, played by the late Thuy Trang in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) on the one-year anniversary of her death. There, they stumble upon a showdown between Robo Rita (the mechanical form of Rita Repulsa, voiced as ever by Barbara Goodson) and the Rangers. The duo take cover behind a vehicle: the RadBug 2, an electric-powered flying convertible. It’s the next-generation version of the RadBug that once belonged to Billy (David Yost), the first Blue Ranger; RadBug is an acronym for “Remote Activated Drivingzord for Basic Ultra Geomorphology.” Of course.
Bryan Cranston as Zordon in Power Rangers (2017)
Breaking bad
Returning as Rita’s muscle in Once & Always are Snizzard and Minotaur, memorable monsters from the very first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. In his first appearance, Snizzard was voiced by future Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston, who returned to the franchise to play Rangers mentor Zordon in the 2017 big-screen film Power Rangers.
Live on
Eagle-eyed viewers will spot a name from the past in the background of the graveyard battle. Minotaur smashes the gravestone of Harvey Garvey — the fictional host of the talk show The Harvey Garvey Show, on which the Rangers were guests in the Season 2 episode “Lights, Camera, Action.” Actor Kim Strauss portrayed Garvey in his sole live-action appearance on the show, before returning to voice several other characters, including Ninjor, the creator of the Rangers’ power coins.
T.W.A.
Back when Zordon was first looking for someone to stop Rita Repulsa, as seen in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers title sequence, he ordered Alpha 5 to “recruit a team of teenagers with attitude.” In Once & Always, when middle-aged Zack is reunited with Alpha 9, the robot assistant comments that it’s been a long time, noting, “I guess life is busy when you’re raising a teenager with attitude.” Sunrise, sunset; swiftly fly the years…
The end of an era
In a Once & Always flashback, Billy remembers using Alpha 8 to track down the Z-Wave. In “Countdown to Destruction,” the finale of Power Rangers in Space, Zordon sacrifices himself to purge the universe of evil by transforming his essence into a powerful energy wave, marking the end of the original Rangers era. Billy’s search in Once & Always fails to find Zordon, instead freeing Rita Repulsa, who promptly destroys Alpha 8.
Rita time
Speaking of Rita: When the villain reemerges in Once & Always, she declares, “After all these years, I’m free! It’s time for revenge.” This is a callback to Rita’s line from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers title sequence: “After 10,000 years, I’m free! It's time to conquer Earth!”
Phone home
With Rita back, Alpha 9 implements Bandora Protocol, calling all Power Ranger teams. The comms reach out to multiple locations that are important to Ranger history: Coral Harbor (Power Rangers Beast Morphers), Reefside (Power Rangers DinoThunder), Astro Megaship (Power Rangers in Space), Turtle Cove (Power Rangers Wild Force), Terra Venture (Power Rangers Lost Galaxy) and Osaka (Power Rangers Dino Fury).
Green Rangers
Minh, Trini’s daughter, is training when she sees reports that Angel Grove is under attack, prompting her to go inside and grab her late mother’s power coin. Before running out, Minh pauses to look at a picture of Trini; just above is another old photo, this one depicting Trini, Billy, Zack and the rest of the original Ranger squad wearing green “Clean-Up Club” T-shirts. This comes from the Season 1 episode of the same name, which highlighted Trini’s passion for the environment.
Pink power
Second Pink Ranger Kat Hillard (Catherine Sutherland) has never used dino-themed Ranger powers — until now. In the past, her powers were derived from the pink crane animal spirit, but in Once & Always, Billy and Alpha 9 make proxy power coins that allow all Rangers to use dino powers. And while Zack reminds her of Zordon’s previous warnings, Kat isn’t concerned with the possible dangers of “too much pink energy.” She goes through with it and uses Pink Pterodactyl Power for the first time. That’s history right there!
Bust a move!
As Minh struggles to fend off an onslaught of Putty Patrollers, Zack and Rocky (Steve Cardenas) arrive to save the day, with Zack proclaiming that it’s “time for hip-hop kido.” The beloved Black Ranger’s signature fighting style combines his two loves: dance and martial arts. He even taught a hip-hop kido class back in Season 1. Sign us up!
Still rangers
With the help of Snizzard and Minotaur, Robo Rita is collecting Rangers, who she paralyzes before shrinking them down. Once & Always shows us early on that this was done to Billy and Zack’s old pals Jason, Tommy and Kimberly; a later view into Rita’s time hacker shows all the Rangers she’s captured. In addition to the three already mentioned, here’s the full list, in order of appearance:
Ravi Shaw (Blue Ranger from Power Rangers Beast Morphers), Ashley Hammond (Yellow Ranger from Power Rangers in Space), Merrick Baliton (Lunar Wolf Ranger from Power Rangers Wild Force), the mysterious Phantom Ranger from Power Rangers Turbo, Tanya Sloane (Yellow Ranger from Power Rangers Zeo), Devon Daniels (Red Ranger from Power Rangers Beast Morphers), Carlos Vallerte (Black Ranger from Power Rangers in Space), Nate Silva (Gold Ranger from Power Rangers Beast Morphers), Kai Chen (Blue Ranger from Power Rangers Lost Galaxy), Leo Corbett (Red Ranger from Power Rangers Lost Galaxy), Damon Henderson (Green Ranger from Power Rangers Lost Galaxy), Conner McKnight (Blue Ranger from Power Rangers Dino Thunder) and Trent Fernandez-Mercer (White Ranger from Power Rangers Dino Thunder).
Like mother, like daughter
Minh gets her chance at revenge when she faces off with Robo Rita, and decides to bust out the praying mantis style of kung fu — the same technique that Trini learned in Season 1, Episode 48, “Plague of the Mantis.” Trini used the praying mantis against the monster Mantis, who, like Rita in Once & Always, was voiced by Barbara Goodson. “Praying mantis style, just like Trini,” Rita remarks following Minh’s move.
Sing on
Once & Always signs off with a clip from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 2, Episode 11, “The Song of Guitardo,” which features the OG team gathering around for a musical performance from Pink Ranger Kimberly (Amy Jo Johnson, who also composed the song). The clip then cuts to a dedication to late Power Rangers alums Thuy Trang and Jason David Frank, with Kimberly’s lyrics delivering the final lines of the special: “Memories never die. In our hearts, they’ll always live, and never say goodbye.”
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