Monday, 08 February 2010

  • Did The Original Power Rangers TV Show Hurt Martial Arts?



    Something got me thinking about doing this subject last night and yes, I know it'll be unlike my normal posts, but felt it would make a good topic.

    I've studied the Martial Arts. With that said, when I trained, the first incarnation of the Power Rangers came on television and got me so upset. I felt that though some of the values of martial arts were cast in a good light, others fell short, upsetting me and I wanted to get the show canceled.

    My nephew (now eighteen) wanted me to train him so he could fight people like they did, something I refused with a passion. I wanted to teach the right way, not the Hollywood crap.

    If you grew up in the 90s, do you think the show hurt or helped the Martial Arts?

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Comments (21)

  • adamcieslicki@xanga

    In my opinion it both helped and hindered. On the one hand, it helped because it was something that young children saw each and everyday on their tv sets, and so their interest was piqued. On the other hand, because they were so determined to use the fighting side of them all the time, it hindered because there is so much more to martial arts than all the flashy moves.
  • verified_but_still_denied@xanga

    I think it helped Martial Arts in a sense because it helped promote the idea of being strong to help defend Yourself and those that you love. (and I guess that working together was incorporated too.) And it got the youth to be interested in I would guess you can say a dying art. (dying since we live in a world of guns and drugs)

    However, It hurt the spirit of martial arts in a sense that it gave the idea that you need to be all flashy and be able to flip around. It gave the misconception that being able to do a couple of flips made you strong. Martial arts (in my eyes) is about practicality, humility, and trying to grasp a sense of one's self (like their limitations and such).
  • Aaliyaan@xanga

    Who cares? They were the freaking POWER RANGERS!

    Enough said.
  • quicksandbuddy@xanga

    The characters were pretty responsible with their martial arts, refusing to use it just to show off or beat up people. The series lost that moral message over the many incarnations, I think. Anyway, Power Rangers was much better for martial arts than most of the stuff Hollywood craps out.

  • ForeverLove_xx@xanga

    Lol maybe it did, I loved watching it back in the day, but haven't for a long time really so, I don't even know.
  • princessremy@xanga

    personally, i was just upset over how they didn't have enough girl rangers ...
    oh and that the yellow one was like Chinese and the black one was African American ... (or was that the new version ? )

    oh well, i still loved watching it :]
  • Starlite@datingish

    The rangers are so annoying.
  • Camouflaged_by_night@xanga

    @Aaliyaan@xanga - Agreed!
  • GiantUnicorn@xanga

    I remember a parent who had a little girl around the age of 4 who was into Pokemon & Power Rangers.

    He much preferred Pokemon because "At least she's not running around the room kicking and screaming 'HIYAH!'"

    I think Power Rangers got kids into Martial Arts and if they want to fight evil then they should be able to fight evil!
  • gilly_owens@xanga

    Mmm I don't know I'm mixed. When I was little I adored the show and wanted to be just like them, but when I started learning martial arts I fell in love with it and realized it was a lot different from what was on TV. I guess the thing is that people just need to separate reality from television.

  • insert_label_here_003@xanga

    Don't you dare talk about the Power Rangers. 
  • Bluekiller2025@xanga

    I think it helped. I loved power rangers and I would have loved to go into martial arts when I was younger.  Really the only thing stopping me was my families very limited funds.
  • BlehhItsTu@xanga

    Kimberly's airflips were so fake in the Mighty Morphin Power Ranger movie starring Ooze.. You could tell she was strung up in wires. I have a photo of me and my brothers posing as power rangers. They inspired us to take up tae kwon do as children. hahaha
  • penguin_princess09@xanga

    I remember my little brother and I would run around the house punching and kicking each other because we were pretending to be power rangers. We wanted to take lessons, but then again we wanted a giant robot to protect the city from giant monsters too. My point being we were just little kids. We didn't know any better.  I'm pretty sure, however, that it was probably good for martial arts.

  • wrybreadspread@xanga


    I remember back in the 1950’s (yeah--that old) people were worried kids would try to imitate Superman when they saw the show with George Reeves and jump off high places. I did tie a towel around my neck like a cape and jump off chairs. Didn’t jump off stuff that was too high. It hurt my feet.


    There’s always that chance. Kids become desensitized playing 1000’s of hours of video games and kill someone--and then offenders all over the world use it as a legal defense. Closer inspection usually shows there’s already some strangeness going on.


    My wife purposely refrained from buying our son toy guns when he was younger. She discovered, to her chagrin, as did an entire generation of child behaviorists who wanted to tinker with gender roles, that boys would take any object at hand an imagine it to be a gun.


    My admittedly amateur feelings? There’s that magic middle area where kids rightly exercise their imagination. They become heroes and explorers. Like in the book where Tom Sawyer runs away to become a pirate--but then has to go home for supper.
  • incoherenceY3K@xanga

    Martial Arts, like any other art form has been portrayed by media as it is heard or reflected back by society. So if I may, if you know that he's getting into it for all the wrong reasons then you as an uncle must correct that.

    Tell him that it is a way of life, a philosophy, a good way to stay healthy and physically fit.

    You might want to also tell him that the Kamehameha doesn't exist but the single hand, three-finger push-up is a step done to learn the famous one-inch punch of Jeet Kun Do, you know what I mean?   

  • merquryd@xanga

    but...but...THEY'RE POWER RANGERS!

    <3 the yellow ranger
  • Tiger11007@xanga

    Not in the least! Their job was to be overly dramatic to catch children's attention and they did that all too well.
  • PervyPenguin@xanga

    @Aaliyaan@xanga - HELL YEAH.

    - Kunoichi
  • RandomxBlinkingxLight@xanga

    i was like 10 when that show came out so obviously i didn't think anything of the martial arts aspect of it.  i just liked watching it.  
  • Vargie_the_Great@xanga

    It's the freakin' Power Rangers! Those guys are bad ass, enough said. FYI the Green Ranger is now a UFC fighter. You should really google him up.

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