Keep in mind this is just speculation, but it may have had to do with wanting to line Mighty Morphin's third season more with certain elements of Kakuranger, such as the Ninjor character. The producers were unwilling or unable to bring back Dulcea while they couldn't use the updated ranger suits, so the four-part counterpart in Season 3 seemed more a blatent attempt to distance the televised story from the movie one. The Ninjazord of the Kakuranger footage would also look a bit too obviously different from the film's CGI, while certain set pieces like the Command Center and Earnie's Juice Bar clashed far too much.
Saban didn't even have much involvement with the story handling of that film, other than getting to reuse abandoned props (like the rat suits in "Return of the Green Ranger") and getting a handful of eps for Season 2 shot in Australia ("The Wedding", "Return of the Green Ranger"), I'm sure he desired greatly to rewrite the core gist of how the rangers go through their Ninja transition. Another huge point of the four-parter was the Bulk/Skull subplot in starting them off in their careers in the Junior Police Force, a very popular story turn that lasted halfway into Zeo and even came back for the Turbo movie (and very start of the Turbo season). Compared to the movie, the pair didn't really do... anything after parachuting other than smoothie some Ooze-goo and pull a lever.
More of my thoughts on the movie:
Yeah, an 'entertainment value' alternate reality, the prologue even establishes the team started out with six members as opposed to five. Rita and Zedd's group had a monster seen nowhere in the series (thank goodness), the Rangers already had their upgraded suits without explanation that never get seen in the series, weapons/head-equipment gets used that was never seen (other than Saba), Ninjetti zords also looked somewhat different from the Season 3(/Kakuranger) Ninja zords. And obviously, the four part "Ninja Quest" story that practically opens Season 3 shows a totally different version of events for how the original Mighty Morphin' powers get fractured, the team's quest for new powers, along with their attainment of the Ninja variation and new zords.
I personally prefer Season 3's four-parter over the movie for many reasons. The characters seem much truer to their personalities of the show, they aren't just cardboard copies whose any line of dialogue could be the other's (which was already a problem with Rocky and Adam IMO). The emotion at genuinely seeing the Rangers lose their original zords, the Dino zords even being the foundation for their Thunder zords and hence why it hit Kim all the more, was particularly a highlight that Rito's campy character couldn't even ruin. I may prefer Dulcea over Ninjor, but in terms of overall story and character emotions, the series is what I'd sooner watch. Oh yeah, plus we get to see how Bulk & Skull become Junior P.D. cops, a can't-miss subplot!
So yeah, think of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie as an alternate reality similar to the RPM season, while the RPM timeline seems to have diverged from the other shows at least as of 2008.
Superman & The [Red-Blue] Blur = The Man of Steel
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watcher101
10 years ago
It was just an alternate retelling/scenario for how they got their Ninjazords. Ivan Ooze was just the reason rather than Rito Revolta.
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