Season 3 Ninja Suits Theory.

[Ankh Primo]

I thought the in-universe reason was simple, that they couldn't fight Tengas unmorphed.

Granted, they could just morph, but why not play with your cool toys if you can? It was no different than the civilian powers of the Disney years which also would have been useless if the Rangers had just morphed first.

[Alitain]

Originally Posted by Ankh Primo

I thought the in-universe reason was simple, that they couldn't fight Tengas unmorphed.

Granted, they could just morph, but why not play with your cool toys if you can? It was no different than the civilian powers of the Disney years which also would have been useless if the Rangers had just morphed first.

And at least back in the day, there was always the deal with them no escalating things. They fought the grunts unmorphed because they could, instead of relying on their powers to waste time on them when they knew the monster was there.

Also at least in the beginning it was also the fact that it allowed the kids to see the american actors fighting the bad guys too, not just morphed suits. But when the direction started shifting by S3 we got the ninja suits as a kind of compromise. Not quite completely getting rid of the idea of them being able to beat the grunts without morphing, but allowed them to be masked for stunt filming purposes and with ninja powers it lessoned the 'violence' of the fighting. Now a days it feels like they followed the Sentai trend where the rangers morph to even just fight the grunts except for certain times.

[Spoony Spoonerson]

Originally Posted by Titanium321

3, this is half right, as it saved money on paying the actors to do their stunts and action scenes which had become a bit of an expense at that point. But it was still all original footage, which was expensive to make though it turns out that it's super easy to cheap out on paying people who's faces aren't on screen, especially if they work mainly stunts.

I don't mean to sound facetious, but what's "half-right" about point 3? I literally covered the same topics you did: it saved money on not having to pay the cast to be there, and it was cheaper with stunt guys. So why am I only half right?

Originally Posted by Ankh Primo

I thought the in-universe reason was simple, that they couldn't fight Tengas unmorphed.

Granted, they could just morph, but why not play with your cool toys if you can? It was no different than the civilian powers of the Disney years which also would have been useless if the Rangers had just morphed first.

The Disney civilian powers were definitely a move away from violence and martial arts. Sometimes the in-universe explanations for their powers was better than others, but it's no coincidence nearly every Disney season had them.

[Titanium321]

Originally Posted by Spoony Spoonerson

I don't mean to sound facetious, but what's "half-right" about point 3? I literally covered the same topics you did: it saved money on not having to pay the cast to be there, and it was cheaper with stunt guys. So why am I only half right?

It's half right because it saved money, but wasn't entirely about saving money as they still had to pay for original footage to fill that time. The other points matter more to the end reasoning is what I meant, it still saved some money but wasn't a very cost effective means of saving money.

You know, it may have just been more of an intimidation game to the remaining actors too. Saban tossing a "we can cut your screen time down even more" heck, that season was filled with gutting their screen time. Just a shady "keep them in line" move especially after the movie should have given them room to demand more money.

[Super Cena]

Anybody know why the main Ranger Actors were written out during the storyline? It was odd David Yost came back earlier too.

[MattEmily]

Originally Posted by Super Cena

Anybody know why the main Ranger Actors were written out during the storyline? It was odd David Yost came back earlier too.

you mean the ones who played Zack, Trini and Jason? They knew a movie was coming up and thought they weren't replacable in their eyes so they demanded Haim Saban to go union to go union with the show but he wasn't biting so they were eventually replaced.

[Super Cena]

Originally Posted by MattEmily

you mean the ones who played Zack, Trini and Jason? They knew a movie was coming up and thought they weren't replacable in their eyes so they demanded Haim Saban to go union to go union with the show but he wasn't biting so they were eventually replaced.

Actually I meant ...Why the season 3 Actors were written out of the Alien Ranger Arch.

[VR Master]

Originally Posted by Super Cena

Actually I meant ...Why the season 3 Actors were written out of the Alien Ranger Arch.

I would guess that the actors needed a break and it was a way of doing more episodes.

[Overdrive Omega]

I think the op nailed it. Those are three main reasons. They could sell toys. keep the parental advocacy groups happy, and save money on the cast.

[Miki1988]

I actually read somewhere that the cast has been filming season 2 and and MMPR:TM back-to-back and also season 3. They needed a break. They were constantly divided between Australia and America in order to get everything done and once S2 and the movie were done, they were busy filming MMPR S3.

For example, in the S2 episode "The Wedding, Part III", the Rangers are all present in the Command Center scene when Billy restores Alpha back to normal and Tommy says a line, but we never actually see JDF delivering the line on screen. I think we only seen Amy Jo doing a reaction to what is being said.